Lecture Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing communications perspective (10/e): Chapter 17 - George E. Belch, Michael A. Belch

Chapter 17 - Public relations, publicity, and corporate advertising. The main goals of this chapter are: To recognize the roles of public relations, publicity, and corporate advertising in the promotional mix; to know the difference between public relations and publicity and demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of each; to understand the reasons for corporate advertising and its advantages and disadvantages.

Public  Relations,  Publicity, and  Corporate  Advertising

 Evaluates public attitudes

 Identifies the policies and procedures of an 

organization with the public interest

 Executes a program of action to earn public 

understanding and acceptance

Traditional role

• Maintain mutually

beneficial

relationships

between the

organization and its

publics

• Act as a

management

communications

function

New role

• Work together with the marketing

department

• Contribute to the IMC process in a way that is

consistent with marketing goals

 Public relations activities designed to support 

marketing objectives

 Functions

 Building marketplace excitement Improving ROI

 Creating advertising news where there is no product news

 Introducing a product with little or no advertising

 Providing a value­added customer service

 Building brand­to­customer bonds

 Influencing the influentials

 Defending products at risk & giving consumers reason to buy

Disadvantages of MPRs

Sources: Thomas L. Harris, “Marketing PR—The Second Century,” Reputation Management, www.prcentral.com , January/February 1999, pp. 1–6

Attitudes

 Reasons

 Provides input into the planning process

 Serves as an early warning system

 Secures support internally

 Increases the effectiveness of the communication

Define public relations problems

Plan and program

Take action and communicate

Evaluate the program

Figure 17.3 ­ Ten Questions for  Evaluating Public Relations Plans

Internal audiences

• People who are connected

to a firm with whom the firm

communicates on a routine

basis

• Employees

• Stockholders

• Investors

• Members of the local

community

• Suppliers

• Current customers

External audiences

• People who are not closely connected with the

organization

• Media

• Educators

• Civic and business organizations

• Governments

• Financial groups

Program

Advantages

 Credibility

 Avoidance of clutter

 Lead generation

 Ability to reach specific 

groups

 Image building

Disadvantages

 Potential for incomplete  communication process

 Lack of connection between  receiver and sender 

 Lack of coordination with  marketing unit

 Erratic, redundant  communications

 Should consider whether the target audience:

 Received the messages

 Paid attention to the messages

 Understood the messages

 Retained the messages

 Methods 

 Media content analysis

 Survey research

 Marketing­mix modeling

 Generation of news about a person, product, or 

service that appears in broadcast or print media

 Differs from public relations by:

 Being a short­term strategy

 Not always being positive

 Not always being controlled or paid by the 

organization

 Publicity piece produced by publicists so that 

stations can air it as a news story

 Used by marketers to have control over the time 

and place where information is released

Pros

 Substantial credibility

 News value

 Significant word­of­mouth

 Perception of media 

endorsement

Cons

 Lack of control

 Timing

 Accuracy

 Designed to promote the firm overall by: 

 Enhancing its image 

 Assuming a position on a social cause 

 Seeking direct involvement in something

Being Controversial

Consumers are not interested

Costly form of self-indulgence

Belief that the firm must be in

trouble

Perceived as a waste of money

Types of Corporate Advertising

 Methods for Measuring the  Effectiveness of Corporate Advertising

Attitude surveys

Studies relating corporate advertising and stock

prices

Focus group research