Strategic Marketing Management
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Chapter 18 : Public Relations and Direct Marketing Strategies
Public Relations
Public Relations Objectives
Public Relations Strategies
Public Relations Planning
Public Relations in Times of Crises
Internet and Public Relations
Public Relations Techniques
Public Relations Budgets
Public Relations - Evaluation and Control
Direct Marketing
Direct Marketing Objectives
Considerations in the Use of Direct Marketing
Database: The Key to Direct Marketing
Direct Marketing - Evaluation and Control
Chapter Summary
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Public relations are a non-paid form of communication which aim at
influencing the feelings, opinion, or belief of consumers, prospects, or
shareholders. The objective of public relations should always be helpful in
achieving the overall organizational objectives. Setting measurable and time
bound objectives are essential as this will help the public relations
department of an organization to show the results achieved. In a public
relations strategy, having a story idea helps to obtain good coverage.
Public relations have to play an important role when a crisis occurs in an
organization. All the relevant information has to be provided to the media
at the earliest. All the concerns of the stakeholders of the organization
like employees, consumers, etc. need to be addressed. Once the crisis is
under control, follow-up measures have to be undertaken and conveyed to the
media. The Internet plays a significant role in public relations. It
provides the advantage of real time interactive communication which can be
accessed by people in all parts of the globe without any geographical
barriers. E-mails, corporate websites, search engines, etc. can be
effectively made use of in public relations. |
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Blogs form another potential online public relations medium and they are
widely used by many organizations. Various techniques are used in public
relations like newsletters, speeches, special events, and trade shows.
Direct marketing involves all the activities undertaken by an organization
in effecting the exchange of goods and services with a target audience by
making use of media like direct selling, direct mail, telemarketing,
direct-action advertising, catalog selling, cable selling, etc. Some of the
important objectives of direct marketing are identifying new prospects,
increasing sales, inducing customers to make repeat purchases, test
marketing and launch of new products, marketing products to niche market
segments, and so on. Databases form an important aspect of direct marketing.
Database marketing involves collecting all the available information about
customers and prospects and using that information to increase the
effectiveness of marketing efforts. Evaluation of direct marketing can be
done from the customer response and profitability attained. Customer
response can be studied through geodemographic classification, tracking
studies, responder/non-responder surveys, etc. New customer acquisition, use
of new media, addition of new products, or increase in the number of times a
customer is contacted etc. can help to increase sales, profitability, return
on investment, etc.
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Short Case Studies / Caselets