Modern Marketing Communications

Book excerpt: Marketing communications is a subject which has become popular in both marketing and public relations circles, but sometimes with different parameters. There are those who prefer to confine marketing communications to promotional activities, which is mostly an academic point of view, and there are those who see the subject in broader terms, embracing every form of communication used in marketing, which is how the subject is practised in the business world. While the author has long experience as a teacher and examiner, he also continues to be a professional practitioner. Consequently, the book aims to serve those concerned with both the academic and the professional in terpreta tions of marketing comm unica tions. I t is of course hoped that those who adopt the academic approach to the subject will eventually acknowledge that there is more to marketing communi cations than advertising, sales promotion, selling, marketing research and public relations. It is also necessary to realise that public relations embraces much more than the 'publicity' in the 4Ps promotion box. Without wishing to be contentious, this broad approach is proposed so that communications of all kinds throughout the marketing strategy can have maximum effect. Very little has been published on this subject, and the book is therefore a pioneer attempt to establish the practical parameters of modern marketing communications. There are so many broad and narrow interpretations of marketing communications, but it is hoped that this book will be useful to teachers, students and practitioners of the subject.