The Communications Mix - Appendix 5

Communications is crucial to the success of any organisation. We need to use the different elements of the
communications mix to communicate our message, its value and any benefits to customers.

For Housing, the main elements that make up the communications mix include:

Advertising –General information of interest to the wider customer group(s).

Radio; Local papers (Guardian, The Post); Leaflets; Directories; Packaging; Posters; Magazines (including
Raising the Roof, My Merton, Xchange); Trade magazines (Inside Housing, Building); Brochures; Internet
(Merton web-site); Intranet

Direct Mail –Information to a specific audience.

Mailshots; E-mail; Letters; Texts

Direct Response - Designed to solicit a direct response, which is specific and quantifiable, direct from the
customer to Housing.

Questionnaires; Surveys; E-mail; Letters; Conference; Seminars; Workshops; Meetings

Word of Mouth –Communicating directly with individual and specific groups of customers

Personal communication (telephone, visits, interviews); Presentations; Meetings

Steps to develop a Communications Programme include:

A. Identify target audience B. Determine Communication Objectives

C. Set Communication Budget D. Decide on Suitable Time-frame
E. Design the Message F. Decide on Communication Mix and Allocate Budget
G. Carry out Communication Plan H. Measure and Analyse Results

Identifying the target audience

Who? Where? What do they require?

Research, local knowledge and understanding a particular customer group will help identify the relevant
communication method. You should have information on how large the intended audience is, where they are
located and an idea of their needs, attitudes and preferences, and the benefits they require from the
service/communication. This information will affect what is said, how it is said, when it is said and where it is
said in the communications mix.

The objectives of the communication must be:

realistic, attainable, attributable, measurable

They will be based on the desired response required from the audience.

Possible objectives for communication may be to:

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Communication Budget

This must be realistic: it must be affordable! It is very important to allocate the budget wisely; money spent on a
bad communication is worse than spending no money on communication.

You must also be able to justify this cost in your business plan.
Timeframe

A decision must be reached on the timeframe of the communication process. This will depend on the
specific objectives of the project, the medium used and the allocated budget. The timing of the initiative
is also important e.g. consulting too late in the process.

The message

What to say? How to say it? Where to say it?

The message and the medium used to convey that message will be affected by the type of project/service, the
cost, legislation, what else is happening, etc. Most importantly, it will be affected by the desired response and
the stage in the process that needs to be influenced.

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Attention Interest Desire Action Satisfaction

Ideally the message should get the attention of the customer and take them through
the stages until satisfaction reached. In practice few messages take a customer
through the whole process, but are pitched at a certain level that meets the required
objective.

For example, if the objective was to create awareness for the issue, the message should be designed to get the
attention of the customer (eg changes to Housing Benefit payments).

The message content should include a benefit, information, etc. that appeals to the audience. This appeal could
be: -

Rational - appeals to audience's self interest. Show benefits such as quality, economy, value, e.g. proposed
changes to a service.

Emotional - stir up a positive/negative emotion that will motivate action, e.g. Stock Transfer.

Moral - directed to the audience's sense of what is right, e.g. anti-social behaviour action; redirected budgets

The message format should be strong in order to catch the attention of the audience.
The message format depends on the communication medium used. For printed ads,
careful decision for headline illustration, colour etc. For personal selling, decision as
to choice of words, portfolio, dress, body language.

Deciding on the communication mix

Each element of the mix has a different communication capacity, is effective at different stages in the
communication process and we have a different level of control over each one. Therefore the decision for
choice of communication mix will depend upon:

Who the target audience is The agreed objectives

The timing of the communication The stage of the process
The complexity of the issue Legal restraints
Monetary restraints etc.

Measuring and Analysing Results

It is important to measure the effectiveness of each communication campaign. This should be done against the
objective(s).

Measuring and analysing the outcome of a specific interaction will help in the development of future
communications and in evaluating the best methods to use.
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