Brand Marketing With Public Relations As The Core

In such an era of diversified demand and increasingly homogeneous products and services, if an enterprise's understanding still stays in the stage of product marketing, it will be a fatal mistake.

There is no doubt that the tide of marketing is shifting from the product oriented era to the brand oriented era. Whether marketing can focus on increasing the value of the brand can distinguish the business from the strategic level.

At the same time, whether brand marketing is advertising oriented or public relations oriented, this cognitive difference will lead to different marketing actions and effects.

New era of public relations

In 1980s, when PR began to introduce our country, the concept of public relations in all walks of life marketing activities is still very weak. Advertising is still a very easy way to create myths.

In 1996, after the TCL trump color TV produced Liu Xiaoqing's advertisement, the sales volume went up at once, and quickly entered the top three sales of color TV.

But 5 years later, in 2001, it was also TCL. It was also a popular star to advertise for his cell phone, but the form of promotion has changed substantially.

The advertisement has not yet been broadcast on television, and the media has been widely rumored that Kim Hee Sun is shooting the advertisement for TCL, which greatly aroused the public's interest in the advertisement.

This is actually the marketing design of TCL. In the whole marketing process, the public relations first went ahead, for the advertising campaign, and when the advertisement had not yet come out, the marketing effect had begun to appear.

The change of TCL marketing means the pition from advertising marketing concept to public relations marketing concept.

One of the important reasons leading to this change in marketing concept is market change and competition.

In practice, we can find that in a relatively mature market, that is, non growth but homogeneous market competition, the replacement and application of marketing means better than the non mature market.

After the entry into China, public relations became more and more used in high-tech IT industry, because IT industry was a relatively competitive industry at that time, and because of the influx of many foreign companies, the pace of joining the international market was faster.

When it was discovered that foreign competitors did not blindly advertise, they spent much time in public relations, and domestic manufacturers also introduced public relations.

In addition, many enterprises have discovered that public relations is very important after the crisis.

Together, these two factors promote the progress of China's public relations.

But if we look at the evolution of public relations from the perspective of marketing, we can see something more unique.

Especially since the beginning of the new century, consumers are no longer so blind, but show great individuality and autonomous behavior.

At this time, if enterprises still expect to guide consumers through advertising, the cost of marketing will be higher and higher, but the marketing effect may decrease.

Therefore, the changes of the times and the maturity of consumers call for the innovation of marketing means.

The core of the new marketing system is to give consumers a communication platform with high credibility and credibility, and then convey it in a way that consumers love to see.

Advertising is actually a one-way way of speaking. It can only achieve good results if consumers are not mature and have low judgement ability.

And public relations use the media to say, using experts to say, using authority to let consumers accept an attitude and concept, resulting in public consumption behavior change.

Therefore, public relations play an increasingly important role in such a new marketing system.

Three implementation bases

After establishing the brand marketing concept with public relations as the core, we must also consider what methods to implement marketing planning, that is, what creative problems are used.

In fact, brand PR marketing is to solve the relationship between brand value and consumer identity, brand communication and media publicity.

Therefore, the implementation of the ideas and methods must be from consumers and media to look for two aspects.

From the specific level to the implementation level, we must build a brand by means of public relations. We must not rely solely on the enthusiasm and efforts of public relations companies. Enterprises must have comprehensive competitiveness, because public relations marketing requires the understanding of enterprise structure and management level, and the coordination of the two big enterprises should be supported by the media foundation.

These three foundations are indispensable when implementing the brand marketing plan with public relations as the core.

Structural level

The way of public relations is not "one finger zen", but not the sword.

If there are many things on the structural level of the enterprise itself, PR marketing is often unable to solve the problems faced by enterprises, and may even accelerate the outbreak of these problems.

Successful PR marketing requires customers to be a healthy developing enterprise or organization. The system is relatively sound. There is not much inconsistency in the overall understanding, and there will not be much interference in the process of operation.

Only in this way can the innovative action of PR marketing bring the greatest degree of return to the enterprise.

Leadership level

The cognition level of enterprise leaders to brand marketing is also a very important aspect.

Media level

If enterprises still prevent journalists like fireproofing and burglary prevention, it is also very difficult to carry out PR marketing.

In the market economy, we should not attach too much importance to media, especially those "killer" media with credibility and the right to speak.

In conveying information to the audience, the media and the functions and objectives of the enterprise are basically the same, but they tend to overemphasize their own way of expression.

For example, enterprises say half a coke, while the media emphasizes that half of the cups are empty.

In fact, the media and enterprises are often no fault, but the two have problems in communication, which can be clearly seen in Lenovo layoffs.

