THE ROLE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN MARKETING

THE ROLE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN MARKETING

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to examine how public relations can be used to increase customer spending in the Nigerian paint sector. In the industries of today, public relations is a crucial marketing communication technique. Certain organizations, including humanitarian organizations, political organizations, and commercial organizations, employ public relations as a crucial communication strategy. This research effort tends to project some and ensure that the consumers’ goals are appropriately met. This experiment served as the foundation for the methods utilized to obtain public opinions about guaranteeing sustainable consumer patronage. There is a good chance that the majority of the recommendations provided in this project will be implemented if they are followed consumers would not be loosed easy and their ground in the organization will be fortified. This will in turn yield a profitable effect to the organization.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0    INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Public relations as a topic is actually nothing new; it has existed and been used since the dawn of time. Man has long attempted to comprehend others through communication, such as through pictograms (Chinese characters still an example). Before to 1000 years ago, Zimbabwean care paintings, writings on stone tablets, old structures, pyramided early temples, and mosques all had graphic messages. It is accurate to argue that public relations are as old as civilization because holy writings likewise convey information and instruct readers about their respective faiths.

PUBLIC RELATIONS’ MEANING

Nowadays, public relations (PR) is misunderstood and thought to aim to improve a tarnished image or climate of opinion. This is untrue; this is just marketing and advertising, which is a subset of public relations. Creating and understanding via knowledge, which frequently involves effective change, is what PR is all about. Hence, PR may be used by any type of organization, whether it be for profit or nonprofit purposes, in the public or private sector.

PUBLIC RELATIONS DEFINITIONS

According to Edward Burney, who is regarded as the father of public relations, the term “public relations” is understood to mean:

Establishing and maintaining a common understanding between a company and its audiences requires a planned and ongoing effort.
The term “persuasion” was preferred over the phrase “mutual understanding,” according to Quentin Bell, another public relations consultant.
For a clearer understanding, let’s use the letters P and R, which stand for performance for the public and result as opposed to relations.

DISTINCT PR TECHNIQUES

In the past, pictograms were utilized for PR objectives (Chinese characters are still an example). Prior to 100 years ago, wall murals in Zimbabwe that carried graphic messages, writing on stone tablets, historic structures like pyramids, early temples, and mosques were all preserved. People communicated and learned about faith through holy writings. While today’s visible PR strategies include billboards, giveaways, print and electronic media, sponsorships, free samples, corporate branding practices, audio and video mediums, conference seminars, special offers, etc., these are just a few of the methods utilized to reach certain goals.

1.2     Aims and purpose of the Study

This study aims to examine the function of public relations in the marketing of the Burxin paint industry. Public relations must be able to impact a few key variables that affect consumer spending in order to be used to accomplish this goal. These variables include:

1. Public relations between product band differentiation and customers exist in one.
2 To company-sponsored consumer education and consumer-facing public relations.
3 An efficient strategy for gathering market information results in improved consumer relations.
4 To high consumer confidence develop excellent public relations in the industry.

1.3     Aims and objective of the study

The goal of public relations is to educate the general public, potential clients, investors, partners’ staff, and other stakeholders in order to ultimately persuade them to maintain a particular perception of the company. Its political choices or products are its leadership.

Identifying the target audience and customizing messaging to each audience are the goals of public relations. Sometimes the interests of many stakeholders and audiences involved in public relations efforts require the development of a number of separate but complimentary messages. The overall message and topic will be consistent if these messages are pertinent to one another. The act of telling a unified story about a good, person, business, or service is known as messaging. The goal of messaging is to keep readers from receiving inconsistent or muddled information that would make them second guess their purchasing decision or other actions that could affect the firm. The goal of brands is to have the same issue, industry perspective, or brand perception spread across sources and media.

