Understanding the principal methods and techniques used in marketing and public relationships

Marketing:

Why is it important in marketing to understanding your clients and their requirements?

It is vital that when working with a client you understand what exactly they want and listen to their ideas in taking that product forward, not doing so would mean your services would not be needed. Marketingdonut.co.uk explains clear points in how to maintain a good relationship with the customer. Clear communication: Make sure it is clear and everyone involved feels they have understood the brief. It if from this point where you can see how many businesses fail. Having communication is vital. For example you could be producing something completing different to what the client wants. This would be a waste of resources, as they will not use it, plus your reputation would be damaged. It is important to establish frequent contact with the client, perhaps day to day. Honesty is a big part in the communication process: Never say you can do something if you can’t, as it will usually backfire. Provide added value: It is up to you to manage the delivery of the project and make sure you meet, if not exceed, your customer’s expectations. When marketing for the client, they are expecting you to add value to the product; this is why they are paying for your service. Understanding what they want to do is a big part in you doing your job well. Listen to feedback: When the marketing is complete, ask the client about how well you did. This can help you understand future clients better. Work on aspects pointed out in the feedback. By not listening to the client you will produce pieces of work that does not appeal to them or produce something totally different to what they wanted. This will waste time and resources as well as money. Not meeting the requirements of a client may result in not being paid at all. It is from this where a small act of listening can be helpful. An example of not listening to feedback can come from Steve Jobs (The Co founder of Apple) and one of his most famous quotes. “It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.”

Forbes (An American business magazine) called the quote a “dangerous lesson”. I like to believe they called this a dangerous lesson due to the severity of the claim. Customers are an important part to the success of a product.

Why is understanding the market you are working in important? What techniques and tools could be used to help someone understand their market?

Understanding the market you are working in is essential. Without doing so your product or business will most likely fail. The most common way in understanding the audience you are targeting towards comes through market research. This can help you create a profile on a typical customer and therefore aim towards their tastes. Business.qld.gov.au explains that It is vital to research any new market you are moving into to avoid wasting time and money on failed projects. The three ways in gathering the information are that of Field (Primary), Desk (Secondary) and Commercial (Hiring others). With understanding the market it becomes clear you must look into and explore the customers but the second main issue is that of competitors. Infoentrepreneurs.org explains the ways in finding out the existence of competitors; once this has been taken out then you can look into each of them more closely. Local business directories Your local Chamber of Commerce Advertising Press reports Exhibitions and trade fairs Questionnaires Searching on the Internet for similar products or services Information provided by customers Flyers and marketing literature that have been sent to you - quite common if you're on a bought-in marketing list Searching for existing patented products that are similar to yours Planning applications and building work in progress The techniques in gathering information off competitors include, going in person and collecting flyers or leaflets, reading their online site or purchasing a product. This can give you a clear indication on the pricing. It is from this you can how to look at your own pricing strategy. Once you have understood the competitors and customers, you can start to look at the product itself. What competitive advantage do you have over another business? Business.qld.gov.au again explains the questions you should ask yourself. Why do customers buy from us? Why do customers buy from our competitors and not us? Why do some potential customers not buy at all? What do we need to do to be successful in the future?

Understanding the market is very important. Without learning about them and exploring what they are after you cannot possibly succeed.

What is a SWOT analysis? Why are they are they a useful tool?

SWOT analysis or (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) can be useful way to assess where your business lies compared to competitors.

Here on the left is a diagram that helps you to understand the SWOT analysis taken out. In the section labelled ‘S’ you will introduce ideas that are internal (Within the business) and helpful. For example a good relationship with customers or excellent sales staff. The area to the right-labelled ‘W’ is keeping to the internal side within the business, however looking into areas of weakness.

Examples of these would be cash flow problems or high rental costs for the premises or machinery. The area labelled ‘O’ looks into external and helpful issues concerning the product. Opportunities such as Loyal customers. This is looking for people related to the product and helpful to the success of it but from the outside rather than the staff and people behind the product or service. The area ‘T’ looks into threats towards the product or service from an external side. An example being a competitor having a similar product to yours. Creating a SWOT analysis can be a useful tool in understanding customers and competitors but also your own business. Looking to areas that need improvement and what strengths you have, and also to see if it is worth creating that product or locating in an area where there are large threats such heavy competition.

