Consumer’s e-signals Prism analysis: impact and implications for corporate communication strategy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s93.2014.11Keywords:
communication audit, marketing strategy, web marketing, word of mouth, social networks, prism analysisAbstract
Purpose of the paper: Based on a conceptual framework of the updated communication process analysis, this paper seeks to test and validate new requirements and tools for brand audits in online contexts (C-Radar and Prism Analysis Table).
Methodology: This study was realized through the analysis of textual discourse in several social media, adopting an automated sentiment software crawler which downloaded texts converted them into quantitative data. The sample was related to 50 global brands of eight industries by collecting information from 19236 messages and measuring three main variables: Brand Noise, Valence and Value.
Findings: The study empirically enriches the state of the art related to communication audit by including and analysing the external messages and stimuli of online contexts.
Limitation: Although we worked to reduce limitations, some biased errors remain due to the data collection software (misinterpretation of key words, coexistence of persons/slangs/common words similar to the brand name). Another limitation, timing of the one-shot observation, has been compensated by the large sample.
Managerial implication: Through this approach, firms will understand whether to integrate e-signals within companies’ communication strategies how to intervene (if needed), and how to influence the new stimuli message.
Originality of the paper: The research suggests a model for communication process analysis, including the main external consumers’ messages and the tracking and understanding of the valence and noise of these messages. In addition, it allows the evaluation of their impact on corporate communication strategies related to social network environments.
References
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CHATTERJEE P. (2001), “Online review: do consumers use them?”, Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 28, pp. 129-133.
CHEN Y., XIE J. (2008), “Online consumer review: word-of-mouth as a new element of marketing communication mix”, Management Science, vol. 54, n. 3, pp. 477-491.
CHERUBINI S. (1988), Marketing Audit, Utet, Torino.
CHEVALIER J., MAYZLIN D. (2006), “The Effect of Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews”, Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 43 (August), pp. 345-354.
CLARK T., MARTIN C.L. (1996), Customer-to-customer: The forgotten relationship in marketing, in Iacobucci D. (Ed. ), Networks in Marketing, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
CONFENTE I. (2011), “Word of Mouth in the tourism industry: an empirical investigation of Service experience”, Proceedings 14th Toulon-Verona/ICQSS Conference “Excellence in services” at the University of Alicante, Spain.
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HOGARD E., ELLIS R. (2006), “Evaluation and communication - Using a communication audit to evaluate organizational communication”, Evaluation review, vol. 30, n. 2, pp. 171-187.
HOLLENBECK CANDICE R., ZINKHAN G.M. (2010), “Anti-brand Communities, Negotiation of Brand Meaning, and the Learning Process: The Case of Wal-Mart”, Consumption, Markets & Culture, vol. 13, n. 3, pp. 325-345.
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KOZINETS R.V, HANDELMAN J.M. (2004), “Adversaries of Consumption: Consumer Movements, Activism, and Ideology”, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 31, n. 3, pp. 691-704.
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LEE S., HWANG T., LEE H.L. (2006), “Corporate blogging strategies of the Fortune 500 companies”, Management Decision, vol. 44, n. 3, pp. 315-334.
LIU Y. (2006),”Word of Mouth for Movies: Its Dynamics and Impact on Box Office Revenue”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 70 (July), pp. 74-89.
LOWE W. (2003), Content Analysis Software: A Review Technical Report for the Identity Project, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, Boston.
MARTIN C.L., PRANTER C.A. (1989), “Compatibility management: Customer-to-customer relationships in service environments”, The Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 3, n. 3, pp. 5-15.
MCDONALD M.H.B., LEPPARD J.W. (1991), The marketing audit: translating marketing theory into practice, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
MILLER T.W. (2005), Data and Text Mining: a business applications approach, Pearson, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
MOHR J.J., NEVIN J.R. (1990), “Communication strategies in marketing channels: A theoretical perspective”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 54, n. 4, pp. 36-51.
NOBLE C.H., SINHA R.K., KUMAR A. (2002),”Market orientation and alternative strategic orientations: A longitudinal assessment of performance implications”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 66, n. 4, pp. 25-39.
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SCHINDLER R.M., BICKART B. (2005), “Published word of mouth: Referable, consumer-generated information on the Internet”, Online consumer psychology: Understanding and influencing consumer behavior in the virtual world, pp. 35-61.
