Business message material. The communicator must develop a strong format for the message. In print advertising, the communicator must decide on the title, wording, illustrations, and color.
If the message is delivered via radio, then the communicator must carefully choose the words, sound quality (speech rate, rhythm, pitch, articulation), and vocalization (pauses, breaths, breaths).
The voice of the person promoting a used car has to be different from the voice advertising a new Cadillac. If the message is conveyed via television or in person, then all of these elements plus body language (nonverbal cues) must be planned.
The presenter must pay attention to facial expressions, gestures, clothing, posture and hair style. If the message is conveyed through the product or its packaging, the communicator must pay attention to color, texture, aroma, size and shape.
1. Color plays an important communication role
in food preferences. When the women were asked to try four cups of coffee placed beside the brown, blue, red, and yellow containers (the coffees were all the same, but the women didn’t know it).
75% felt that the coffee next to the brown container was very strong and almost 85% stated that the coffee next to the red container was the richest coffee.
Most people feel that the coffee next to the blue container is smooth coffee and the coffee next to the yellow container is weak coffee.
2. Message Source Messages
delivered by interesting or well-known sources will attract more attention and be easier to remember. Advertisers often use famous people as advertising models, such as Michael Jordan for Nike, Candice Bergen for Sprint, and Cindy Crawford for Revlon.
Using famous people is effective if they can represent the main product attributes. But just as important is the credibility of the advertising model. Messages delivered by highly trusted sources will be more persuasive.
Drug companies want doctors to testify about the benefits of their products because doctors have a lot of credibility.
Those fighting against drug abuse will use ex-drug users to warn students about the dangers of drugs because ex-addicts have more credibility than teaching staff.
3. Factors underlying source credibility
What factors underlie source credibility? The three most frequently identified factors are expertise, trustworthiness and likability. Expertise is the special knowledge possessed by the communicator to support the message he conveys.
Doctors, scientists, and professors rank highly in their respective fields. Trustworthiness relates to the perceived level of objectivity and honesty of the source of the message.
Friends are more trusted than strangers or salespeople, and people who are not paid to recommend a product are perceived as more trustworthy than people who are paid. Likeability shows the attractiveness of the source in the eyes of customers.
Traits such as candid, humorous, and candid make the source preferable. The most trusted source is someone who has the highest rating on all three of these criteria.
4. Positive attitude towards sources and messages
If a person has a positive attitude towards a source and a message, or a negative attitude towards both, then there is what is called a state of congruence.
What would happen if someone had one attitude toward the source and the opposite attitude toward the message? For example, a housewife hears that a famous person she likes is promoting a brand she doesn’t like.
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Osgood and Tannenbaum stated that a change in attitude would occur in the direction of increasing the amount of congruency between the two evaluations. The housewife will either respect the famous person a little less or a little more respect the brand.
If he finds that the same famous person is promoting another brand he doesn’t like, then he will end up having a negative view of that famous person and still maintain a negative attitude towards that brand.
The principle of congruence states that a communicator can use his good image to reduce negative attitudes toward a brand but in the process the communicator may lose respect from his audience.
