Communications Theory Essay Example For Students

Communications Theory Essay Communications is that what binds the world. Even though it is easy to give a simple answer when asked what communications exactly is, it is difficult to explain it so that it is understood clearly. There is a lot you need to consider with it. There are different areas concerning communications and very diverse functions in this area. Through this research report we will have a glimpse in the world of communications and with it more knowledge and understanding about it. Corporate communication exists of different fields, which together have the purpose to make an image and identity of a company and its product. Corporate communication is a management instrument that combines all forms of direct communication and gears them for one another. Reputation is very important. The first goal of corporate communication is to improve the reputation of a company. A corporate reputation is a cognitive representation of a companys ability to meet the expectations of its stakeholders. A company benefits from a favourable reputation by becoming the first choice of customers, investors, suppliers and employees. A corporate reputation creates shareholder value, because it contributes in and of itself to the companys competitive position. A company benefits from its reputation, because:It improves cash flows and profitability;It acts like a barrier that impedes rivalry;It provides a company an enhanced license to operate; andIt raises a protective shield against downturns and crisis. A company which is specialised in corporate communication is for example: The Corporate Communication Centre. C.C.C. is a joint initiative of the Erasmus University (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) and the business community. The centre tries to co-ordinate all thecommunication activities within a company and gives advice on communication policies and the organisation of communication methods. C.C.C. also offers training in corporate communication, executive courses and in-company courses. Companies as Shell, Unilever, Compaq Computers and Ernst Young have a good reputation. They are multinational enterprises. They need a good reputation to be the number one in their field. Especially Shell, because its product (fuel, gasoline) is bad for the environment. But by introducing Shell Pura, which is better for the environment, Shell is different from other gas stations. This is an example of corporate communication. Corporate communication is found in all sectors of society. Think of hospitals, travel organisations, commercial services industries, industrial companies, universities, air companies, telecom companies and so on. Every company needs a specific image to be successful in their field. A professional magazine like Focus is a very important magazine. Each year, chief executives of the USs largest companies anxiously wait for the publication of Focus Magazines survey of Americas Most Admired Companies, the leading arbiter of corporate reputations. To be working in the field of corporate communication you will need skills as: Basic communication skills (presenting, organising, researching);Strategic issues management (stakeholder theory, strategic issues, strategic management);Strategic information technology planning (improving the effectiveness/competitiveness);Strategic external communication (communication campaigns);Economical psychology (explaining the behaviour of external stakeholders);Public affairs: European Political Environment;Investor relations (trust between a firm and its stakeholders);Corporate branding: (a distinguishment of a company to its rivals with its customers); andProfessions in the field of corporate communication are for example: Communications consultant, Marketer. A company hires you to improve their reputation. You can work in a lot of different companies. Think of a hospital, a university or Shell. You can do research for companies, like the C.C.C. You can work as a teacher of corporate communication. Marketing communication is the act of communicating with the target group concerning a new innovation or a service in a convincing manner. It also determines that all constraints (cultural diversity, media limitations, legal problems, and so forth) are controlled so the right message is communicated to and received by prospective consumers. Marketing communications involves advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and public relations, the mutually reinforcing elements of the promotional mix. Once a product or service is developed to meet target markets needs and is properly distributed, indented customers must be informed of the product or service value and availability through advertising and promotion the ingredients in the marketing communication. Consumers respond in terms of their culture, lifestyle, feelings, value systems, attitudes, beliefs and perceptions. Because marketing communication or specifically advertisings function is to interpret or translate the need/want satisfying qualities of products or services in terms of consumer needs, wants, desire and aspirations, the emotional appeals, symbols, persuasive approaches, and other characteristics of an advertisement must coincide with cultural norms if it is to be effective. Marketing communication is very essential because it determine that all constraints (legal and cultural diversity, media limitations and so forth) are controlled so the right message is communicated and received by prospective consumers. Communication may fail for a variety of reasons: a message may not go through because of media inadequacy; the message may be received by prospective audience but may not be understood because of different cultural interpretations; or the message may reach the intended audience and may be understood but have no effect because the marketer did not correctly assess the needs and wants of the target market. The marketing communicator understands the communication process and uses it effectively to achieve the advertising and promotional goals and objectives of the company. Below