What is audience profiling? What sort of information might be included in an audience profile?

Audience profiling is about building up knowledge on the ‘typical’ customer so you can target them to buy the product. The first stage in creating a profile for the audience is to understand the clients. Matrixsolutions.co.uk go on to explain that you should look into age, location, life-stage, income band, lifestyle choices and property value. Once you have build up the knowledge The next stage is building an understanding of how they are interacting with the product or service. Examples include how often they purchase the product, for how much and when they do. The last stage in creating an audience profile is that of establishing the way clients currently perceive the product. Matricsolutions.co.uk explain this further saying whether you're providing a necessity, a

luxury or a default option.

All of the information you gather can give you a good indication on whom to target the most. By not creating one you may put large amounts of resources into targeting one person who is not that interested in the product or does not shop as regularly as another therefore losing potential custom.

For example: Using Television advertising. Thinkbox.tv explains that advertisers can define it by gender, social class and age at a national or regional level. With Television there is a large amount of possible people you could create into a profile. By creating an audience profile you can start to understand if your old specific person aimed towards is wrong. For example, you may have started out possibly aiming towards a demographic of 55+ but through the building up stage of the people you see that in order for more products to be sold you change to a wealthier category of perhaps ABC1 Adults with more disposable income.

Select a magazine and find their audience profile:

Using an example such as Q magazine. According to their website Q is the legendary monthly magazine which celebrates everything that’s great in rock and roll. The figures behind Q are very impressive in terms of advertising. 72% of the readers have high levels disposable income due to being in the ABC1 category. This means that they have the money to spend.

Q’s audience is younger and more affluent than any other music monthly. 97% of readers rate Q as a quality magazine. In research it outperforms competitors on measures such as best interviews, writing and awards winning photography. The Q reader According to the National Readership Survey- January 2012- December 2012 Gender: 31.7% Female 68.3% Male Age range: 15-24 (35.5%) 35-44 (19.8%) 55-64 (3.1%) 25-34 (26.3%) 45-54 (13.9%) 65+ (1.4%)

By looking into the people who purchase your product and identifying who they, how old they are and what background they are from allows you to see how successful your product could possibly be. It can give you important information in how and when to target these.

Explain in detail the 4 different elements of the marketing mix.

When creating a product, a business needs to consider all aspects of the marketing mix. The marketing mix consists of the 4 P’s. Price, Promotion, Place and product. For a product or service to be successful, a business must research and spend large amount of time concerning each area. This should be right product, sold at the right price, in the right place and using the most suitable form of promotion for it. Businesscasestudies.co.uk explains how businesses have to meet certain conditions in order to create a good marketing mix.

If the product does not contain what the audience wants then they will not purchase it. You need the product to appeal to them.

The price must be right. If you are charging more than competitors for the same or a similar product then the customer will go for the cheapest.

If the customer does not see the product, they cannot buy it. Product placement is very important in relation to sales. Choosing the correct location and place for the product will be found through researching the audience and their profile.

Promotion of the product is a must. If people are not aware of the product, again, they cannot buy it and choose to go to a competitor as they have been informed of the product through advertising. Choosing the correct place for the promotion is important, as the people aimed towards may not notice it. Market research and establishing your audience is important in marketing mix and cannot produce a good one without it. A good business in helping explain the marketing mix would be McDonalds. The leading Burger change has a good grasp on the 4 P’s and it is from using this why they are so well known.

Product: McDonalds focus on a Menu that the audience wants. They bring in new burgers whilst slowly removing others. This keeps it fresh and attracts more customers. By retaining many of the popular foods helps keep the customers loyal. McDonalds way of equating for everyone is another reason behind their success. Having a vegetarian side to the menu, particularly in India helps increase their market share due to the variety of people that buy their food. Having different products such as ‘Happy Meals’ gives a wider variety to the customer and allows children to eat there.

