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Explain how companies use public relations to communicate with their publics. Major Public Relations Tools Any paid form of nonparallel presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Setting Advertising Objectives The first step is to set advertising objectives. These objectives should be based on past decisions about the target market, positioning, and the marketing mix, which define the job that advertising must do in the total marketing program. The overall advertising objective is to help build customer relations pips by common acting customer value.
An advertising objective is a specific communication task to be accomplished with a specific target audience during a specific period of time. Advertising objectives can be classified by their primary purpose??to inform, persuade, or remind. Table 15. 1 lists examples of each of these specific objectives. Informative advertising is used heavily when introducing a new-product category. In this case, the objective is to build primary demand. Persuasive advertising becomes more important as competition increases. Here, the company’s objective is to build selective demand.
Some persuasive advertising has become comparative advertising (or attack advertising), in which a company directly or indirectly compares its brand with one or more other brands. Reminder advertising is important for mature products; it helps to maintain customer relationships and keep consumers thinking about the product. Setting Advertising Budget A brand’s advertising budget often depends on its stage in the product life cycle. For example, new products typically need relatively large advertising budgets to build awareness and gain consumer trial. In contrast, mature brands usually require lower budgets as a ratio to sales.
Market share also impacts the amount of advertising needed: Because building market share or taking market share from competitors requires larger advertising spending Han does simply maintaining current share, low-share brands usually need more advertising spending as a percentage of sales. Also, brands in a market with many competitors and high advertising clutter must be advertised more heavily to be noticed above the noise in Advertising budget Developing Advertising Strategy Advertising strategy consists of two major elements: creating advertising messages and selecting Advertising media.
In the past, companies often viewed media planning as secondary to the message-creation process. The creative department first created good advertisements, and then the media department selected and purchased the est. media for carrying those advertisements to desired target audiences. This often caused friction between creative and media planners. Creating the Advertising Message No matter how big the budget, advertising can succeed only if advertisements gain attention and communicate well. Good advertising messages are especially important in today’s costly and cluttered advertising environment.
Then their ads are sandwiched in with a clutter of other commercials, announcements, and network promotions, totaling nearly 20 minutes of nonprogrammer material per primetimes hour with commercial breaks coming every six minutes on average. Such clutter in television and other ad media has created an increasingly hostile advertising environment. Merging Advertising and Entertainment To break through the clutter, many marketers are now subscribing to a new merging of advertising and entertainment, dubbed “Madison & Vine. ” You’ve probably heard of Madison Avenue.
This merging of advertising and entertainment takes one of two forms: advertisement or branded entertainment. The aim of advertisement is to make ads themselves so entertaining, or so useful, that people want to watch them. There’s no chance that you’d watch ads on purpose, you say? Think again. Branded entertainment (or brand integrations) involves making the brand an inseparable part of some other form of entertainment. The most common form of branded entertainment is product placements??embedding brands as props within other programming.
Message Strategy The first step in creating effective advertising messages is to plan a message strategy??the general message that will be communicated to consumers. The purpose of advertising is to get consumers to think about or react to the product or company in a certain way. Thus, developing an effective message strategy begins with identifying customer benefits that can be used as advertising appeals. Message strategy statements tend to be plain, straightforward outlines of benefits and positioning points that the advertiser wants to stress.
The advertiser must next develop a compelling creative concept??or “big idea”??that will bring the message strategy to life in a distinctive and memorable way. At this stage, simple message ideas become great ad campaigns. The creative concept may emerge as visualization, a phrase, or a combination of the two. The creative concept will guide the choice of specific appeals to be used in an advertising campaign. Advertising appeals should eve three characteristics. C First, they should be meaningful, pointing out benefits that make the product more desirable or interesting to consumers.
C] Second, appeals must be believable. Consumers must believe that the product or service will deliver the promised benefits. However, the most meaningful and believable benefits may not be the best ones to feature. Appeals should also be distinctive. They should tell how the product is better than competing brands. For example, the most meaningful benefit of owning a wristwatch is that it keeps accurate time, yet few watch ads feature this benefit. Instead, based on the distinctive benefits they offer, watch advertisers might select any of a number of advertising themes.
