Sender and encoding

Communication starts with a sender and a receiver. The sender formulates ideas into a message intended to draw out a response from the receiver. In this stage, called encoding, the sender puts the message into a format that the receiver can recognize and understand. In other words, the sender encodes the message using language, words, pictures, actions, symbols, and events that are meaningful to the receiver. In interpersonal communications, the message can take the form of written, verbal, and nonverbal communication. In marketing communications, the encoded message can take also the form of brand messages, advertisements, press releases, signage, and sales scripts.

It’s not what you say, but how you say it

At this stage it is important to understand the degree to which nonverbal communications affects relationships. In Applying Psychology, Andrew DuBrin defines non-verbal communication as "the transmission of messages through means other than words." Dubrin describes nonverbal communications as a "silent message" that accompanies verbal messages but that also can stand alone. Nonverbal communication conveys the feeling behind a message and is typically seen in a person’s posture, facial expressions, appearance, vocal inflections, the interpersonal distance between the communicators, and the environment. Cross-cultural differences can also affect nonverbal communications.

Research consistently shows that at least half of all meaning is transmitted nonverbally. One classic study by Albert Merhabian and M. Weiner actually concludes that 93% of all communication is nonverbal. In their analysis, Merhabian and Weiner focus only on three elements of communication: words, voice tone, and facial expressions. However, their study helps to dramatize the importance of understanding the role of nonverbal communication in establishing effective relationships. In short: it is not what you say that matters, but how you say it. Oftentimes, how you say something is all that matters. For example, during a loan consultation a loan officer in shabby clothes might mumble from behind a disheveled desk that he or she will "deliver the best service". Regardless of whether the loan officer can deliver, the contradictory communication elements will likely result in the customer’s "hearing" the non-verbal cues and dismissing the verbal declaration.

Media channel

The sender sends the encoded message through a media channel to the receiver. In interpersonal communications, common media channels include face-to-face, telephone, letter, and email. Additional media in the marketing communications mix includes print, broadcast, and Internet.

The channel directly affects the quality of communication between sender and receiver. Researchers L. Daft and R.H. Lengel found that channels differ in their capacity to convey information; in other words, some channels are more effective than others. Daft and Lengel found that some channels are "rich" in that they have the ability to support multiple cues simultaneously, facilitate rapid feedback, and are very personal. Their research identified the face-to-face channel as the "richest" because it provides for the maximum amount of information to be transmitted during a communication event. In other words, face-to-face communication provides multiple information cues (words, postures, facial expressions, gestures, intonations), immediate feedback (verbal and non-verbal), and the personal touch. On the other end of the scale, they found impersonal communication channels, like written reports, memos, and email to be the least rich. While Daft and Lengel’s results might seem intuitive to mortgage origination marketers, they highlight the importance of understanding how choosing the right media channel—or combination of channels—can enhance communication results.

Receiver and decoding

The receiver is primarily the person for whom the message is meant but is also anyone who is exposed to a message. In marketing communications, the intended receiver is often called the target audience, which is the group most likely to positively respond to a message. The receiver reconstructs the message into something that resembles the sender’s original idea, a process called decoding.

Noise

Unfortunately, the information sent is not necessarily the information received. All communication takes place in environments containing distractions that hinder successful communications. This "noise" can severely hinder successful communication if not addressed and minimized. In interpersonal communications, common sources of noise include other conversations, ringing telephones, blasting boom boxes, traffic, and crying children. Non-verbal and environmental elements can also contribute to physical noise. For example, the layout of an office, flashing fluorescents, hand gestures, and vocal intonations can add to or detract from successful interpersonal communication. In marketing communications, noise can be distorted and unwelcome sound, competing messages in the communications channel, poor timing of the communication, bad messaging, inconsistent branding elements, and the receiver’s level of satisfaction with a competitor.

Psychological barriers also create noise that can hinder communication. Once a message passes physical barriers, it must filter through the receiver’s personal perceptions. The individual will attempt to interpret the message in a manner that is consistent with his or her field of experience. A person’s field of experience acts as a codebook by which he or she decodes the symbols that compose a message. Since field of experience is unique to each individual, psychological barriers cause frequent disconnects between a sender’s intention and the receiver’s comprehension. For successful communication, the sender and receiver need to share common understanding of the symbols the receiver used to encode the message.

Other common barriers to successful communication include: semantics, nonverbal communication, ambiguity, and defensiveness.

Feedback

The manner and degree to which a receiver responds to the message is called feedback. Feedback is an essential step for transitioning from a one-way communication to a two-way approach that can strengthen the connection between sender and receiver.

By soliciting and properly decoding feedback, a sender can understand whether and how the message was received, and to what degree it was effective. This allows the sender an opportunity to adjust the message to better match the receiver’s needs. In a marketing communications environment, feedback also helps the sender determine whether the message touched the intended targets. Soliciting and properly interpreting feedback are vital steps to measuring the effectiveness of marketing communications activities.

Unfortunately, communicators often ignore or misinterpret feedback. On the interpersonal side, a person might simply talk at people without being aware of whether the people hear her, let alone understand what she is saying. On the professional side, a mortgage professional might conduct a loan application in his gym clothes, not being aware that his customers are dismayed by his unprofessional demeanor. On a marketing communications side, a company might pay for a website loaded with glitz while failing to integrate a basic Internet lead generation mechanism or search engine optimization strategy. The resulting absence of web-generated leads becomes "no feedback". No feedback is actually feedback telling this company it needs to take a different approach to the Internet communication channel.