The product life cycle is well known throughout business. With McDonalds adding new products and wider choices for customers, they are growing. Like every product, it will eventually decline so adding new ideas will keep the business popular. The company will research into each piece of food on the Menu. How many are sold will be the deciding factor into where it would be placed on the product life cycle. Each product will be at a different stage. According to McDonalds, The ‘Big Mac’ is at a Maturity stage, thus meaning it will start to decline, once this time arrives a new product must start to be announced. Price: Price is very important when looking at the sales of a product. Customers always have a price they see every product to be worth. McDonalds say that if they risk charging lower prices this will be seen as low quality. It is therefore important to get the correct balance as well as being competitive over other fast food chains such as Burger King. Promotion: It is from that point where it leads to Promotion. McDonalds focuses on the Advertising side to promotion and making sure that the brand is always there for the public to see. It is designed to be impossible to not notice. This advertising comes in many forms such as Television, Radio, Cinema, leaflets and posters. They are placed areas where the profile identified will see and crave for that product. They often use the

press and popular newspapers or magazines. Here seen on the left hand side of the newspaper. They often take large areas up where you will notice and recognise what it is. The use of the Golden M is now very important and one of the most recognisable symbols in the world. This house style can now be used on all forms of promotion and people will instantly know what it is.

They always promote new products and keep up to date with the different changes in the year. The marketing mix and the 4 P’s often link in with each other. For example this promotion idea will link in with the product side. By having promotion linked in with certain months in the year such as the ‘Winter Warmer’ can be a good way of making that product suitable for that time in the year. This is a good way to change possible decreases in sales at that time and boost them to a good height.

The use of social media is a good way of promotion for McDonalds. It provides an easy, quick and low cost way of reaching a large market, that of which who is within the targeted audience. They can also interact with the audience and introduce the new items on the menu. They will receive quick, honest feedback from the public.

Place: McDonalds has over 30,000 restaurants in 116 different countries meaning that wherever you live you will be located to one of them.

McDonalds explains place as not just a location or a distribution point for products but as encompassing the management of a range of processes involved in bringing products to the end consumer. With so many of the stores the accessibility to one of them is that convenient that you see yourself going in. It is not just how many they have but it is where they are located. They are often seen in large shopping centres or near busy towns and cities. They make it very easy for the customer.

Select a publication, product or audience and explain the range of marketing materials that they use.

Coca Cola is a good example is showing the marketing materials used by one product. There are a variety of ways in getting the message out to the audience. The most common ways are Pri nt, Video, Audio and Interaction. Larger businesses such as Coca Cola will use these more frequently in order to maintain the message to the audience and reach the maximum sales possible. The brand awareness is created through large amount of media coverage. The use of the product in print such as newspapers and magazines is a good way in reaching out to the public. Billboards, hoardings leaflets and posters are many ways in making sure the message and the brand is seen by everyone.

Here is a good example of a Billboard located in Australia. The marketing strategy of using peoples name was something so simple yet extremely successful. 'Share a Coke' had over 1000 names on the bottles. Swapping the iconic logo for a name was a risk, however it did pay off.

The newspaper advertisements, like the billboards are often large. This is to make them clearly stand out. They are often very basic, containing the colours of the brand, possibly an image of the product and small text supporting it. The print way of advertising is not relied on as much now due to improvements in internet advertisements and the rapid decrease of newspaper sales over the last few years. Coca Cola always keep advertising and find new marketing materials to keep getting the message out as they want to be the bottle you pick up psychologically ahead of the many in the market. Constant reminding of the brand is important. Video marketing of Coca Cola is something very popular as well.

The adverts are often very colourful and loud.

The videos are mostly seen through YouTube

advertisements and during popular television

shows. Coca Cola are always introducing new

videos to keep the product fresh and maintain

the interaction with the audience.

As Coca Cola has become bigger, it is increasing well known in hundreds of countries. In terms of

video and audio marketing, this has to be one of the greatest ways in showing that product.

