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theory emphasised product and price aspects of communication, relational theory infl uenced
marketing in terms of the move towards customer relationship management (CRM) and the
need for deeper and more connective relationships with customers as being the focus of
communications. The resource based view of the fi rm argues that sustainable competitive
advantage can only be achieved when an organization utilizes all its resources. Hughes and Fill
argue that the move to digital marketing has impacted on all promotional media, but the ability
of organizations to collect and utilize vast amounts of customer information has allowed
them to establish truly connective communications (dialogues) and to customize messages
accordingly using direct media channels. This, they argue, is having an impact on the types of
messages fi rms generate, that recognize the shift in power balance typical of the resource based
perspective. Where once marketing communications used to be largely about creating messages
for a passive audience, where active involvement for consumers was equated with a decision
either to notice or ignore an advertisement, 'the once passive audience has been unshackled and
empowered by technology' (Smith and Zook 2011: 6).
Communications theories
Fundamental to research are the theories on which understanding are based. These provide the
building blocks, or frameworks for the co-ordinated and systematic investigation of phenomena.
Marketing communications is no different in this respect. Various scholars have contributed to,
and developed our understanding of the communication process, the earliest conceptualizations
developed one-way 'transmission models' which depicted the transmission of messages from a
source, via specifi c channels to a receiver (Shannon and Weaver 1962). This simple model has
subsequently been refi ned and developed to refl ect the social context in which communications
take place along with the infl uence of specifi c individuals on the communications process, with
each re-iteration aiming to depict a more realistic depiction of how communications works.
More recently, the role of the consumer as a 'passive receiver' of marketing communications
has begun to be questioned. The traditional models have therefore been extended to refl ect
the two-way or interactive communications between consumers and companies and to
incorporate the concept of 'inbound marketing', whereby social media brings customers'
conversations to the organization (Steenburgh, Avery and Naseem 2010). These models also
acknowledge the interaction between customers within communication networks facilitated by
social media (see Pendleton, Lundstrom and Dixit 2012, for a full discussion).
Similarly, fundamental to all marketing communications is an understanding of the target
market. Theoretical ideas borrowed from psychology, sociology, social psychology, economics
and cultural anthropology have contributed to the development of frameworks and models
which attempt to depict complexities of consumer buyer behaviour and to help marketers
understand how consumers respond to marketing communication messages. For example,
various linear or hierarchical models have been produced to explain how communications
work on consumers through the stages of the decision process, from awareness, evaluation and
purchase. These models are useful to assist with the planning of tools and media needed to
design and deliver appropriate communications with consumers at each stage of the process.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty and Cacioppo 1983) is a further development of
linear models. However, it recognizes both rational and emotional responses from consumers
and different levels of involvement with products and hence a need for marketers to provide
different types of communication dependent upon the degree of cognitive processing expected.
Other scholars point to a need to understand the various personal variables (i.e. beliefs, attitudes,
motivations, perceptions and so on) which affect responses to communications whilst an
