Types of Communication

Defining Communication:

Communication means exchanging the information, ideas, signals, feelings, emotions or thoughts with the help of a particular medium i.e in writing or by speaking.
In the process of communication a sender encodes a message and sends across a particular medium. The receiver decodes the message which has been sent across the medium and sends an appropriate feedback with the help of the channel.

Depending on the type of the message that is to be sent the channel is selected. However the  choice of the channel creates an impact on the communication.

There are certain types of communications. Below mentioned are some.

Verbal Communication: 
In this particular form of communication the message is sent out verbally either by writing the message down or by word of mouth. The message while communicating should be kept simple and short. Because the person who is sending the message across knows what he wants to communicate but the receiver might have some different perception or attitude regarding the message conveyed. This can be a barrier in the communication. Verbal communication is further divided in to two categories.

• Oral Communication:   Oral communication means the message which is sent across through TV, radio, word of mouth, face to face conversation, telephonic conversation etc. The key advantage is that you can see the facial expression of the person and can judge whether the person is convinced by the message sent. Also oral communication can elicit a quick response.
• Written Communication: Written communication is across letters, reports, memos, email. Written signs and symbols are used particularly in the written communication. The precise the communication, the more polished the language better is the impact that shall be created due to written communication. The key advantage is you can edit the text before publishing it. However written communication can not elicit a quick response.

Non Verbal Communication:

Non verbal communication aims at sending the messages with the help of expressions, gestures, body language, tone of voice. Non verbal communication helps to interpret the message more accurately. Non Verbal communication is dependent on the appearance of the speaker, the gesture, the body language, the tone of voice, volume and the speech rate.

Communication based on cause:
Depending on the purpose the communication can be further divided into formal or non formal communication.

• Formal communication: When it comes to formal communication there are certain rules and protocols which are to be followed. The communication is formal and official in style. This usually occurs into official or corporate meetings.Usually slang or routine language is not used, precise and formal language is used for communication.

• Informal Communication:Informal communication usually happens in the casual talks in the routine social situations with friends or family. There are no barriers for the usage of the language. Slangs can be used in informal communication. Informal communication helps to express and also to form bonds with colleagues, friends.

Advertising Standard Council of India - ASCI

Advertising Standards Council of India is a self regulatory voluntary organization of the advertising industry. The role of ASCI and CCC (Consumer Complaint Council) is dealing with complaints received from the consumers and the industry, against the advertisements which are false or misleading and leads to unsafe practices or unfair to competition. This is where ASCI comes into picture.

ASCI has adopted the Code of Self regulation in advertising. It particularly means commitment of the advertisers to honest advertising and fair competition in the market place. It stands for the protection of the legitimate interests of the consumers and all concerned with advertising, which means the advertisers and the agencies who are responsible for the creation of advertisements.

Since the code is been adopted, the 3 things come into picture:

Fewer false and misleading claims, lesser unfair advertisements and increasing respectability.

The mission of ASCI is to maintain and enhance the publics confidence in advertising. ASCI seeks to ensure that advertisements confirm its Code for Self regulation. The advertisements need to be:

• Truthful and fair to competition and consumers
• The advertisement should fit in the norms of public decency
• The products which are likely to impact the minors or the ones which have hazardous impact should not be advertised. 

 ASCI encourages the public to complain about the advertisements which they find deceptive or do not fit in the decency standards or for any other reason. ASCI also ensures prompt and ample amount of consideration. After this the CCC takes at a look at the advertisement and then an appropriate decision is conveyed to the complainant and the advertiser.

If an ad is to be reviewed for its impact on the viewers/audience/readers then the advertiser is also informed duly about the complaint and the points raised in the complaint. Then depending on complaint the advertiser is also permitted to elicit a response on the substantial issues raised by the complainant.

Only then the CCC of the ASCI will be in a position to deliberate meaningfully on the issues involved and to arrive at a fair and objective conclusion, which would stand the scrutiny of all concerned with the right of freedom of expression and the freedom of consumers to choose the products and services made available to them in the market place.

A clearly copy of the copy or the ad under complaint with the full particulars of the name and date of publication or a print out of an ad is sent to the advertiser. The identity of the complainant is not revealed.

The code of the Advertising Practices:

To ensure the truthfulness and honesty of representations and claims made:

1. Advertisements must be truthful.
2. Where advertising claims are expressly stated to be based on or supported by independent research or assessment, the source and date of this should be indicated in the advertisement.
3. Ads should not contain any reference to any person without due permission
4. Ads shall not distort facts or mislead the consumer by the means of implications or omissions.
5. To ensure that ads are not offensive to generally accepted standard of public decency
6. To safeguard against the indiscriminate use of advertising products hazardous to society.
7. Ads addressed to children shall not contain anything whether in illustration or otherwise which might result into their physical or mental harm
8. Ads should not show children climbing or reaching to dangerous location to reach any product or for any other purpose.