Coke Studio is produced in Pakistan and India. It is a music television series that has live performances

from various artists. This is a good way of video marketing due to people coming to watch music and

seeing the product there at the same time.

Sponsoring things such as these can provide more advertisement. With it being live and recorded on

video, it can be placed on various social media sites and to be seen more than once.

Interaction. Having interaction with the audience is important to show the business is in touch with

their customers. A good example of coke providing interaction with marketing is their interactiv e

drinks machines. This way the public are receiving gifts and the brand is being advertised further with

possible media coverage. These are several located around the world. The term Interactive can be

more relevant when looking at social media. How businesses can talk to customers and get honest

responses.

Provide your own definition of advertising.

Advertising is where a business, service or product attracts the public's attention in order to make sales. The public's attention can be drawn in a variety of ways. Newspapers, magazines or paid announcements through the radio are some of many popular methods. The ways advertising is set out is to grab the reader's attention. The ways in grabbing attent ion are using the internet and social media sites including Twitter and Facebook. Sponsorships and Endorsements are all in relation to advertising as they are created to make viewer aware of a product or choose them over another.

What is the purpose of sponsorship? Support your answer with detailed examples.

Sponsorship is one of two specific types of marketing communication. Sponsorship is where a company pays financial support to events and activities such as Television shows or sporting events. The purpose of sponsorship is to receive public recognition of the support you provided. An example of this can come from the sporting side to media and football.

Emirates is one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates along with Etihad Airway. In 2004 the Airline Emirates agreed a sponsorship with the English Football team Arsenal. This was a great way of marketing the Airline. With

the football team being so well known in England, and having 60,000 people in for their home games each game shows how much room there was to advertise the service. The idea behind this sponsorship was that the airline gives the club a huge financial boost. In return for the naming right for the stadium, The Emirates Stadium and to have their logo on the shirts of the players. This is a great way of communication to the market as each time the audience views the club playing, they will see the airline. The media who then report the games as and when they happen will then for example use imagery of a player and place them on the back of a newspaper for more people to see the airline on the kit. This is a common technique used by large companies to boost sales and in a way receive free publicity. The second airline within the Dubai based company is that of Etihad Airways. Another football club Manchester City signed a 10-year deal reportedly worth £400m with Etihad for the airline's name to go on both the club's shirt and the stadium. It is from this where when the club is playing well it will reflect the airline and boost sale.

Sponsoring a big event or stadium is a way of getting the message out a specific audience. This example of the Airlines using large football clubs is a good way of showing this. The fans who pay to watch these games have to be wealthy with large amounts of disposable income. This would be the ideal audience to target. With the sponsorship being there for many years, it will be impossible not to see the Airline. This refers back to the promotion aspect of the marketing mix but also the place. Locating the product or service where it is relevant. The idea of sponsoring events where you audience is comes from the Energy drink Monster. It is important that if a product is using sponsorship, the people who they want to buy the produ ct must notice it in order to buy it.

Here is a good example. Monster sponsor various of extreme sports in order for the logo to be seen. Their target audience will be at the events or watch them as they have researched into a typical profile. Young Males that enjoy extreme sports such as these will notice the Monster image and the idea behind it like all forms of advertising is that next time they see it in a shop they see the Monster can and

believe that it was almost because of that can that the people were able to complete acts of such danger. The image will be noticeable and this can refer to the product side of the marketing mix. Making sure the customer chooses your product or service over an competitor.

What is the purpose of endorsements? Explain a range of different types of endorsements and use examples.

