THE P.R.O

Agape Concepts, GHANA News ONLINE embark on IEC campaign.

2022-05-03T06:00:00.004-07:00

The farming community of Tupa, Ghana.

Agape Concepts in collaboration with GHANA News ONLINE on the 3o^th of April, 2022 embarked on an Information Education & Communication (IEC) campaign at the small farming community of Tupa located in Ga south district of the Greater Accra Region. The campaign was dubbed, “The Essence of the Classroom”.

The objective of the campaign was to sensitize persons in the community, particularly parents to appreciate the value of sending their kids to school. It was found out that, majority of kids between the ages of 3-14 are not in school. Again, it was seen that, parents preferred their children on their farms, roaming and gallivanting the community as opposed to enrolling them in school.

A grand durbar was held at the community centre with the chiefs and people of the community in attendance. Executives and personnel from both Agape Concepts and GHANA News ONLINE took turns to address the people. The CEO of Agape Concepts, Mr. Ernest Thompson admonished parents to take the education of their wards seriously as education was the key to helping their children become useful persons in society.

“My dear parents, I want to encourage you to send your wards to school as they our future leaders. Education is very good and bring the best out of these kids who will become useful person in our country. I don’t think any parent here wants their child to become social misfits; armed robbers, drug dealers etc. Therefore, we owe it a responsibility to educate and shape our children’s lives in order for to become responsible people.

The deputy managing editor of GHANA News ONLINE, Flora Simpson added that, children of school going age should be in school and that is non-negotiable.

“Once you bring forth a child, you must take responsibility for that child. There is no excuse about that. The current figure of age 3-14 years not is school, does not make for good reading. It is absolutely non-negotiable about the fact that, children of school going age must be in school.”

Fact sheets, brochures, posters and flyers, we some print communication mediums used by the team in demonstrating the need for the child to be in the classroom.

Source: The PRO News

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PER USA

2020-09-13T14:15:00.017-07:00

Integrated Marketing Communications per USA.

Integrated Marketing Communications as espoused by G. Belch and M. Belch in 2006 involves coordinating the various promotional elements and other marketing activities that communicate with a firm’s customers. In other words, it is the use of a variety of promotional tools rather than depending solely on media advertising. Combining the efforts of a variety of communication tools such as public relations, direct marketing, sales promotion, publicity, entertainment marketing and sponsorship of events. These communication tools or elements are also known as promotion-mix influence the roles they play in the overall marketing program. In developing the promotional program, the marketer must decide which tools to use and how to combine them to achieve the organisation’s marketing and communication objectives.

Below is an actual marketing case in a proposal format using Integrated Marketing Communications to promote Dark and lovely moisture plus olive oil moisturizer hair leave-in. The case is as follows:

PREAMBLE

Dark and lovely moisture plus olive oil moisturizer hair leave-in is a product among the dark and lovely collection we intend to promote. This is an extra rich velvety cream full of olive oil’s essential fatty acids that nourishes and moisturizes dry, bristle hair. An unctuous texture, deliciously fragranced that melts instantly into hair strands for immediate efficiency. Before settling on this product, we made findings as to which products out of the dark and lovely collection was being used the most. Upon our findings, it was evident that the olive oil moisturizer hair leave-in was accepted and used the most. It goes on record that the product’s performance on the market is commendable and more work needs to be done to maintain this feat. It was also found out that, individuals with extremely soft hair did not find favour with the product as it damaged their hair.

AUDIENCE PSYCHOGRAPHICS

Inferring from our survey conducted through the use of questionnaires and interviews, our audiences were mainly women between the ages of 19 to 49 where majority fell between ages 19 to 29. They were all positive about the product with regards to making their hair smooth and bright, makes the hair relaxed, good for sulphur hair, makes hair heavy and bouncy, softens and moisturizes the hair as well as making hair shiny, soft and wavy. Majority spoke about the fact that it was affordable and easy to acquire as well as it being available to purchase. We also asked our audience concerning what they will change about the product if they had the opportunity to do so. They were of the view that, the lid covering the product was not strong enough; the expensive nature of the product as well as checking for imitation or fake leave-in. With relation to our audiences’ first point of contact with the product, majority said they were exposed to the product by recommendation from friends, their hairstylists and cosmetologists’ whiles others were exposed through the media and seminars. This shows us that personal selling as part of the forms of marketing communication tools is doing well while there is more room for improvement for the rest of the other communication tools.