SEN S., LERMAN D. (2007), “Why are you telling me this? An examination into negative consumer reviews on the Web”, Journal of Interactive Marketing, vol. 21, n. 4, pp. 76-94.
SHANNON C.E. (1948), “A mathematical theory of communication”, Bell System Technical Journal, vol. 4, pp. 379-423.
SHANNON C.E., WEAVER W. (1949), The Mathematical Theory of Communication, University of Illinois Press, Trad. it., (1971) La Teoria Matematica della Comunicazione, Etas Kompass, Milano.
SIGNORI P. (2008), Visioni, percorsi e verifiche nei controlli manageriali. Applicazioni al marketing e alla comunicazione, McGraw-Hill, Milano.
SIGNORI P., CONFENTE I. (2011), “L’impatto delle comunità virtuali sul processo di comunicazione aziendale. Nuovi strumenti per il controllo”, Atti X International Marketing Trends Conference, ESCP, Paris.
STERN M.E. (1972), La programmazione del marketing, Isedi, Milano.
TRUSOV M., BUCKLIN R.E., PAUWELS K. (2009), “Effects of word-of-mouth versus traditional marketing: findings from an internet social networking site”, Journal of marketing, vol. 73, pp. 90-102.
VESCOVI T. (2008), “I clienti invadenti e il marketing non convenzionale”, Micro&Macro Marketing, vol. 17, n. 3, pp. 449-454.
VESCOVI T. (2009), “Invading customers and business governance”, Sinergie Quaderni, n. 16, pp. 67-83.
WEINER N. (1948), Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, Wiley, New York.
WEINER N. (1986), Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society, Da Capo Press, Boston.
WILSON A. (1982), Marketing Audit Checklist, McGraw Hill, London.
WILSON A. (2002), The Marketing Audit textbook, Koogan Page, London.
WIPPERFURTH A. (2005), Brand Hijack: Marketing Without Marketing, New York, NY:Portfolio, in Addis M., Podestà S. (2005), “Long life to marketing research: a postmodern view”, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 39, n. 3-4, pp. 386-412.
ARNOULD E.J., PRICE L.L. (1993), “River magic: Extraordinary experience and the extended service encounter”, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 20, pp. 24-45.
BELK R. (2010), “Sharing”, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 36, n. 5, pp. 715-734.
BETTENCOURT L. (1997), “Customer voluntary performance: Customers as partners in service delivery”, Journal of Retailing, vol. 73, n. 3, pp. 383-407.
BRADDOCK R. (1958), “An extension of Lasswell formula”, Journal of Communication vol. 8, n. 2, pp. 88-93
BROWNLIE D.T. (1993), “The Marketing Audit: A Metrology and Explanation”, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, vol. 11, n. 1.
BUTTLE F. (1998), “Word of mouth: understanding and managing referral marketing”, Journal of strategic marketing, vol. 6, n.3, pp. 241-254.
CAMUS B. (1988), Audit marketing, Les éditions d’organisation, Paris.
CHATTERJEE P. (2001), “Online review: do consumers use them?”, Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 28, pp. 129-133.
CHEN Y., XIE J. (2008), “Online consumer review: word-of-mouth as a new element of marketing communication mix”, Management Science, vol. 54, n. 3, pp. 477-491.
CHERUBINI S. (1988), Marketing Audit, Utet, Torino.
CHEVALIER J., MAYZLIN D. (2006), “The Effect of Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews”, Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 43 (August), pp. 345-354.
CLARK T., MARTIN C.L. (1996), Customer-to-customer: The forgotten relationship in marketing, in Iacobucci D. (Ed. ), Networks in Marketing, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
CONFENTE I. (2011), “Word of Mouth in the tourism industry: an empirical investigation of Service experience”, Proceedings 14th Toulon-Verona/ICQSS Conference “Excellence in services” at the University of Alicante, Spain.
CONFENTE I. (2012), Il Word of Mouth: l'evoluzione del comportamento del consumatore nell'era digitale, Giuffrè Editore, Milano.
COVA B., DALLI D. (2009) “Working Consumers: The Next Step in Marketing Theory?”, Marketing Theory, vol. 9, n. 3, pp. 315-339.
CUGINI A., WILSON R.M.S. (2005), Marketing e controllo, Egea, Milano.
