Category: Public relations

Introduction

In any business situation, the public relations role is to harmonize the internal and external workings of an organization. The end goal is usually to promote the returns on sales and attract more customers.

Overall Goals for Public Relations

To enhance the corporate image of the organization and boost the sales of the products and services.

Target Audience

• Customers/clients
• Employees
• Business Partners
• Distributors
• Suppliers
• Surrounding community

Objectives

• Enhance smooth flow of ideas
• Recognize all our clients’ support
• Favor organization’s growth and expansion within one year
• Create a strong customer base.
• Double the company’s profits, from 5% to 10%

Tactics

• Introduce training programs to staff members.
• Invest in the most current technologies for example communication networks
• Acquire loans from the bank to promote expansion.
• Print brochures, catalogues, posters and other promotional materials to be distributed to the stakeholders. Send press releases.
• Hold workshops, seminars and talk shows to be aired on TV channels.
• Invite CEOs of the best performing companies to address employees and other stakeholders regarding the new projects.
• Produce variety of products to reach a wiser client base.

Strategies

• Design an all inclusive marketing plan
• Come up with new promotional strategies
• Diversity the products portfolio
• Enhance business relations with other companies.
• Cater fir the extra budget.

Activities

• Set up a time frame within which to hold seminars, workshops, and other events.
• Write memos to all the staff informing them about the meeting.
• Come up with a list of the employees to undergo training.
• Identify the venue where all the meetings will be held.
• Decide the designs, colors, and contents of all the promotional materials.
• Set the date when the seminars, workshops and training should begin.
• Identify the CEO to be invited and the company he will come from

Evaluation

• Review the projects undertaken monthly.
• All the invoices and cash transactions made should be made available.
• Regular reports and recommendations should be made indicating the failures and successes of the projects.
• Inquiring from the target audience
• Making comparisons between the current output and the previous outputs.
• Conduct employees’ performance appraisal regularly.
• Open a suggestion where all employees customers and other stakeholders acan give their

Materials

To carry out the training and to provide promotional materials, the materials needed are as follows:

• Stationery
• Instruction manual
• Pens
• Handouts
• Posters
• Catalogues
• Brochures

Budget Items

• The cost training
• Payment for the speakers
• Production cost to cover posters, brochures, and catalogues
• Costs of other stationeries
• Traveling costs
• Accommodation
• Miscellaneous expenditure

Formal research will be carried out whereby questionnaires will be sent out to the retail members, while sale members smaller-less profitable companies and the public at large to gather their opinions regarding national Association of Security System Distributors’ products and services. Another informal research will be conducted to acquire information and opinions that customers had regarding the security systems being offered. The method to be used is informal interviews, for instance asking customers a few questioned when selling products or services to them. (Timothy, p56)

Company Goals

• Ensure the company receives an award as the best In terms of corporate identity and image.
• Double the sales in both wholesale and retail, which is domestic retail sales, should raise from 12% to 24% and the wholesale market should rise from 27% to 54%.
• Endure the following services continue to be the member’s most valued services. New Trends in Security Technology (The Association’s Trade Journal), the annual trade show, and the product certification program.
• Conduct extensive awareness campaign to make the political Action Committee popular among the members.
• Engage in an aggressive marketing campaign and advertising to boost the sale of residential security systems.
• Liaise with the media houses and ensure the company is given positive publicity and coverage.
• Ensure all customers receive proper advice on the benefits of residential security systems.

Key publics to be targeted in the communication plan

• Wholesalers of residential security systems
• Domestic retailers of residential security systems
• Smaller less-profitable companies and larger more profitable one
• Staff members of national Association of security system Distributors
• General public /consumers.

Short-term objective

• Create awareness regarding the benefits of using residential security systems.

Long term objective

Establish 80/20 rule, that is, concentrate on the 20% who can account for the highest profits and produce quality.

Strategies to be Adopted

• Expand public relations program to address the needs of the general public/consumers and cater for them adequately. Invite a speaker to address the need of the consumers and the best way to go about it.
• Advertising
• Embark on an aggressive marketing campaign promotional strategy and door too door selling to boost the sales and the image of the company. (Roy, p. 345) This will involve diversification of the products on sales, such as residential security systems. Produce promotional materials such as T-shirts, caps, and nice sacks to promote and enhance the corporate identity of the company, design adverts to be placed on the local TV stations and radio stations, design posters and other handouts to be distributed among the locals. Employ advanced technology in the manufacture of all products. (Scott, p. 34)

The general public

The general public constitutes the largest percentage of our customers. They are the number one customers of our products and services. They, therefore, require quality goods and services and they should also be availed to them at affordable prices. This will ensure customers retention since they will gain satisfaction from our products. Quality customer service standards will be maintained at all times to enhance customer satisfaction and make them come back for more products and services. (Timothy, p. 89) It is also important to employ the latest technology to produce a state of the art security systems to attract more customers besides retaining the old ones.

Steps to expand public relations program

• To expand the public relations program, a speaker will be invited to speak to the staff members and chat a way forward for them. The speaker will also address the customers and explain to them the importance of buying a residential security system and discard all the myths that security systems are not one hundred percent efficient. The speaker will be the CEO of a security systems company or any other company that has public relations program.
• To embark on marketing, promotional, and advertisements. The company will require promotional items such as T-shirts pens, posters to attract more customers. Take advantage of events such as trade shows to familiarize themselves with the people and introduce their products.
• The company can make use of billboards, stickers and give out free samples to the buyers. They should also provide after-sales services for every customer who buys a residential security system.
• During the public events a leading public relations practitioner can be invited to address the audience.
• During trade shows and promotional campaigns the director of public relations can be invited to address the audience. She should be familiar with the entire all the strategies put in place and should thoroughly address the publics’ needs.
• Another spokesman who can be invited is the representative of the public relations committee to sensitize the people and explain the types of technologies being employed, for example, the latest billboards and explain exactly how after-sales services will be done.

Out of the $300,000 allocated for the project, $ 100000 will be allocated to promotional materials and advertisement; $50,000 will be set aside to cater for staff training and for the purchase of materials such as stationery to be used for training. $ 50,000 will be allocated for billboards and $100,000 will carter accommodation, traveling expenses out of pocket expenses, staff or volunteer time, and in-kind donations plus other miscellaneous expenses.

Time-Table and Task list

6^th Dec 2007:- Write memos to all the staff members indicating the problems and steps the company is taking.

7^th Dec 2007:- Convene a meeting to be attended by all employees and key publics set the date when training programs, seminars, and workshops will begin. This will be chaired by the company director. Identify the speakers who will address the audience. Decide on the designs of the promotional items.

8^th Dec 2007:- Purchase all materials needed to kick off the training program. List down the names of the participants; identify the venue in which the program will take place.

9^th Dec 2007:- Present all the cash receipts and invoices to the public relations committee.

10^th Dec 2007:- Set up the venue, where the program will be conducted. The preparations will be overseen by one staff member.

11^th to 15^th Dec 2007: Conduct the first session of the training program, to enhance the image of the company. One professional will facilitate it.

16^th Dec 2007: The participants are given time to write reports of their first sessions and had them over to the facilitators ready for the next and the final session of training.

17^th Dec to 22^nd 2007: The second and final session of the program begins. It will be facilitated by another professional and the guest speaker will be Bill Gates and he will address the participants of 22^nd December 2007.

30^th March, 2008: The four staff members and the public relation committee will met too review the progress program. This will involve short term objectives.