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

With regards to the promotional strategies as integrated marketing communications is concerned, we intend to use and based on the audience recommendations, we are looking at advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity, sponsorship marketing and point-of-purchase communications.

ADVERTISING

For advertising, it is evident that majority of the people do not comprehend the adverts or commercials running on the media due to the type of language in terms of the scientific jargons used in sending across the messages to the audience. The few that understand these jargons become opinion leaders to the general public. This has intensified the person-to-person communication which wouldn’t be considered inferior but rather we believe that all the forms should move hand in hand. As one of our promotional strategies, we intend to run adverts of the product in very simple language on the various forms of media both mass communication (T.V, radio, posters, billboards and magazines) and direct communication void of too many scientific jargons to aid easy comprehension by our audiences. We will also want to run the adverts in four different languages that are commonly spoken by the people namely Ga, Ewe, Twi and Hausa for easy understanding of the commercial.

PERSONAL SELLING

In as much as this form of integrated marketing communications is doing very well, we believe that there is still more room for improvement for the brand to still become a household name. From our survey, our audience had their information from their hairstylists, cosmetologists, friends and associates. We intend encouraging these stakeholders (hairstylists, cosmetologists) to still add the product to their existing lines of leave-in and cosmetics products. These efforts will be simplified by providing introductory discounts to these stakeholders and assuring them that heavy advertising, sampling and couponing initiatives would successfully move the Dark and lovely moisture plus olive oil hair moisturizer leave-in out of their stores.

SALES PROMOTION

This strategy attempts to stimulate quick buyer action or immediate sales of the product. We intend doing this based on two levels; that is trade oriented sales promotion and consumer oriented sales promotion. For the trade oriented, we are looking at using the various types of allowances (off-invoice & display allowance) to encourage wholesaler and retailer response. The consumer oriented sales promotion targets our immediate customers and prospective ones. This comes with the use of coupons, free samples, premiums, contests and rebates. We as well intend to run these promotions on our website where both consumers and distributors can activate and have access to these offers.

SPONSORSHIP MARKETING

With sponsorship marketing, we plan promoting the company and the product brand by associating the brand with specific programs and events that take place across the continent particularly those that evoke feminine appeal. We plan to associate with TV3s’ Today’s Woman, soap operas, beauty pageant shows like Miss Ghana & Miss Malaika as well as T.V reality shows like Ghana’s Most Beautiful, Stars of the future and Mentor.

PUBLICITY

As a corporate communications department we are responsible for reputation building of the company’s image to our prospective audiences and publicity is a tool employed for this purpose. This will be achieved through the writing and publishing of news items, newsletters, articles and brochures about the product to the various media outlets. As part of this, we are going too spun out voluminous press releases that will provide magazines and other news media with stories about Dark and lovely moisture plus olive oil moisturizer hair leave-in.

POINT- OF- PURCHASE COMMUNICATION

This encompass the use of displays such as posters, signs and notices at various point of sales be it shopping malls, cosmetic shops, saloons and others in order to influence buying decisions at this points.

To conclude, we can say, we look forward to a successful promotion of the dark and lovely moisture plus olive oil moisturizer hair leave-in. We will also encourage that, the marketing department and the production department take into consideration the various recommendations made by our audiences with regards to the product. Thank you and counting on management co-operation.

MaxSelormey

MAX SELORMEY

(CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER)

MARKETING OVERVIEW FROM PERSPECTIVE GHANA

2020-09-05T15:45:00.008-07:00

The Chartered Institute of Marketing UK explained marketing as identifying the needs and wants of consumers and offering products to satisfy those needs and wants at a profit. According to Philip Kotler, marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals or groups obtain what they need or want through creating and exchanging products and value with others.