Message Execution The advertiser now must turn the big idea into an actual ad execution that will capture the target market’s attention and interest. The creative team must find the best approach, style, tone, words, and format for executing the message. The message can be presented in various execution styles, such as the following: Slice of life: This style shows one or more ‘typical” people using the product in a normal setting. For example, a Silk soy milk “Rise and Shine” d shows a young professional starting the day with a healthier breakfast and high hopes. Lifestyle: This style shows how a product fits in with a particular lifestyle. For example, an ad for Athlete active wear shows a woman in a complex yoga pose and states “If your body is your temple, build it one piece at a time. ” Creative concept is the compelling “big idea” that will bring the advertising message strategy to life in a distinctive and memorable way. Execution style the approach, style, tone, words, and format used for executing an advertising message. Fantasy: This style creates a fantasy around the reduce or its use.
For example, a Travelers Insurance ad features a gentleman carrying a giant red umbrella (the company’s brand symbol). The man helps people by using the umbrella to protect them from the rain, sail them across a flooded river, and fly home. The ad closes with “Travelers Insurance. There when you need it. ” Mood or image: This style builds a mood or image around the product or service, such as beauty, love, intrigue, or serenity. Few claims are made about the product or service except through suggestion. For example, a Nestle?? Toll House ad shows a daughter hugging ere mother after surprising her with a weekend home from college. So I baked her cookies she’s loved since she was little. ” Musical: This style shows people or cartoon characters singing about the product. For example, Prestidigitator. Com tells its story exclusively through a set of popular singing commercials such as “Dream girl” and “Pirate. ” Similarly, Oscar Mayor’s long-running ads show children singing it’s now classic “l wish were an Oscar Mayer wiener .. .” Jingle. Personality symbol: This style creates a character that represents the product. The character might be animated (Mr..
Clean, Tony the Tiger, the GECKO Gecko, or the Capos Zappers) or real (01′ Lonely the Mayday repairman, the E*TRADE babies, Ronald McDonald, or the Flag duck). Technical expertise: This style shows the company’s expertise in making the product. Thus, natural foods maker Khakis shows its buyers carefully selecting ingredients for its products, and Jim Koch of the Boston Beer Company tells about his many years Of experience in brewing Samuel Adams beer. Scientific evidence: This style presents survey or scientific evidence that the brand is better or better liked than one or more other brands.
For years, Crest toothpaste has used scientific evidence to convince buyers that Crest is better than other brands at fighting cavities. Testimonial evidence or endorsement: This style features a highly believable or likable source endorsing the product. It could be ordinary people saying how much they like a given product. For example, Subway uses spokesman Jarred, a customer who lost 245 pounds on a diet of Subway sandwiches. Or it might be a celebrity presenting the product. Finally, format elements make a difference in an ad’s impact as well as in its cost.
A small change in an ad’s design can sake a big difference in its effect. In a print ad, the illustration is the first thing the reader notices??it must be strong enough to draw attention. Next, the headline must effectively entice the right people to read the copy. Finally, the copy??the main block of text in the ad??must be simple but strong and convincing. Moreover, these three elements must effectively work together to persuasively present customer value. Consumer-Generated Messages Taking advantage of today’s interactive technologies, many companies are now tapping consumers for message ideas or actual ads.
They are searching existing video sites, setting up their own sites, and sponsoring ad-creation contests and other promotions. Sometimes the results are outstanding; sometimes they are forgettable. If done well, however, user-generated content can incorporate the voice of the customer into brand messages and generate greater consumer brand involvement Selecting Advertising Media The major steps in advertising media selection are: (1) Determining on reach, frequency, and impact; (2) Choosing among major media types; (3) Selecting specific media vehicles; and (4) Choosing media timing 1.
Determining Reach, Frequency, and Impact To select media, the advertiser must determine the reach and frequency needed to achieve the advertising objectives. Reach is a measure of the percentage of people in the target market who are exposed to the ad campaign during a given period Of time. For example, the advertiser might try to reach 70 percent of Advertising media the vehicles through which advertising messages are delivered to their intended audiences. Consumer-generated advertising Online crafts marketplace/community Test. Com ran a contest inviting consumers to tell the Test. Com story in 30-second videos.
The results were “positively remarkable. Fuelled by the user-generated content craze made popular by the likes of Youth, Backbone, and other online content-sharing communities, the move toward consumer-generated advertising has spread like wildfire in recent years. Companies large and small??including the likes of PepsiCo, Milliner, P&G, Carbureted, and other blue-chip marketers??have fast recognized the benefits (and the drawbacks) of inviting customers to create brand messages. 2. Choosing Among Major Media Types Media planners have to know the reach, frequency, and impact of each major media type.
