Essay
Subject: Business Management
Topic: Managing commercial communication
Management of commercial communication process in business
Communication can be
defined as the transfer of information ideas, opinion and attitude
from a sender to receiver with the intention of passing a message.
Communication can take many different forms like face to face
conversation, informal meetings, reports, television and memos. In
business organizations, there are three different types of
communication that include internal operations, personal and external
operational communication.
The different form
of commercial communication includes marketing communication, public
relation communication and advertisement communication. These
communications can follow formal channels or the informal networks in
businesses. Communication is very vital to any class of business;
even the small businesses cannot run or survive without proper
communication mechanism. While some scholars treat communication as a
specialized management field, the importance of commercial seen as
managerial and strategic to the operation of the company as a whole.
Proper management of commercial communication is not only important
in bringing people together in the work place but it also strengthen
the connections of business organization and all its stakeholders
like customers, employees , suppliers, shareholders, surrounding
communities and the nation as a whole. Some practitioners postulate
that commercial communication is dynamic and bi directional which has
multiple influences on transformation and translation process. When
organizations put in place proper mechanism for the management of
commercial communication, the system and the process in place should
be able to send out a message in such a way that the message that is
received on the other side is similar or close in meaning to the one
intended. Commercial communication can be defined as all efforts done
to the come up with brand marketing and advertising process targeting
the consumers. These include advertisement targeting the broadcast
media, cinema, outdoor events, print media, internet labeling and
internet. Such efforts include consumer promotions, merchandising,
some material to be used in point of sale, sponsorship; interactive
advertising and communication off and on trade. Commercial
communication on the other hand does not include non advertisement
materials, and activities, statement to the media, government or
society about the societal concern like risks or benefits related to
the consumption of a product by the company. Educational messages
about the effective way to use a product also do not form part of
commercial communication
(Figueroa et al, 2002).
Commercial
communication face a lot of barriers because the message communicated
is usually more complex and the environment or not only difficult,
but also the psychological and the social difference that separates
the source and the recipient can bring misrepresentation of the
message. When not managed properly, commercial communication will
likely encounter barriers negatively affect the communication in the
organization as a whole and therefore limiting the success of the
business.
Commercial
communication plays a central role in the success of a free market
economy, this is because, such things as marketing and branding
promote completion and encourages companies to be innovative. In this
way, consumers are given the advantage of selecting between the
different competing brands. The communication process also informs
customers of a new brand that has been introduced in the market
(Hemmati K, 2002).
In recent times
consumers watch groups have done research and recognized that some
commercial communication like advertisement of some products, for
example, alcohol may encourage young people to drink or people to
drink excessively. Some companies have also tended to exaggerate the
facts, and providing misleading information about the content of a
product being advertised leading to customer disappointment. It is
therefore prudent for all responsible firms who engage in commercial
communication to come up with self regulation mechanism and
management of commercial communication. There is need for responsible
commercial communication in such methods like advertising, promotions
and sponsorship of products. Some organizations have come up with
guidelines to help employees to address the challenge and effectively
advertise products without causing offense or better still give rise
to misuse.
For business
organizations to maintain and increase consumer confidence, it is
important that they ensure that their commercial communications are
done in a regulated way. This calls upon the management to come up
with strategies of ensuring that the products are marketed in a
professional way. Good management of the commercial communication
processes is a demonstration that the organization is committed to
conducting itself in the most responsible way. The management is
therefore required to actively promote the highest ethical standards
in development of commercial communication materials and consequently
safeguarding consumer’s interests. It is important to note that
this immense responsibility is shared by all the stakeholders in
commercial communication like advertising industry, retailers and the
hospitality sectors. The process of establishing effective management
mechanism in the organization has the advantage over the detailed
legislation provided by governments. This in effect does not only
help the organization’s good image branding but also helps the
consumers to make the right choices by provision of correct
information. Government’s oversight role in the industry is also
complemented by such efforts. While some countries give the companies
a free hand in coming up with self regulation and management of the
commercial communication process, some countries have laws that
regulates such activities like advertising extensively
(Mozammel & Odugbemi, 2005)
Management of the
commercial communication process is a concept that can be applied
differently in different organizational cultures. It is also
important to note that different countries have different commercial
and legal traditions. For a company to have good management of
commercial communication that impacts on the company in a positive
way, it should make sure that the advertisement and other commercial
communication channels selected are not only legal but decent and
truthful. It should conform to the generally accepted principle of
maintaining healthy competition and having a good business practice.