Endorsement are the second way of marketing communication from a product or service. They are where well known people show their support towards that product. This comes in the form of an advertisement. The idea behind it is that the brand uses a famous person's reputation and aims to reflect this on being a good product. By having someone the target audience admires or respects promote the brand is meant to persuade them to buy the product. In return you pay for their services. An example would be from a celebrity endorsement. World number one at the time, golfer Tiger Woods became one of the many faces promoting Gillette (A brand of men's razors). The golfer became the first athlete to receive over $1 million from endorsements alone. He was also the face of the brand Nike. This is good example for showing how endorsements work. The money is paid to reflect off the persons reliability or fame. With Woods being very successful the audience would want to listen to him, meaning companies were lining up for possible endorsements. Educationportal.com explains the advantages of celebrity endorsements to be: Attracting new users, Breathes life into a failing brand, Builds awareness, influences consumer purchases and the position of a brand. However, with this example of Tiger Woods, provides how this form of advertising can also have its negative sides. Should the athlete perform well or be seen in a bad light in the press. This will reflect badly on the brand. When the news came out of Tiger Woods and his various affairs in his personal life. Gillette did not want to renew his contract. According to theguardian.com: PR veteran Mark Borkowski said the timing of the announcement had been carefully chosen to avoid generating negative publicity around Gillette, which he described as "a middle-of-the-road global brand". Negative publicity is something a brand cannot recover well from, therefore dealing with Tiger Woods and ending the sponsorship was something that needed extra care. The golfer has been dropped by several companies since his private life became front-page news, including Pepsi, Accenture and US telephone giant AT&T. Celebrity endorsements are now huge within advertising. However concerns have been shown when the use of social media sites such as Twitter show these famous celebrities promoting products to their millions of followers. These celebrities have seen to be breaking ASA rules (The Advertising standards authority). With the huge influence they now have over the public, and with the interaction being so high now with the introduction of Twitter, it is starting to be a common way of advertising. An example can come from Kate Thornton (English journalist and television presente r)

This should not be happening and many of her 'Followers' were outraged. The tweet is just within the guidelines set by ASA and FTC (Federal Trade Commission) however it is a small step from tweeting interest and promoting a brand. Many celebrities are paid to tweet about businesses however some are calling for it to be made clear within their tweets to avoid confusion. Other forms of Endorsements include using experts or public from the street that match with the audience for the product. Experts are often used to make the audience feel reassured. If a dentist on the television for example says that this certain toothpaste will work better than the ones you have at the

moment you feel that their judgement is one better than yours and therefore makes you buy the product. A recent article by The Independent explains that Dentists professional associations are making hundreds of thousands of pounds a year by "selling" their names for use on toothpaste tubes The BDA (British Dental Association) pays expert dentists £600 a day for their opinions.

The use ordinary people in endorsements are to persuade the audience that 'If they think that is a good product then I agree'. With so many endorsements now, the public does not always know what or who to believe. The use of someone who is not famous can perhaps make the viewer stop and think. These however are not people chosen at random, the people asked fit into the profiling idea looked at previously. These are people within the targeted audience who agree with the product or service and are willing to purchase it.

Why could holding an event be a good marketing strategy? What are some of the opportunities and threats of holding an event?

Event marketing is a promotional strategy that involves face-to-face contact between companies and their customers at special events like concerts, fairs, and sporting events.(Marketing-schools.org) An event can be anything from a shop opening to an art exhibition. The idea behind it is that you are

bringing the product to the customer instead of the other way around.

You can create an event that exactly matches your needs and the needs of your target market, that

way they will be more likely to be interested in what you have to say and your product.

Successful events are where many people from the target audience turn up. It is important that the

customers have a good reason to turn up. They need an incentive. Marketingdonut.co.uk uses the

example of, If your audience are horse-race goers, take your event to the racecourse on race day.

You should pitch the idea or have the brand noticeable and where the most people from the audience

will see it. Holding events can have both opportunities and threats.

An example of a good event held was from Red Bull. As said before an event can come in any form

and is meant to bring the audience together to watch the product or service.

The energy drink held the huge event 'Red Bull Stratos' involving skydiver Felix Baumgartner.

This example can also be in relation to Sponsorship. The idea that an event can attract the audience.

The event was where Felix jumped to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere.

Advantages from doing the event?

“Red Bull gives you wings.” This helped tie in with the slogan of the brand.

The space jump gave Red Bull roughly 8 million eyeballs watching live coverage of

the jump and Red Bull’s logo.

This led to increased revenue and popularity for the brand but also the

endorsement opportunities for Baumgartner were huge.

Examples of events going wrong and putting threats to the publicity of you

product can come from LG.

