Invisible communication: a challenge to established marketing communication

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of invisible communication and its implications in marketing communication. It defines invisible communication and proposes an analytic framework enabling an expanded view of marketing communication. Design/methodology/approach - By explicitly adopting a customer-oriented perspective, combined with insights from service marketing and relationship communication, the paper extends current models of marketing communication. Findings - The paper identifies different types of invisible communication and presents new perspectives on marketing communication. The authors outline a framework for understanding how the company can/cannot control different forms of marketing communication and discuss the implications of this. Research limitations/implications - The paper concentrates on a conceptual analysis, offering a number of practical illustrations. The conceptual development creates new research issues that should lead to a deeper understanding of customers' meaning creation, actions and reactions. Practical implications - Invisible communication constitutes a managerial challenge as it is often unrecognized by the management. The paper points to the need to develop methods to reveal the existence and effects of invisible communication as well as to create guidelines for managerial response. Originality/value - The customer-based perspective and the focus on invisible communication provide a new approach to analysing and understanding marketing communication. The paper contributes to service marketing and marketing communication research by introducing conceptualisations of invisible communication that have an interest for both academic research and practitioners.