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A commonality shared by all elements of the promotional mix is that their function is to communicate. Thus, it is important that advertising and promotional planners have an understanding of the communication process.

Communication has been variously defined as the “passing of information,” the “exchange of ideas,” or the “process of establishing a commonness or oneness of thought between a sender and a receiver.”

THE COMMUNICATIONS PROCESS

Source - the sender or source of a communication is the person or organisation
who has information to share with another person or group.
   
Encoding is the process of putting together thoughts, ideas and information into a symbolic form to communicate a message. The sender’s goal is to encode the message in such a manner so as to ensure that the receiver will understand it.

Message - the encoding process leads to the development of a message that contains the information or meaning the source or sender hopes to convey. Messages can take a variety of forms and may include symbolic forms or signs.
 
Channel - the channel is the method or medium by which the communication travels from source or sender to receiver. At the broadest level, channels of communication exist as two types:

•     Personal Channels

•     Non-personal channels

Receiver - the receiver is the person(s) with whom the sender shares thoughts or
information. Receivers are generally viewed as the consumers in the target audience
targeted by the firm’s marketing and promotional programme.

Decoding is the process of transforming and interpreting the sender’s message back
into thought and is heavily influenced by the receiver’s frame of reference or field of
experience. 

Noise - throughout the communications process the message is subject to noise
which refers to factors that can distort or interfere with adequate reception or
comprehension. Noise can occur during the encoding, transmission, or decoding of a
message. 

Response - response refers to the reaction the receiver has after seeing, hearing
and/or reading the message. These responses can range from non-observable
actions such as storing information in memory to taking immediate actions such as
ordering a product seen in a direct response ad.

Feedback is the part of the receiver’s response that is communicated back to the
sender and takes a variety of forms. Feedback provides the sender with a way of
monitoring how the message is being decoded and received by the target audience.

An important aspect of developing effective communication involves having an understanding of the response process the receiver may go through and how the promotional efforts of the market might influence this process. 

Traditional Response Hierarchy Models
 
The hierarchy models are useful to promotional planners from several perspectives.

• They delineate the series of steps or stages potential purchasers often must be taken through to move them from a state of no or little awareness to the point where they are ready to purchase.
•   The hierarchy models can also be useful as “intermediate” measures of communication effectiveness. Knowing where potential buyers are with respect to the various stages of the hierarchy helps the marketers know the specific communication task that must be performed.