State-of-the-Art Marketing Communication Planning Approaches

Customer attitudes and segmentation approaches represent one of the most realistic portrayals of the customer and the associated patterns of anticipated customer behavior available to the marketing professional. This approach involves custom designing the service-benefit purchase criteria which in turn serves as the basis for then identifying the key motivational drivers, attitudes and segments associated with specific product categories. These segments then provide a realistic framework from which customer needs, motivations and attitudes can then be applied to marketing efforts.

Service quality relates strongly to relationship marketing. By first identifying the core dimensions of service quality from the customer perspective, service quality then clearly defines customer service expectations within the context of key segments. This strategic information then becomes the basis for conclusions from research that focuses on service quality which can then provide the framework for more realistic, proactive relationship-driven marketing, which in turn enhances the credibility and effectiveness of image communications and promotions.

Once key attitudes and segments of a particular market have been identified, understood and reached, the objective is to identify the communication orientation that undergirds the ongoing stream of transactions between "buyer and seller." This concept is based on the analogy that the first sale usually serves to initiate a courtship relationship between buyer and seller. The marriage potentially follows. How well the marriage develops will depend on how well the relationship is managed by the seller. Our experience in this area enables us to provide the insights needed to strengthen client relationships.

Positioning is something of an in-house advertising term that communicates who you (the client) are in terms of competitive advantage compared with key competition. It is important to understand that product positioning involves a place that you (the client) occupy in the minds of customers and prospective customers. Positioning will serve to identify motivational distinctives and appeals that accentuate top of mind awareness in such a way to position the client against alternative approaches more positively and effectually, enabling the client to increase their level of business while inoculating yourself against competitive alternatives.

Marketing warfare (as well as "positioning" as popularized by Jack Trout and Al Ries in their best selling marketing books) addresses specific principles that should be applied to the approach to maximize your advantage and uniqueness in the marketplace. Many of the same research and strategy designs we use for positioning strategy development can be also employed for marketing warfare.