PR in business

1. PR strategy in business

PR in business may be:1) PR of goods or production

2) PR of services.

Difference between PR for goods and PR for services:

1- in their reality- products may be seen, tested, observed, evaluated, they have special production marketing;

2- services can be evaluated only when a customer receives this service, customers are more careful about reputation and reliability of a company that provides service(travel agency, advertising bureau)

In business company’s business-plan is a basis for a PR campaign. Goals of PR campaign should be well defined and real: it will not be real “ to be famous in the sphere of tourism” but it is better to define where; when; for whom. Honesty is the best policy in business.

Unlike marketing or advertising, PR does not attempt to sell but to convey information that will benefit the organization in one of these 3 ways:

*the first- it will create or improve the public opinion of a company, its products or services;

the second- it will differentiate the organization (products, services) from its competitors;

the third-it will position the organization (products, services) within its marketplace.

Re-positioning- special measures to improve the position of a company. It demands special plan and actions.

Re-branding. Brand is a trade mark with reputation. Re-branding demands deep change of brand ideology (name, logotype, sevice)

Establishing a positive reputation in the market is very important for sales. People do business with those they know and trust.

But how to do this? PR professionals raise visibility through systematically and strategically getting the company’s name and products in front of the target public. The methods of doing this depend on the audiences, client’s wishes and his budget: PR plan, press release, press conference, trade shows, special events, etc.

In the case of negative perception, PR professionals improve it first by problem research through communications, audit, polls, surveys and then by new strategy development.

2. PR planning for new companies

PR specialist in a new, unknown company involves 5 main steps to promote his company:

1). Figure out what is the company, what it produces and how; express it in the most interesting way. First impression is very important, spend as much time as possible to look aware at presentations, PR agent awareness will be reflected in his handshake, eye contact and tone of voice.

2). Develop a “ story” about the company and its product. It is important to understand how company’s products or services help people, or how this service gives value or benefit. Create materials to prove the story.

3). Define the target audience and create a media list.

4). Issue a press release that tells the story clearly.

5). Create a media kit which includes a copy of the media release as well as other information(company’s pricing sheet or brochure). This is used to create a full story for media or TV or radio show.

3. Marketing communications

Marketing communication (marcom) is a special direction of a company activity that uses the PR strategy and tactics for business support in marketing and selling. Very often Market communication is closely connected with products advertising and promotion – this is Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). PR program in IMC depends of product position and marketplace. Example of joint actions: promotion of Volkswagen Beetle. Mass media were invited to take part in special classes when the car was only in the stage of producing, then the car was presented through video press release, then about 800 episodes were presented on TV

(“ Today Show”, “ Good Morning, America”). After that- direct advertisement.

Marketing Communication may use these methods:

* Product publicity. Publicity is a process of transformation of inner PR events into outer PR. American PR- agents use about 30 methods of publicity: launching a new product, moving into a new building, new suppliers or customers,new markets, new persons in management, presentations, exhibitions, etc.

* Information Bureau (Reebok disseminate information about research results through Aerobic Information Bureau)

* Investments for noble and famous programs (Danon yogurt invests 1, 5 % of their income to National Wildlife Federation)

* Sponsorship- annually 9 billion dollars

Glossary

Perception- понимание, осознание

Reliability- надежность

Convey- передать

Case study.

Company sells rivets (заклепки) for jeans, their target audience includes manufactures, trade publications and rivet analysts. PR discovers that their rivets selling falls off because the public has a wrong perception about low quality of their rivets.

Task for office hours- Develop strategy and PR plan for case study

Task for IWS- Develop PR plan for any new business company

References

Mandatory

Aги У. Все о PR, Питер, 2008, глава «PR в бизнесе»

Recommended

Ф. Хенслоу, Практическое руководство по Паблик Рилейшнз, СПб, 2009

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