Alex is assessing the effectiveness of her firm's marketing communications. She knows the ultimate goal of the communications is to

A) maximize rating points.
B) minimize marketing communication expenditures.
C) shift encoding into decoding.
D) use personal selling to augment public relations.
E) drive the receiver to action.

The ultimate goal of marketing communications is to drive the receiver to action. This means that the communication should be effective enough to motivate the receiver to take a desired action, such as make a purchase or visit a website. Maximizing rating points or minimizing marketing communication expenditures are tactics that may support this ultimate goal, but they are not the ultimate goal themselves. Shift encoding into decoding and use personal selling to augment public relations are strategies that may be employed within marketing communications efforts, but they do not reflect the ultimate goal.