What is marketing?
Marketing is the process by which products and services are developed and distributed to consumers and customers. It involves viewing a business in terms of its customers’ (or potential customers’) needs and developing goods/services that satisfy their needs. Some may think that marketing is only about advertising and selling goods and services, but these activities are just one component of the process.
Marketing is an integral function of business management and consists of the following key components, which are known as the four P’s.
- Selecting and developing a product (or service) to bring into the marketplace
- Determining a price to charge for the product
- Deciding upon a place in which customers will receive the product and mapping out the distribution channel for delivering it
- Developing and implementing a promotional campaign that attracts customers to the product and motivates them to purchase it
Reference
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/marketing.html
What is advertising? Advertising is one component of the marketing process. It is the promotional element of the 4P’s of marketing. It involves using various forms of media (i.e. print, online, television, and radio) to convey a message about a product or service.
Some advertisements include practical information about the product/service or highlight the benefits of the product/service. Others are designed to evoke a particular emotion in consumers in an effort to persuade them to make a purchase. Fear, hope, love, guilt, shame, anger, sadness, happiness, and loneliness are some of the emotions that ads attempt to conjure up in consumers.
What is a brand? A brand is the perception that customers have of a business. It is a business’ reputation and encompasses the business’ promise to create a particular kind of customer experience and uphold certain values.
Disney is an example of a company with a well-known brand. For many, the thought of Disney conjures up images of kids laughing with delight and families spending time together making happy memories that will last a lifetime.
Developing a brand is an important component of the marketing process. And building a successful brand involves providing top-quality products, first-rate services, and outstanding customer service on a consistent basis.
What is PR (public relations)?
Businesses engage in public relations (PR) to build a favorable public image and to promote products or services. Like advertising, PR is a component of marketing and falls under the promotional element of the 4P’s of marketing. But unlike advertising in which a business pays a fee to a particular advertising outlet to deliver a sales message, PR is a more indirect way of selling a business and its products/services.
PR, which uses the media as a mode of communication, is a business’ efforts to develop positive on-going relationships with its stakeholders – people who have an interest in the business. A business’ stakeholders might include customers, employees, investors, the media, other businesses, the government, and various communities.
PR aims to keep a business’ publics (stakeholders) informed about various aspects of the business including its philosophy, activities, events, products, and services. It also involves offering its stakeholders something of value such as free information. Public relations activities include the following:
- Submitting press releases and pitching story ideas to media outlets
- Writing articles that pertain to a business’ industry and submitting them to syndicated services or directly to the media
- Publishing a newsletter that is sent to various stakeholders
- Holding special events
- Making contributions of money, products, or services to non-profit organizations
- Conducting workshops
- Speaking at conferences and events
- Engaging in online communication through forums, web sites, blogs, and social media outlets
Besides building a reputation and promoting the business, PR also involves the following important tasks:
- Monitoring the media to determine how the public is responding to a business and its products/services
- Managing crises to minimize or eliminate any threat to a business’s reputation
PR is an on-going process that should be approached strategically and systematically.
Reference
http://www.knowthis.com/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/public-relations/what-is-public-relations/
Copyright © 2009 by Katherine Williams All rights reserved.
