Page 140 - International Marketing

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142 International Marketing BRILLIANT'S

these are persuasive in nature. These persuasive communications are
more commonly called ‘promotion’ and constitute one of the four P's of
the marketing mix. Thus, in context of marketing, promotion refers to the
applied communication used by marketers to exchange persuasive mes-
sages and information between the firm and its customers, both present
and prospective.
Therefore, a study of marketing communication is a study of the pro-
motion function of marketing. The sound management of the marketing
function is dependent on the effective management of its promotion func-
tion. With the growing competition in the market place as well as the
customers becoming better informed and more choosy, it is imperative
now that marketing communications of the right kind only, are made to
the right group of target buyers.
Communication

Communication may be defined as "the process of influencing oth-
ers’ behavior by sharing ideas, information or feelings with them."
The basic goal of communication is a common understanding of the
meaning of the information being transmitted. In other words, the receiver
of the information should understand the meaning intended by the sender
of the message. It is largely the responsibility of the sender to ensure that
this purpose is achieved.
Effective communication is particularly important in international mar-
keting because of the geographical and psychological distances that
seperate a firm from its intermediaries and customers. Although, market-
ing communications in international markets needs to be conducted with
care. The factors which are required to be considered in relation to inter-
national marketing consist of:
 The work ethic of employees and customers to be targeted by
media.
 Levels of literacy and the availability of education for the national
population.
 The similarity or diversity of cultures, beliefs, religion, morality
and values in the target nation.
Communication has been described as "who says what to whom
through which channels with what effect? There are two major parties
involved in the process i.e. sender (who) and the receiver (whom). The
tools that senders use to reach their entered receivers are called mes-
sages and channels (or media). Thus, communication occurs when:

 a sender transmits a message