DE BRUYN A., LILIEN G.L. (2008), “A Multi-Stage Model of Word of Mouth Through Viral Marketing,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, vol. 25, n. 3, pp. 143-225.
DE CHIARA A. (2009), “Knowledge co-creation in online stakeholders relationships”, Sinergie Quaderni, n. 6, pp. 169-192.
DEIGHTON J. (2002), “How snapple got its juice back”, Harvard Business Review, vol. 8, n. 1, pp. 47-53.
DELLAROCAS C. (2003), “The Digitization of Word of Mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms”, Management Science, vol. 49, n. 10, pp. 1401-1424.
DELLAROCAS, C. (2006), “Strategic manipulation of internet opinion forums: implications for consumers and firms”, Management Science, vol. 52, n. 10, pp. 1577-1593.
FOGG C.D. (1985), Diagnostic Marketing: Finding and Fixing Critical Problems, Addison Wesley Publishing Co., Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
FOULGER D. (2004), Models of Communication Process, http://davis.foulger.info/research/unifiedModelOfComunication.htm, February 25, Brooklyn College, CUNY.
FOURNIER S. (1999), “Consumers and their brands: developing relationship theory in consumer research”, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 24, pp. 343-373.
GODES D., MAYZLIN D. (2004), “Using Online Conversations to Study Word-of-Mouth Communication”, Marketing Science, vol. 23, n. 4, p. 545-560.
GOLDHABER G., KRIVONOS P. (1977), “The ICA Communication Audit: Process, status, critique”. The Journal of Business Communication, vol. 15, n. 1, pp. 41-55.
GOLDSMITH R.E., HOROWITZ D. (2006), “Measuring motivations for online opinion seeking”, Journal of Interactive Advertising, vol. 6, n. 2, pp. 1-16.
GROVE S.J., FISK R.P. (1997), “The impact of other customers on service experiences: A critical incident examination of ‘getting along’”, Journal of Retailing, vol. 73, n. 1, pp. 63-86.
HARGIE O., TOURISH D. (2000), Handbook of communication audits for Organizations, Routledge, London.
HENNIG-THURAU T., GWINNER K.P., WALSH G., GREMLER D.D. (2004), “Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: what motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the internet?”, Journal of interactive marketing, vol. 18, n. 1, pp. 38-52.
HOGARD E., ELLIS R. (2006), “Evaluation and communication - Using a communication audit to evaluate organizational communication”, Evaluation review, vol. 30, n. 2, pp. 171-187.
HOLLENBECK CANDICE R., ZINKHAN G.M. (2010), “Anti-brand Communities, Negotiation of Brand Meaning, and the Learning Process: The Case of Wal-Mart”, Consumption, Markets & Culture, vol. 13, n. 3, pp. 325-345.
HOLT D.B. (2004) How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding, Cambridge MA: HBS Press. in: Cova B., Pace S., (2006), Brand community of convenience products: new forms of customer empowerment- the case of “my Nutella the community, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 40, n. 9, pp. 1087-1105.
HU S.M., WINER R.S., ASSAEL H., CHEN X. (2012), “An Empirical Study of Word-of-Mouth Generation and Consumption”, Marketing Science , vol. 31, n. 6, pp. 952-963.
KOTLER P., GREGOR W., RODGERS W.H. (1977), “The Marketing Audit Comes of Age”, Sloan Management Review, vol. 18, n. 2, pp. 25-43.
KOZINETS R.V, HANDELMAN J.M. (2004), “Adversaries of Consumption: Consumer Movements, Activism, and Ideology”, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 31, n. 3, pp. 691-704.
KOZINETS R.V., HANDELMAN J.M., LEE M.S.W. (2010),”Don’t Read This; or, Who Cares What the Hell Anti-Consumption Is, Anyways?”, Consumption Markets & Culture, vol. 13, n. 3, pp. 225-233.
LASSWELL H.D. (1948), “The Structure and Function of Communication Society”, in Bryson L., The Communication of Ideas, Harper, New York.
LAU G.T., NG S. (2001),”Individual and situational factors influencing negative word of mouth behaviour”, Canadian Journal of Administrative sciences, vol. 18, n. 3, pp. 163-178.
LEE S., HWANG T., LEE H.L. (2006), “Corporate blogging strategies of the Fortune 500 companies”, Management Decision, vol. 44, n. 3, pp. 315-334.
