Elements of Communication

DECODING THE NINE ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION

Communication is an essential part of people’s lives. Both in verbal and written form, it serves a very important purpose for us. Whether it is in personal or professional lives, people cannot manage without communication. Effective communication is highly crucial in people’s professional lives. People also need good communication skills in their jobs to be effective. It is also critical to be effective at communication in the field of marketing because this function depends heavily on effective communication.

We come across various forms of communication on a daily basis. Sometimes we communicate with our friends, family or colleagues. However, we also come across various other forms of communication that targets a larger audience like advertisements and promotions. Each form of communication tries to achieve its purpose effectively.

There are nine critical elements of communication. Understanding these communication elements helps people remove obstacles to effective communication and acquire good communication skills.

In this post, we are going to discuss the nine critical elements of communication and the role that each plays in making communication effective. It is the digital era and a lot of communication happens digitally through digital tools like blogs, social media channels, email, messenger, whatsapp etc. However, even if communicating using a digital medium it is important to keep these elements and especially the receiver or the audience in mind to be effective,

Sender:

It is the person from whom communication begins or the initiator. For example, if you are communicating with your manager via email, you are the sender. A sender can be a person like you and me or it can be an organization. A large company laying an advertisement and targeting millions of its consumers is also a sender since it is communicating or sending a message to its audience. A teacher using notes to communicate with his class is also a sender. A company like Coca Cola that lays an advertisement on a social media channel is also a sender. It sends a message via the social media channels that is intended to reach millions.

Encoding:

Encoding is the process of giving your message a clear form by assembling letters and symbols. When you type a message, you give your thoughts a clear form. Generally, we use text and images to create a message. This process of message creation is called encoding. In the case of video messages or video advertisements, it can also contain graphics as well as music or other sounds. For example, an advertising manager is working on creating an advertisement for a laptop business. He is composing an ad to be sent via email to millions of users. Now, he assembles text and images and includes essential information like product features, price and special discounts along with the image of the product. The process of assembling these components of the advertisement is called encoding. When you write an email to a senior at work or to a subordinate, this process of writing the email is also known as encoding.

Message:

The message itself is the central part of communication because where there is no message transferred there is no communication. The content of the communication or the set of text and symbols you used is called a message. When you type an email, the content of the email is the message. Similarly, the content of an advertisement is the message in it. Generally, communication contains text and images or sometimes multimedia elements. Communication can be verbal or written and messages can be transmitted in verbal or written format.

To craft a clear and compelling message, you must be aware of your audience. For example, when you know your audience well and the level of its technical knowledge, you will be able to create a compelling message that achieves its intended purpose. If you use too much technical jargon when addressing someone with little or no technical knowledge, the meaning of the message might be lost on the receiver. For example, let’s say an international brand runs an advertising campaign in Japan. To reach more and more people and be effective, the campaign must be in Japanese so that it can be understood by a larger number of people. So, these are a few essential things to be kept in mind while crafting a message. Why are brands like Coca Cola and Nike effective at marketing? It is because they know their audience well and craft messages accordingly.

Media:

Messages need a channel for transmission. These channels are known as media. There are several channels in use for sending messages now-a-days. It is the digital era and digital media are commonly used for sending and receiving messages. If we are talking to someone directly or communicating verbally face to face, no medium is used but the message is transmitted directly. However, when we speak to someone on the phone, we are using the phone as the medium to transmit the message. Written messages can be delivered via several digital media including email, messenger, whatsapp, telegram and so on.

Businesses also communicate internally and externally using various media. For example, internal communications generally happen with the help of emails, meetings, and memos. External communication also happens through meetings or by publishing reports on the website or via emails. Even advertisements which are a form of communication require a media. The selection of media most often depends on the audience you are targeting. For example, companies use various media for laying ads. They run advertising campaigns online or via social media channels or using email marketing tools. One should carefully select the media based on the audience being targeted. For example, when targeting the millennial generation, it is best to use digital media like websites, blogs, email, social media and other channels. However, in some cases businesses also use a mix of traditional and modern channels. They combine traditional channels like print media and outdoor advertising with modern online channels like social media and blogs. Effective communication requires the selection of proper media based on the target audience.

Decoding:

Decoding is like the process of deciphering the message. For example, when you open an email, you read and interpret it to understand its content. This process is known as decoding. Decoding happens whenever someone receives a piece of communication. Even in case of verbal communication, one needs to interpret the content to understand its meaning. In simpler words, the process of assigning meaning to the content of the message is called decoding. Decoding also happens in the case of marketing communication. When people see an ad, they check out its content and assign meaning to it to understand its importance. If the message is clear and people can easily understand it, they would react to it. For easy decoding, the message needs to be simple and clear. Otherwise, if the content of the message is complex, it would lead to difficulties in decoding rendering the piece of communication ineffective.

Receiver:

The receiver is generally the second person or party involved in communication. For example, when you are addressing a meeting of board members, the members are the receivers. However, when you are writing an email to the boss, your boss is the receiver. Simply put, the receiver is the target audience for your communication. A receiver can be a single person or a group of people. Even a company or the government can be receivers. Ads generally target millions of consumers and in that case, there can be millions of receivers of that message. However, it is critical to understand the role of the receiver in terms of communication for communication to be effective. Companies research their target market before carrying out advertising campaigns since it helps them understand their audience and its preferences. This is important for marketing communication to be effective. Similarly, in other cases too, it is important that people know their audience or the receiver to communicate effectively.

Response:

Response implies the reaction of the receiver when he decodes the message. There can be several possible responses or reactions to a message. In some cases, there may be no reaction to it. For example, you saw an advertisement and felt curious to learn more about the product. Your excitement and curiosity are the reactions to the communication. An advertisement may inform you about a product or help you grow your awareness of a brand. These are all possible responses. Sometimes you may not have a positive reaction in response to a communication. Marketers try to craft persuasive messages that can have a positive impact on the audience.

Feedback:

Feedback is that part of the receiver’s response which gets communicated back to the sender. For example, you saw a beautiful ad online and felt inclined to purchase the product. After completing the purchase you write back to the company regarding how wonderful the product is or leave an online review. This is your feedback appreciating the product and your experience. In some cases, people may also provide negative feedback when they have had a poor experience. For example, you purchased a product online after seeing its ad and did not find it up to your expectations. So, you left an online review criticizing the product and the company. Marketers try to obtain feedback frequently regarding their products and marketing communication.

Noise:

Noise is not an integral part of communication or not a planned part but still it is critical to understand its significance to overcome the negative impact. Noise distorts the process of communication due to which the receiver might end up receiving a different message than the intended one. For example, you are going through a magazine and see a beautiful ad but as you turn its pages, you come across more and more ads and then forget about the first one you had seen. The overcrowding of ads makes you pay less attention to any particular advertisement. There are too many brands competing in the market and creating a memorable ad is essential so that any distortion does not cause people or receivers to lose attention.