For Lenovo, it expects the public to consider its layoffs as part of its normal business operations, and is doing subtraction in pursuit of higher operational efficiency, rather than a major event.

But the media may not think so. For example, the economic observer has interpreted Lenovo's layoffs as Lenovo and no layoffs.

Sometimes, there are some things that businesses do not think is a big deal, but the media thinks it's a big deal.

At this time, enterprises must treat this matter as a matter of great importance.

This is actually the attitude of the enterprise.

If Teflon crisis is concerned, if we look at this crisis from three levels of speed, scale and attitude, DuPont will be very quick in reaction; on the scale, DuPont can get seven or eight points, and information disclosure will be relatively comprehensive; but in attitude, Du can only get 50 points, because no one of DuPont's senior officials has ever made a special trip to China to communicate with the public, and has never produced third party's authoritative data to dispel public doubts.

In fact, in the Chinese market, more is attitude oriented.

PR first, advertising second?

This is about the role of public relations in shaping brands, but it does not mean that public relations will replace advertising.

Public relations and advertising are not mutually exclusive relations. This is just like the emergence of mobile phones instead of fixed phones. They play different roles in the overall marketing system of enterprises.

From the point of view of marketing, all marketing actions of enterprises are in order to solve the problem of consumers, to solve the relationship between consumers and manufacturers, and advertising and public relations are no exception.

From advertising to public relations, there are some changes in the way of marketing. Previously, it was requested that advertising companies convey information directly to consumers. Now, they are asking PR companies to convey certain specific information to specific audiences. Moreover, the result is that the arrival rate of information is relatively high, and the effect of brand communication will be better.

Specifically, the following factors will affect the choice of advertising and public relations in the overall marketing plan:

First, marketing means must be chosen according to the segmentation of consumers and the market.

At this stage, one of the most obvious changes in the market is the mass customization and personalization of consumers. Consumers of different cities, different levels and ages will show very great differences.

The situation is that any brand that wants to succeed in entering a tier city is very difficult to achieve by advertising alone. It must be aided by public relations.

However, in some small cities below three levels, strong media like CCTV still have a strong "killing force" on consumers.

But from the perspective of the national market, the two means of advertising and public relations can not be ignored in the process of brand marketing.

Second, it depends on the characteristics of different industries and products.

For example, for a more professional product such as routers, advertising is neither necessary nor effective, because ordinary consumers do not need such products, nor are they able to understand and familiar with products through advertising messages.

As a result, CISCO made a lot of trouble in public relations. As a result, it did not do a penny ad, and occupied 60% of the router market.

But if the enterprise sells coke, advertising will play a great role in the sale of products, because Coke itself does not have much connotation, it belongs to impulse buying products, and its value depends to a large extent on the emotional connection established by advertising and consumers.

Third, it depends on what stage the enterprise is in, or the extent to which the brand building has been achieved.

If enterprises are in a pioneering stage, there is an urgent need to establish a wide range of visibility, when the advertising effect will be obvious.

Of course, public relations can also create a new way to create popularity. As a product and a brand, it is a typical example of using public relations to create a very high profile in a short time.

In fact, adopting advertising plus public relations marketing mix is probably the best way to create popularity.

And in popularity, a healthy brand must also have a good awareness and reputation.

When it comes to cognition, the function of advertising is difficult to reach; and when it comes to establishing reputation, advertising is even less powerful.

Therefore, when the product has become a household word, it is necessary to focus on shaping the brand image by means of public relations.

I very much agree with Al Chis's "public relations first, advertising second" in a Book: "advertising is to maintain the brand, only public relations can create a brand."

In marketing strategy, the latecomers of the market should cover the existing brands, or some small businesses should stand side by side in the market with large enterprises and big brands. If they adopt the traditional advertising methods, they will need to invest a lot, which has gone into a misunderstanding in the marketing idea.

In my opinion, there are three mistaken ideas in China's marketing circles: first, the present market economy is the "Bo silly" economy, and the consumers are the fool. In fact, the current business war is "Bo Jing", and consumers are quite smart; second, the misunderstanding of consumers' cognition will inevitably lead to deviation in marketing means. Now the marketing concept of enterprises is basically advertising oriented, and marketing is the same as advertising, so that the money of enterprises is inevitably a bit unfair. Third, the media is regarded as one of the three defenses (fire prevention, theft prevention, anti journalists), and can not effectively communicate with the media.

With public relations as the means to carry out brand marketing and the road of brand growth with public relations as the core, it is to break the three major marketing misunderstandings and realize the innovation and development of marketing.