NEEDS, WANTS, DEMANDS

Needs – A need is a state of felt deprivation. In other words, a need is a part of human makeup. Abraham Maslow’s theory of needs (Psychological needs, Safety needs, Social needs, Esteem needs, Self-Actualisation).

Wants – Wants are the form that human needs take and they are shaped by our culture, our individual preferences and our personality.

Demands – They are wants backed by purchasing power or our ability to pay. People demand products with benefits.

Marketing Offer – It is made up of a combination of products and services, information, experiences and ideas to a market to satisfy a need or a want. Under marketing offer, comes a product. A Product is anything that is offered for acquisition, consumption or use to a market that is capable of satisfying a need or a want. Under products come tangible and intangible products. Tangible products are ones that we can see, touch and feel whilst intangible products are services that can’t be touched, felt or seen.

Experience – This is an event or occurrence which leaves an impression on one (encounter or undergo an event or occurrence).

Service – A system supplying a public need such as transport or utilities such as electricity, water, gas and communications.

Idea – A thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action. A mental impression or a belief

Exchange – It can be defined as the act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return.

Transaction – The trade between two parties that involves at least two things. The first one is that, there should be an agreed upon condition and a place of agreement.

Relationship marketing – It is the process of creating, maintaining and enhancing strong value-laden relationships with customers and other stakeholders.

Markets – A set of potential and actual buyers of a product.

Customer Value – The customer or customers’ assessment of the products overall capacity to satisfy his or her needs.

Customer Satisfaction – The extent to which a product’s perceived performance matches buyers’ expectation.

Designing a customer driven marketing strategy

1. Select Customers to serve – Division of markets into segments is done by using demographics, geographics and psychographics. Geographics deal with location where people live. Psychographics deals with lifestyle and attitudes of respective audiences. Demographics concerns itself with age and sex of audience.

2. Choosing a value proposition – This is a set of benefits or values that the company promises to deliver to customers to satisfy their needs or wants. The company must also decide how it wants to position or differentiate itself from other companies and must have a competitive urge.

3. Marketing management philosophy – It is the art and science of choosing target market and building relationships with them. Five alternatives under marketing management philosophy are as follows:

· Production concept – Consumers will favour products that are highly available. Management should therefore improve upon production and distribution network.

· Product concept – Consumers will favour products that offer the most in quality, performance and innovation.

· The selling concept – This states that, consumers will not buy a company’s products unless the company embarks on large scale promotional effort. These products are usually called unsought goods.

· Marketing concept – Achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target groups and delivering the desired satisfaction better than your competitors.

· The societal marketing concept – This questions whether the pure marketing concept overlooks possible conflicts between consumer short term wants and consumer long term welfare.

JOURNALISTS' FIGHT OF CORRUPTION IN GHANA AND BEYOND

2020-07-29T09:05:00.007-07:00

Corruption is endemic. It dates as far back as to Adam’s time – Ex- president J. A. Kufuor.

Corruption accounts for the collapse of various public and private enterprises all over the world. Economies of countries suffer from corruption. For example, Mobutu Sesekou’s wealth is said to be more than the country’s debt. The Nigerian government recently claimed an amount stacked in Swiss banks by its leaders. This social canker is deeply rooted such that various attempts to control it have had little effect stifling economic growth and development.

In Ghana from the time of independence, corruption among democratic elected governments in the country such as the CPP, PNP and PP paved way for 21 years of military rule with the main aim of instilling the principles of transparency, probity and accountability among state officials. Since the return of democratic governance in 1992 under the tutelage of Ft. Lt J.J. Rawlings, ratings from the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index highlights Ghana’s diligent fight against corruption. Readings between the periods of 2009, 2010 and 2011 shows a constant trend and gradual improvement of Ghana’s fight against corruption recording 39.00 in 2009, 41.00 in 2010 and 38.51 in 2011. Also, readings between the periods of 2017, 2018 and 2019 show a constant trend in the fight with 40.00 in 2017, 41.00 in 2018 and 41.00 in 2019.

