Press releases, press kits, editorials, stage events, press conferences and interviews are all public relation tools. The intent of theses tools, including press releases is to create positive publicity for a company. Marketers use these tools extensively to communicate with their target markets. In addition to public relations, marketers use other tools to communicate with and persuade their target markets like advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and direct response.But what separates public relations from these other methods is it's effectiveness and cost efficiency. Developing press releases in an attempt to generate positive publicity only cost a fraction of advertising. Unlike advertising, direct response, and personal selling, publicity is seen as a credible. A message printed by a third party, such as a newspaper, appears to the audience as non-biased and objective (Kerin, Hartley, Rudelius, Clements, & Skolnick, 2009, p. 233). Reading about a company's product in a newspaper tends to be more believable than an advertisement about it.
Publicity Strengths
- Often the most credible source in consumers' mind
- Cost efficient
Publicity Weaknesses
- Media coverage is not controllable
- Message is not controllable
- Difficult to evaluate (2009, p. 231)
When done right, publicity generated from press releases can be very effective and cost efficient. But once the press release has been submitted to a publishing company, your organization cannot control the amount of media coverage it gets or the ultimate message your trying to convey. Thats up to the publishing company! Thats why developing persuasive press releases is very important, as it will increase the press releases' chances of being effective.
Can you guess this publicity stunt??
Share your guesses in the comment section below!
Reference:
Kerin, R. A., Hartley, S. W., Rudelius, W., Clements, C., & Skolnick, H. (2009). The Core: Second Canadian Edition. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
This was the Boy in the Balloon hoax from a few years ago. The parents reported that their son was in a helium filled ballon shaped like a UFO that got loose and had floated away. It was done as a publicity stunt to attract media attention and it turned out the boys parents actually had him hiding in the house.
ReplyDeleteThats right, who can forget that! Not all publicity stunts go as planned. This one ended pretty bad as all of us remember. Mainly because it was done unethically.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example of publicity at work. This story got extensive media coverage, which can be effective if it was positive. But once the story gets into the hands of the media, it cannot be controlled anymore. The message of the story is whatever the media believes it to be, whether negative or positive. In this case, this publicity stunt got very negative media coverage because it turned out to be a sham.