Chapter Six

The following notes reconstruct what I have found useful in this chapter.

Marketing and public relations share some fundamental concepts. These concepts include analyzing market opportunities (research), selecting target markets (publics), developing a marketing mix (communication/action plan), and managing the marketing effort (evaluation).

However, public relations as a strategy does four things marketing cannot do. (1) It is concerned about internal relations and publics, (2) It cares about non-customer external publics and the environment in which the organization operates, (3) It operates on the policies of human nature (what makes the individual tick), whereas marketing focuses on consumer behavior (purchasing and economics, often expressed in number-crunching research, and (4) It may work to stabilize or change public opinion in areas other than products.

Satisfying the needs of the customers is what needs to be achieved. Public relations must both help motivate purchases and create a hospitable environment for the organization to sell product and services.

Consumers make buying decisions based on how companies run their businesses, according to a 1995 survey by the PR firm Porter/Novelli. These influences on buying habits were:

1. Product quality
2. The company's method of handling consumer complaints
3. The way a company handles a crisis in which it is at fault
4. Challenges by a government agency about product safety
5. Accusation of illegal or unethical trading practices

The reputation of a company and its brands will play an even greater role in the word-of-mouth communication around products and services.

The role of public relations has originally been to make people:

1. Aware of the product or service in the first place
2. Knowledgeable about the benefits and advantages of the particular product or service
3. Constantly reminded and reinforced in favorable feelings toward the product or service

The changing conditions of the marketplace has also brought forth sevel new activities, such as:

1. Build customer loyalty by forming user groups or customer service departments
2. Adopting customer satisfaction programs where the entire organization is focused on delivering not just a product/service but the quality and personal interactions consumers expect when making a purchase
3. Concentrating the publicity and promotion activities on taking customers away from competitors
4. Protecting the rep of the product/service, and of the organization, in a period of consumer activism, government regulation, competitive predation, global marketing, and similar conditions that bring a continual bevy of public issues to bear on every organization/industry.

Elements in designing a customer delight program include the promise, customer expectations, delivery, and the aftermath/maintenance.

Example:

Toyota with their recalls have had a hard time dealing with the media; however, they have also launched new commercials with the main focus of "moving forward" and showing their appreciation towards their customers. Their responses to these recall and brake problems have been dealt with and although it has been a tough crisis, the Toyota company is doing what is possible to fix the problem.