Promotion Mix - Public Relations

• PR manages the public image of a company.
• It involves communicating with customers, suppliers, dealers, and others.
• It aims to protect and improve the company's and its products' image.

• A business is connected with suppliers, shareholders, intermediaries, activist groups, and the government.
• Support of middlemen is important.
• Consumer activist groups can influence sales and business reputation.

• Organisations have a PR department or hire PR agencies.
• They create goodwill and positive publicity.
• They monitor public opinion, handle negative publicity, and advise management on improving the company's image.

Public relations is an important tool used by the marketing department to help the business. The public relations department mainly performs five functions.

• Publicity: Unpaid, non-personal communication about the product in the media as news.
• Press Release: Giving correct and positive information about the organisation to the press.
• Corporate Communication: Using newsletters, reports, brochures, speeches, and media interactions to build the company’s image.
• Lobbying: Dealing with government and associations on policies that affect business and the economy.
• Counselling: Advising management on public issues and supporting causes (environment, children, education, etc.) to build goodwill.

• Building Awareness: Creates publicity and a good first impression before product launch.
• Building Credibility: Media coverage increases public trust in the product.
• Stimulating Sales Force & Dealers: Publicity helps dealers and salespersons sell more easily.
• Lowering Promotion Costs: Costs less than advertising while creating effective publicity.

• PR manages public opinion and relationships to protect and improve the company’s image and product image.
• Business deals with many groups (suppliers, shareholders, intermediaries, activist groups, government) whose opinions matter.
• PR departments or agencies spread information, create goodwill, handle negative publicity, and guide management on image-building.
• Main PR functions: publicity, press release, corporate communication, lobbying, and counselling.
• Publicity is unpaid, appears as news without a sponsor, and is usually more trusted than advertisements.
• PR helps in building awareness, building credibility, motivating the sales force and dealers, and reducing promotion costs.