A promotional stunt and a marketing strategy that went wrong. In August 2013,

the phone company LG created an event in Seoul for the G2 Smartphone.

What happened? LG released 100 helium balloons, all had with a voucher for a free LG product. This

publicity stunt went wrong as the hundreds of people gathered started shooting down the balloons.

Many of the 'target audience' arrived with BB Guns in order to get the phones that were worth £550.

The publicity was formed from the event which was intentional, however it was in the wrong way. A

regional Television channel called the event "World War G". (Compared to World war Z where

zombies scramble over each other to climb over a wall- bbc.co.uk)

The chaos led to twenty people getting hurt. This shows the threats of creating such a large event,

when something unexpected happens it can cause a great deal of harm towards the reputation of the

product.

However it could be argued that LG were talked about throughout the media, getting more

advertisement and the brand was being seen by many more people than it maybe would have done.

What is merchandising? Use detailed examples to help explain.

Thefreedictionary.com defines Merchandising as the promotion of merchandising sales, as by coordinating production and marketing and developing advertising, display and sales strategies. It goes on to say that the Sale of merchandise is in connection with an established brand, such as a sports team or a film. In terms of commerce, the commercial goods are used to exploit the popularity of a pop group for example. This is a way of creating extra revenue through something existing already. Smallbusiness.chron.com uses the idea of a new catchphrase that has been made famous by the internet and produced onto a line a T-shirts. An example from a Film would be the first Star Wars. George Lucas, the creator of the films made a deal to have complete control over the merchandise for the films. As they became more popular, there was an increase in merchandise made. Examples include Toys, Buildings and vehicles. As mentioned before, T-Shirts with popular lined from a movie or a saying can be very popular with the audience.

Another example of merchandise is from the sporting side. This is one of the biggest examples. Replica Shirts are a very common way of merchandising. Having your favourite football players name on shirt is one way the clubs make their revenue. However, Keychains, clothing, equipment, posters and signed photographs are some of several ways clubs use the fame of a sports team to generate sales.

Public Relations:

What is the purpose of a press release? What sort of things should a good press release contain?

A press release is a written report about an event or something happening in relation to a business. These are often brief and get straight to the point about the story. The purpose of a press releases is to inform the media about a 'specific' event. A press release has three main marketing purposes. To let the media know about an event, to let the media know about your business and to help your businesses appearance on the internet (Direct Readership publicity) via blogs, websites and social networks. (Womeninbusiness.com) A press release should not contain news in the form of an article. You are just making the media aware of an event or a change in something that you feel they should know about. The Guardian created an article on how to write an effective press release. In order to receive good press you should follow the tips. First of all, you need to make sure the story is newsworthy. Write killer headlines. As there are so many people writing about the news, it is important to make your press release eye catching. Be Concise. A Press release should be 300 to 400 words. Only use information that is needed. Finally you should Use Quotes to provide insight, not information. A press release should contain the 5 W's. Who? What? When? Why? and Where? you should consider all of these when producing one for your business. Mediatrust.org uses a short example. (Where) At the annual conference, (Who) Myfabcharity, (when) today announced, (what) their new campaign 'looking after people' to change the way vulnerable people are viewed. (Why) Include quote. Then go into a small amount of detail with more paragraphs. Having additional notes to editor can also be a good way in getting that message out.

What is the purpose of an electronic media pack? What sort of things should a good electronic media pack contain?

An electronic media or (Pack Kit) is a set of promotional materials of a person or company. These are given to media and often found at news conferences. According to wikipedia.org they are used for Product Launches, New company launch, mergers and acquisitions and large events. The purpose is to provide information on the company or person. Biographies, testimonials, photographs and a press release. They are designed to prepare and give you knowledge. To use a band as an example, in their media pack they will include: > Music Full Album (high quality versions of all tracks, esp for Radio) > Biography (story info on your band) plus Contact Details / Press Release > One Sheet (optional: key info on your release, biog, contact details, links to Profiles etc) > High Resolution and Low Resolution Photograph(s) > High Resolution Full Artwork: Single, Album and Posters > Live information and Press Release Links (optional actual press release PDF) > Video Links if applicable.

