By
Duane Sprague
PR is one
of those terms that can stand for several things, and it seems
that everyone has a slightly different interpretation of its meaning
and usefulness withing the marketing mix. PR can mean public/community
relations, press/media relations, employee/personnel relations,
as well as customer relations. As Webster's would have it, public
relations means: "the business of inducing the public to
have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm, or
institution."
PR in fact
can and should encompasses all of these when done properly. PR
is one of the three critical elements of an effective marketing
program. A total marketing package should consist of advertising
(top of mind awareness), promotions (sales and specials), and
PR (community and media relations).
One of the
beautiful things about PR, is that you can promote your name,
products, and events at virtually no cost, and you can do it in
a much more credible and positive manner than with traditional
paid for advertising.
Another major
benefit to PR, is that you can position your dealership as a community
hero in the minds of the public by sponsoring or hosting a popular
and timely charity fund-raiser.
With a well
planned and implemented PR strategy, you can place yourself at
the forefront of the local media coverage, gain lots of free name
awareness, raise money for a worthy cause, gain credibility and
support from the community, and build traffic at your dealership.
First choose
a local or national charity that needs and deserves funding. Next,
organize an event at your dealership that will raise the funds
for the selected charity. The fund-raising could be an entry fee
to a contest, an auction of some type, a fee for a ride or attraction,
a casino night, a tournament, etc.
Promote the
event as part of your regular advertising for at least two weeks
preceding the event. If the charity has a mailing list of local
donors or supporters, be sure to send them a personal invitation.
Work with other local companies and vendors to get them involved
with helping to promote the event to their customers as well.
Two weeks
prior, one week prior, and two days prior to the event FAX press
releases and feature articles to all the media outlets in your
market about the charity itself, and the fund-raising event you
are hosting. Host a press conference and party one or two days
prior to the event. Send a representative to personally deliver
to each media personality and reporter an invitation to the press
conference and party, along with a complete media kit that includes
all the press releases and articles, a schedule of the events
to take place, and reasons why they should attend this event.
If you want
good attendance from the media, serve food and drink, invite other
VIPs from the community, and give them one or more additional
reasons to attend. Give them a special gift, an opportunity to
meet and interview a celebrity that is involved with the charity,
a sneak preview of something exciting, etc.
When you hold
the event, hire your own photographer and film crew to catch all
the excitement, and conduct your own interviews on film. Send
copies of the film along with a press release that summarizes
the results of the event to your local media outlets. This will
almost guarantee additional exposure, as well as providing you
the materials to promote next years event.
PR events should be part of your overall marketing strategy to
build a positive, lasting name recognition and association.
