In order to help pull this together and demonstrate how one goes about identifying the important touch points in a decision process, consider the hypothesized BSM shown in Figure 12.1 for a word-processing system. Suppose a company is marketing an innovative new word-processing system, and has developed this BSM of how companies go about deciding upon introducing new systems into their operations. Given this understanding of the decision process, what does it suggest about how best to positively effect the decision with marketing communication? Let us think through this process, which is in effect what a manager would be doing in finalizing an IMC plan. It is obvious that in the real world this would be a complex decision process, with multiple potential target audiences, but for this example we shall utilize only the generic decision stages. As we look at the BSM, there is no doubt that more than a single message in one medium will be needed. Can one really imagine that a single advertising campaign, let alone a single promotion of some kind, would be able to do the job? Of course not.