As summarized in Table 15. , the major media types are television, newspapers, the Internet, direct mail, magazines, radio, and outdoor. Advertisers can also choose from a wide array of new digital media, such as cell phones and other digital devices, which reach consumers directly. Each medium has its advantages and its limitations. Media planners consider many factors when making their media choices. They want to choose media that will effectively and efficiently present the advertising message to target customers. Thus, they must consider each medium’s impact, message effectiveness, and cost. . Selecting Specific Media Vehicles Media planners must also choose the best media vehicles?? specific media within each general media type. For example, television vehicles include 30 Rock and BBC World News Tonight. Magazine vehicles include Newsweek, Vogue, and ESP. the Magazine. Media planners must compute the cost per 1,000 persons reached by a vehicle. For example, if a full-page, four-color advertisement in the U. S. National edition of Newsweek costs $165,000 and Newsweek readership is 1. 5 million people, the cost of reaching each group of 1 ,OHO persons is about $110.
Media planners must also consider the costs of producing ads for different media. Whereas newspaper ads may cost very little to produce, flashy television ads can be very costly. Many online ads cost little to produce, but costs can climb when producing made-for the- Web videos and ad series. In selecting specific media vehicles, media planners must balance media costs against several media effectiveness factors. First, the planner should evaluate the media vehicle’s audience quality. Deciding on Media Timing An advertiser must also decide hoot schedule the advertising over the course of a year.
Suppose sales of a product peak in December and drop in March (for winter sports gear, for instance). The firm can vary its advertising to follow the seasonal pattern, oppose the seasonal pattern, or be the same all year. Most firms do some seasonal advertising. For example, Mars currently runs M&Ms special ads for almost every holiday and “season,” from Easter, Fourth of July, and Halloween to the Super Bowl season and the Oscar season. Finally, the advertiser must choose the pattern of the ads. Continuity means scheduling ads evenly within a given period.
Pulsing means scheduling ads unevenly over a given time period. Evaluating Advertising Effectiveness and the Return on Advertising Investment Measuring advertising effectiveness ND the return on advertising investment has become a hot issue for most companies, especially in the tight economic environment. A less friendly Media Timing: The Picture People, the national chain of family portrait studios, advertises more heavily before special holidays. Advertisers should regularly evaluate two types of advertising results: 1 . The communication effects; and 2. The sales and profit effects.
Measuring the communication effects of an ad or ad campaign tells whether the ads and media are communicating the ad message well. Individual ads can be tested before or after they are run. Before an ad is placed, the advertiser can show it to consumers, ask how they like it, and measure message recall or attitude changes resulting from it. After an ad is run, the advertiser can measure how the ad affected consumer recall or product awareness, knowledge, and preference. Pre- and post evaluations of communication effects can be made for entire advertising campaigns as well. Public Relations Another major mass-promotion tool is public relations (PR)??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. PR departments may perform any or all of the following functions: Press relations or press agency: Creating and placing newsworthy information in the news media to attract attention too person, product, or service. Product publicity: Publicizing specific products. Public affairs: Building and maintaining national or local community relationships. Lobbying: Building and maintaining relationships with legislators and government officials to influence legislation and regulation. Investor relations: Maintaining relationships with shareholders and others in the financial community. Development: Working with donors or members Of non-profit organizations to gain financial or volunteer support. Public relations are used to promote products, people, places, ideas, activities, organizations, and even nations. Companies use PR to build good relations with consumers, investors, the media, and their communities.
Trade associations have used PR to rebuild interest in declining commodities, such as eggs, apples, potatoes, and milk. The Role and Impact of PR Public relations can have a strong impact on public awareness at a much lower cost than advertising can. The company does not pay for the space or time in the media. Rather, it pays for a staff to develop and circulate information and manage events. If the company develops an interesting story or event, it could be picked up by several different media, having the same effect as advertising that would cost millions of dollars.
And it would have more credibility than advertising. Major Public Relations Tools Public relations use several tools. One of the major tools is news. PR professionals find or create favorable news about the company and its products or people. Sometimes news stories occur naturally; sometimes the PR person can suggest events or activities that would create news. Speeches can also create product and company publicity. Increasingly, company executives must field questions from the media or give talks at trade associations or sales meetings, and these events can either build or hurt the company’s image.
Another common PR tool is special events, ranging from news conferences, press tours, grand openings, and fireworks displays to laser light shows, hot air balloon releases, multimedia presentations, or educational programs designed to reach and interest target publics. Public relations people also prepare written materials to reach and influence their target markets. These trials include annual reports, brochures, articles, and company newsletters and magazines.