Explain How Marketing Communications Can Be Used to Change Customers' Attitudes and Influence Customers' Behaviour

Explain how Marketing Communications can be used to change customers' attitudes and influence customers' behaviour

The author in this essay will explain how Marketing Communications can be used to change customers' attitudes and influence customers' behaviour. There are different marketing tools that are used in this and they can create different responses from the customers being attempted to target.

The author in this essay will be looking at answering the question by splitting it into three parts. The first part that will be discussed is the information process in terms of how the information is understood. In this will be using McGuire's model and the Howard Sheth model to analyse the process that is needed to go through during this stage The second part of the essay will discuss how the customers' attitude will form and how they will change from the information process. In this part looking at the model of AIDA will help to explain attitude formation stage for a customer. And the third part will be how it is linked to consumer behaviour and what response will occur from the change in attitude.

Once these parts have been discussed a summary will be devised to conclude the basis of the essay.

The first thing that needs to be established in this essay is a definition of marketing communication. Marketing communications is defined by Egan (2007) as ‘the means by which a supplier of goods, services, values and/or ideas represent themselves to their target audience with the goal of stimulating dialogue leading to better commercial or other relationships.'

From this definition we can see that marketing communications is simply a way of talking to your intended target market, being able to communicate with them properly to bring a stronger relationship between the intended target and themselves in order that information can be passed to them properly. This remains the overriding definition for it and therefore is necessary to explain to understand the stages that come under it.

The first stage is information processing. Information processing is described by Pickton and Broderick (2001) as ‘the stages of thought that the individual goes through in order to convert incoming stimuli into useful knowledge.' This is in relation to how a person will receive information, whichever way it is presented whether it is visual or audible, and turn that message into something useable or to gain the relevant response from the individual or group intended for. They go on to say that it is about ‘translating the content of communications into relevant concepts within the individual's experience'

This is further supported by Fill (2009) who says that ‘Messages need to be targeted at the right audience, be capable of gaining attention, be understandable, relevant and acceptable.' What this equates to is the message that it being transported across needs to be able to be understood and comprehendible.

Information processing is imperative in order to create and embed a message into the mind of the consumer. This is supported by McDonald and Wilson (2011) who say that information processing is vital in being able to reach its customers; this is because in this stage you need to fulfil the requirements so it is understood and create the right framework with the messages audience.

The importance of how customers process their information is very important in marketing communication to effectively reach their target audience and to achieve as well the widest impact in terms of who you want to reach but also with the understanding of the message that is trying to be put across, whether it be through a visual aid such as T.V. advertising or even flyers or through audible aids. Bettman (1979) suggests a big issue in ‘how do consumers process their messages?' This promotes the need to fully understand the information process, with regards to this process there are several information processing models, which help with answering this specific question.

One of those information processing models is by McGuire (1976). McGuire suggests that there are 5 stages of thought which will have a bearing on the customer in how that information is processed. Those stages are exposure suggesting the customer must be close to the message, attention so the customer is aware of the message and has the ability to process it, comprehension in a need to be able to interpret the meaning of the message, acceptance or persuasion where the message needs to be consumed within the beliefs of the customer, or if those beliefs aren't shared to change their perceptions to suit it and retention so the message stays in the customers memory.

This explanation of information processing in McGuire's model is talked about by Fraser