In 2007, 77 parcels of cocaine got missing at the police headquarters under the 24 hour surveillance of a CCTV camera, till now the camera hasn't been able to expose or point out those who took the hard drug. Isn't this ridiculous? Similar in the year 2011, some parcels of cocaine went missing in our law court. The cocaine was said to have turned into “kokonte” powder. How miraculous? The BNI (Bureau for National Investigation) was given seven days to conduct investigations into the issue after which appropriate action would be taken. In the early periods of J.E.A Mills’s tenure in office, the then sports minister, Hon. Mohammed Muntaka was investigated to have misappropriated some money belonging to the sports ministry. He was relieved of his post.

Fast-forward to the year 2015 where the NDC government under the leadership of John Dramani Mahama was saddled with quite a number of corruption scandals but the most notable was that of the Smartty’s Bus branding saga where a total of 116 Metro Mass Transit buses were rebranded at a cost of GH¢3.6 million. A figure regarded by many in the Ghanaian public space as ridiculous and unacceptable. This issue led to the resignation of the Minister of Transport, Madam Dzifa Aku Attivor, in December that same year.

The current president of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, has also had his fair share of scandals during his tenure. Most notable of them is the Ameri deal saga. The contentious Ameri deal involved a power pact between the government of Ghana and United Arab Emirates-based AMERI Energy costs a whopping $510 million. Conversely, the Akuffo-Addo government had been defrauded by AMERI as they presented an inflated budget, and were overly paid by $150 million. This led to a scandalous renegotiation of the deal by then Energy Minister, Mr. Boakye Agyarko, which later generated strong debate across the length and breadth of the country. Mr. Agyarko came under heavy reproach when he purported that, Ghana will gain $405 million from the new deal with Ameri Energy but it was realised that Ghana will rather lose up to $472 million. The blunder resulted to his sack after prevailing pressure and was changed for Mr. Peter Amewu.

President Bucaram of Ecuador according to an investigative story published in the daily Hoy showed how the president known as “El Loco” had diverted money he had raised during a Christmas telethon. Amid a national uproar, Bucaram was later ousted by congress for “mental incapacity”.

President Perez of Venezuela was also reported by the media to have misappropriated $17 million in missing discretionary funds. Other leaked documents from the central bank and foreign ministry, Simon reports, indicated that “Perez and two aides had made millions by changing Venezuelan currency into dollars just ahead of devaluation. After, Venezuelan Law-makers began impeachment proceedings, Perez was forced to step down.

Corruption is the use of foul and unfair means to achieve a set target or objective. It could be in the form of bribery, misappropriation of public goods, nepotism, influencing the formulation of laws or regulations for private gain. A lot of times we ask ourselves what brings about corruption or what causes it. The following can be attributed as causes of corruption.

a. The desire for an unfair advantage: Many officials are motivated to participate in corrupt behaviors because of the inherently selfish desire to have an unfair advantage over their peers. Bribery, extortion, embezzlement, nepotism and others propel dishonest people to get ahead while the public pays the price.

b. Lack of punitive measures: The ineffectiveness of our law enforcement agencies and courts enable people engage in corruption and get away with it. With an effective legal and monitoring system, people involved would be held responsible for their actions.

c. Lack of transparency: Transparency describes when there is free access by citizens to public information. When the rules, procedures and objectives of the government are not made available to the public, there is no budgetary and administrative oversight to balance the power of government officials. Transparency is lacking and corruption can be bred.

d. Poor incentive structures: Particularly in the public sector, poor incentive is one motivation for officials to engage in corruption where they are not given any additional bonuses apart from their meager salaries to serve as motivation. This then encourages them to engage in corruption in order to supplement their insufficient wages.

The role of journalists in fighting corruption is very invaluable in the sense that it’s a step in promoting good governance, transparency and accountability among world societies. The following are roles of journalists in the fight against worldwide corruption.

i. The exposure of corrupt officials is the first step to bringing corrupt officials to book through thorough investigation in the activities of those involved in corruption be it public officials or expatriates.

ii. Forwarding the course of the state in sanctioning those officials be it impeachment, dismissals or in worse cases put them behind bars. This should be done through demonstrations, petitions, symposia’s and forums.

iii. Prompting state law enforcing agencies about investigations into corrupt scandals. Agencies such as CHRAJ/Ombudsman, the courts in order to help provide favorable grounds in prosecuting corrupt government officials.

iv. Forwarding the changes to laws and regulations that create a climate favorable to corruption. This is done with the help of pressure groups and civil societies through symposia, massive demonstrations and petitions.

