Building consumer goodwill with PR

Building consumer goodwill with PR

Mark Winkel, Senior Consultant, Prisma Public Relations, Jakarta

As we wind-up 2002, with its share of disasters and
disappointments, we must be anxious about new potholes as the
drivers of the economy -- consumers -- look ready to take their
foot off the accelerator.

The big question becomes: How do I keep consumers opening up
their pocketbooks in 2003? whether to buy a car, a cup of coffee,
or a computer.

For many marketers, pumping money into an ad campaign may be
the easiest solution in the quest for sales. However, these more
jittery times call for a better approach.

That approach, which works in good times and even better in
bad times, is to invest in building your brand with consumers.
Just consider the consumer's mind-set: With fewer rupiah
allocated for discretionary spending, consumers are looking to
get more for their money from products or services they know and
trust. They are looking for reasons to remain loyal. By building
your brand, you are giving them those reasons.

These reasons -- which generally are more complex and
sophisticated than a discounted price, a bundled offer, or other
sales-oriented or promotion-oriented proposition -- are the
concepts that strategic public relations excels at communicating.
These concepts build value into the brand, not into the product.

In a tighter economy, of course, companies also want to get as
much bang for their bucks. Unfortunately, the few that use public
relations in preference to advertising often look for the wrong
impact.

Advertising-oriented executives look at sales as the measure
of public relations. However, there are just too many variables
-- pricing, availability/distribution, customer relations -- in
the sales proposition to try to single out the impact of public
relations.

As a 20-year veteran of the public relations business, I
believe clients should be linking our services with premium-
pricing. It's not "how many more units did PR sell for me?" but
"how much more could I charge because of public relations?"

Public relations-led brand building develops consumer goodwill
and a preference to pay more for one product over another. This
is the realm of consumer PR, where we are kings over advertising.
Granted, a big ad can make a big (expensive) splash (as can a
properly executed event), but it's public relations that creates
the enduring impression. Our ability to engage the consumer in a
much longer and therefore deeper dialog is what develops
goodwill; and in the case of media coverage, the dialogue is
endorsed by an independent third party.

Surveys bear out the importance of developing that trust in
consumers. A recent study by a major credit card company found
that quality, not cost, is the overriding factor when women in
the Asia-Pacific region buy gifts. And a study published in
PRWeek Asia found that consumers make purchase decisions based on
how companies manage crises, on their experience with the
company's products and services, and on the financial performance
of the company.

In these jittery times, it is vital for companies to
understand that purchase decisions are based on a wide variety of
impressions and information that must at the core differentiate
their products and services from the competition in a way that is
relevant to the consumer. The sheer variety of inputs also means
that messages must be managed, and attributes such as leadership
and quality must be defined and defended.

In Indonesia and other Asian countries, many marketing
managers -- as well as more senior executives -- are at heart
traders, who understand only the sales part of the consumers
purchase decision equation. Try to list premium brands from Asia
(other than the likes of Toyota and Sony of Japan, where the
value mentality/model is different) and you will be hard pushed
to come up with more than a handful of names. The recent efforts
of LG and Samsung to brand themselves only highlight the paucity
of global Asian brands.

The interesting twist on this whole situation is that these
same marketers and traders are the ones who seem most susceptible
to the premium pitch from the luxury goods manufacturers. While
they buy the premium products for themselves -- whether it is the
Louis Vuitton bag, the Mont Blanc pen, or a shiny new BMW -- they
still do not spend on public relations to build their own
business and products into brands that command a premium from
consumers.

In looking ahead to the new year, the challenge is for
companies to engage their customers in ways they have never
before. They have to build consumer goodwill through cohesive,
targeted public relations activities. In the end, these efforts
are the ones that will keep consumers coming back for more in
2003.