30^th June, 2008: Long term objectives will be evaluated at this time and they will be evaluated by the public relations committee and they will be assisted by the four public relations professionals.

Success

The success of the short-term and long-term objectives will be evaluated after at least three months when the public relations committee meets. For the evaluation process, reports will be used to determine how the program has been received. (Scott, p670) All the transactions made will be indicated by cash receipts and invoices which will be verified by the members of the committee. The short-term objectives are supposed to be achieved within the first three months and the long-term objectives should be achieved at least within six months. If the plans will not be successful, plans to review the program will be made and changes implemented immediately.

Conclusion

The overall goals will be determined by the results after three years. The results achieved will be measured as well as the performance of the company. The actors will mainly be professionals and members of the committee. An analysis will also be done on the quality of the security systems produced by the company.

References

1. Scott, M. Effective Public Relations, Amazon Publishers, 2004.
2. Roy, L. Advertising and Public Relations Law. Harvard University Press, 2003.
3. Timothy, C. It’s Not Just PR: Public Relations in Society. Palgrave Publishers, 2002.

Background

Public relations (PR) is one of the marketing communications disciplines, best thought of as an arsenal of weapons employed to induce adoption of an advocacy position, trial or purchase of a product or service, and assent to a given line of thinking. PR is more subtle and less visible than, say, mass media or Internet advertising because the tools of the craft typically comprise press releases or behind-the-scenes persuasion to obtain more favorable editorial treatment or for an organization to declare itself behind the espoused initiative.

Part of the image problem of PR is “spin” management, a term that has taken on pejorative connotations as American media routinely accuse politicians of seeking to put adverse developments – such as setbacks in the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan – in a favorable light in order to cultivate support of the electorate. And it is true enough that political leaders have lied to the American people when they mistakenly thought they could get away with it. However, it is also true that many erstwhile respectable media outlets (the New York Times, for example) are often clumsy about concealing their liberal and anti-government bias.

As an associate professor in the Department of Advertising/Public Relations, Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, Lynne M. Sallot undertook to explore the antecedents of the comparatively poor image PR agencies and consultants have with target publics.

Aims of the Study

Sallot took for her theoretical framework the principles of impression management and employed an experimental research design to test the effects of three aspects of PR practice:

• the presumptive motives behind a public relations program,
• communication styles used,
• observed professionalism of practitioners.

By definition, “impression management” is the usually conscious and goal-directed process that endeavors to influence the perceptions of a target public about a person, object or event by regulating the information that is released or conveyed.

Methodology

The validity of this research rests on the fact that, first of all, the experimental method has been used to examine the goals and behaviors of impression managers in most interpersonal, social, and organizational communication/ psychology studies that deal with the matter. In particular, Sallot falls back on the experimental design used by Schenker and Leary to probe varied impression management effects exemplified by audience response to actors in a different scenarios.

Secondly, Sallot quotes Benoit, Caillouet, Coombs and others to contend that the impression management perspective leads to better understanding of public relations, since both are concerned with the “strategic control of information to communicate particular, desired impressions to identified audiences.”

Thirdly, the author argues for the validity of the three explanatory and independent) variables in that:

1. Audiences impute self-interest or mixed motives at best for any act of communication.
2. On communication styles used, it is opined that the interactive, symmetrical methods of PR – in the course of which feedback is systematically and regularly sought from the target audience via polling – have worked to the extent at least of elevating the professional status of PR.
3. Professionalism seems a strong factor in bolstering reputation, particularly as applied to either state licensing or voluntary accreditation, in the case of PR consultants.

In turn, the reliability of the Sallot study rests on employing random sampling that allows the findings to be generalized to the relevant general population and on a research design that permits other researchers to replicate the findings given the same method and study instruments.

The research design was a rigorous 4x2x2 factorial design with 16 distinct experimental conditions across which the test subjects were distributed. This design broke down as follows:

Sallot also hypothesized interactive effects among the above but these are beyond the scope of the present critique.

The other aspects of reliability concern sample size, sampling method and the study instruments. In general, these all serve to enhance the standing of the Sallot study.

For instance, sample size was substantial (net= 585) and had to be owing to the fact that the research design bore 16 treatment cells (combinations of independent variables) over which respondents needed to be randomly distributed. There was definitely no question about acquiring a sample size >30 to permit parametric statistics such as ANOVA.

The respondents were about evenly divided between 291 recruited in the mall intercept and 294 university undergraduates enrolled in an undergraduate speech course. The main exclusions were 38 for incomplete questionnaires, and participants working or studying in public relations, print or broadcast journalism, or advertising. Over two-thirds had completed some college but this has to be considered in light of the reliance on a large number of student-respondents.

The “intervention” or experimental manipulation took the form of simulated news articles from an area newspaper and an attached briefing sheet. Both items differed according to imputed motives about the altruism (or, conversely, selfish motives) of a fictitious company with respect to starting up a laser cartridge recycling facility in the community. The licensing independent variable condition took the form of identifying a PR firm Hanson as behind the materials and being among just 5% of licensed practitioners in the state.

Respondents were randomly assigned to each of 16 test conditions, arising from the fact that there were four different newspaper articles and four different backgrounders (4 x 4) thus yielding 16 different questionnaire versions used in the experiment.

The dependent variables in this study were the responses to the questionnaires. Semantic differential items and “strongly agree-strongly disagree” scales measured attitudes about the IV’s, eight Likert-type scales provided manipulation checks while a tack-on of 11 items assessed attitudes about PR. The latter were presented twice, once before exposure to the stimuli and subsequently so as to provide a baseline measure of where attitudes stood before the experimental manipulation.

References

Benoit, W. L. (1995) Accounts, excuses, and apologies: A theory of image restoration strategies. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Caillouet R. H. & Allen, M. W. (1996) Impression management strategies employees use when discussing their organization’s public image. Journal of Public Relations Research 8 (4): 211-27.

Coombs, W. T. (2001) Interpersonal communication and public relations. in Handbook of Public Relations, ed. Robert L. Heath, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 105-114.

Sallot, L. M. (2008). What the public thinks about public relations: An impression management experiment. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 2002; 79, 1; p. 150.

Introduction

The global oil and gas industry is currently under substantial social and competitive pressures. The public concern for climate change intensifies, and the trends of renewable energy and green technology use go upwards. Thus, there is a need for Aramco as a global leader in oil production to communicate to stakeholders the significance of the oil and gas industry to modern society and protect organizational interests. Considering this, the establishment of a public relations (PR) department in Aramco is important, and the present report aims to demonstrate why the launch of such a unit can provide the company with advantages in dealing with the identified issue.

The report comprises five major sections that discuss roles and tasks of PR, a rationale for the establishment of the department, stakeholders whom it will address, specialists whose involvement will be required, and potential outcomes. Information provided in these sections will explain which functions PR has, why they are important for Aramco, whom they must target, and which factors should be considered to make PR’s work more effective. Lastly, the report will outline possible favorable impacts of PR on the company’s long-term performance. To attain this, evidence from scholarly resources and interviews with Aramco’s management will be used.

Role and Tasks of PR

PR is an essential part of change management, and it is all about communication, maintenance, and improvement of organizational reputation and image. PR is defined as “the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain good relationships, mutual understanding, sympathy and goodwill with secondary target groups” (Pelsmacker 2010, p. 339). The fact that the practice is not targeted at immediate consumers but works with the perceptions of secondary stakeholders differs it from marketing, which aims to communicate corporate messages to customers and promote goods.

