Semiotics in Sales & Marketing: Opportunities and Challenges

4 min readMay 11, 2021

What is semiotics and why is it significant?

Semiotics is the umbrella term used to describe the theory or study of signs and symbols as a means of communication. It is closely interlinked with the complexity of semantics and pragmatics and is also at the heart of cultural and anthropological academia. These have been used since ages but have been new relatively in the field of marketing.

It comprises of two parts: The Signifier and The Signified.

The Signifier refers to sensory part which is: what is seen, heard, or felt with respect to the sign whereas the Signified is what we interpret from the signifier. This can be interpreted differently by different people or even same people at different or same times. Sounds confusing but that’s how marketing companies are finding an opportunity in it.

Many a times semiotics plays a role much above language as a way of communication. It is primitive and there are no barriers to it with respect to people with different cultures or even the ones who are not literate. Therefore, the significance of semiotics in marketing and sales increases even more to tap onto a diverse set of audience/consumers.

Relevance in sales & marketing

There are two aspects to the visual part of semiotics: Visual elements and Visual representation.

Visual elements consist of logos, colors, shapes, etc whereas visual representation is the actual representation of these elements on a website, product advertisement, etc. Here one needs to pay more attention to the latter since its effect is the most.

Semiotics can be related to sound which might be surprising to a few but advertising companies have been using it since quite sometime even unknowingly. Remember the catchy lines or jingles of a particular brand you associated with? Each time you hear the jingle, you are reminded of the brand and vice versa. Music is a universal form of communication and is used by marketers to create or set the tone of their message. A few examples could be advertisements of LIC, Tata sky, Thumbs Up, etc.

There have been shifts in communication and distribution of technology due to which we have seen a significant transformation in people’s consumption habits. Also there has been a jump in people’s desire to consume goods to enhance their personal identities. For example, owning an Iphone is now a status symbol rather than simply being a need to own a mobile. Despite their needs being met, people still upgrade their existing phone to an Iphone and are ready to pay a huge premium even for low increments in function or design of the product. Well, this is simply because of semiotics. “If you don’t have an Iphone, you don’t have an Iphone.”

The future of marketing lies completely in the idea of shifting consumer’s perspective and this paves way for semiotics. People can identity themselves with taglines, logos, tunes and connect on a personal, emotional or cultural level. Many brands have been successful so far but many have miserably failed due to misinterpretation (Covered in later sections of the article).

Semiotics is absolutely the best when it comes to research methods on reading a customer’s mind. Through its diverse reach, different interpretations and deeper connection, companies can understand the thought process of a customer, the way they think and the reason behind their actions. It gives them arguably deeper insights which even in-depth interviews might fail at.

Opportunities:

Symbolic Representations:
On an average a consumer devotes a maximum of 1 ½ to 2 seconds to an advertising message. Therefore, the visual impression of a brand is quite important as it creates an image in the beholder’s brain.

A customer does not want to be bombarded again and again with the same long ads and gets frustrated and hence symbolic representations come to rescue. An example of it is Nike. The brand’s logo i.e. the “tick” mark has been working for it.

Creating a monopoly position in the minds of customers:
Companies having knowledge of structures and effects of semiotics hold the promise of being able to actively generate and control brand identities. This helps create a monopoly position in the minds of customers.

For example, Red Bull shows 2 bulls charging towards each other with all vigor. The usage of bull is to leverage the myth that bulls are full of energy.

https://en.logodownload.org/red-bull-logo/

Challenges:

Can be perceived differently:
Recently the case of Myntra logo highlights the challenges that can be faced by companies using semiotics. A logo which may seem to be innocent might actually portray a different image in the minds of different people. Colors used in a logo could fuel different interpretations like belonging to a particular country, optimism, creativity, trust, being harsh, anti-culture, racist, etc. A brand needs to carefully evaluate before making it’s logo public.

There is an increasing need to study different cultures and work upon semiotics because “One size might not fit all”. There is a great scope of semiotics in marketing and it is yet to be used to its full potential.