LIU Y. (2006),”Word of Mouth for Movies: Its Dynamics and Impact on Box Office Revenue”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 70 (July), pp. 74-89.
LOWE W. (2003), Content Analysis Software: A Review Technical Report for the Identity Project, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, Boston.
MARTIN C.L., PRANTER C.A. (1989), “Compatibility management: Customer-to-customer relationships in service environments”, The Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 3, n. 3, pp. 5-15.
MCDONALD M.H.B., LEPPARD J.W. (1991), The marketing audit: translating marketing theory into practice, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
MILLER T.W. (2005), Data and Text Mining: a business applications approach, Pearson, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
MOHR J.J., NEVIN J.R. (1990), “Communication strategies in marketing channels: A theoretical perspective”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 54, n. 4, pp. 36-51.
NOBLE C.H., SINHA R.K., KUMAR A. (2002),”Market orientation and alternative strategic orientations: A longitudinal assessment of performance implications”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 66, n. 4, pp. 25-39.
O’GUINN T.C., MUNIZ A.M. Jr. (2005),”Communal consumption and the brand”, in Mick D.G., Ratneshwar S., Consumption: Frontiers of Research on Consumer Motives, Routledge, London, pp. 252-272.
OXENFELDT A.R. (1959), “The Marketing Audit: Its Nature, Purposes and Problems, Analyzing and Improving Marketing Performance”, American Management Association Report, vol. 32, p. 25.
PRAHALAD C.K., RAMASWAMY V. (2000),”Co-opting customer competence”, Harvard Business Review, vol. 78, n. 1, pp. 79-88.
SCHIFFMAN L.G., KANUK L.L. (1995), “Consumer Behaviour, 9th Ed. NJ: Upper Saddle River”, Prentice Hall, in Brown J., Broderick A.J., Lee N. (2007), “Word of Mouth communication within online communities: conceptualizing the online social network”, Journal of Interactive Marketing, vol. 21, n. 3, pp. 2-20.
SCHINDLER R.M., BICKART B. (2005), “Published word of mouth: Referable, consumer-generated information on the Internet”, Online consumer psychology: Understanding and influencing consumer behavior in the virtual world, pp. 35-61.
SEN S., LERMAN D. (2007), “Why are you telling me this? An examination into negative consumer reviews on the Web”, Journal of Interactive Marketing, vol. 21, n. 4, pp. 76-94.
SHANNON C.E. (1948), “A mathematical theory of communication”, Bell System Technical Journal, vol. 4, pp. 379-423.
SHANNON C.E., WEAVER W. (1949), The Mathematical Theory of Communication, University of Illinois Press, Trad. it., (1971) La Teoria Matematica della Comunicazione, Etas Kompass, Milano.
SIGNORI P. (2008), Visioni, percorsi e verifiche nei controlli manageriali. Applicazioni al marketing e alla comunicazione, McGraw-Hill, Milano.
SIGNORI P., CONFENTE I. (2011), “L’impatto delle comunità virtuali sul processo di comunicazione aziendale. Nuovi strumenti per il controllo”, Atti X International Marketing Trends Conference, ESCP, Paris.
STERN M.E. (1972), La programmazione del marketing, Isedi, Milano.
TRUSOV M., BUCKLIN R.E., PAUWELS K. (2009), “Effects of word-of-mouth versus traditional marketing: findings from an internet social networking site”, Journal of marketing, vol. 73, pp. 90-102.
VESCOVI T. (2008), “I clienti invadenti e il marketing non convenzionale”, Micro&Macro Marketing, vol. 17, n. 3, pp. 449-454.
VESCOVI T. (2009), “Invading customers and business governance”, Sinergie Quaderni, n. 16, pp. 67-83.
WEINER N. (1948), Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, Wiley, New York.
WEINER N. (1986), Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society, Da Capo Press, Boston.
WILSON A. (1982), Marketing Audit Checklist, McGraw Hill, London.
WILSON A. (2002), The Marketing Audit textbook, Koogan Page, London.
WIPPERFURTH A. (2005), Brand Hijack: Marketing Without Marketing, New York, NY:Portfolio, in Addis M., Podestà S. (2005), “Long life to marketing research: a postmodern view”, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 39, n. 3-4, pp. 386-412.
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2018-10-28
