Core Concepts of Marketing by John Burnett - HTML preview

CHAPTER 8

COMMUNICATING TO MASS MARKETS

It's the second largest state in America..

And

resident is struggling to get out

bigger than Texa s, Florida or New York -

but yo u

find it on any map.

holds

people

tha n Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New

and Nevada

-

a

state of bitter uncertainty.

home to one out

every eleven families

America.

home to one

out of every six children in America .

home to more than 32

desperate people trapped

its cruel boundaries.

the state of

in America. And

were poor,

be home by now.

POVERTY.

state.

for Human

AD 8.5

The Cathol ;c Campaign for Human Development is hoping to convey the message

that one in nine Am erica ns lives below the poverty line.

There is, of course, interaction between internal and external publics. Yet it cannot

be assumed that good

with insiders will ever be translated to outsiders without

effort. An employee

is quite happy on the job may be much more interested in bowl-

SALES PROMOTION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

211

ing than in the fact that the firm has just opened a new branch in Phoenix. The firm must

think of what interests the external public and not what interests the firm. With employees

and other internal publics, there is a fair chance that all interests may coincide because all

are connected with the same organization; with an external audience, the assumption should

be that the chance of such accidental coincidence of interest is slight.

Public Relations Techniques

The public relations process is quite complex and involves a wide variety of techniques.

Public relations is different than any other type of promotion, because a great deal of the

communication provided by a PR person must be screened and reprocessed through a third

party that is not employed by the company. Therefore, if I wished for the local newspaper

and television station to carry a story detailing the grand opening of my new store, I have

no guarantee that either will send representatives to cover the store opening or that they

will cover it the way I would have liked. Even if I were to write the story myself and send

it to the newspaper, including appropriate photographs, the editor might choose not to print

it or to modify it. The fact that PR is characterized by a low level of control necessitates

that PR people establish a positive relationship with the various media. Without first accom-

plishing this goal, the tools employed by the PR person are usually doomed to failure. Var-

ious public relations techniques are described in Table 8.5.

Personal Selling and the

Marketing Communication Mix

Few companies coordinate marketing communication efforts in support of the sales force.

Salespeople are often separated from marketing communications specialists because of both

the structure of the business and difference in perspective. Most salespeople view other mar-

keting communication activities strictly as a means to help sell a product or company. Adver-

tisers, sales promotion managers, and public relations experts rarely consider the needs and

suggestions of salespeople, and salespeople seldom pay attention to information about a

marketing communication campaign.

TABLE 8.5

Public Relations Techniques

TECHNIQUE

DESCRIPTION

News release (press release)

A prepared statement sent to various media.

Press conference

Meeting attended by media representatives for the purpose of making

announcements or answering questions.

Delivering bad news

System that anticipates and handles negative events.

Publicity photographs

A prepared photo sent to various media .

Company publications

Magazines, newspapers, and newsletters produced by the company, depicting

specific stories.

Open houses/tours

Providing various publics' access to plant facilities .

Meetings

Planned meeting provided for various publics, especially employees and

stockholders.

Organized social activities

Company-sponsored social activities directed at employees, e.g., teams and picnics .

Participation

Company-encouraged involvement in community activities, e.g ., clubs, charities.

Motion pictures/slides

Professionally produced fi lms and slides about some aspect of the company,

provided to various publics.

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