DIRECT MARKETING:PUBLIC RELATIONS, Major Public Relations Decisions

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KEY TERMS:Public relations, Advertising, Catalog Marketing >>

Principles of Marketing MGT301

Lesson 38

Lesson overview and learning objectives:

Explain how companies use public relations to communicate with their publics. Public relations,

the final mass communication tool described in this chapter, is an attempt to build good relations

with the company's various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good "corporate

image," and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors, stories, or events. The organization has a

variety of tools at their disposal for accomplishing this feat. One of the overriding tasks of public

relations is to control the exposure and relationship with the mass media. By focusing on

consumer attitudes, awareness, and knowledge of the organization, the company is better prepared

to succeed. Public relations have even been extended to the Internet and companies are beginning

to explore ways to increase their effects on the newly emerging world of e-commerce.

A. DIRECT MARKETING

B. PUBLIC RELATIONS

A. Direct Marketing

a. Other Marketing Applications through Databases

Some of the important uses or advantages of using database market are as following:

· Match profiles to cross-sell other products to customers

· Modify marketing messages based on customer profiles

· Reach out to customers to reinforce the purchase decision

· Find new customers

· Gain insight into who is purchasing products

· Improve customer service

Beside uses database marketing also has some disadvantages like

Marketing databases can be costly and time consuming,

Databases need to be carefully planned

Consumer privacy issues.

b. Integrated Direct Marketing

Too often, a company's individual direct marketing efforts are not well integrated with one another

or with other elements in its marketing and promotional mixes. A more powerful approach is

integrated direct marketing, which involves using multiple-vehicle, multiple-stage campaigns.

c. Public Policy and Ethical Issues in Direct Marketing

Direct marketers and their customers usually enjoy mutually rewarding relation-ships, however,

occasionally, a darker side emerges. Irritation, unfairness, deception, and fraud are common

complaints. Many consumers perceive that an innocent desire to become "close" to the customer

really is an invasion of privacy (this is the toughest issues facing the industry).

1). Consumers can benefit from database marketing, but at what cost to privacy?

2). in a company's desire to build a database, they often get carried away.

3). in a recent survey, 79 percent of consumers expressed concern about their privacy. In

reality, direct marketing is just too expensive to waste on consumers who don't want it.

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Principles of Marketing MGT301

B. Public Relations

Public relations are very believable--news stories, features, and events seem more real and

believable to readers than ads do. Public relations can also reach many prospects who avoid

salespeople and advertisements--the message gets to the buyers as "news" rather than as a sales-

directed communication. As with advertising, public relations can dramatize a company or product.

Marketers tend to underused public relations or to use it as an afterthought. Yet a well-thought-out

public relations campaign used with other promotion mix elements can be very effective and

economical.

a. Public Relations

Public relations involves building good relations with the company's various publics by obtaining

favorable publicity, building up a good corporate image, and handling or heading off unfavorable

rumors, stories, and events. Major functions are:

1). Press relations or press gentry.

2). Product publicity.

3). Public affairs.

4). Lobbying.

5). Investor relations.

6). Development.

Public relations are used to promote products, places, ideas, activities, organizations, even nations.

b. The Role and Impact of Public

Relations

The Rolle of

The Ro e of

Public relations can have a strong impact on

Publliic

Pub c

public awareness at a much lower cost than

Rellatiions

Re at ons

advertising. Despite its potential strengths,

public relations are often described as a

Executes

marketing stepchild because of its limited and

Ev alluattes

programs tto

Ev a ua es

programs o

scattered use. This may be changing, however. publliic attttiittudes

gaiin publliic

ga n pub c

pub c a udes

accepttance

accep ance

Many companies today are looking for public

IIdenttiifiies

den f es

iissues off publliic

ssues o pub c

relations to take a more active role in

concern

marketing

and

promotion

planning.

Marketing public relations departments are

being formed. Public relation tools are being used by the companies in evaluating public attitudes,

identifying the issues of public concern and to execute the different programs that can gain public

acceptance. It means that the public relations is that marketing function which evaluates public

attitudes, identifies areas within the organization that the public may be interested in, and executes

a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.

Major Public Relations Tools

Major tools include:

1). News.

2). Speeches.

W eb Siite

W eb Ste

3). Special events (mobile

Publlic

Pubic

Serrviice

Se vce

News

marketing).

Actt ivit ies

Ac ivit ies

4).Written materials (such as

Corrporate

Co porate

annual reports, brochures, articles,

IIdentity

dentity

Speeches

Matterials

Maerials

Speeches

and company newsletters).

5). Audiovisual materials (such

Speciial

Specal

Audiiovisual

Audovisual

as films, slide-and-sound programs,

Eventts

Even s

Matterrials

Ma e ials

W rritten

W itten

video and audio cassettes).

Matterrials

Ma e ials

196

Principles of Marketing MGT301

6) Corporate identity materials (such as logos, stationery, brochures, signs, business forms,

business cards, buildings, uniforms, and company cars and trucks).

Companies also improve public relations by contributing time and money to public service

activities. A company's Web site can be a good public relations vehicle. Consumer and members of

other publics can visit the site for information and entertainment. Major public relations decisions

include:

1). Setting public relations objectives.

2). Choosing public relations messages and

Setttiing Publliic Re llattiions Ob jjecttiiv es

Se ng Pub c Re a ons Ob ec v es

vehicles.

3). Implementing the public relations plan.

4). Evaluating the results.

d. Major Public Relations Decisions

Choosiing tthe Publliic Re llattiions Messages

Choos ng he Pub c Re a ons Messages

As shown in the fig major public relation decisions

and Vehiic lles

and Veh c es

are:

Setting Public relations objective that means deciding

what are the results that the companies want to

achieve by using public relation tools, than second

IImpllementtiing tthe Publliic Rellattiions Pllan

mp emen ng he Pub c Re a ons P an

step is choosing the message that companies can

communicate to public to fulfill the role of public

relation, next step of this system is implementation of

the program and finally evaluation of the program in

Ev alluattiing Pub lliic Re llattiions Resulltts

Ev a ua ng Pub c Re a ons Resu s

order to judge the success level of public relations

tools used.

e. Publicity

Public information is information about a company's goods or services appearing in the mass

media as a news item. Stimulation of demand for a good, service, place, idea, person, or

organization by unpaid placement of commercially significant news or favorable media

presentations. Publicity is more credible to consumers than any other promotional mix element

Although publicity is generally thought of as not paid for, firms incur publicity-related expenses

that include the cost of employing marketing personnel assigned to create and submit publicity

releases, printing and mailing costs, and related expenses.

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