1.4     Statement of the Problems

Companies struggle with poor customer spending because of a number of issues, many of which are the faults of other businesses in the sector. These actors include some of the following:

i Poor outreach is a problem that is partially caused by the firm’s business operations and partially by ineffective public relations efforts to increase their outreach. Given that the businesses have little to no outreach, this has a detrimental impact on the desire of consumers to attach and sustain patronage.
ii Issues caused by firm-specific brand differentiation medians.
Due of the minimal brand loyalty caused by this, there is no brand attachment.

iii Issue with Consumer Reaction It is assumed that business operations will elicit a particular response from consumers who are the product’s ultimate users in a market setting of producers and consumers.

iv Businesses must evaluate, analyze, and research these responses in order to better serve their customers.

v Issues with low or absent consumer faith in businesses. Most of the time, businesses do not prioritize gaining customers’ confidence, or if they do, they do not employ the most effective strategies  confidence which leads to enhanced patronage may not be utilized.

1.5  Research Questions

i Is there a public relations relationship between the consumer and product brand differentiation?
ii Would companies’ efforts to educate consumers result in improved customer relations?
iii Can an efficient market information system increase consumer spending?
iv Can high consumer confidence lead to high levels of consumer spending?

1.6  Research Hypotheses

I assert that there is no communication between the consumer and product brand distinction.
Hi: Consumers and product band differentiation have a PR relationship.
Hoi Ho: Increasing public relations with customers won’t come from businesses educating their customers.
Hi: Companies that educate their customers will have better customer relations.
iii Ho: A successful market information system won’t improve consumer relations.
Hi: An efficient market information system will improve consumer relations.
Ho, IV: Strong customer confidence does not lead to better industry public relations.
Hi: A high level of consumer confidence results in improved industry PR.

1.7  Significance of the Study

Many benefits are anticipated to result from the completion of this study work for businesses in the paint industry, businesses in other industries, and businesses in general. This piece specifically discusses the value of PR in company, and in particular, how it can be used to maintain and grow customer loyalty.

Through this effort, companies will be able to better understand how effective public relations is in attaining this goal and how it contributes to business growth. Public relations is to improve a company’s public image or how the public perceives the company while fostering a friendly relationship with their clients. Businesses are anticipated to get a lot of knowledge from this endeavor and understand that their business to thrive successfully even under stiff competition they have to maintain strong consumer patronage

1.8  Scope of Study

In conducting this research, attempts were taken to properly comprehend the influence and usefulness of public relations as a strategy on consumer patronage.

Another thing to note is that there are countless variables that influence consumer spending, so just a handful of them have been adequately researched.
As a last point, it should be noted that marketing for the Burxin paint industry can benefit from the use of public relations as a technique to increase consumer spending. Although this research work was done particularly for the point industry, it must be remembered that its application stands for any companies and therefore have wide applicability. Its effectiveness depends on good presentation and application by the firm involved.

1.9  Limitations of the Study

A number of challenges were encountered while doing this research, including, among other things:

A financial restriction that restricts the geographic scope or coverage of the questionnaire distribution.
Due to time restrictions, a more in-depth survey of the respondents was not possible in order to ascertain business.

1.10  Definition of Terms

i        Public Relation; This is a tool or mechanisms that enable an

organization to properly and adequately generate good will and therefore endear it to its public.

ii       Consumer Response: This is the reaction of consumer to

business or firm activities.

iii      Product Line: Is defined as a group of product which passes through the same production process and usually requires the same raw materials.

iv      Consumer Patronage: This is that financial input made to the business in exchange for goods purchased or services rendered to the consumer.

v  Corporate Image: This is the image of a company or firm, corporation or business which a consumer has, it is an impression that an organization gives to the public.

vi  Consumer confidence: is that state of land of a consumer which allows him to have total belief in a firm and its line of product, being assured that his best interest is served by the firm than rival firms.

vii  Consumer apathy: This is a feeling of un-enthusiasm disinterest and indifference by a consumer towards a form or its product.

viii  Brand differentiation: Is a mechanism where by firms producing eh same produce or line of product.  Distinguishes their brands form others through appropriate packaging and labeling.

ix  Brand Attachment: Is the psychological feeling of maximum satisfaction which a consumer feels towards a particular brand of product that makes him give preferential trust to the brand.

x  Advertising: This is the act and process  of telling the public about a product or service in order ot encourage people to buy or to use it.

Importance of Public Relations

The discipline of public relations is the deliberate, ongoing endeavor to build and uphold trust and understanding between a company and its audiences.
A brand’s reputation is developed over time through public relations, which is essentially a long-term process of communicating with the public.
Public relations must, above all, follow a set program with distinct objectives and be maintained.