Communication is a complex process that involves encoding, transmitting, and decoding the message. Any communication process involves several elements with different roles that communication participants play and various types of messages. In general, participants play five types of roles in the communication process and five types of messages ranging from the sender’s original intended message and received message. This essay will provide an example of each of the elements of the communication process.
The primary element of the communication is the message itself; in marketing purposes, the intended message is the information that the marketer wants to convey to the target audience. The message could be geared towards satisfying customers’ expectations, such as providing the rationale for buying the product. For example, the initial message of Mars Inc. (sender) states that the Snickers bar could quickly satisfy the sense of hunger. Through the process of encoding, the advertising agency (encoder) changes the message into a short slogan (encoded message): you are not you when you are hungry.
Next, with the addition of visual components, the encoded message is spread by media (medium), such as newspaper and magazine ads, resulting in a new type of transmitted message. When the ad catches an individual’s eye, he could discuss the message and its short yet clear intent with one of his friends (decoder), engaging in the decoding process. Eventually, the decoded message reaches the consumer (receiver) and conveys the idea that in case of sudden hunger, one should buy a Snickers bar, as being hungry affects the regular way of thinking.
Lastly, the audience’s reaction presents the feedback to the message; in modern society, the reactions are often found in the online space on websites that specialize in publishing customers’ reviews of products. In this case, the researcher could look for the recent customer reviews; however, in some cases, the company might be interested in hiring an outside agency to research the influence of the marketing campaign. For example, the marketing agency (researcher) could conduct a series of interviews with consumers to define whether the marketing campaign received positive or negative feedback from the target audience.