Besides, PR is a long-term strategy and involves such tasks as

Creation and communication of corporate vision and mission,

Implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives,

Maintenance of positive relations with media,

Promotion of involvement of internal stakeholders in the realization of the company’s vision (Pelsmacker 2010).

In contrast, marketing communication strategies are usually short-term and primarily concerned with the issues of profitability. In spite of the differences between PR and marketing, it is essential for both departments to cooperate to ensure that neither the long-term reputational interests of Aramco nor its short-term commercial interests are compromised.

The rationale for the Establishment of the PR Department

As the discussed PR roles and practices indicate, the major purpose of the proposed department will be the management of corporate image and reputation in the long term. These objectives are particularly important for Aramco nowadays since the oil and gas industry is facing a “crisis of perception” (Vaughan 2019, para. 1). The major challenge that every firm in the sector has to overcome is that a large number of stakeholders, including policymakers and investors, tend to believe that oil and gas enterprises have no future (Vaughan 2019). However, such an outlook contradicts Aramco’s forecasts and vision.

The company acknowledges the importance of reducing carbon dioxide emissions and the necessity to explore renewables. However, it is clear that if Aramco stops investing in petrochemicals at the present moment, the world will experience an energy crisis (Vaughan 2019). Thus, the PR department will facilitate the establishment of a dialogue with the public regarding the future of the oil and gas industry and Aramco’s potential investments in cleaner energy sources.

Stakeholders

The primary publics that the department will address include consumers, policymakers, and investors because the sentiments held by these stakeholder groups have a direct impact on Aramco’s financial performance.

Consumers tend to buy only those goods and services that add a certain value to their lives and are in line with their preferences and interests (Newsom, Turk & Kruckeberg 2013). Therefore, if consumers’ environmental interests are stronger than the need for energy products, the company will bear losses. The same applies to investors since if they stop seeing the revenue potentials in the oil and gas industry, they will switch to alternative options.

National and international policies and regulations may either support or restrict certain organizational operations. Therefore, it is pivotal to ensure that regulators and policymakers have a realistic view of energy demand and oil and gas production.

Specialists

To tackle the problem of negative perception, the PR department will need to conduct comprehensive environmental research. There is a need to access high-quality, rigorous statistical data and forecasts concerning such issues as oil and gas demand, energy consumption rates, and the ability of renewable energy and the oil and gas industry to meet energy needs. Thus, analysts should be involved in the department’s work frequently.

Expected Impacts

Greater public awareness of the significance of the oil and gas industry at the present stage of global community development,

Greater attractiveness of the industry and the company for potential investors and consumers,

Better risk and opportunity management due to PR’s ability to anticipate issues and identify new possibilities through extensive environmental research,

Establishment of greater public trust through the development and implementation of CSR and sensitive handling of communications with various stakeholders,

Improved long-term strategic decision-making through the alignment of multiple organizational and stakeholder needs (Swann 2008; Moloney 2005).

Conclusion

The analysis revealed that the oil and gas industry is currently facing a perceptional crisis and that an increasing number of people, including policymakers and investors, consider that the firms operating in this sector cannot survive in the long run. This problem makes the establishment of the PR unit an important task.

The launch of the PR department will provide Aramco with a competitive advantage. The main goals of the unit include the long-term management of organizational reputation and relations with multiple stakeholders whose opinions and actions can directly affect the firm’s performance. Expected outcomes of the PR work are improved company image, reduction in reputational risks, increase in attractiveness of the firm to both consumers and investors, and better coordination of disparate corporate and stakeholder needs and interests.

Recommendations

The establishment of the PR department is important for the effective management of the perceptional crisis.

For better outcomes, it is important to ensure that PR specialists regularly collaborate with marketing professionals and analysts.

PR must address consumers, investors, and policymakers as primary stakeholders since their behaviors affect Aramco’s performance.

References

Moloney, K 2005, ‘Trust and public relations: center and edge,’ Public Relations Review, vol. 31, pp. 550-555.

Newsom, D, Turk, JV & Kruckeberg, D 2013, This is PR: the realities of public relations, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Boston, MA.

Pelsmacker, P de 2010, ‘Public relations,’ in P de Pelsmacker, M Geuens & J van den Bergh (eds), Marketing communications: a European perspective, Financial Times Prentice Hall, Harlow, UK, pp. 338-367.

Swann, P 2008, Cases in public relations management, McGraw Hill, Boston, MA.

Vaughan, 2019, Saudi Aramco says the oil industry faces a’ crisis of perception’. The Guardian, Web.

The United Arab Emirates belongs to the group of countries that provide the best conditions for creating and developing an efficiently run company. Due to its rich natural resources, it attracts many people who are already successful. This is why there is a need for companies that would be able to handle relations between businesspeople and media and to help business owners to increase the effectiveness of their work and gain a more substantial profit. PR agencies act as intermediaries between business people and their clients, providing the former with unique media content and event organization.

Established to help companies manage the information spread of organizations, PR agencies use different methods of creating good and productive public relations (Heath, 2013, p.14). These methods may include creating an article or a booklet, where the company is presented in an appropriate way and its strong points are highlighted (Newsom, 2012, p.8). The target audience of the company is one of the key factors that define the approach that needs to be used to make the company more prosperous (Dozier et al., 2013, p. 7). Experienced public relations specialists have to develop an effective PR strategy, taking into consideration the needs of the target audience and its particular qualities.

Speaking about the most successful PR agencies in UAE, one cannot pass over the Iris Agency located in Dubai. This agency is known for its diverse range of PR services and successful work with the world’s leading business corporations, such as Panasonic, Epson, GE Health, and many others. The primary task that this agency is working by is supporting the economic growth of the Middle East region by attracting attention to the companies located there. The list of various services that this agency offers includes Strategic PR Counsel, which involves advising on daily communications with customers. As specialists from the Iris Agency get used to multitasking, they can provide a company with all kinds of support that concern promotional events organization, media training programs, and generating unique content that can raise the company’s profile in the business community. Stated differently, the Iris Agency can manage all the work aimed at making a name for a company, and this is why it is so popular with business people working in different parts of the country.

As for the opinions of the heavyweight people and organizations on the agency, they seem to be undivided, and this is a result of the hard work of public relations specialists from Iris PR. Perfect event management has become the key feature of the agency that offers organization of the product launches, exhibitions, dinners, meetings, and various entertainment events. For instance, the Iris PR Agency organized the IAA Apprentice Conference in Dubai that increased its popularity among companies’ reviewers. In his online blog, Kim Fernandez calls Iris PR “the leading event company in Dubai,” and it is just one of the numerous proofs of the company’s wide recognition (Fernandez, 2015, para. 1). Besides being an internationally recognized PR agency, Iris PR has won several prestigious awards in the field of public relations, such as the TMT Media Award and ACQ Global Awards 2016.

Considering Iris PR’s popularity in the sphere of event management and public relations, we can state that its work can help any company to develop and capture a market within a short space of time.

References

Dozier, D. M., Grunig, L. A., & Grunig, J. E. (2013). Manager’s guide to excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.

Fernandez, K. (2015). Iris PR shares the commandants for Event Successes in Dubai. Web.

Heath, R. L. (Ed.). (2013). Encyclopedia of public relations. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications.

Newsom, D., Turk, J., & Kruckeberg, D. (2012). This is PR: The realities of Public Relations. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Introduction

This case study takes up the matter of J.Sainsbury, a long-established Fortune 500 Company. It is a widely respected chain store that has a 140-year old history in customer servicing and providing quality food and non-food products at affordable prices.

