Course work 3: communication plan Essay

Introduction It is extremely important to understand that companies around the world communicate with the world outside their realm in some capacity and these companies also have to communicate with forces and people within the companies as well. Fundamentally, what we are trying to say here is that just like people companies also want to talk to other companies and the public at large and the firms want to know what their general perception is in the minds of the people especially those who are considered their costumer base. A beginning point has to be related to what the company wants to achieve out of the communication plan or the talk between the company and outside stakeholders and other components of the society. This will depend on the vision and mission statement of the company. For example the case in point is the retail organization that is about to launch a new range of clothing line designed by a super model; now the mission statement must be such that it highlights what the company stands for and in very precise words readers should clearly know what are the believes of the company. An example of a mission statement for the retail store is: â€Å" We deliver high quality products for our customers; the product lines are trendy and hip this idealogy gives us the freedom to experiment with futuristic designs and ideas. We assure our customers style with sense. † (MissionStatements. com, n. d. ) The vision of a company like the retail firm is like a dream or a stretched mission which might be achieved or which the company envisages for the future so that it could become a great company. The vision leads to the mission statement and then we have the objectives and goals of the company which are followed by the development of strategy. The whole plan of how the company will communicate with the outside world begins with the vision and mission statement. Communication in the Business World Communication is a way of transmitting messages from the sender to the receiver. In a typical business setting senders use a particular medium to send the message which is ultimately received by the receiver. There is a possibility that the message might go through noise and other disturbances before getting to the final destination. In certain cases the communication process is impacted by noise because of the medium chosen by the sender. For internal business purposes i. e. within the organziation the people of the firm might use media such as oral or written but the selection depends on a number of important factors such as the length of the message, importance and legal signficance of the message and other factor such as the trust level between two employees who are communicating. All these and other factors play a critical role in determining which kind of media will be used. (Gelder, 2005) Just like the process that has been described for internal communication within the organization we see that firms talk to outside stakeholders and members of society as well. The communication with the outside public is many ways a reflection of how the firm’s staff communicate within their own company. This is because the culture of any organization greatly impacts its mind set towards how it will communicate with the outside world. The critical thing here is that firms believe in their way of doing things and therefore the communication plans are more or less known to be based on existing values and culture of the company. Therefore if the issues related to communication plans have to be discussed one must look at the way the culture of the organization is organized and how does the company communicate internally. Retail Organizations and Branding Retail firms are directly involved with costumers unlike manufacturing companies therefore retailers can have a greater impact on how to measure the performance of their advertisement and other promotional material that are directed at consumers. Branding is a crucial aspect when we talk about a high-end product line designed by a top model. One of the most common practices in the retail industry is that when superstars or super models launch product lines designed by them they tend to give their own name to these product lines. The advantages to such an approach include: instant recognition for the brand, people relate to the brand just like they relate to the artist or model, consumer base relates all the qualities and traits of the super model to the product lines. For instance if the super model that designed the clothing line is someone like Gisele Bundchen then people will attach traits such as funky, sexy, classy and trendy with the product line. (Keller, Lewi, 2008) Such a strategy has been successful for many brands such as JLO (Jennifer Lopez’s product line) and therefore we suggest such a strategy for the retail organization as well since we feel that it is important to distinguish this topline brand from the other offerings of the company. Some of the problems that might be faced when using such an approach is that the brand might loose that sense of innovation and style. Even though it is designed by a top model but that does not necessarily means that it would be of the highest quality therefore it is extremely important to maintain the quality of the product because ultimately that would be the deciding factor in repeat purchases or that urge in customers to come back next season and see the new collection. This product line must be branded based on some distinguishing feature. This is important as it will allow people to know what to expect from the product and what they will get from the product. All great brands have a tendency of focusing on one important factor for example when Google became successful it was only a search engine with no other prominent services; similarly Rolex is known for great watches which are for occassions and great moments in ones life because they are special watches (quality, life, style etc) Essentially the point is that the new product line must be distinguished on the lines of being cool, hip and trendy and absolutely new from all previous brands. The product line should be advertised in such a way that it seems as if it is the new cool thing in the clothing and lifestyle industry. Just look at how Levi’s was made a cultural icon for teenagers in a similar sense this brand should be advertised in a such a way toward rich and ambitious youngsters that it becomes a part of there daily lifestyle. Before any major advertisment campaign could begin it must be ensured that the target market is identified and the company decides whether the upper class or the middle class or even both will be targeted by this product line. Will there be differntiated product lines for both segments? We suggest that should not take place because it will confuse the brand concept; the diversification can be done later when the brand name is established with one target market. Once the target market has been decided upon the firm needs to plan the promotional strategy accordingly; the pricing strategy should also complement the promotional stand and the distrubution strategy should complete the project in such a way that the target audience receive maximum expousre to the product line.