We believe that with aggressive implementation of these measures and just not talk, the fight against corruption will surely see the light of day. Your comments and views are welcome in the comment section below.

Also read: TYPES OF ADVERTISING

TYPES OF ADVERTISING

2020-07-29T08:36:00.007-07:00

Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services through the mass media and with an identifiable sponsor. Advertising is used to persuade a group of audience, to inform or information purposes, to announce a change, for competition purposes, awareness creation, to launch a new product and finally, to increase awareness. In this paper, we are going to talk about 6 types of advertising. They are as follows:

1.Consumer Advertising – Consumer advertising normally focuses on advertising consumer goods and consumer durables such as fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) like water, sugar, bread, alcoholic beverages, pastries and candies. Consumer durables are items that are durable, last long, have a longer life span, for example air conditioners, pressing iron, refrigerators, mattresses, phones. Outlets for promoting FMCGs and consumer durables are magazines, newspapers, radio, TVs, Internet, billboards, transport advertising, just to mention a few.

2. Business-to-business Advertising – This concerns itself with advertising that takes place amongst businesses and not to the general public. They are mostly those who deal in chemicals, machines, raw materials, logistics like Azar paint, Benso Oil palm plantation, Interplast, Duraplast and Mantrac. Print media, direct mail shots, news magazines, newsletters, exhibitions or trade shows and sometimes some specific events they deem appropriate to go and showcase their products. This type of advertising is also known as selling-in and selling-out, pushing-in and pushing-out.

3. Financial/Institutional Advertising – This concerns itself with advertising the activities/ideals of various institutions such as banks, schools, churches, insurance companies, savings and loans companies and real estate developers. Radio, TV, Transport media, billboards, internet advertising, cinema advertising, print advertising (banners, posters, etc) are all mediums for financial/institutional advertising.

4. Trade advertising – This is advertising done by stakeholders in the distribution chain such as wholesalers, retailers, trade associations, business associations or organisations, professional bodies and others. For example, the Rice Masters, Finatrade, Far East Merchantile, Coca-cola, Pepsi and Cadbury. The mediums for advertising are T.V, Radio, Transport advertising, Internet, Print media, Interactive media (Txt messages).

5. Retail Advertising – Advertising done by retail chain stores such as supermarkets, shopping complexes (Melcom, Game, Koala, Palace Mall and Max Mart). Fashion companies such as Mawuli Okudjeto clothings and Christie Brown. T.V, radio, newspapers, magazines are good mediums of advertising for retail advertising.

6. Recruitment Advertising – This has got to do with anything related to personnel of various companies and such things as training programs of employees and career development programs. The print media, interactive media, internet, T.V and radio are mediums for advertising.

In conclusion, it is important to note that, the type of advertising depends on the type of organisation/product/service/company, the appropriate medium/media to select for the service (the use of magazines, T.V, banners, internet, and social networks) and the target audience (demographics and psychographics). Your comments and views are welcome in the comment section below.

Also read: QUALITIES OF A GOOD REPORTER

CITIZEN JOURNALISM & TRADITIONAL MEDIA

2020-07-28T14:10:00.009-07:00

Citizen Journalists are ordinary people who perform the job of trained journalists. Citizen journalists are related to names like community journalist, democratic journalism, Participatory journalists and many others. These journalists have the luxury to perform the work of professional journalists as a result of the emergence of new media; the internet which has come with it, the social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube, Viber, Pinterest and others. The job of a trained journalist is such that they cannot be everywhere at the same time to report events and as a result, citizen journalists with complex phones and devices at the time of an incident, can take pictures, record videos, audios and share information. Therefore, acting as first hand news source.

