The management process in communications policy can be divided into three phases: planning, implementation, and control. Decisions are first made at the strategic level and then at the operational level.

Marketing research is conducted to support strategic advertising planning .1 Wöhe, Günter; Döring, Ulrich (2010): Einführung in die allgemeineBetriebswirtschaftslehre. 24. Aufl. München 2010.

The aim is to collect and analyze information about the relevant environment as well as about the company itself. Based on the analysis, the marketing concept is developed: the objectives are identified, a strategy for achieving these objectives is chosen, and the use of the individual communication policy instruments is determined. 1 Wöhe, Günter; Döring, Ulrich (2010): Einführung in die allgemeineBetriebswirtschaftslehre. 24. Aufl. München 2010. The primary strategic goals are defined as acquiring new customers, increasing sales, improving customer satisfaction, fostering customer loyalty, and increasing market share .

The instrumental variables of communication policy are sales advertising, online communication, direct marketing, sales promotion, etc. 3 Theis, Hans-Joachim (2007): Erfolgreiche Strategien und Instrumente inHandelsmarketing // Erfolgreiche Strategien und Instrumente im Handelsmarketing. 2.Aufl. Frankfurt am Main 2007. In this work, the analysis of communication policy is limited to the instrumental variable of online communication, primarily because it takes place in the same medium (Internet) as the type of trading establishment under investigation, so that the data of transactions in eCommerce can potentially be directly assigned to the data of communication measures.

The instruments of online communication include, among others, presentation (homepage, online shop), online advertising (search engines, banner advertising, etc.), direct marketing (newsletter, email, etc.) and public relations (online publications, participation in virtual communities). The design of the website, the virtual marketplace, is therefore also one of the instruments of online communication policy.

During the implementation phase, the planned measures are put into practice. In the third phase, the results of the measures are monitored – an attempt is made to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the instruments as well as the degree of goal achievement.

The results of the monitoring are incorporated as data into the next phase of marketing planning. The decision-making process in operational advertising planning consists of advertising material selection and design, media planning, advertising timing, advertising budgeting, and advertising effectiveness monitoring.