Its maxim of ‘good quality at lower price’ has been at the core of its success story for many years of its history and has underpinned its supremacy for nearly 3 half centuries of trade in UK food sector, besides diversifying into banking, insurance and core financial areas. However, J.Sanisbury (JS) also needs to tap its vast experience in retail trade and knowledge of market conditions. These competitive benefits need to be reflected and mirrored in its current marketing operations. It is seen that there have been paradigm shifts in the shopping patterns and buyers’ psychology, especially among the younger generation shoppers who wish to strike bargains during their purchases.

“Shoppers are now well versed with money saving strategies, making the most of price cuts and promotions with many also opting for retailer own labels, where growth is almost 6 percent,” said Mike Watkins, Senior Manager, Retailer Services at Nielsen. (British shoppers follow bargains, 2009, Discuss, para.2).

Percent share of grocery market spend by retailer

It is precisely for gaining a larger market share and serving more customers, that JS has launched its money-saving and discount voucher schemes, off the counter to add value to client purchases and offer a wider gamut of products and services to valued customers. Again, internet business needs to be strengthened with a wide array of products at competitive prices and accommodating terms of selling.

What is the general context of the Press Release (PR)?

It deals with the discount coupons offered by JS as part of its customers’ promotional schemes. “Sainsbury’s today announces a major financial investment in a coupon scheme designed to benefit the 18.5 million customers the retailer serves every week. Customers will be rewarded at the till with money-off coupons for hundreds of branded and Sainsbury’s own-brand products.” (Company news, 2009, Sainsbury’s announces biggest investment in customer loyalty since launching of Nectar, para.1).

The second press release offered test campaigns for customers to test JS own brands with other branded goods, in order to feel and understand the high-value JS places on its own brand quality and pricing, which is definitely “20 percent cheaper than the branded versions.” (Company news, 2009, para.3).

Other aspects that have been covered in these press releases are the passion and commitment JS has towards its loyal clientele over the eventful years of its service in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. JS wishes to develop strong bonds with its clientele and also provide them value for money not only for its food products but also for its other insurance and banking business lines.

“We now serve over 18 million customers a week and have a market share of around 16 percent. Our large stores offer around 30,000 products and we offer complementary non-food products and services in many of our stores. An internet-based home delivery shopping service is also available to 88 percent of UK households.” (Company overview, 2009, para.3). Some of the major thrust areas that JS needs to consider includes product positioning and the need for greater visibility for its products and services, own brands vs. marketed brands (Own brands have higher margins than marketed brands), how competition has affected JS, and finally the critical area of use of Information technology and closer links with customers in enhancing market reputation and goodwill of JS. It should also think in terms of how it could attain the Number 1 or Number 2 slot in retail marketing in the United Kingdom, the spots now being occupied by rivals like Asda or Tesco.

What was accomplished in the communication? Consider more than just the obvious message

The main idea that was being driven home by this communication is that it is wiser to shop and buy JS’s own products, with its marked passion for quality, pricing and excellent servicing. Both from the quality and economy point of view, JS is miles ahead of its competitors and offers customers a complete shopping experience, unparalleled in the annals of selling history.

Were the press releases related in any way to each other or to major news or industry trends occurring at that time?

Yes, the press releases were related to each other. It underlined the importance JS attached to serving and satisfying customer preferences and needs, especially under the present economic situation, where people have to think twice about the pricing and quality of products they put in their trolleys. Another aspect is that under the present economic conditions, people need to get more value for money and conserve buying habits through gifts and savings vouchers and better brand products. The main aspects of the savings schemes were that there were added inducements, even for non Nectar scheme participants and were intended to add value to their purchase. Besides, one of the main focus areas of the company has been in terms of having “to build on and stretch the lead in food. By sharing our customers’ passion for healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food, Sainsbury’s will continue to innovate and provide leadership in delivering quality products at fair prices, sourced with integrity.” (Company overview, 2009, Our business priorities, para.2).

Moreover, JS needs to consolidate its market standing as the largest supermarket in the UK and also its third position after Asda and Tesco.

Did the company send a consistent and coherent message?

Yes, through these press communiqués, the company did send positive and coherent messages to its clients and potential customers. This could also offer customers presently shopping with other shops to migrate to JS, keeping in view its commitments and loyalty to its18 million-strong weekly customers, who are increasing with each passing day. It is also seen that brand loyalty and added features promoted by JS are strong points that are savored by customers, young and old. Besides, the excellent servicing and promotional schemes launched by JS from time to time are popular and liked by its customers. It would not be long before JS is able to capitalize on its assets and resources to reach the coveted Number One spot in UK retail marketing business.

Reference

British shoppers follow bargains: Discuss. (2009). Nielsen Wire. Web.

Company news: Sainsbury’s announces biggest investment in customer loyalty since launch of Nectar. (2009). Web.

Company news. (2009). J Sainsbury plc: Corporate Website. Web.

Company overview: Our business priorities: Great food at fair prices. (2009). J Sainsbury plc. Web.

Retail sales start to bloom in UK: Percent share of grocery market spent by retailer. (2009). Nielsen Wire. Web.

A thorough appraisal of the situation allows the author of this case study to better understand the problem and foresee possible solutions to it. The problem itself, according to Meyer and Brown, can be found in the fact that “nearly two hundred of the rancher’s cattle had mysteriously died, and he could not determine the cause of death” (p. 94). Erickson, as a public relations representative, takes control of the situation, driven by the notion that the governor supports the idea of “open government” and understands that the issue must be resolved immediately. The idea that Erickson has to go all-in to resolve the case is the main driving force for him. On the one hand, it is logical to assume that people will respect the government if it manages to solve the problem. On the other, if Erickson ignores the inquiry, a wave of indignation may arise among the community. Taking water contamination in the area into account, we can conclude that it is also possible that the products on the farmer’s land were also contaminated as a repercussion of chemical poisoning. Erickson knows that he needs to either stop the functioning of the Fast Grow Corporation chemical plant or at least of their fertilizer production process.

There are several scenarios possible in this kind of situation. The first one for Erickson is to convene a commission to assess plant operations and then pay them a visit, demanding they stop their damaging processes. If plant management refuses to comply, Erickson could threaten that the plant will suffer major losses due to the downtime caused by all ensuing inspections. If it is decided that the plant should be closed down, a negative response would be expected from investors who spend ample money on the production of fertilizers and on plant maintenance. Erickson is going to have a talk with the governor, and if that does not help to advance a resolution for the problem, he will be forced to compensate the rancher for his dead cattle. The second option is simply to request the removal of hazardous fertilizer waste left post-production. It would be critical to find out at what stage the pollution happens and to take necessary steps to eliminate the issue as soon as possible.

The last and the worst-case scenario is the option where the Fast Grow Corporation refuses to suspend work in order to determine circumstances or at least to allow the Commission to make necessary measurements and perform a deep analysis of what is happening in the fertilizer production process. The third option for Erickson is to set an appointment with the governor and survey all the facts as they stand; this scenario may be considered the worst case of all three, but if Erickson is successful in his inquiries, the governor and the office would have community support. If Erickson decides to come to the governor, he will have to announce a request to stop the fertilizer production in order to clarify the circumstances and to address problem-solving methods.

Otherwise, if the governor refuses to assist, Erickson will have to hold a press conference, to which he would call journalists from all over the state. In this case, he is motivated by the idea that he does what the policy passed by the governor requires from the governor’s office. If the governor refuses to help, the farmer will sue the plant, and then the case suffers bad publicity throughout the state and then the whole country. If the governor wants to avoid taking this issue to court, he will listen to Erickson and convene a shareholders’ council, encouraging them to carry out the necessary analysis, which he might justify by saying that it is better to incur temporary losses than to completely shut down the plant and raise a wave of public discontent.