The promotional material should be prepared with a sense and
understanding of the social responsibility of the business. All
advertisement is done based on the principle of fairness without any
form of unethical messages that offends the competitors or the
general public.
As part of
establishing proper commercial communication strategy, organization
should have a well resourced and impartial office that is ready to
deal with all the complaints from consumers and interested parties
that arise as a result of complaints about the commercial
communication done. This will help the business organization to
maintain a credible face and maintain the public confidence. This
include the establishment of a formal process of efficiently dealing
with complaints that are brought up about a product not being
promoted, marketed or advertised accordingly
(Irigion et al. 2002).
There are many
advantages for all the organization to have responsive commercial
communication departments that guide all the people in the
organization about the process of conducting advertisement and
general branding of the company image. Effective and efficient system
of managing commercial communication helps to maintain consumer
confidence especially when the message is done well. Commercial
communication strategies should be tailored properly so that they are
not only legal, but also a true reflection of company services and
products. A good system shows that a company is responsible and
active in promoting its products to the general population that can
use the product.
The
institutionalization of internal company policies is very important
for regulating the development of commercial communication. This will
help to handle the suggestion of the members of the public in the
promotion of the company products. The companies can come up with
internal codes on marketing and dealing with all the different forms
of commercial communication that the firm engages in. This is
especially important for the image as a response to the concerns
raised by the consumers. Some of the organization ensures management
of commercial communication process by developing a manual to guide
all the different people in the commercial communication department.
It is also imperative for coming up with a training module to help
new employees in the organization to comply with the common required
standards (Mefalopulos
& Kamlongera, 2004).
Hiring expert’s
communication strategies is another effective way of managing
commercial communication of an organization. In undertaking this, a
firm should consider the two main audiences that the information in
the commercial communication should target. In developing a
communication strategy, the first audience is the industry players
and the second recipient is the consumer. The industry players
include all the people employed to produce and disseminate all the
communication materials marketing the company. Some of the industry
players include marketing department of the company, advertising and
marketing companies. These groups also include media houses and
publishing companies that transmit the messages in the commercial
communication and the retailers of the products produces by the
company. The company should be able to deal with all forms of brand
advertising and marketing communication that is relevant to the
targeted customers. This includes advertisement in broadcast and
print media, packaging of the products attractively ad internet
promotion activities to sell the products.
When it comes to
developing marketing strategies, marketing managers and employees
should need to understand the importance of having a mechanism in
place to conduct a self regulation. It is also good to appreciate the
loss that will come to the company if the commercial communication
codes are not adhered both in spirit and letter. The same code of
conduct should be transmitted to the entire promotional and marketing
teams together with the suppliers and retailers of the products
(Faulkner, 2002).
Conducting in-house
training regularly is a very good communication strategy of ensuring
that all the people who are likely to be tasked with development of
commercial communication materials understand the codes adopted by
the organization. In-house training schemes that shows employees from
time to time the way they are to make the advertising or materials
for promotional campaigns. The material for the training can also
come from the companies own codes or the formal regulatory framework
by the industry players or the government.
It is also very
necessary for effective management of commercial communication to
include the wider communication industry players. These players like
advertising and public relations agencies play significant role in
the development of commutation materials and ensuring that the right
message is received by the public as a whole. The PR and advertising
agencies , including the publishers and retailers all need to be very
knowledgeable with the products features and properties first so
that they can rely the same to the customers and general public
accurately and with limited exaggeration of what the product can do
and cannot do. The company needs to go further and educate them on
the self regulatory codes and conducts that are to guide the process
of advertising and promoting the products of the company. So that
they do the promotion work very responsibly, firms can include the
industry player in the in-house training done to staff to explain the
entire communication strategy and the codes to be followed by all the
concerned
(Bird & Grant, 2005).
Depending on the
industry, communication strategist of the organization can possibly
target the people at the point of sale of the products. If it is
possible, serve training can be used to enable these people
responsible for selling product about the features of the product and
how best to sell without misinforming the customers. Understanding
the codes of dong the promotion for the products will go a long way
in ensuring that the consumers are not misled in an effort to seal a
deal.
