There are several components of marketing, including but not limited to, advertising, personal sales/fundraising, sales promotions and public relations. Marketing and its tactics are divided into several categories as shown below.
Six Components of Marketing:
1. Growth Plans – Strategies to identify and reach an organization’s goals.
- Marketing Plan
- Market Identification
- Budget Allocations
- Growth Potential
- Market Research
- Funding Sources
2. Corporate Identity – The overall look and image of an organization.
- Branding Techniques -
Point of Difference Story
- Logo
- Mission Statement
- Trademarks
- Customer Service Goals
3. Public Relations – Tools to generate favorable publicity in Media.
- Press Releases
- Crisis Management
- Press Kit Distribution
- Information Dissemination
- Media Representative relations
4. Advertising – Devices used to affect new and existing consumers.
- Television
- Internet
- Radio
- Web Advertising
- Newspaper
- Yellow Pages
- Direct Mail
- Magazines
5. Sales Force/Fundraising – Individuals who bring in revenue from the field to the organization.
- Sales/Fundraising Staff
- Sales System
- Target Market
- Follow-Up Methods
- Prospect Identification
- Presentation Materials
- Sales Philosophies
6. Merchandising – Instruments used that display product or concept’s, benefits and features.
- Trade Show Booths
- Location Signage
- In-Store Displays
- Catalogs
- Product/Concept Signage
- Brochures/Flyers
- Website
All components are employed at different times in the life of a successful organization.
Each component of marketing has significance and benefits in its use. There needs to be a distinction made between what is known as public relations and advertising. Public relations role in marketing is to focus on a variety of internal and external stakeholders, including employees, board members, stockholders, public interest groups, government and society at large.
There are five key goals of Public Relations (Clow, 2007):
- Identify internal and external stakeholders.
- Assess the organization’s reputation.
- Audit the organization’s social responsibility.
- Create positive image-building activities.
- Prevent or reduce image damage.
In many cases public relations costs nothing or the expense is minimal compared to buying media time or space. To depend on public relations as the only “tool” in your marketing tool box can be a disaster. Public relations gives the organization limited control in its messaging. Additionally, a consistent message cannot be maintained over a long enough time span to influence consumer behavior.
The over-dependence on PR can actually cripple the dissemination of information due to the lack of control of the media. This can be seen by anyone who has given an interview to a reporter. The aired or published story does not always line up with what was originally said to the reporter. It is uncontrollable and can have many variables that could affect the validity and non-biased presentation of the facts. All it takes for a Public Relations campaign to go awry is a young reporter pushing her own agenda or not checking sources and facts. Many times, active public relations occur in response to a specific event. Private industry and the environmental movement have both had to react in the past. PR isn’t always getting the good news out, it is also responding to the bad.
It has often been said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity!” Tell that to Exxon after the oil spill in Valdez, Alaska. On March 24, 1989, Exxon shipping president Frank Iarossi was quoted: “The clean up is not proceeding well. Believe me, that is an understatement. We have a mess on our hands.” (BBC News Archive, 1989). That statement or situation does not get cleaned up with a nice photo op of birds and seals on a beach.
The Nature Conservancy responded after one of it’s board members was attacked for a questionable land deal that showed a conflict of interest, “…IRS is conducting a major audit of the Arlington-based Nature Conservancy, the worlds largest environmental organization.” (Stephens, 2004) “IRS”, “conducting audit”, “Nature Conservancy” is not a series of words that a Nature Conservancy PR person would want to see in one sentence.
A young reporter, oil spill or land deal gone bad is the flip side of public relations. At this point it crosses into a whole different sphere of “Crisis Management”. (Dezenhall, 2007). It has this dubious name for a reason. Public relations consultants are called in after a negative or crisis situation develops. The information dissemination either went awry or simply had an undesired affect. At this point public relations tactics are no longer cheap, but highly costly. It can take millions of dollars and years to overcome not only negative PR, but badly disseminated PR.
