Public Relations, Influencer Marketing, and Corporate Advertising

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Public Relations, Influencer Marketing, and
Corporate Advertising

• Marketing 3344

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Introductory Scenario The Buzz Biz

• P G created Buzz for Crest with
• Public relationsCelebrities were lined up to
  take the QuizMTV, boy band personalities.
• OnlineBanners ads promoted the quiz and appeared
  on Facebook, MySpace, etc.
• Events and PublicityPartnered with Vibe.com to
  host a speed dating event in Times Square.
• Print ads and posters. Posters appeared in
  restrooms of night spots.

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Public Relations

• The marketing and management communications
  function that deals with a firms public issues.
• Objectives
• Promote goodwill
• Promote a product or service
• Prepare internal communications
• Counteract negative publicity
• Lobby
• Give advice and counsel

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A New Era forPublic Relations?

• Firms are using PR in new and different ways to
  create visibility and image for a brand by
  getting people to talk about the brand.
• BUT
• PR is NOT the tool for establishing brands in the
  market.
• PR lacks the strategic control needed to
  establish a brand within the segment in the
  manner desired by a firm.
• It is true that corporate execs want more
  action and visibility from promotion. PR is
  now more prominent in many IBP campaigns as
  consumer tire of mass media advertising.
• Good PR can create a positive social epidemic.

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Ad in Context Example
Microsoft turned to warm and fuzzy corporate
advertising to combat the negative publicity of a
Department of Justice case against the firm.
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Public Relations and Damage Control

• IntelCaused its own PR crisis by not responding
  to concerns about the performance of the Pentium
  chip.
• Taco Bell and the PR curse of social
  networking.
• Wal-Mart in nearly constant damage control.

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Objectives of Public Relations

• Promote goodwill
• Promote a product or service
• Prepare internal communications
• Counteract negative publicity
• Lobby
• Give advice and counsel

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Tools of Public Relations

• Press releases
• Feature stories
• Interviews and press conferences
• Company newsletters
• Sponsored events
• Publicity

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Public Relations Strategies

• Proactive PR strategy
• Guided by marketing objectives
• Publicize a company and its brands
• Take an offensive rather than defensive posture
• Reactive PR strategy
• Dictated by external influences
• Focuses on problems, not opportunities
• Requires defensive measures

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Proactive Strategies

• Public relations audit
• Public relations plan
• Current situation analysis
• Program objectives
• Program rationale
• Communications vehicles
• Message content

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Reactive Strategies

• Public relations audit
• Identification of vulnerabilities

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Influencer Marketing

• A series of personalized marketing PR techniques
  directed at individuals or groups who have the
  credibility and capability to drive positive word
  of mouth in a broader and salient segment of the
  population.
• The idea is to give the influencer something
  positive to talk about with respect to firms and
  brands.

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Professional Influencer Programs

• Targeting professionals (doctors, therapists,
  lawyers, accountants, etc.) with positive PR
  messages with goal of having these
  professionals influence their clients attitude
  toward a brand.
• Seeding the conversation between the
  professionals and their clients.
• Tactics include trade show displays, direct mail
  communications, and personal selling callsall
  IBP techniques.
• The process provides professionals with
  intellectual currency.

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Peer to Peer Influencer Programs

• Targeting social networks with positive messages
  about a brand to pass along through their social
  networks.
• The programs provide social currency within
  peer networks.
• Cultivating Connectors
• The sophisticated process of cultivating peer to
  peer influencers to positively tout a firms
  brand.
• Procter Gamble has enrolled 600,000
  connectors in its Vocalpoint programmostly
  women with wide social networks.

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Peer to Peer Influencer Programs

• Buzz and Viral Marketing.
• Buzz marketing is creating an event or experience
  that yields conversations that include the brand.
  
• Viral marketing is the process of consumers
  marketing to consumers via
• the Web (e.g., via blogs or forwarding YouTube
  links) or through personal contact. simulated by
  a firm marketing a brand.
• The idea behind both buzz and viral marketing
  strategies is to target a handful of carefully
  chosen trendsetters or connectors as your
  influencers, and let them spread the word.

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Corporate Advertising

• Designed to establish a favorable attitude toward
  a company as a whole.
• Objectives
• Build the image of the firm
• Boost employee morale or attract new employees
• Communicate an organizations views
• Position the firms products
• Play a role in integrated brand promotion

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Ad in Context Example
Corporate advertising features the firm rather
than one of the firms brands.
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Types of Corporate Advertising

• Corporate image advertising Create a favorable
  predisposition toward the firmnot designed to
  affect sales.
• Advocacy advertising Establish the firms
  position on important social, political or
  environmental issues.
• Cause-related advertising Features a firms
  affiliation with an important social cause.
• Green Marketing Corporate efforts that embrace a
  cause or a program in support of the environment.
  

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Ad in Context Example
Drinking and driving is an important social issue
featured in corporate cause-related advertising.