Various indicators of marketing communications efficiency and effectiveness have been already discussed several times in our journal. A lot of them are based on one unspoken assumption: the more the merrier. A greater number of visitors, viewers, and listeners of advertising and public relations, an ever-higher amount of people utilizing sales promotion, an increasing figure of recipients approached through direct communications could easily lead a company into a trap of excessive, meaningless or misleading communications. Off course, there are direct indicators of efficiency monitoring appropriate cost/benefit ratios which are often compared in relative terms to competitors or to the best practice in the industry. However, decreasing levels of efficiency become a problem as the amount of marketing clutter generated across sectors increases.
Everything in moderation. The unspoken goal to become a tall poppy of marketing communications leads companies and marketers to exercise greater efforts, to invest in additional advertising, create supplementary events, offer a greater variety of discounts or push for greater online visibility. Higher intensity of communications of almost every company suffocates the public space, makes every message less digestible and helps no-one. In some countries, marketing communications have been heavily regulated in certain areas (such as outdoor or product placement). In others, regulatory authorities and companies are yet to realize that corporate social responsibility assumes corporate accountability for appropriate aesthetic as well as ethical appearance in public domain, which includes marketing communications. Fewer, truthful, ethically sound and aesthetically appealing marketing communications are likely to be more effective and efficient with target audiences.
Rather than standing out in frequency of marketing communications, messages shall become unparalleled in meanings or emotions they carry across. Buzzwords such as sale, value, innovation, service, or free have become so utterly common with every other marketing claim that their impact is surely negligible. Customers use devices or applications, which inhibit display of ads. Some take part in the no-logo no-brand movement. Instead of creating appropriate awareness, some companies make an unsolicited uproar.
Customer satisfaction is often measured vis-à-vis customer expectations, which inherently increase with broader customer experience as well as with promises delivered through excessive or overly aspirational marketing communications. Regardless which media or tools have been used to establish a connection with prospective buyers and users, or whether emotional, functional or image-based elements have been communicated, satisfaction attributes may climb up the ladder. Together with the famous Kano satisfaction model, marketing communication could change the perception of otherwise indifferent factors to one-dimensional, attractive, or even must-be elements associated with a particular offering.
It could be a question for researchers and practitioners to ask: is there a tipping point in marketing communications? Excessive confrontation with marketing messages could insult or annoy potential buyers. Inflated marketing messages could spur orgasmic enthusiasm, which might be difficult to deliver. Becoming greater may well mean not being bigger but different.
Résumé
Příliš není nikdy dost: Existuje zlomový bod v marketingové komunikaci?
Marketingová komunikace je všudy přítomná a může se lehce stát pro podnik kontraproduktivní. Vyvolávání příliš vysokých zákaznických očekávání, nadměrné zatěžování jednoho komunikačního kanálu či selektivní používání jednoho komunikačního nástroje zřejmě spíše snižuje vnímání zákaznické zkušenosti a může se negativně odrazit na hodnocení zákaznické spokojenosti. Marketeři mohou mít tendenci nechat se strhnout davem a využívat obehrané prázdné fráze v marketingové komunikaci, namísto prapůvodního hledání cest a prostředků k diferenciaci. Četnost nebo nepřímý dopad marketingové komunikace nesmí být zaměňován s jejím obsahem a esteticky i eticky přiměřenou formou.
