OTHER COMMUNICATION TOOLS:Public relations, Event marketing, Foundations of one-to-one relationship

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Brand Management (MKT624)

Lesson 36

OTHER COMMUNICATION TOOLS

Introduction

With advertising and promotions done, this lecture discusses the remaining tools of

communication. All these tools have fit with different situations, both in isolation and in

complement with each other.

PUBLIC RELATIONS, EVENT MARKETING, AND SPONSORSHIPS1

Public relations

Public relations (PR) can be cashed in through favorable coverage to your brand in relevant

magazines, newspapers, and may also be on television shows. You can talk about your success

story, go for an interview by one of the seniors in your company, or publicize a good social

deed done for no tangible commercial gains. It is a good strategy and well pursued goal to bring

to your brand good publicity and positive attention.

As and when you get more into advertising, your relationship with the media should strengthen,

who generally are willing to help their clients gain importance, limelight, and promotion.

Capitalizing on public relations should be the goal of every brand manager, who serves as the

key connections between their companies and the media that offer public relations

opportunities.

PR for Negative situations

Not all PR is positive; you have to undertake efforts, at times, to counter negative situations.

The bird flu crisis of 2006 is a case in point. Companies in the branded chicken business

educated their customers about all vital facts relating the crisis. It was done both through

advertising and PR exercises that complemented the advertising part.

The fundamental principle in managing the crisis is to go about in a planned way. You should

develop if and then relationships (contingency plans) and be honest and straight forward in

communication with your target market. Straight forwardness is the key to making PR in

negative situations effective.

Event marketing

Event marketing and sponsorships are other ways of creating goodwill. You have to be well

connected in the market not to miss an opportunity. When known for undertaking such

promotions, many organizations will contact you to stage something to that effect. The

examples are:

· Award ceremonies on TV

· Sponsorships of TV regular programs like cooking.

· Sports events

The positive side of such things is they are economical and cost less than regular TV or high-

end print advertising. Brand managers should not get subdued by the glamour of the event

itself. The most important question here is to decide whether or not such efforts are going to

reach your target market? The answer lies in planning activities from reaching the target market

standpoint.

Direct Marketing

This mode of marketing owes to well structured communications in the form of catalogs. This

has been and is quite popular in the Western markets. Lack of time to go shopping coupled with

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good reputation of direct selling brands are two factors that have made this mode a trustworthy

way of buying consumer goods.

But, technological advances of the recent years have given the concept an impetus. We now

have what you may call "new marketing"2. What really has given the concept strength is its

ability to allow businesses develop a long-term relationship with their customers through

credible communication.

Businesses have realized that lifetime value of a buyer is huge as compared to one purchase.

Getting a new buyer is much more costly and that provides the businesses the logical reason not

to lose that buyer and the "relationship". It is an opportunity to maintain "relationship". Thanks

to technology that provides means through internet to stay in contact with your customers and

maintain the data bank for different kinds of research models.

Foundations of one-to-one relationship

1. Companies must maintain records for each customer that show not only all relevant

classification data as name, address and demographics, but also responses to previous

communications.

2. All info pertaining to previous purchases should be maintained relating at what price

and in response to what offer or communications it took place. A good data base allows

managers to analyze it right down to the individual level in terms of buying behavior.

This means that companies can now target individuals or groups of individuals

accurately.

3. The firms can also measure the effects of a communication campaign accurately with

the ability to improve the database and the methods of interpretation on a continuous

basis. Think of company XYZ maintaining the data and contacting their customers on a

regular basis.

FMCG companies have started developing direct marketing model via the internet and

are experimenting with millions on their lists. Based on the models, they can tailor their

offers more and more closely to the individuals' known preferences. Direct delivery

services offered by restaurants and other food chains in our market are excellent

examples of this phenomenon.

According to one reference, direct sales through catalogues and internet have topped

US$500 billion3. Even chains of stores have started selling through this mode with no

visible dents into the sales through their stores. There are well known companies that

specialize in sales through internet B2C having databases so huge that they can rent

that information to others for research purposes making it a line of business in itself.

Since use is increasing at a fast pace, many advertisements in the main media contain

internet addresses of companies' websites. It offers new opportunities in a global

market. You can see anything in pictures with pricing and a lot of details.

Depending on the value of purchase, companies decide whether to deliver free or on

charge. The delivery, however, is the responsibility of the seller.

The main question remains, with such a wide access to the net, how many people want

to be interactive? Can you see such people on the action stage of customer response

effects? They want to buy what kinds of products and how often? Many surf for the

sake of fun and do not buy. The answer lies in whatever evidence that we may have and

can assume the concept is going to multiply. You, however, have to plan your

campaigns in a way which integrates all the vehicles of communication in line with

your goals and objectives.

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4. Communicate across the organization and create internal involvement

Unless we let everyone in the organization know what we are trying to do with the

brand and its communication strategies, the communication either

· May not fully come to life, or

· May assume meanings contrary to the brand's promise

Think for awhile operations people not being on the same wavelength as marketing

people in case of sandwiches XYZ. Operations are building the promise and marketing

are delivering it. They may start working at cross-purposes only because the promise

does not match with what is being claimed by the ad copy. You have to interact with all

the touch points that brand management may have within the company. Education all

across the functional boundaries about your communication objectives in the light of

your brand's vision is a must.

You will see that you are building a sense of ownership among all relating the brand

and brand's communication. You will also get support in areas, you may have

overlooked earlier, that will add to the meaning of your communication.

In developing your brand-based communication plans, you have to think of every stage

of communication that a customer may have with your brand. Your strategies must lay

specific emphasis on all possible encounters that the brand will have with him/her. You

will recall that your brand communicates with the customer before buying, during the

sale, and after the sale.

Summary of communication

Communication brings positioning to life; it deals with four major strategic elements of

brand management.

1. Corporate vision

2. Brand vision

3. Brand promise

4. Brand positioning

We have different tools of communication at our hand. Advertising and promotions are the

most widely used tools; both must complement each other; we must not forget the pull and

push properties.

While dealing with advertising, we have to follow a few following fundamentals the

understanding of which is very significant

1. Copy

2. Copy strategy, and

3. Brand-based strategy

We must understand the rules that lay the foundation for developing the right copy in light

of all strategic elements; the product's basic character, its values, the promises it makes,

and why they are deliverable. Following the rules rightly, we can bridge the gap between

promise and positioning the present and the future.

We must also understand the philosophy of customer response effects and then craft our

communication strategy in relation to different effects employing different tools; this will

give us the right brand-based strategy.

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Bibliography:

1. Scot M. Davis: "Brand Asset Management Driving Profitable Growth through

Your Brands"; Jossey-Bas, a Wiley Imprint (154)

2. Geoffrey Randall: "Branding A Practical Guide to Planning Your Strategy";

Kogan Page (79)

3. Scot M. Davis: "Brand Asset Management Driving Profitable Growth through

Your Brands"; Jossey-Bas, a Wiley Imprint (171)

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