What is the purpose of a PR briefing? Why should you create one? Explain some of the areas a brief should cover.

The purpose of a brief is to set the requirements of a PR campaign. It should establish the goals of the campaign, the main audience, the effect and the budget. You should create a PR briefing so everyone understands who they are aiming towards and how they are going to go about doing so. The areas you should cover in a brief are: Background (looking at market and explaining what is happening, e.g. buyer behaviour) Target Market (Talk about who the product is aimed towards) The Goal You have to be very clear about the intention of the campaign. Strategy (Tactics in achieving the goals) Key messages (The reasons for the goals) The budget (The size of the PR campaign will depend on how much you are allowed to spend on it. Finding this out early can be better for business)

What is the purpose of a press conference? Why might you hold one? Use specific examples to help you with your response.

The purpose of a press conference is to present high priority information to the media. This can be in relation to various events however the most common comes from a controversial act from the business. The briefing allows elaboration and explanation. Press conferences are held by company's executive management or their chosen press liai son. With the media being low in resources, unless the conference is of importance and newsworthy they will not always attend. The purpose is to allow questions on certain matters in relation to the business or product. This can be held for many reasons, a new product or advertising campaign to new employees or even damage limitation, attempting to reassure the public and the consumers. Examples can come in many forms, a Police conference to explain certain events the public must know about. A sporting press conference after a game explaining about what happened, elections with journalists asking questions on the economy. They can also be from businesses announcing a new product, such as apple or even a video game conference. They are a good way in interacting with the audience and taking on important feedback so you can add to the product.

An example of a police conference comes from Australia. The Sydney siege press conference. Police confirmed to the media that three people had died during the dramatic police shoot out in the middle of Sydney's city centre. They spoke about how the Sydneysiders should not "lose confidence in the city" saying the attack was an isolated incident. Having press conferences such as these are aimed to reassure the public and share any thoughts about recent events that the audience needs to know about.

Why could hand-outs be useful when managing a PR event?

Hand-outs can be very useful in managing a PR event. They engage the audience and make sure they listen to all the information that is being said. In terms if different hand-outs, samples are a good way to grab the audience's attention. This will be seen as generous, since you are giving away something you would normally sell.

Make sure that the sample is a good representation of the product you offer. If it is not as good as your product, it will not be an effective marketing tool. If it is better than your product, people will feel duped and will not become returning customers. Remember, quality of any item you are handing out is important. The quintessence of what you are trying to do is to represent your company as a place where people would like to take their business. If you skimp on the freebies, it will be assumed that you skimp on the services as well. Even though you are not making money directly off of these products, it is important to make sure that they are something you are proud of. After all, they do have your company’s name on them. (creativeguerrillamarketing.com) As well as product samples, businesses could give away coupons, business cards and brochures. Hand-outs are great ways in giving the message to the audience. As they are free, people will take them. The products reflect the business, therefore should they see them as of a good enough quality, they will return. Many hand-outs are given so the audience can read them at another time. A copy of a press release or media packs are examples of this. The idea is to force the idea through to the people you want to buy the product. A good example can come from video games and Fifa created by Electronic Arts. Each year they launch the latest in a long line of games and each year they offer a free demo to the audience. This is released to the audience weeks before the full game is out for sale. This can offer the customers a good taste of the newest features but can also give the company feedback for any last minute alterations. The demo is only located on the games consoles so only the audience can use it. This is a good way in interacting with them.

As well as the demo for the video game, the company EA, offers many people from the audience to play the actual game and give them specific pieces of advice. They can gather a selection of the demographic. As the company has other products, they will have people playing the product at the same event.

This is during the press conference of the game, allowing questions from the media. They will ask the important questions such as new features, graphics and improvements to concerns.

What are some of the advantages of holding an interview instead of a press conference?

The advantages of holding an interview instead of a press conference are that they are much more

personal. Interviews allow you to respond to questions one on one.