Attributes of a good and distinctive copy

The topic of this blog is probably what your copy writing professor might deliver his lecture on, in his very first copy writing session.
This blog is about the key attributes and features your copy should incorporate to make it hard hitting.
Using a proper headline:
Its always said that a book is judged by its cover. In a similar way your headline is that eye catching point. The headline is where you can draw the attention of your target audience. There are few advertisements which I have found gripping because of their headlines.

For example,  the famous Hindu and TOI war where in Hindu came up with some brilliant ads. Some of them were as follows: Sense not sensational, Read more about political parties and not Page 3 parties. Crisp, concise and to the point that is how you should try keeping it.
 
Focus on your reader:
Though the main aim of the copy is to convey the product details or service offering but an equal importance has to be given to your reader. Using words like "you", "your" and establishes a connect with the reader which is beneficial rather than emphasizing on the product or how to use it steps.
 
Indulge your audience by asking them questions:
Open your ad with a question just to draw in the reader's attention. Once the attention seeking part is done and that the curiosity is created, the reader will then try searching the answer of the question in the headline and will find it the body copy.
 
Take a leap from the introduction to the pitch immediately.
Don't keep the audience lingering at the headline. Every body in the world is busy. Do not spend too much time warming up. If you lose the reader attention you bear the loss
 
Make use of fear appeal:
Fear appeal is the one which is most commonly used by the advertisers. Usually banks, mutual funds, insurance providers are the ones who make use of fear appeal. If it is a safety product then use fear appeal to your advantage. If its an offering of an opportunity use fear appeal such that the buyer will miss the chance of availing a fantastic offer

Make use of flattery words:
Flattery but of course to an extent. Every reader knows that a marketer will end up being flamboyant when it comes to his product.
 
Make use of facts and figures
When you mention key facts and figures in your headline or in your copy it adds credibility to your product or service. 

For Example, You might have seen the print ads or TV ads of Colgate. In Colgate Sensitive Pro Relief advertisement, they make it a point that they always include the fact that 9 out of 10 dentists prefer Colgate and also refer it to their acquaintances

My next blog will be regarding the appeals used in the advertising and are an important aspect of consumer behavior. So Stay Tuned!

ACS - Product packaging for international markets

Every BMMite is well versed with the 4P's of marketing. PRODUCT. PLACE. PRICE. PROMOTION.

These 4P's play a major part for the marketing of a particular product in the market. But another important aspect or rather the important P of marketing is PACKAGING.

Packaging and labeling, two important aspects which every manufacturer/service provider should consider while his product is going to hit the market.

Take a walk across the super market. Every super market holds about 45,000 products. And the ultimate goal of every manufacturer is that my product has to land in my potential consumers shopping basket.

To achieve this goal, what is required is a cutting edge packaging, with brilliant use of colors. Colors which will appeal to the potential customer and will turn him into the products consumer.

Since this is the era of globalization, the protocols of packaging are also to be followed at the global level. In this case what the marketer has to undertake is "glocalisation", which means going global keeping the local essence intact. There are several differences in the marketing environment across the countries.

Modification may be required in all the 3 levels of the packaging. The 3 levels of packaging are as follows:

Primary Pack: For example, a labeled tooth paste tube

Secondary Pack: For example, the labeled carton which is going to hold the tooth paste tube

Tertiary Pack: The box which contains a specific number of cartons

Labeling:

Labeling not only specifies the contents of a particular product, but is is also legally essential to mention the same in all the countries. The labeling protocols change from one country to another. The labels are to be modified into the local languages or it has to be multilingual if a particular product is a world brand.

Product names have to be specific. You cannot call a ketch up "Hot chilli" in Saudi Arabia. It needs to be named as Spiced Hot Chilli. Diet Coke a product of Coca Cola did not work in Brazil because the work Diet refers that the product has some medicinal qualities. Coke had to get special approvals and they had to alter the name to Coca Cola Light in countries like Germany, France due to legal restrictions. 

In some countries words like giant pack or jumbo pack are prohibited.

Package Size and Price:

Package size and price have a great importance where the income level is meager. In poor countries make the products in smaller size in small packages.
For example, Sunsilk launched in the concept of satches in India to reach the potential target group with lower income group.

Trade Mark:

I read this somewhere, a country had red circle as their trade mark which was not used in Asia because it drew references with the Japanese flag. A company had yellow flowers as their trade mark which was not used in Mexico where yellow flowers symbolize death. Hence care should be taken while choosing trademarks where in the trade marks don't have any other meaning across the globe.

Color:

Color is one more important factor which has to be considered while packaging a particular product. While in some country white symbolizes purity while in some it is associated with mourning.

Also one more factor has to be taken into consideration while packaging a particular product.The product has to be well protected in the packaging in all sorts of climatic conditions. Quality of the packaging also has to be considered. Japanese attitude about quality includes the packaging of the product. A poor packaged product conveys an impression of poor quality.

Container material preferences also alters across the globe, like the Americans consumer beer in cans where as Europeans prefer in glass bottles.


Hence it can be said that the success or the failure of a particular product depends on the understanding the cultural differences in terms of the factors which are essential for the packaging of the product.