Also in civilizations where the press is censored, citizen journalists act as an alternate news source. Social media regarded as the prospect of communication is a myriad array of internet built tools and platforms that increase and enhance the sharing of information. This new form of media makes the transfer of texts, videos, audio, photos and information in general increasingly fluid among internet users. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest have designed online groups where people can disseminate as much or as little personal details or information. Social bookmarking tools and news sites such as Digg, Delicious, Reddit and many others make searching for exact info, images or websites simple by allocating or tasking individual sites with searchable keywords.

Traditional media also known as analogue media or mainstream media comes in the form of print (newspapers, magazines), broadcast (T.V, radio). Grimes (2008) explain the traditional media as ‘those’ businesses which produce and dispense information and entertainment content which pre-date the profitable aspect of the internet. He sees newspapers, magazines, yellow pages, outdoor advertising, radio and television stations and broadcast networks as traditional media. Traditional media can also be thought of as the old way of doing things. A case in point is sending mail through the post office and reading newspapers whereas sending email, reading electronic newspaper articles on the internet, listening to radio via the internet. Also, the use of mobile phones for taking pictures and sharing information is an example of new or modern ways of doing things. However, the creation of new media (social media) has become a great danger to the traditional media. The social media has an amount of positives over the traditional media in the subsequent ways;

First and foremost, the new media provides instant satisfaction and response to its audience. Traditional media does not give its audience the platform to take part in news production. They are inactive; also audience do not have the extravagance to choose what section of news to listen to and due to this, maximum satisfaction is not gained. There is lack of information flow from audience to the mainstream media thus comments and opinion. With social media, audience can select from a large variety of news categories to listen or read e.g. sports news, educational news and so on. Audiences possess the chance to express opinions on issues and participate in news production.

Secondly, because trained journalists follow a certain style in news reportage (hard news formula), there is not much of inventiveness and flair like the citizen journalists makes news interactive and lively through the use of vodcast and podcast and also comic and other elements in bringing a piece alive, making it easy to comprehend.
Gatekeeping role as performed by the mainstream media as part of ethics is forgone by citizen journalists who report to the very core of issues. They do not regard any issue as sensational like the traditional does before selecting what is suitable as news. This remarkable move by citizen journalist with the use of new media is intimidating the job of mainstream journalists and media houses. The fast and quick way of transmitting and obtaining news and information from citizen journalists through social media has led to a low patronage of mainstream news outlets especially the print media.

Before these media houses arrive at the scene of events to cover and process the news before printing, the citizen journalists would have captured and shared to a large number of people within a small period of time, and these audience would not buy a newspaper to read the same news. Creativeness and style displayed by citizen journalists in their reportage makes audience appreciate news better due to its interactive nature better than the ‘hard’ news from the traditional media.

In addition, as a result of the gatekeeping role performed by the traditional media as against the exposure of every detail of news by citizen journalists, audiences have lost trust in the traditional media. In view of the threat caused by the new media, an entrepreneur and author, Andrew Keen is of the opinion that ‘cult of the amateur’ is undermining great organisations who have constantly produced value through impacting quality information and education’. Keen says, ‘we need to fight back to retain the structures and professions that are in danger of dying out, taking with them concepts such as value and trust’. It comes as no surprise that a majority of media houses have resorted to the ways of the new media in addition to their traditional ways of doing things. Today during news bulletin, audiences are given the platform to share their views on issues and report news around them. For instance, TV3 has a section in its news called ‘my news’ and ‘viewer comments’, also call-in during radio programs. Some media houses resort to citizen journalists in various regions to receive information or news especially in those communities or regions they find themselves.

This is to get citizens involved in news process. Significantly, the utilization of ICT infrastructure during news bulletin and programs. For example, the use of laptops and auto scripts, instead of reading news on sheet of papers, IPADs, LCD television among others.
Re-structuring of how news is disseminated with reference to infotainment. This is the combination of both information and entertainment in news delivery usually associated with political communication. The use of cartoons in newspapers can be an example. Finally, mainstream media houses have brought their works online to reach a larger audience just like citizen journalists. The e-newspapers, listening to radio and news bulletins on the internet and sending feedbacks. For example, myjoyonline.com is news online feed which belongs to Joy F.M of Ghana.