If in Erickson’s place, this author would have chosen the following strategy: come to the factory and find out whether the operation really pollutes the environment. If it is determined to do so, the next step is to find out how. The author also does not have any evidence of guilt on the part of the plant, so an accusatory visit to the governor is not legitimate. Finding the cause of the problem, the factory, the governor, and the author of this paper join forces in searching for a solution to the problem, which would be beneficial to all parties involved. It is also important to convince plant management to pass the inspection because if the plant closes, people will lose their jobs and resentment could easily take over the state, or even the whole county. If the farmer were to sue the company, it would have to stop production and pay damages to him (not to mention losses that the company will incur during this idle time). A peaceful solution is advantageous to the plant owner as well, if he wants to become the next governor.

Identification of Pertinent Fact

In the real estate case mentioned in the case study, it is fundamental to note that the real estate company is in a crisis hence the need to resolve the conflict. It is in disagreement with the government’s expectation of the firm’s operation. It is also significant to note that the role of public relations in an organization is to create a mutual understanding between an organization and its immediate publics (Cutlip et al, 1985). In this case, the presence of mutual understanding has been ruined by a product provider company of the real estate company called Chemco. It is evident that Chemco sells evergreen floor laminated systems to the real estate company and also offers a warranty of 30 years after installation.

After some time, the government decides that Chemco has been producing dangerous materials for human health. Substandard products are not only harmful to our health but can lead to massive losses to a company that deals with the same. When such an issue is raised by a government body that regulates standards, the parties affected must move fast to rectify and amend the situation. The public relations office has a major duty to inform the public of the same and avoid any collateral damage that may be caused to the company by the said substandard products.

The evergreen floor laminated system causes cancer to people who habit the buildings and those who live around the same building hence a health hazard. It is also a fact to note that the real estate companies are likely to experience losses as the government has cautioned the general public on the health hazards associated with occupying the buildings (Bernays, Edward L, 1952). The relevant fact, therefore, is the crisis that the real estate company is undergoing between itself and the public.

Formulation of Key Issues

The prime issues involved in this case affect all the immediate public of the real estate company which involves: the customers, these are the people who buy into the real estate company properties, the community, these involve anyone living around the completed properties, the shareholders, those who have invested in the property development and the government that regulates and controls the development of such properties.The key issues in this case study involve the following: The consequent actions that should be taken on Chemco company The right information to dispense to the public. The expected reaction of the real estate owners. The reaction of the tenants who had already occupied the buildings before the government’s warning.

The possible action by the government’s

List of Underlying Theories

The following theories are likely to be used in this case:

• Agenda-setting theory
• Persuasion theory
• Situational theory

Analysis of the facts with the theories on the topic of issue

Agenda-setting theory would come in the way the media dispenses information about the harm caused by the evergreen floor laminated system. The public will get the information and rely on it because of the opinion leadership qualities of the media. Media plays a major role in convincing the public on the true status of the situation, negative reporting may damage the reputation of the company while positive reporting goes a long way in boosting the corporate status of the company and the way it relates to its main stakeholders. Situation theory shows how passive and active people communicate messages differently.

In this case, the active people pass the information to others very fast than the passive who take a lot of time (Bernays, Edward L, 1952). Persuasion theory is applicable in initiating a change in belief or behavior. In this case, it can be used to change the belief that the evergreen floor laminated systems are from good to bad. It is therefore vital to understand the role of the public relations theories in the creation of crisis and solving of the crisis. In this case, as a public relations officer, I am likely to use these communication tactics indicated in the theories to calm the crisis by ensuring that the right corrections are done and the right communication is initiated.

Reach of Conclusions

The crisis at Chemco Company is all brought about by the availability of the evergreen floor laminated system and after keen scrutiny of the cause of the crisis, I will advise the CEO to take the necessary action which will solve the problem. I will persuade him to make the right corrections by avoiding any more purchase of the evergreen floor laminated system, initiating the removal of the current floors, and making a correction communication to the public. It is by doing all this that I will be able to re-shape the image of the organization’s hence the duty of a public relations officer (Grunig, James E, and Todd Hunt, 1984).

Possible Strategic implication

The possible strategic suggestion, in this case, is to avoid any kind of harm to the organization’s immediate public by maintaining a mutual understanding between the company and its publics.

Works Cited

Bernays, Edward L. Public Relations. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952. Print.

Cutlip, Scott M, Allen H. Center, and Glen M. Broom. Effective Public Relations. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1985. Print.

Grunig, James E, and Todd Hunt. Managing Public Relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1984. Print.

In the program “Vodafone World of Difference Program”, the communications firm chose to implement a Customer Service Relations (CSR) effort that reached out to the Australian public in a bid to boost its corporate image.

The challenges that the program faced were immense and these included apathy towards CSR activities and suspicions surrounding corporations’ motives. As a result, Vodafone and its partners had to choose a reliable Public Relations (PR) method to ensure that its goal of improving the community’s trust was met. By January 2004, a significant majority of Australian adults (41 per cent) said that they spent a large amount of time on charitable activities and this provided corporations, who were mistrusted by a whopping 77 per cent of the populace, with an opportunity to engage the country at a level that is close to many people’s hearts. The public relations systems most suitable for such an effort would be three of James E. Grunig’s four PR models.

The first benefit that would accrue from this holistic approach is that Vodafone would be in a position to achieve its objectives which include raising the profile of its CSR program, re-invigorating PR activities, increasing media coverage and raising program enrolment rates. This is because the three models involve use of a reciprocal communication method that enables corporations to understand the public’s worries while enabling the public to appreciate the firm as a well meaning entity. This is crucial for image improvement and financial success.

The second benefit is that the fourth model encapsulates the aim of all of Grunig’s publicity models. The first model, Publicity, seeks to influence the public to behave as a corporation wants. In the case of Vodafone, the application of this model would shift Australian charitable activities into the company’s ambit. Since Australians were prolific in philanthropy and Vodafone had the funds to engage in it, the best result would come when both sides combine efforts and produce synergistic advantages.

The third benefit from this approach is that it incorporates Grunig’s second PR model that brings the media on-board. The Public Information model uses press releases and other communication systems that reduce the indifference and suspicion the media has towards CSR programs. When the public joins the firm to implement the “Vodafone World of Difference Program” on a cooperative basis, the media would become less suspicious.

The One-way Asymmetrical model can be avoided. It involves using persuasion and manipulation to influence the public into behaving as the organization wants without using research to find out how the public feels about the organization. This could fail because the reaction of the public may be lukewarm or even hostile. But the fourth, the Two-way Symmetrical model, enables the organization to engage in a constant conversation that exposes the public’s sentiments, giving the firm a chance to tweak its system until it fully satisfies its target audience. This interactive approach applies dialogue between the company and its clientele, providing conflict resolution opportunities that bring about harmony. It has great advantages because it incorporates all the other PR models through an open system of communication.

In conclusion, the best PR systems to apply in helping Vodafone improve its standing would be the first, second and fourth Grunig models since they would provide open and beneficial communication.

