comm6026 lecture 8 - planning mpr

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Marketing Public Relations: Principles

and Practice (2012/01)

Lecture 8

Planning MPR

Developed and Presented by

Roy Ying, Msc., B.Comm.

Note: Pictures used in this power point file

is for academic Purpose only

DA010 - Professional Diploma in Public Relations - COMM6026EP

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MPR Objectives

• Essentially, MPR is trying to persuade customers to buy more of its products.

• The approaches are to build credibility,

trust and long term relationship.

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MPR Activities

• What kind of tools companies can deploy?

• Advertorials

• Contests

• Special events

• Public service tie-ins

• Trade shows and

exhibitions

• Festivals & parades

• Sponsorships

• Press conferences, media

tours & receptions

• Surveys and researches

• Seminars and forums

• CSR initiatives

• Certifications

• Grooming of spokesperson

• Social media

• Customer engagement

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Advertorial

• It’s a form of advertising, except that it’s in an editorial format, usually slightly different from the newspaper’s layout, design and colouring.

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Contest

• Winning awards in contest can effectively generate media endorsement, especially if it is from a respected organizer.

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Special events

• Be more visible to the public and media.

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Public Service Tie-in

• Very common for charity purpose (e.g., proceed of this campaign will go to a worthy cause) to encourage spending.

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Trade shows and exhibitions

• It is probably the most effective way to be visible in front of target buyers.

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Festival and parade

• Co-brand your brand with festivals.

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Sponsorship

• Instead of organizing your own event, sponsorship can increase your visibility in front of target audience.

What are they

getting out of the

millions of dollars

of sponsorship

fee?

What are they

getting out of the

millions of dollars

of sponsorship

fee?

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Sponsorship

• Sometimes, sponsorship can come in a “soft” approach.

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Press conf, media tour & reception

• Apple’s press conferences with Steve Jobs are very successful. Media will definitely come, and also report.

Apart from media

publicity, what

other objective it

has achieved?

Apart from media

publicity, what

other objective it

has achieved?

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Surveys and researches

• Survey can often bring your story to the news.

• Research is a sign of commitment that your

company is a leader of the industry.

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Seminars and forums

• Companies often partner with a non-profit organization to organize seminars to position itself as an opinion leader.

• Another approach is to seek invitations from event organizers as speakers to their conferences.

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CSR Initiatives

• It is not only a MPR activity, some countries are making CSR a mandatory disclosure requirement on annual reports.

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Certificates and accreditation

• These add to the credibility of your company as they mean something to consumers.

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Spokespersons

• Your spokespersons represent your company’s

brand. Hiring celebrities is a quick way to appeal

your brand to the fans of the artist, but it’s not

sustainable.

• You have to “own” your spokesperson.

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Social media

• It is an interactive platform between you and the customers.

• No 1 concern is content creation.

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Customer engagement

• Engage your customers to give you feedback and interaction.

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MPR Planning Steps

• MPR objectives:

– Credibility

– Trust

– Long term relationship

• How do you achieve these objectives?

• How do you measure success?

• How to plan MPR?

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Class Discussion:

What are the key messages?

• Identify 3 things they all say that are important in marketing?

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Planning MPR – Step 1/6

• Conduct a brand survey

– What your customers are saying

– What’s important to them

– What perception people have on your brand

– What they like and dislike

– What key messages you need to address

– What are their behavior

– How do they think of you vs. your competitors

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Planning MPR – Step 2/6

• Identify SMART goals in the following MPR objectives:

– Credibility

– Trust

– Long term relationship

• It’s not yet what you need to be doing, but rather where you want to be in 3 to 5 years.

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Planning MPR – Step 3/6

• Before thinking of new initiatives, compile an inventory of your company’s existing public relations activities.

• Evaluate how they can contribute to your MPR objectives, and take action to improve.

• For example, your website:– Is it helping you talk to your customers?

– Is it user friendly?– Can media download information they need?

– Are there CSR message you can deliver?– Does it allow users to leave messages?

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Planning MPR – Step 4/6

• Identify gaps in your MPR offering.

• For example, suppose from your brand survey shows that your customers’ buying behavior can be influenced by the brand’s commitment to CSR.

• You may wish to propose to the senior management to establish a community caring committee with an objective to be awarded a “Caring Company” certificate in the first year.

• As it is a long term commitment, you may wish to think further with an ultimate goal of implementing a CSR strategy that can position your company as a responsible corporate citizen which adds value to trust.

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Planning MPR – Step 5/6

• Identify working partners

• Who are your stakeholders?

– Government

– Employees

– NGOs

– Certification bodies

– Media

– Service providers

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Planning MPR – Step 6/6

• Budget planning

• Integration of MPR initiatives to different level of the organization

• Evaluate performance