The scope of marketing communications

1.1 The communication process that applies to advertising and promotion.
Kotler's communication model and how it is relevant to marketing communications
Communication and promotion are among the most fundamental skills that marketers should have. In essence, communication can happen whether planned or not for example, a salesperson’s attire can communicate, an organization’s offices can communicate and also, the pricing catalogue usually communicates building an impression to the customer. According to Kotler’s communication model, a company ought to create this impression and adopt strategies that deliver their brand to as many as possible audiences if the company is to remain competitive in the market (D’Aveni and Gunther, 1995).
On the other hand, promotion is a constituent of communication which strives to deliver message that capture the target audiences’ awareness, interest and stimulate them to purchase a company’s products and/or services. In achieving this, the Kotler’s communication model suggests modes like advertising, sales promotion, sales people and public relations through which a company will capture the customer’s attention and interest (D’Aveni and Gunther, 1995).

The Kotler’s Communication Model (D’Aveni and Gunther, 1995)
The role of promotion is primarily to create attention. According to Kotler’s communication model, if a promotion technique does not achieve this then the company should go back to the drawing board (D’Aveni and Gunther, 1995). There is also, a need for marketers to research on the patterns of allocation of attention time by the target market in order to reach as many people as possible. Among the ways marketers use to create consumer attention are through employment of high-profile personalities like footballers, movie stars or athletes in their ads, free offers, use of shocking stories or statements.
The issue of effectiveness is also, very crucial in communication and promotion. The ultimate target of promotion is to get people to buy. There is a notable difference between creating attention, sustaining the attention and triggering the action of purchasing that commodity the company is offering. Any communication and promotion strategy that a company employs should be effective in terms of getting the target population to buy the product or service.

The consumer buying decision-making process
These are the steps through which a buyer passes regarding a potential transaction before, during and after buying the product or service. Henderson, John and Paul (2008) argue that consumer buying decision making process is composed of five steps as indicated in the diagram below:

Adopted from (Henderson, John and Paul, 2008:376)
This model is extremely crucial for anyone who is preparing to purchase. It is also, important to the marketers since it will assist them analyse the whole buying process and not the purchase decision alone therefore, they will adequately prepare to influence the choice of potential buyers (Gardner and Martinko, 2006).
The process of buying usually begins with the buyer recognizing the problem or need that is to be satisfied (for example, i am hungry) or responding to a marketing stimulus (for example, being attracted to take coffee as you pass buy Starbucks because of the aroma of coffee muffins). The second step is search for information. If the need is very strong and the service or product that can satisfy it is near then the decision to buy will be immediate. There are a variety of sources of information for the customer; Personal sources that include family or friends Commercial sources that include salespeople, adverts, packaging Public sources like the mass media, consumer organizations Experimental sources like having used the product, physical examination of the product
The choice of the source of information varies depending on the product or service and the customer. Marketing