Nation Branding and Place Marketing - V. Promotion, Sales, Public Relations, Marketing, and Advertising
A nation or country’s “branding” could be defined as its public image in the mind of many people around the world. It is quite difficult to think of any serious comparison to this process without invoking either Orwellian “double-speak” or another type of propaganda. However, it is still necessary for any country that desires to maintain a favorable reputation with its trading partners and allies. It must also compete on an international market for foreign investment by advertisements that effectively entice consumers in other countries to buy their products and services. This article will explore how nation branding and place marketing are linked to the practice of Public Relations and Advertising as well as Marketing and Sales.
Public Relations is a means by which an organization can communicate with the public. It involves the provision of information in order to improve a firm’s image in society or to achieve other goals such as raising revenues or increasing profits. The term “public relations” was coined by Ivy Lee, a famous American newspaper columnist, who used it at the end of the 19th century to describe his work for corporations. The profession of public relations (also known as “PR” or “corporate communications”) has since evolved significantly to include the management of communications with the media, the promotion of a positive image, the handling of crises and issues management.
A growing trend in PR agencies is to combine traditional PR activities with new digital and social media tools. Public relations practitioners are using social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Weibo to engage audiences, distribute content and launch outreach campaigns. The increased use of digital tools has also played a significant role in blurring distinctions between traditional PR and public relations.
Public Relations aims at enhancing a company’s image through the media and broadly defined as the management of communication with “publics” (which can be domestic and international). Key activities include:
Public relations professionals can also engage in corporate social responsibility activities by providing advice and counsel to companies on how to manage their brands and reputations. These are typically issues that are not considered problems or crises, but rather opportunities to develop greater public goodwill towards a brand.
Public relations could be considered a subset of corporate communication. However, the two terms are not interchangeable; in fact, public relations has its own professional body, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is the professional body which covers individuals working in marketing public relations. A new development within CIM is that there is an additional branch covering 'Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)'. This branch was formed by members who felt that marketing and public relation specialists should combine their efforts to take greater control over corporate social responsibility issues.
Public relations practitioners have certain professional responsibilities. These are:-
Public Relations work involves the following:
Responding to online reviews, particularly negative ones, is an important area of PR practice. It is increasingly common for consumers to post negative experiences with a company or product on sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor. A company's response has become more important than the original story itself. While a business may be able to respond more effectively in some circumstances (e.g., where the review isn't factually incorrect), many companies ignore negative comments altogether for fear of driving consumers to competitors' products or services which may be superior in some way.
The results of poor or delayed response to such claims have led to businesses being derided as 'lacking in empathy' or 'unable to listen'. The owner of a small restaurant fending off bad reviews is a good example of how reputation and brand can be hindered.
International public relations firms invest in building relationships with journalists and media outlets, so that their clients can obtain information about their products or services via press releases. Public Relations Firms are increasingly interested in the results of the press coverage. Measurement tools are increasingly developed to measure the effectiveness of work in the media, and to measure how these drive sales.
In this new era the importance of PR firms relationship with a media has reached new heights. These days, more often than not, it's about who can get their story into a particular outlet and then have that outlet picked up by others with some influence in the industry and begin trending. The same old approach of simply issuing a press release or doing a mass send out of an announcement is not effective any longer. It is more a case of getting an individual to write an article on your behalf, which can then be picked up by others.
Although PR agencies have traditionally served companies, public relations practitioners now increasingly serve nonprofit organizations, as well as local government agencies and community leaders.
There are many different types of PR practitioners with varying specializations. There are generalists that do everything from media relations to social media to crisis management. There are also specialists in different sectors like health, finance, tech or entertainment. It is important for organizations to know what type of PR services they need and who best fits the bill for them.
There are two main ways that organizations can seek to gain more exposure through the PR industry. First, many organizations have annual reports or other publications which tell a story about their work. It is important for organizations to have access to or to create these materials that tell an entire story about themselves.
Second, many people use the Internet as a way of getting information from organizations, so these are also valuable PR tools for organizations. Websites and webpages allow staff members and potential clients alike to easily look up information on companies, their products or even their history. One of the biggest benefits of PR is that it is almost completely free for companies, so there is no reason why an organization cannot create their own website and web page to tell their story.
The most frequent form of public relations advice is offering to write a press release which will be distributed to journalists, often in the form of a press release distribution service. This type of service can be very cost effective and it may be that this service can allow an organization to gain more attention than they would have hoped for. Press releases are among the most common forms of social media advice as well, since many businesses use them as part of their marketing.