By Erica Wenham, Wednesday 09 January 2013.
Public Relations Practice & Skillset (Week 13)
B2C PR relates closely to
The 4P’s of The Marketing Mix; Product, Price, Promotion and Place
(Distribution). Put bluntly, both research and practice confirm that for most marketers
using public relations is a cheap alternative to what they generally prefer. Overall,
B2C PR contributes to four marketing objectives: Awareness, Credibility,
Stimulation of sales force and channel and holding down promotional costs.
“Although the endgame of consumer
PR is to drive sales, its role is often more subtle and sophisticated than more
direct forms of communication”. Overall, B2C PR and the Sales Imperative offers
high value where;
·
Availability of
media is limited
·
Advertising costs
are high
·
Sales forces are
limited/cut
·
Audiences are
niches.
The essential aim for B2C PR
is to grab the attention of a target audience and/or potential customers to
persuade or encourage them to take action/buy an organisation’s
product/service. Agencies need to take on the following tasks (as outlined
below) to help achieve this.
·
Raise profile
·
Redefine image
·
Promote
credibility
·
Demonstrate
empathy with target
·
Launch new
product/service
·
Reinvigorate
existing product/service
·
Stimulate trial/purchase
The challenge can be implemented
using the SR model;
Driving B2C PR for Consumer
Content lies in taking into consideration two specific views;
How to achieve successful B2C and B2B Public Relations
Strategies
1.
Information &
Engagement
Core Press
Office stuff...
Inbound Queries
Samples
Product Reviews
Product
placements (Radio/TV)
2.
Hard News
Annual new
product launch
Packaged/repurposed
for PR (involve PR early to generate links)
Location,
entertainment, theatre etc.
Retail
launches
Season’s
line-up
Advertising
campaign roll-out
3.
Linked News
·
If no hard news
is readily available; how do we find it?
·
By “hooking” to
others’ news content (National, Broadcast, Regional/Local etc.)
·
Or in a special
interest context (e.g. Womens, Cars, Sports, Gadgets & Computers etc.)
·
“Magazines offer
specialised channels of communication to narrowly defined audiences”
·
How? (By: Linked
Comment, Linked Releases, Rapid Ring-round – Spokespeople, Staged “piggyback”
events etc.)
·
The medium
becomes the message... Virtuous circle
·
A staged event
becomes the agenda... Becomes the news story...
·
The news story
creates photo-opportunities... Creates drama.
4.
Wheeling and
Dealing
Definitely
shadow.... Sometimes dark side...
·
More or less
anything legal goes to get the story...
·
Gossip
·
Rumour
·
Entertainment
·
Special
Opportunity
·
Trades:
Exclusives...
AND
here: Sometimes the PR/publicist takes the upper hand controlling:
·
Contracts
·
Image Rights
·
Access
·
Linked
Opportunities
·
Celeb-Product Relationships
Outreach Summary – “Putting It All Together”
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