All the market
strategies employed by organization have the main aim of persuading
the customers to buy the products offered by the company. In this
endeavor, some companies have not taken time to educate the consumers
about the general codes to be followed in advertisement. It is
therefore necessary in managing commercial communication to target
the consumers with information about the existence of a regulatory
framework of doing commercial communication and the channels of
conducting a complaints in case they come across an advertisement
that or any other commercial communication that is offensive or
rightly misleading. This can be done by coming up with publications
on how complaints can be done by any member of the public who feel
aggrieved by the way the company or an agency affiliated to it. This
information can then is advertised in the media. This is part of the
process an organization involves in to achieve self regulation and
confidence of customer and the general community. This information
can then be published by the companies on the websites and other
spaces provided in the media freely for such educative purposes
(Bales & Gilliam, 2004).
Some of the
barriers encountered in commercial communication include
organizational politics. This comes out to the public as
confrontation between the different managers in a firm with different
departments putting up advertisement to advertise a service or
product without passing through a central communication office or
person. Another barrier to commercial communication is coming up with
messages that are appealing to both male and female customers. This
is because the different genders have different things and perception
to products that appease to them. Depending on how a communication
is tailored, a good product can be either rejected for being feminine
or masculine. Meeting the perception of a wide range of customers is
a big challenge. The different social groups in a society would like
to be specifically targeted and motioned in product for it to access
them. Some of the barriers arise due to the physical and cultural
differences that can be found in the population targeted by a
commercial communication such as branding of a product. It is
important that the company communicator understand that commercial
communication barriers are interrelated and therefore one barrier in
the production of a commercial communication can easily create
another barrier and increase the difficulty in communication process
(Anyaegbunom, 2004).
Development of
responsive communication strategy is imperative in overcoming some or
all of the barriers that a company may encounter in commercial
communication. When done ethically and professionally, effective
commercial communication can position the company in the mind of the
customer for a long period of time. The messages should be as
persuasive as possible and done professionally to enhance the
professional image of the organization. This will lead to better
sales and employee satisfaction and profitable financial results. Any
company that put in place proper management initiatives for dealing
with commercial communication will not only be competitive in the
industry but will also be efficient since what is promised in the
advertisement and other branding mechanism used by the organization
is clearly what the organization is ready to provide. An effective
communication manager will therefore not only understand that
commercial communication is business but will always try to
understand barriers and come up with strategies to minimize their
effects on the products and the image of the company as a whole.
Branding has been
used by business entities to position an existing product or a new
product in the market strategically. When this is done effectively,
the firm stands to gain from long term loyalty of the customers. On
the other hand, a poor branding exercise will cause a firm a lot of
loses since the product will not be appealing to the target market.
The company’s public relations experts and the advertising agencies
need to invest a lot of time so that the final outcome outcome in
terms of commercial communication is relevant and is appealing to the
public. Achieving companies have done so by capturing the confidence
of the population targeted by a production, the exercise often start
with calculated launch of a new product and then followed by
aggressive marketing to explain the product feature and win the
customers from a competitor. This calls upon the management of
commercial communication not only to understand the communication
medium that will reach all the targeted customers but more
importantly, conduct research on the characteristic and purchasing
habits of these people. For example, for a product to be used by the
middle class who commonly read newspapers and magazines, the print
media is the most appropriate. On the other hand, the radio is been
found to be more successful in making commercial communication that
is to reach a more wide range of people of all classes and social
status
In the modern
competitive environment business can increasingly under pressure to
reach new markets and increase sales while at the same time
protecting its traditional customers. It is therefore tempting for
commercial communication departments to come up with ways of
remaining a float especially when under threat. The brand owner has
the ultimate responsibility of making sure the contracted public
relations agencies do a good job of branding but not contradicting
the codes of commercial communication. This is because, it is the
business that will lose out financially and further subjected to
injurious publicity when complaints arise against how a commercial
communication of a product was done. The public relations agencies
may also suffer bad publicity and lose clients from the firms who do
not want to suffer from law suits and adverse publicity. The
practitioners in the commercial communication should be therefore
discouraged from pushing the boundaries of the codes so much.
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