Pre-PR Reflections
When I think of public relations I think of marketing something of someone. As i learned in previous classes marketing is made up of price, product, place and in my opinion most importantly promotion.
Price determines to some extent how much of the product is bought and also made. If the consumers think the prices are to high than the item will not be bought. On the other hand if the producers lower the price to below what it cost to make the product than they would lose money and go out of business.
Product is a big factor of marketing due to the fact it determines everything else. Can’t determine a price for the product, a price, or any type of promotional plan without the product itself. It will determine your target audience, and how you advertise the product.
Place, although important, I believe in this day in age is the least important. The only reason why I say that is because of how much online shopping has grown in the past ten years. Even on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, in store sales have greatly decreased. Every year I participate in Black Friday and the lines keep getting shorter and shorter. People would much rather purchase items online because there are still amazing sales even though you could get it in the store for a little bit cheaper. Still a big part of marketing just not the most important in my opinion.
Last and surly not least, promotion. “This is were the magic happens”. Maybe this is my favorite part of the marketing process because it’s what I want to do in the future. I love thinking of a way to trigger the consumers thoughts. What will make them want to buy this product? What purpose does it serve? How do I keep the consumer interested in the advertisement. There was a servery taken last year that said we see on average around five hundred to about a thousand ads a day. We only retain about five to ten of those. Whether they don’t interest us as a consumer, or the ads just isn’t interesting at all. So you have the product, you have at least some idea where to want to sell the product, and you have the price of the product. Then the promotions team decides how it wants to advertise the product. Whether it’s sponsorship, digital marketing, packaging, etc.
According to our textbook “Think Public Relations”, there are a variety of definitions for public relations. Some of the the keys that were said were deliberate, planned, performance, public interest, Two-way communication, strategic management of competition and conflict.
Public relations is a process and in the text book given the acronym R.A.C.E. Which stands for Research, Action, Communication, Evaluation. What is the problem or situation? Whether it’s with the product or the marketing plan, etc. Action, after figuring out the problem then determining a plan or action to fix or alter the problem into a positive outcome. Communication, how will you deliver the message you to public. Though social media, TV, newspaper, blogs, etc. Lastly, Evaluation. Did you reach the target audience? And if so was it the effect you wanted?
After reading the first chapter of the text book it has expanded my view of public relations. Rather than just looking at marketing as public relations I now have learned the process of public relations or R.A.C.E.
How many advertisements do we see each day? (2014, April 15).
About Public Relations (2009-16, June). In PRSA: Public Relations Society of America. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
Wilcox, D., Cameron, G., Reber, B., & Shin, J. (2013). Think Public Relations (pp. 4-7). N.p.: Pearson.
Fear is a Choice 