Marketing Essentials
n Promotional Concepts and Strategies
Public Relations
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 1
Public Relations
What You'll Learn
The nature and scope of public relations
The different audiences for public relations
The duties of public relations specialists
How to prepare a news release
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 2
Public Relations
What do you think Public Relations is?
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 3
Public Relations
Public relations is image-building. Create
goodwill for the company.
–Public Perceptions
Employees
Customers
General Public/Community
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 4
Public Relations
Public Relation Activities
Grand opening of a new mall
Interview with a company official about hiring plans
Launch a new product or product line
Announcement of employee promotions or retirements
Presentation of an award to the company or to one of its
employees
Company-sponsored sports event
Community activity, such as a scholarship program
sponsored by the business
Charitable activity, such as a walkathon for a local
charity, in which the business participates
Cultural activity, such as support for a new exhibit at a
museum
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 5
Public Relations
The Nature and Scope of Public Relations
Well-planned and organized public
relations efforts can
increase sales
reinforce a good reputation
increase the willingness of
consumers to respond to advertising
efforts for a company’s products.
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 6
Public Relations
Customer Relations
Good communication between employees
and customers is vital.
As a customer, what do you expect from the
employees in the store you are shopping?
Slide 1 of 2 Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 7
Public Relations
Customer Relations
Courtesy
Helpfulness
Interest
Tolerance
Friendliness
Special services (gift wrapping, on-premise restaurants,
child-care facilities, check-cashing, fax and copying
services, free delivery
It leads to repeat business and customer
loyalty.
Slide 1 of 2 Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 8
Public Relations
Employee Relations
Successful businesses have loyal and well-motivated
employees who feel they are important to the
company. Some examples of programs for
employees include providing:
Tuition reimbursement for college courses
Newsletters for and about the company and its
employees
Recreational programs
Employee recognition programs for
improvements in performance and efficiency
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 9
Public Relations
Community Relations
Community relations refers to the activities
that a business uses to acquire or maintain the
respect of the community, such as participating
in and sponsoring activities that benefit the
community's civic, social, and cultural life.
Example: Sponsoring the Special Olympics,
or providing mentors for students.
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 10
Public Relations
Public Relations Group Activity
Working in groups of 2 and working with
someone you have not worked with before,
complete the worksheet: What Public
Relations Activity?
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 11
Public Relations
The Role of Public Relations Specialists
The principal task of a public relations
specialist is to publicize the good news about
a company and its products—and to control
the damage done by any negative news.
Public relations specialists work in the public
and private sector.
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 12
Public Relations
The Role of Public Relations Specialists
However, the PR Specialist has many job
duties. See handout!
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 13
Public Relations
Other Public Relations Duties
Public relations specialists also perform these tasks:
Prepare annual reports, brochures, and responses
to customer inquiries.
Write feature articles for trade magazines.
Develop press kits, which are folders containing
articles, news releases, feature stories, and
photographs. These are given to the media to assist
in reporting.
Conduct press conferences, which are meetings
where a business invites media members to hear an
announcement about a newsworhty event.
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 14
Public Relations
Writing News Releases
A news release is a prewritten story
about a company that is sent to the
media containing information about the
company’s employees, stores,
operations, products, corporate
philosophy, or participation in an event or
program.
Slide 1 of 2 Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 15
Public Relations
Writing News Releases
A news release must contain newsworthy
information in order to be picked up by the
media.
It should be properly formatted and answer
five basic questions: who, what, where,
when, and why.
See News Release Handout
Slide 2 of 2 Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 16
ASSESSMENT
Thinking Critically
What is meant by this following statement?
"To the customer, the employees are
the company."
Chapter 17 n Promotional Concepts and Strategies 17