MANAGING MASS COMMUNICATIONS

Mass communication is one of the most important means of communication. It helps in

exchange of information on a large scale. Managing it to extract maximum profits is essential
in todays cut-throat competitive world. It can be used for Advertising, sales promotions,
events and experiences, and to have better public relations.
For advertising, the 5Ms play an important role in effective communication. These are
Mission, Money, Message, Media, and Measurement. The mission corresponds to setting up
an objective whether to inform, persuade, remind, or reinforce. The second factor is Money
or budget. It helps in deciding the amount of money that needs to be invested in a particular
advertisement. The factors affecting the budget are stage in product life cycle, market share
and consumer base, competition and clutter, advertising frequency and product substantiality.
The true power in any communication remains in its message. It requires both art and science
to have an effective communication. For advertising, it needs to be generated and evaluated,
then developed and executed, but finally, it is reviewed for social responsibility. The message
must connect with the customers rationally and emotionally. How it is said is more important
than what is said. And most importantly, it should not overstep legal and social norms, or
offend the public on ethnic and racial grounds. The media to be used is decided on the factors
of reach, frequency and impact. It helps in finding the most cost effective means of delivering
the message to the targeted group. Reach is extremely essential when launching new
products, flanker brands, or going after undefined target market. Frequency is important
where there are strong competitors. Placing the advertisement is also crucial in determining
the cost effectiveness. It can be made in public places, point of purchase or product
placement. Apart from these, alternate media options, selection of media vehicles and media
timing and location needs to be considered. The effect of the advertisement can be measured
by its potential impact on awareness, knowledge or preference, and also its sales effect.
Sales promotion, is a key ingredient in marketing campaigns. It is designed to stimulate
quicker or greater purchase of the products or services by the customers. Sales promotion
objectives derive from the communication objective, which derive from basic marketing
objectives for the product. Consumer promotion uses tools like coupons, free trials, product
warranties, premiums etc. whereas the retailer promotion uses tools like price cuts, retail
coupons and premiums. Trade promotion use tools like price off, allowance and free goods
whereas sales promotion use tools like trade shows, conventions and contests.
Markets reports sponsor events to identify with a particular target market or lifestyle, to
increase salience of the company or product name, to create or reinforce perception of the key
brand image, to enhance the corporate image, to create experience and evoke feelings, to
express commitment to the community, to entertain key clients or reward key employees and
to permit merchandising. The event must meet the market objectives and communication
strategy defined for the brand. It must have sufficient awareness, possess the desired image
and be able to create the desired effects. Firms create their own events and experiences to
create consumer and media interest and involvement.

Public relations includes a variety of programmes to promote or protect a companys image

or individual products. They perform five functions: press relations, product publicity,
corporate communications, lobbying and counseling. Marketing public relations(MPR) plays
an important role in launching new products, repositioning mature products, building interest
in a product category, influencing specific target groups, defending products, and building a
favorable corporate image for the product. MPR can build awareness, credibility, enthusiasm,
and promotion. Some of the major tools in MPR are events, sponsorship, news, speeches etc.
The mass communication techniques and media, if managed properly can create an optimal
image for the brand. It holds the key to the message that needed to be delivered. If handled
properly, it can be communicated effectively, else can totally distort the true meaning of the
message. And with the growing technology and different media for mass communication, it is
needed to evaluate carefully before adopting a particular one.