is the communication process of the marketing communicatorEncoding message channel Noise Decoding Information source Receiver Feedback In the communication process, each of the seven identifiable segments can ultimately affect the accuracy of the process as illustrated, the process consist of:1.Encoding, information from the company to the target group. London8217s use of setting in 8220To Build a Fire8 EssayTo deliver good work as a visual communicator you have to be very creative. To succeed as a visual communicator you must have it in you, to put yourself into other people. If you cannot do this, you are not able to reach people, you want to reach them because you do not know what they want, need, think, etc. You cannot do the same thing twice in this field; you always have to come up with something different and refreshing. So you should always be in for a change and never stand still. A visual communicator also has to have a critical mind and the ability to solve problems. Knowledge how to transform information in a visual form is very important, as well as the ability to do that designing by using computers and other aids. We think that visual communication is very important for the field of communication. With visual communication you can reach a large audience as well as a small audience. You can also make it very clear for which group, for example the advertisements, are meant. People always like to be approached in a personal way. With visual communication they get this kind of approach very often. With this approach they can identify themselves with the product or service a company is offering. We think that the most important media (which is used on the field of visual communication) is nowadays the Internet. People can find really everything on it. There are lots of advertisements and things like little video clips and music to make a product or service more attractive and at the same time it chooses their target group, so people of this group will react on it. Also the television is still very important for this field. Almost everybody watches television everyday, so they feel that everything t hey see on it is very close and familiar to them, they get even more involved if they see something, which really affects them. Further we have got newspapers, billboards, displays etc. that also play a part in the field of visual communication. You can find visual communication in lots of sectors of society (if not all of them). Nowadays almost everybody is presenting himself or herself to the world. If we only look at the Internet, we will already discover pages of scouts, house agents, assistance organizations, pencil manufacturers, libraries, super markets etc. So everybody tries to present themselves and the easiest way is by using visual communication, because with this kind of communication everybody has got a great opportunity to express themselves and attract the right people. Visual communication is used by a lot of companies. They use it to communicate; present people information. There do exist a lot of communication professionals in this field. For example: Web designers, Graphic designers, Photographers, Filmmakers, Advertisement makers, Text Writers and Artists. Thanks to the technical revolution there are a lot more visual communication professionals now. The success of the Internet made a lot of companies re alize that this would be a new medium of visual communication and this medium would reach millions of people. So there is a large demand for visual communicators who are specialized on The Web. Such as: Web designers, Digital image-makers etc. Almost every company uses visual communication. A known company that operates in this sector is for example: Benneton. This is a clothing company that became famous with their shocking billboards without text with a photo of for example a man dying because he has A.I.D.S. These billboards shocked the world and everybody was talking about it. By using a photo, the company was communicating with people. The company was expressing their thoughts and ideas; it wanted that the rest of the world would take notice of this decease. The communication was successful, because it caused a response by the public. That was an example of traditional visual communication by using a photo; there are also a lot of known companies using new visual communications by using the Internet. For example, an Internet provider like World Online, uses a website to communicate with their target group. The website has to look good so it will attract people. If the website looks good it will give people the idea it is a professional and reliable organisation. On the Internet we found a couple of international organisations which were specialised on visual communication. For example; The International Visual Communication Organisation It is an organisation that keeps track of all the changes in the field and regularly holds meeting to inform all the visual communication specialists. There is also a professional journal that is called Visual Communications Quarterly. It is co-sponsored by the Viscom division (also a visual communication organisation) and the National Press Photographers. Bibliography:Resource list:The Media Institutewww.media.org/The Communication Research Centerwww.jou.ufl.edu/commres/crc.htmAssociation for education in journalism and Mass Communicationswww.facsnet.org.cgi-bin/New/facs/4149Media History Monographs: quarterly online journalwww.scripps.ohiou.edu/mediahistoryCED: the Premier Magazine of Broadband Communicationwww.cedmagazine.comwww.ivca.orgwww.viscom.apanet.orgwww.artic.eduwww.herron.iupui.eduThe Blake Agencyhttp://www.blakeagency.com/Anderson associateshttp://www.prexperts.com/public_relations_dir45.htmThe McRae Agencyhttp://www.mcraeagency.com/Who is in charge? Corporate communications or corporate marketing?A European survey amongst the top reputation leading companiesCentre for corporate communications, mem institute at the university of St. Gallen,Switzerland working paper, 1999 Markus Will, Malte Probst and Thomas SchmidtThe reputational Landscape1997 vol 1C. van Riel and C. Fombrun