Plus these are often better as they are pre planned in terms of questions. Often people will insist on

being able to see the question lists first and will not answer additional questions. This way the

business has prepared responses to all that will be asked.

With a press conference you can face any questions from a large amount of people and you could

either not have an answer or say something that could damage the reputation of the business.

Advantages of interviews are that it helps you keep focus, with the interviewer(s) having 'most' of the

control it makes you think more than giving the information out in a statement.

Another advantage is that you can get your point across much better. An example of an interview can

come from television show Newsnight on BBC.

The advantages of being on a show such as this is

that the viewer can see and hear your views first

hand, rather than read reports from journalists that

may exaggerate certain press conferences should it

not be filmed.

This also gives a lot more time to explain the points. Having a show dedicated to it can try to PR.

Politicians come onto the show

and make their points to the

public.

Interviews can receive much

more honest answers and from

people within a business rather

than spokespeople representing

them.

Why do people set up film and picture opportunities? Use examples to help our response.

This is good way of promoting your product or gaining good PR and positive publicity. These are often celebrities, sport stars and politicians . They make sure that any good work they do for charities and helping others if filmed or pictures have been taken. This is to make the audience feel as if they care about the public. This often occurs once they have been in the news before for something less good and are trying to change the thoughts of the viewers. This could be if a celebrity or athlete is about to get an endorsement deal. A good example for picture opportunities comes with David Beckham. He is seen large amounts of work for charities and makes sizable donations to charitable organisations. In fact, he is involved in all of these: CHOC Children's, Comic Relief, Elton John AIDS Foundation, FC Harlem, Help for Heroes, Malaria No More, mothers2mothers, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Peace One Day, Prince's Trust, Raising Malawi, Red Cross, Sport Relief, UNICEF, Victoria and David Beckham Charitable Trust and WildAid

David Beckham needs good PR. Positive publicity can reflect on to al the endorsements he is in, as well as his own products. The former footballer has earned $42 Million from Endorsements and according to Forbes.com Beckham is contracted with Adidas, Coty, H&M, Sainsbury's, Samsung and Breitling. It is therefore important he is seen doing good. The companies he represents will benefit from this. His own fragrance will sell from his reputation as a former footballer alone. He needs to keep the positive impression that is made.

Why are contacts and networking important in marketing and PR? What kinds of contacts could be useful? Provide details of a PR contact from at least one organisation.

Contacts and Networking is important for Marketing and PR because without them you could possibly not make it and get the message across the audience or media. The people behind these are often undervalued, however it is the people within dealing with requests for press releases, conferences, interviews. For a business it is very important to have contacts, especially agents for celebrities or athletes. This is so you are able to have the chance for endorsements. Ways in finding people can be hard which is why people with them can be expensive, ways in contacting people such as editors or TV producers can be through the internet and Social Networking sites. Private messages through Twitter can be a way of gathering information. Writing a pitch or press release can be a way of persuading someone to take you. Why is it important to know various people? So you can get your message out. Knowing many contacts can help you kick off your product, bloggers and writers who are willing to promote you business can be a great way of getting the message to the specific audience. An example of a business with large amount of press contacts comes from CISION.

We’re the PR industry’s most powerful media database, listing more than 1.6 million influencers,

outlets and opportunities from nearly 200 countries.

More than 90 per cent of the world’s largest PR firms use Cision’s database for successful outreach.

It’s the world’s largest database of journalists, editors, bloggers and other media contacts, full of the

information you need to succeed: names, numbers, profiles, pitching preferences, and pet hates… Some of their clients include: Kellogg's, Volkswagen, Sony and Google. Knowing so many people's contacts can make you a very successful business, which is why some of the largest companies have used the services. What makes them different? Our global research team updates our database 20,000 times every day, with an approach that combines the latest technology with one-to-one media relationships. We make sure you have the most accurate and up-to-date information about journalists, bloggers, national and local press, broadcast channels…all of the world’s media, right at your fingertips. With our search tool, using our media database is easier than ever. You can quickly filter contacts by media type, regions and interests, allowing you to identify the most relevant people to share your story with, and learn the best approaches for reaching them.