The thinking to establish marcom objectives will follow this line:
- What do our targets believe now?
- What do we want them to think or do?
- What is the message that will change their attitude or spur action?
When we're reasonably sure that we know the answer to the third bullet, we know what we need to communicate. Our communications objective then becomes to deliver that message. For example, here's the logic path we used for our Tahiti Tourisme client:
What they believed: Research showed us that many in our target groups thought Tahiti to be a longer flight than it actually is from Los Angeles.
What we wanted them to believe: We want them to know that Tahiti is only 7 ½ hours from LA.
The message: Our communication objective, then, is to inform that Tahiti is only 7 ½ hours from Los Angeles.
Once this objective is established, we explore marketing communications strategies.