The Public Relations Plan Objectives

One of the main goals of the Public Relations (PR) plan will be to provide and promote information about the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities to be undertaken by the company. The company’s aim is to participate in CSR projects that actively interact and engage the consumers which will help to restore brand loyalty. According to Salmon, Poorisat and Kim (2019), when a company involves itself in CSR events, it seeks to form a close relationship with consumers and thus eliciting loyalty to the brand. The PR plan will also target to advance brand awareness and popularity. In this case, the PR strategy will be structured to reach a wide range of target audiences. The objective is to spread a positive image to many consumers which will trigger an increase in brand familiarity and awareness. Navarro et al. (2020) state that the use of communication media, such as social and mass media, helps to attain a large base of consumers relationship. Interaction with the consumers leads to the growth of brand awareness and familiarity.

Implementation of the PR Strategies

Employees and consumers are the most important stakeholders for Palm Oil. Based on the Theory-led analysis of stakeholders, the latent stakeholders, who are the consumers in this case, should be kept satisfied. The promoters stakeholders who are the employees in this case should be managed closely (Thurlow, 2017). There is a need to ensure that the two stakeholders are effectively engaged in the PR plan and CSR projects. For employees to participate successfully in any PR campaign in an organization, Thurlow (2017) argues that employees must understand the aim of the campaign and the strategy to be used. In this case, Palm Oil will invest in training the employees on how to execute the CSR projects. For example, the workers will be taken through a workshop campaign to train how to conduct the social media and mass media PR projects.

The goal of the training will be to ensure the team develops the confidence to sell the brand to the consumers. In addition, the coaching and training will act as a motivating factor for the consumers to boost their morale. This is illustrated by the work of Thurlow (2017) who states that training is an effective tool that boosts the confidence of employees, especially when undertaking a PR activity in an organization. Moreover, the company will take part in community-based projects such as tree planting where the employees will work with society. Working with the community will create a positive image of the company among the consumers which will then boost brand awareness and loyalty. Moreover, integration with the people will restore the lost glory of the company through negative publicity in the media.

The other vital stakeholder is the consumers who play an essential role in promoting the popularity of the brand. To influence the consumers, Palm Oil will use PR strategies that are quick in the distribution of information regarding the CSR activities of the company. Palm Oil intends to apply the sponsorship tool as its CSR strategy to reach consumers. For example, the company will donate 20% of each sale made to charitable events in African countries. African countries with issues such as drought will be identified. Donations will be sent to the noted countries via the company’s representatives for distribution.

To run this campaign, Palm Oil will rely on social media to persuade many consumers to buy products so that they can contribute to the charity event. This will map the brand name to many consumers consequently raising brand awareness. Lee, Yip and Chan (2018) explain that social media is an effective and affordable tool in PR as it quickly promotes a brand name to many consumers, unlike other traditional methods. This is because social media has many users. Apps such as Facebook and Twitter have a wide range of consumers. Palm Oil will develop a hashtag message about eradicating drought and hunger in Africa. The posters utilized social media about the CSR activity will be shared widely and constantly across all the platforms to extend to a wide consumer base. The biggest benefit of the application of the social media is that it is an affordable mode of communication and yet able to spread the intended message to a wide range of consumers.

Apart from social media, Palm Oil will also utilise mass media. Lee, Yip and Chan (2018) note that the mass media entails the use of TV advertising. While the social media focuses on reaching to a younger target audience, the mass media will target the older generation. The advertisement placed on TV will be designed to woo clients to purchase the company’s items as their purchase will make them take part in the planned charity activities in Africa. The intention is to not only promote the products of the company, but also to ensure that the audience feels involved and engaged in the philanthropy activities. As a result, a positive image about the company to the target audience will be developed.

Furthermore, it will also initiate brand presence among the viewers which leads to an increase in brand awareness and loyalty. Thurlow (2017) states that one of the oldest yet effective strategies of PR is mass media which helps in growing the popularity of brand. A possible challenge is that mass media advertisements are expensive and have limited time for air.

The other vital strategy that will be used for PR is the creation of links to show the events that the company will sponsor on its website. The website posters about the CSR activities in Africa, will be written in the news section of the website. Subscribers will receive the monthly newsletter detailed with information about the philanthropy activities. The website will then be linked to the Nestle social media sites to attract more visitors. This will be effective as it will lead to increased brand awareness when the consumers visit the website from the Nestle social media networks.

Evaluation of the PR Strategies

The PR strategy must be evaluated to determine if an organisation was able to achieve the set objectives of the campaign. Thurlow (2017) indicates that, it is always important to measure the effectiveness of the PR strategies used by a company to find out the possible weak points to correct. The results of each campaign will be assessed to deduce if they achieved the set goals. The social media campaign will have a target which is to reach over 15000 consumers daily. This will be quantified by the number of shares, likes and comments and analytics of the performances of the campaign posters put the networking platforms. The mass media will have a purchase code that the consumers will key in while making purchases. The number of purchases made using the code will be measured against the targeted 5000 daily purchases. Based on the performance of the campaign a decision is made on whether to keep running the campaign or end it.

The Proposed Budget

Risk Plan

There are possible risks that the PR plan may encounter if the planning is not well outlined. According to Salmon, Poorisat and Kim (2019), it is essential that before conducting a PR campaign, a comprehensive research on the possible risks is carried out to evaluate their impact on the proposed CSR. Risks should be managed as they occur but most importantly risk analysis is crucial at the planning stage. Another reason for the risk analysis is to establish the feasibility of the plan. The feasibility plan helps assess the long-term financial benefit of the PR project on the company (Salmon, Poorisat and Kim, 2019). The benefits of the plan must be analysed as well as the disadvantages. This will help determine if the plan is profitable for the company.

One of the possible risks that could affect the PR plan is that the company’s sponsorship program would have bad results. This means that the intended message would not be warmly received by the target consumers. Practical causes would be negative reception by consumers and poor management of posters on the social media. Moreover, funds may be mismanaged making the initiative fail and thus drawing a negative reputation about the company. To manage the feasible risks the company will ensure to have a monitoring and evaluation team whose main role will be to assess the performance of the campaigns every week.

Another possible risk is that the company is likely to face negative comments about the sponsorship of the charity events following its past negative image. In order to averse this risk, the company will ensure to engage the public openly on the social media and address any negative image that may face the company as early as it is detected. This is will prevent the spreading of a negative image.

The above is the proposed plan of activities of the PR plan.

References

Lee, L.W., Yip, L.S. and Chan, K. (2018) ‘An exploratory study to conceptualize press engagement behavior with public relations practitioners’, Public Relations Review, 44(4), pp. 490-500.

Navarro, C. et al. (2020) ‘Challenge of new gatekeepers for public relations. A comparative analysis of the role of social media influencers for European and Latin American professionals,’ Public Relations Review, 46(2), p. 881.

Salmon, C.T., Poorisat, T. and Kim, S.H. (2019) ‘Third-person effect in the context ofpublic relations and corporate communication’, Public Relations Review, 45(4), p.823.

Thurlow, A. (2017) ‘Evaluating excellence: a model of evaluation for public relations practice in organizational culture and context,’ Public Relations Review, 43(1), pp.71-79.

Executive Summary

Henry Booth House (HBH) is one of the non-governmental organizations that provide educational and healthcare services to low-income families in Chicago. The organization has qualified professionals who provide quality services. HBH has various weaknesses including the insufficient capacity to accommodate its clients. However, it can maximize its strength of partnership to increase its resource base and attract more family donors. With the increased use of social media platforms for marketing, HBH will create contents that can be shared over social medial platforms. HBH’s strategic marketing and public relations plan will effectively communicate to the target audience. Additionally, the plan will have objectives and evaluation criteria to meet organizational goals and objectives.