Although the job of trained journalists is at the fore front in battle with the emergence of powerful voices who used to be the passive audience but now reporting news as journalists with the use of new media, traditional media as well as professional journalists are joining the new media train to uphold their position as the 4th estate of the realm and as the powerful mouthpiece of society. Your comments and views are welcome in the comment section below.

Also read: ELEMENTS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

ELEMENTS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

2020-06-16T18:11:00.012-07:00

When we talk about elements in relation to P.R, we mean what constitutes public relations. As earlier enlightened, P.R looks at building and maintaining image, be it of a person, a group or an organisation. Today’s subject looks at what goes into the art of image building; a complement to the functions of P.R.

1. Public relation is a planned activity. This is because the functions executed in P.R are intentional and an organization has the intention of doing it. It is designed to influence, gain understanding, provide information and obtain feedback vis-à-vis an organization and its publics.

Public Relations is a planned activity

2. P.R is a management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficially relationship between an organization and its publics on whom its success or failure depends. As a management function, it looks at anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes that might impact on the operations of the organization. Counselling management at all levels of the organization (Board, senior management, functional management) with regards to policy decisions, course of actions and communication taking into account the public interest or the organizations corporate social responsibilities.

Public Relations as a management function

3. It concentrates on reputation building, damage prevention and control. As I have always echoed, P.R concerns itself with image building and maintenance; creating a perfect picture to the general public about one’s entity or corporation. Whenever there is a crisis, the P.R practitioner prevents the crisis from damaging the corporation’s reputation. And when the crisis has done some damage, the practitioner comes in to mop things up. An example is the Melcom case in Ghana in 2015. After the Melcom building had collapsed maiming and injuring citizens, the P.R.O of the company came in to do what we term as damage control.

4. It is a two-way communication. This is either between an individual and the public, a group and its publics or an organization and its publics. It is communication between two entities to foster excellent relationship in order to achieve an individual, group or an organization’s objectives. An example is Ex-President John Mahama of Ghana (individual) and his relationship (communication) with citizens of the country (publics) on whom he once rose to the high office of president.

Public Relations is a two-way communication

5. It applies to every member of the community. No one is exempted from the practice. This is to say that everyone is a stakeholder in the practice of image building and promotion be it commercial and non-commercial organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations. For example, Ghanaians are stakeholders in the promotion of their cultural heritage or anything Ghanaian to the rest of the world.

TEAM - Together Everyone Achieves More

In all image stands out as a fulcrum/pivot to building relationships; a major tool for societal advancement. In our next article, we will be looking at the body of P.R as a management concept. Your comments and views are welcome in the comment section below. And for further consultation or questions, please email to elcommglobal@gmail.com.

Also read: PUBLIC RELATIONS FUNCTIONS

PUBLIC RELATIONS FUNCTIONS

2020-06-16T16:21:00.025-07:00

“Image is everything” a popular tagline of the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana.

When we talk about image, according to the concise oxford dictionary, it is the general picture that a person, organization or product exhibits to the public. Public Relations abbreviated as PR mainly concerns improving and sustaining the image of businesses, non-profit organizations, events or high-profile people such as superstars and political figures.

The World Assembly of Public Relations Association defines public relations as the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organizational leaders and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest. The practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics wouldn't materialize without the observance of certain functions. They are as follows:

1. PR concerns itself with the art of writing to tell your story. Writing about one’s organization or firm seeks to promote its image and credibility to the general audience as well as the news media who consider such information as newsworthy. Materials such as press releases, speeches, newsletters, rejoinders, technical letters and brochures are some examples. Information on company profile, history, growth strategies and goal strategies are contents of PR worth.

Writing

2. Media relations relates to establishing a working relationship between one’s organisation and the media. It’s important to know the various forms of media in terms of their operations, location, respective philosophies and technologies deployed in the dissemination of information. Media engagement, media management tools and media interactions are some modules under media relations.

Media Relations

3. Counselling management as part of the PR functions points to giving advice and counsel to management on policies related to the development of the organisation with respect to its image. It is therefore necessary to understand the society and people around you to broaden your scope of knowledge and tactics in dealing with the public. This aids in giving effective counsel to management.

