1. DA010 - Professional Diploma in Public Relations - COMM6026EP
Marketing Public Relations: Principles
and Practice (2012/01)
Lecture 8
Planning MPR
Developed and Presented by
Roy Ying, Msc., B.Comm.
Note: Pictures used in this power point file
is for academic Purpose only 1

2. MPR Objectives
• Essentially, MPR is trying to persuade
customers to buy more of its products.
• The approaches are to build credibility,
trust and long term relationship.
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3. MPR Activities
• What kind of tools companies can deploy?
• Advertorials • Surveys and researches
• Contests • Seminars and forums
• Special events • CSR initiatives
• Public service tie-ins • Certifications
• Trade shows and • Grooming of spokesperson
exhibitions
• Social media
• Festivals & parades
• Customer engagement
• Sponsorships
• Press conferences, media
tours & receptions
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4. Advertorial
• It’s a form of advertising, except that it’s in
an editorial format, usually slightly different
from the newspaper’s layout, design and
colouring.
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5. Contest
• Winning awards in contest can effectively
generate media endorsement, especially if
it is from a respected organizer.
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6. Special events
• Be more visible to the public and media.
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7. Public Service Tie-in
• Very common for charity purpose (e.g.,
proceed of this campaign will go to a
worthy cause) to encourage spending.
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8. Trade shows and exhibitions
• It is probably the most effective way to be
visible in front of target buyers.
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9. Festival and parade
• Co-brand your brand with festivals.
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10. Sponsorship
• Instead of organizing your own event,
sponsorship can increase your visibility in
front of target audience.
What are they
What are they
getting out of the
getting out of the
millions of dollars
millions of dollars
of sponsorship
of sponsorship
fee?
fee?
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11. Sponsorship
• Sometimes, sponsorship can come in a
“soft” approach.
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12. Press conf, media tour & reception
• Apple’s press conferences with Steve
Jobs are very successful. Media will
definitely come, and also report.
Apart from media
Apart from media
publicity, what
publicity, what
other objective itit
other objective
has achieved?
has achieved?
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13. Surveys and researches
• Survey can often bring your story to the news.
• Research is a sign of commitment that your
company is a leader of the industry.
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14. Seminars and forums
• Companies often partner with a non-profit
organization to organize seminars to
position itself as an opinion leader.
• Another approach is to seek invitations
from event organizers as speakers to their
conferences.
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15. CSR Initiatives
• It is not only a MPR activity, some
countries are making CSR a mandatory
disclosure requirement on annual reports.
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16. Certificates and accreditation
• These add to the credibility of your
company as they mean something to
consumers.
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17. Spokespersons
• Your spokespersons represent your company’s
brand. Hiring celebrities is a quick way to appeal
your brand to the fans of the artist, but it’s not
sustainable.
• You have to “own” your spokesperson.
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18. Social media
• It is an interactive platform between you
and the customers.
• No 1 concern is content creation.
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19. Customer engagement
• Engage your customers to give you
feedback and interaction.
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20. MPR Planning Steps
• MPR objectives:
– Credibility
– Trust
– Long term relationship
• How do you achieve these objectives?
• How do you measure success?
• How to plan MPR?
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21. Class Discussion:
What are the key messages?
• Identify 3 things they all say that are
important in marketing?
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22. Planning MPR – Step 1/6
• Conduct a brand survey
– What your customers are saying
– What’s important to them
– What perception people have on your brand
– What they like and dislike
– What key messages you need to address
– What are their behavior
– How do they think of you vs. your competitors
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23. Planning MPR – Step 2/6
• Identify SMART goals in the
following MPR objectives:
– Credibility
– Trust
– Long term relationship
• It’s not yet what you need to be doing, but
rather where you want to be in 3 to 5 years.
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24. Planning MPR – Step 3/6
• Before thinking of new initiatives, compile an
inventory of your company’s existing public
relations activities.
• Evaluate how they can contribute to your MPR
objectives, and take action to improve.
• For example, your website:
– Is it helping you talk to your customers?
– Is it user friendly?
– Can media download information they need?
– Are there CSR message you can deliver?
– Does it allow users to leave messages?
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25. Planning MPR – Step 4/6
• Identify gaps in your MPR offering.
• For example, suppose from your brand survey shows
that your customers’ buying behavior can be influenced
by the brand’s commitment to CSR.
• You may wish to propose to the senior management to
establish a community caring committee with an
objective to be awarded a “Caring Company” certificate
in the first year.
• As it is a long term commitment, you may wish to think
further with an ultimate goal of implementing a CSR
strategy that can position your company as a responsible
corporate citizen which adds value to trust.
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26. Planning MPR – Step 5/6
• Identify working partners
• Who are your stakeholders?
– Government
– Employees
– NGOs
– Certification bodies
– Media
– Service providers
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27. Planning MPR – Step 6/6
• Budget planning
• Integration of MPR initiatives to different
level of the organization
• Evaluate performance
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