Technological advancements have revolutionized marketing activities and the way organizations interact with their clients. Public relations involve mechanisms that organizations, profitable and non-profitable, adopt to maintain a favorable image and brand reputation. The mechanisms include the dissemination of information from the organization to the public, influencing their perception of the company. Marketing activities are one of the creative methods of enhancing public relations. As technology and business practices advance, there have been different trends in marketing that are relevant and significant for public relations. Conversational, experimental, influencer and e-commerce marketing are some of the most effective and best trends for services and product promotion.

Research and Review of Current Trends in Marketing and Public Relations

Various organizations adopt different marketing and public relations plans for the effective business-client relationship. The plans have properties that the clients can resonate with, making them remain loyal to the organizations of their choice (Tiwary et al., 2021). Meanwhile, organizations ensure that the adopted marketing and public relations plan communicates their brand position and objective. Therefore, an effective marketing and public relations plan is mutually beneficial for the company and its target audience. Different marketing tools can be integrated to reach out to many clients while maintaining the brand’s reputation in public.

Well-Developed Marketing and Public Relations Plan Defined

Marketing and public relations activities are multifaceted and require the integration of different strategies. Human-centric movements, fake news predominance, virtual working activities, and increased use of social media are current trends in public relations. While human-centric movements focus on cultural experiences to connect to the world, fake news predominance involves the misuse of social media platforms (Holcomb & Latham-Mintus, 2022). Meanwhile, the advents in artificial intelligence have led to increased use of virtual systems for businesses. Therefore, a marketing and public relations plan must consider the identified trends in public relations.

A well-developed marketing and public relations plan must incorporate five key elements to remain significant: realistic goal, well-communicated message, competitors’ awareness, relevance, and specified target audience (Holcomb & Latham-Mintus, 2022). The identified elements of a well-developed marketing and public relations plan are consistent with the current trends in business and marketing. Setting realistic goals makes the plan easily executed and the objectives achievable. Effective communication allows an organization to spread its message without interfering with the cultural beliefs of its target audience (Dillard et al., 2021). Additionally, a marketing and public relations plan must be aware of competitors’ operations to avoid unethical competition. When communicating and promoting their products or services, organizations must remain relevant by targeting a specific audience.

Importance of a Clear Message

The brand message is significant for marketing and public relations activities. Organizations communicate their value proposition through their mission, vision, core values, goals, and objectives. When formulating a marketing and public relations plan, a company must integrate its value proposition in a manner that is well-understood by the target audience and the public in general. A mission statement is an action-based declaration of the organizational purpose and its service to the clients. Meanwhile, a vision statement involves an idealistic emotional future of a company. Marketing communication should integrate organizational mission and vision statements to enhance customer loyalty.

Core values are crucial for organizational ethical philosophy and brand positioning. When marketing their services or products, companies need to have an ethical philosophy. The goals and objectives of a marketing plan are formulated based on the vision, mission, and core values. A well-defined and clear message helps an organization reach out to a large audience. Moreover, the message allows the company to maintain its consumer base by increasing the loyalty of its current customers. Furthermore, a clear message is significant for communicating organizational culture which can be attractive to some potential clients (Fredrick, 2018). Therefore, a marketing and public relations plan with a clear message is effective and crucial for attracting more clients.

Identifying and Reaching Your Target Audience Groups

Various approaches can be adopted to reach a specific audience during marketing. The target audience can be determined by digging deeper into an organizational customer database. Conducting competitive analysis, using social listening for deeper insights, and identifying specific demographics are the best practices for identifying and reaching target audience groups. Competitive analysis helps an organization compare the competitors’ approaches and identify available opportunities. Meanwhile, social listening allows an organization to understand what potential clients say about its products and services. Consequently, a well-defined message and product development can be integrated to meet consumer needs. Defining the demographics of the target audience helps in adopting specific tools for marketing and public relations. Competitive analysis, social listening, and specifying audience demographics are crucial for identifying and reaching potential clients.

Investigation of Current Trends in Marketing and Public Relations Tools

Technological advancements have revolutionized marketing and public relations activities among business organizations. Consequently, there are an array of marketing and public relations tools that organizations can adopt. Although traditional marketing activities promoted a personal touch with the clients, digitized ones are more effective and reach out to a larger audience (Holcomb & Latham-Mintus, 2022). Social media platforms are on the frontline of attracting many clients to various products and services. YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, among others, are the common social media platforms that can be used for marketing and public relations. Social media are relevant since they attract different potential clients and can allow one-on-one conversations with them.

Additionally, the use of blogs helps organizations describe their product or service offering to their clients. Blogs are frequently updated web pages used for personal commentaries or business content. Through blogs, organizations can provide product or service reviews which are crucial for consumer decision-making. The blogs are relevant since they can provide an in-depth analysis of a specific product. Furthermore, the use of e-commerce platforms and print media such as billboards and flyers helps organizations promote their products. E-commerce websites and print media are significant since they help reach the specific client at a personal level. Social media, blogs, e-commerce websites, and print media allow experimental and conversational marketing, making them relevant for product or service promotion.

Evaluating and Refining a Marketing Plan

Evaluating and refining a marketing plan is significant since it helps an organization identify gaps in its existing approach. A market evaluation, and analysis, involves an assessment or research on the selling opportunities available in a specific niche. An evaluation process involves a series of actions: determining the market state, understanding the target audience, and running a competitor analysis. Upon conducting the evaluation analysis, the organization identifies barriers and develops a refining strategy. Revising the current plan to minimize the barriers identified is important. Organizations reduce risks to their businesses by revising marketing plans. Additionally, avoiding barriers helps companies maximize their profitability through marketing. Furthermore, the target audience feels like part of the organization since their needs are met and solved. Therefore, evaluating and refining marketing plans is significant to the organizations and their target market.

Comparative Study of Current Marketing Trends and Early Childhood Education

While marketing and public relations have a common objective of enhancing the relationships between businesses and clients, they differ in various circumstances. Early childhood education involves provisions of services that must be communicated well to the target audience. Technological advancements have improved marketing and public relations activities that can be compared. The basic similarity between marketing and public relations is the use of technology in communicating with clients. Additionally, the two areas are aimed at improving organizational brand reputation. Traditionally, it was difficult to distinguish marketing practices from public relations. However, the advent of social media platforms has gradually influenced the two areas of early childhood education. During the 20^th-century marketing and public relations solely involved direct-marketing activities. Recently, many organizations reach out to their clients through social media and other information communication technologies.

Marketing practices involve conversations through social media to influence potential clients to make purchases. Meanwhile, public relations practices involve conversations that intend to understand the problems faced by the public in general. For instance, marketing in early childhood education may be intended to influence parents to enroll their children in specific schools. However, for public relations, organizations may seek to understand barriers to early education and possible actions. While marketing practice’s implicit goal is profitability, public relations aim at positive perceptions and predispositions. Therefore, the two areas integrate trends such as conversational and experimental marketing to achieve their goals.

Marketing and public relations in the field of early childhood education can be distinguished from other professional fields. The primary goals, increased profitability, and positive attitudes by the public are similar for all fields. However, the approaches used by different fields are unique. For instance, in early childhood education organizations will emphasize the importance of quality education. Meanwhile, in healthcare organizations emphasis will be on quality health and well-being. Moreover, the target audience will be different since early childhood education will target parents and children while healthcare organizations will target all population segments. Although organizations utilize technology in marketing and public relations their approaches depend on the type of product or services they provide.

