The document discusses planning a marketing education open house and various public relations strategies that could be used to promote it. It then provides an overview of public relations/publicity as another element of promotional mix. It discusses the roles and duties of public relations specialists in managing relationships with customers, employees, community and media. It emphasizes the importance of writing news releases to publicize positive news about companies and products. Finally, it instructs the reader to draft a news release for their marketing promotion project.

1. Bell Ringer
 Let’s say that we’re going to have a
Marketing Education open house to show
students, parents and guardians, and the
business community the advantages of
participating in a marketing education
program. In addition to press releases to
announce the event, list some other things we
could do to get people to come to the event.

2. Publicity/Public Relations
Another Element of the Promotional
Mix

3. Review
 So far we’ve covered advertising, which was
only one element of the promotional mix.
This week we’ll talk about publicity/public
relations and sales promotion!
 Next week we will construct visual
merchandise displays and begin our unit on
personal selling, which is the final element of
the promotional mix!

4. Objectives
 Define and discuss publicity/public relations
 Compare and Contrast the different
audiences for public relations
 Discuss how to prepare a news release
 Prepare an actual news release for promotion
project!!

5. Why have public relations?
 Present a positive image to customers,
employees, and the general public
 Examples:

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Grand opening of a mall
Interview with a company official about hiring
plans
Launch of a new product or product line
Announcement of employee promotions or
retirements

6. Why have public relations?
 Examples Cont…





Presentation of an award to the company or to one
of its employees
Company-sponsored event
Community activity, such as a scholarship program
sponsored by the business
Charitable activity, such as a walkathon for a local
charity, in which the business participates
Cultural activity, such as support for a new exhibit
at a museum

7. Customer Relations
 Customer advisory boards- panels of
boards
consumers who make suggestions about
products and businesses
 Consultants
 Consumer Affairs Specialists- design
Specialists
programs to reflect customer needs for
information on topics such as nutrition,
health and wellness, and product safety

8. Employee Relations
 Loyal and well-motivated employees who feel
they are important to the company
 Examples:

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
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Tuition reimbursement for college courses
Newsletters for and about the company and its
employees
Recreational programs
Employee recognition programs for
improvements in performance and efficiency

9. Community Relations
 Community Relations- refers to the
Relations
activities that a business uses to acquire or
maintain the respect of the community
 Examples



Sponsoring Special Olympics
Providing mentors for marketing students
Matching employee donations to local charities

10. Public Relations Specialists
 Work with customers, employees, media,
civic and professional groups, legislators,
government officials, consumer activists,
stockholders, environmentalists, and
suppliers.
 Work in both public & private sector

11. Public Relations Specialists
 Principal task is to publicize good news
about a company and its products--- and to
control the damage done by any negative
news.

12. Public Relations Duties
 Annual reports for investors and interested
customers
 Brochures and responses to customer
inquiries
 Short feature articles for trade magazines
 Web site

13. Public Relations Duties
 Develop press kits- folder containing
kits
articles, news releases, feature stories, and
photographs about a company, product, or
person
 Hold press conferences- meeting in which a
conferences
business or organization invites media
members to hear an announcement about a
newsworthy event.

14. Now You’re the Public
Relations Specialist
 Writing a News Release:


News release- a prewritten story about a
company that is sent to the various media
Usually contains information about the
company’s employees, stores, operations,
products, corporate philosophy, or participation
in an event or program

15. Now You’re the Public
Relations Specialist
 Writing a News Release:
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NEVER use the word publicity
Answer who, what, where, when, and why
Avoid opinions, unless directly quoting
Brief, but thorough

16. NOW…
 Create a news release for the product you
chose for your promotion project.
 Using the handout as a guide, you should
include all the necessary elements of a news
release.