Call to Action

Early childhood education is a multifaceted field that involves various stakeholders. The field targets children and parents in its marketing and public relations activities. Therefore, an elevated marketing and public relations practice will help organizations attract more students. Early childhood education programs should embrace current trends such as conversational and experimental marketing to reach a larger audience (Huang & Rust, 2020). The use of personal stories will help the potential audience relate their experiences with the services being marketed. Additionally, integrating technology into marketing and public relation activities will make the programs sustainable for any future changes. Therefore, it is significant for early childhood education organizations to integrate marketing and public relation practices that are consistent with the current trends.

Company Profile

Organizational Overview

HBH is one of the organizations that has focused on the provision of early childhood education and family services. The organization is a 501(c)(3) non-profit social service agency created by the Chicago Ethical Humanist Society in 1899 (Henry Booth House, 2021). HBH has about one hundred and twenty-two-year of social services. Currently, the organization has provided early childhood education to more than twenty-one families in Chicago. With more than seventy-five professionals, HBH is one of the most outstanding early childhood education programs. The organization aims at providing quality programs and services to children as early as possible. While economic, political, and social issues, including COVID-19, are detrimental to HBH, it has continued to provide quality services to low-income families in Chicago.

HBH Vision, Mission, and Goals

Successful organizations are guided by precise vision and mission statements. Additionally, organizational goals are significant for determining the course of actions and operational mechanisms among companies. HBH, as a focused program, has a unique mission, vision, and goals that are crucial for its growth and operations. HBH’s vision is to be recognized as a leader in creating sustainable social change by assisting families, children, and communities in breaking the poverty cycle and empowering people to achieve lifelong goals. Meanwhile, the organization’s mission is to improve the quality of life for families in economically diverse Chicago communities through integrated and comprehensive early childhood learning, social services, and family health.

Through HBH’s mission, education and healthcare are the great areas of focus. Early childhood learning includes introducing children to different curricula for their cognitive development. The organization, through its professional teachers, provides educational services to children from low-income families. Moreover, the organization has partnered with various healthcare providers for the quality of well-being of children. The services and programs of the organization include Early Head Start, Head Start, and Early Head Start Child Care Partnerships services in communities like Douglas, Greater Grand Crossing, Englewood, Uptown, Morgan Park, South Shore, Austin, Kenwood, Hegewisch, Humboldt Park and Auburn Gresham (Fredrick, 2018). Partnerships have made HBH remain competitive in early childhood learning for children from low-income families.

Program Assessment

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

Although HBH has various strengths that create opportunities, it is subjected to threats. Unlike many similar organizations, HBH has sufficient knowledge of its community. Chicago is a diverse community with people from different cultural backgrounds. While it may be difficult to understand the needs and problems faced by residents in Chicago, HBH has stakeholders who have lived with the community for a long. Consequently, HBH has a wide scope of the social, economic, and political situations in Chicago. Moreover, the organization has employed qualified professionals who deliver quality services. The professionals work towards HBH’s organizational goals. Knowledge of its community and the presence of qualified professionals have greatly contributed to HBH’s success.

The organization has various weaknesses, making it unable to effectively deliver its services. One of HBH’s weaknesses is the lack of enough space to accommodate its clients. Many centers have limited space capacity, making it difficult to accommodate many children. Consequently, the organizational impact is only felt by those who manage to attend various programs. Additionally, HBH is subjected to natural pandemics such as COVID-19. During the pandemic, the organization had to cancel the majority of its programs in line with the government’s directives. Lack of capacity and threats by natural pandemics are detrimental to HBH since they make it difficult to achieve set goals.

Meanwhile, there are several opportunities available for the organization. HBH has partnered with various organizations for service delivery and capacity building. The partnerships can be extended to further help low-income families. For instance, the organization can request support from partner hospitals to provide free or subsidized services to children and other members of low-income families. The organization understands the community well and can take that as an opportunity to improve its service provision. Therefore, HBH must work on its weaknesses while expanding on the opportunities and strengths identified.

Target Audience Investigation

HBH’s primary audience is low-income families with children in Chicago. The organization’s focus on low-income families was motivated by the fact that poverty levels are still high in its areas of operations. HBH registers the highest number of families which are unable to meet their basic needs including education and healthcare services. The majority of the beneficiaries of HBH are parents who are unemployed and those who work temporarily. Meanwhile, the beneficiary children include those who are orphans or whose parents and caregivers cannot meet their educational and healthcare needs. The enrolled parents are subjected to job training, which is one of the most needed. The children are subjected to early childhood education programs and healthcare services. HBH employees are trained in such a manner that they embrace compassion and humanity towards the enrolled children and parents. The employees have skills that allow them to understand their client’s needs at a personal level. Although HBH primarily focuses on enrolled families, it takes part in various programs that sensitize the community to embrace low-income families. Consequently, the community is routinely involved in charitable activities that help low-income families in Chicago.

Interpretation of Results

While HBH is a successful organization its weaknesses should be addressed for sustainability. The organization cannot accommodate its clients, making it difficult to achieve its goals. Additionally, the organization suffers from natural pandemics, becoming unstainable during events such as COVID-19. Therefore, HBH must seek more partnerships and assistance from community members. With low-income families as its clients, the organization can extend partnerships with high-income families. Through the partnerships, HBH will increase its resource base, and create more space for low-income families Moreover, increased resources will make the organization sustainable during natural pandemics such as COVID-19. The use of various marketing tools such as websites, print media, and social media platforms will allow the organization to reach interested partners. The partners can communicate with the organization through various channels and provide their help.

Marketing and Public Relations Plan

HBH can adopt a marketing and public relations plan that will bring on board more partners and community members. The organization, marketing activities, can encourage high-income families to contribute towards its operations. Moreover, partners such as business organizations and government entities can be invited. While social media posts will be significant in attracting high-income families and other interested community members, print materials such as flyers and organizational portfolios can be used to pursue government and other business entities.

Goal: Increase HBH partners by 40% of the current number in the next four months.

• Objectives: To increase organizational income and resources contributed by partner organizations
• Strategies: Increasing the organizational income will help boost various activities of HBH. The activities include capacity building and meeting the needs of employees. To achieve the objective, the organization will create a donation website that will be communicated through various social media platforms. The website will have the history of HBH and its success stories. The stories will pursue the target audience to contribute towards HBH activities.
• Tactics: Physical approach to interested donors to effectively pursue them. Additionally, conversational marketing through social media will help answer any questions and concerns of donors.
• Evaluation: Measuring the achievement of the goal above will involve three steps. Firstly, the organization will list the names of all partners and their contributions. Secondly, the number will be reviewed after every three weeks to identify a percentage increase or decrease. Lastly, the stakeholders will identify various weaknesses and barriers to attracting more partners, and solve them.

Goal: Improve the organization’s reputation by increasing the number of family donors by 50%

• Objectives: Influence high-income families to become HBH brand ambassadors.
• Strategies: While low-income families are the primary beneficiaries, high-income ones can play the crucial role of donating and volunteering in various HBH activities. A good organizational reputation will attract more families to the organization. Consequently, HBH will increase its resource base. The organization will print brochures and flyers that will be distributed to the families. Additionally, posters of the call to action will be shared on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to target interested families.
• Tactics: The beneficiaries will be encouraged to narrate their journey with HBH, and how it has changed their lives. Personal stories are effective in influencing others to take an action.
• Evaluation: The organization will prepare a list of all interested high-income families and their contributions. The lists will be updated after every month to note the percentage increase or decrease. The marketing team will be tasked with releasing reports on the performance.

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