Counselling Management

4. Governmental relations refer to building rapport between one’s organization and the government of the day; a critical function of PR. This is done in order for the organization to have government support in terms of providing the enabling environment the organization needs to survive.

Governmental Relations (Jubilee House, Accra-Ghana)

5. Web content management also referred to as online content management refers to a set of tools that offer an establishment with a way to control digital information on a website. This constitutes part of the function of the Public Relations practitioner with respect to managing communication flow; what goes out to the general public through the website or online.

Web content management

By religiously observing these functions, a PR practitioner is guaranteed of setting the standard to building and sustaining the image of an organization to its audience. Your comments and views are welcome in the comment section below. And for further consultation or questions, please email to elcommglobal@gmail.com.

Also read: PUBLIC RELATIONS AS A MANAGEMENT CONCEPT

PUBLIC RELATIONS AS A MANAGEMENT CONCEPT

2020-06-16T13:11:00.015-07:00

The word management can be referred to executives of an organization, particularly top or senior executives. It can also be seen as the process or practice of managing (to direct or be in charge of).

A concept can be defined as an idea, notion, thought or impression about something. Today’s subject looks at the quality of PR as a top executive field in an organisation.

As a management concept, it comprises of the following:

It must seek to establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationship between an organisation and the publics on whom its success or failure depends.
It must be the philosophy of the organisation that PR and its principles are going to be used. It must be practiced at the highest level of management. Creation of a department for PR operations and the appointment of a trained practitioner or practitioners.
The practitioner must have technical skills in PR (Writing, research, Media relations, Institutional Advertising, publications, film/video productions and event management).
He/she must also have knowledge on communication arts, psychology, sociology, political science and principles of management & ethics in his/her professional practice.

Embedded in the management concept come management functions; duties executed to ensure the building of fruitful relationship between the organisation and its publics. They are as follows:

Anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes that might impact on the operations of the organization.
Counselling management at all levels of the organisation (Board, senior management, Functional management) with regard to policy decisions, courses of actions and communication taking into accounts the public interest or the organisations corporate social responsibility.
Researching, conducting and evaluating on a continuous basis programs of action and communication to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of the organization.
Setting objectives for the PR plan within the overall objectives of the organization. Budgeting, recruiting and training of staff and managing the organisation’s resource. (Cost reduction and profit maximization).

With the above well elucidated, the quality of PR without any sheer of doubt is indispensable to building a rewarding relationship which creates a positive image of an organisation or entity. Your comments and views are welcome in the comment section below. And for further consultation or questions, please email to elcommglobal@gmail.com.

Also read: THE CONCEPT OF PUBLICS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS.

THE CONCEPT OF PUBLICS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS

2020-06-15T13:59:00.010-07:00

When we talk about publics in public relations, we are looking at any group that has an actual or potential interest or impact on an organization’s ability to achieve its object.

Although the term publics is often used, there are in fact many publics or specific audiences within the general public. These publics respond in different ways so they must be considered separately and often communicated to differently. We have internal and external publics, Traditional and future publics, proponents and opponents.

To begin, the general public is likened to citizens of a country. The word “General” defines itself constituting persons from every nook and cranny of a country. They are the reason for an organizations establishment because they have a need for which the organization seeks to satisfy by providing goods and services. Some organizations extend their services to other parts of the country by setting up branches. Mostly these organisations are state owned like Ghana Commercial Bank, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Electricity Company of Ghana and Ghana Water Company limited.

Internal and external publics – Your internal publics are those who work with you in your organisation (employees) or are inside the organisation contributing to its productivity. The external is those outside the organisation; they could be one’s customers, suppliers, the media, neighbouring organizations or entities who one way or the other contributes to the organizations growth. It is important to note that not all external publics may necessarily be important to an organization.

Traditional and future publics – Traditional publics are those publics who are currently with an organisation or are presently available like one’s employees, customers and neighbouring organisations. Future public’s concern itself with those publics an organisation will come across in years to come. It is also known as anticipatory publics. An example is that of armed robbers who currently might not be with an organisation but is anticipated by the organisation of their potential presence therefore plans are taken towards them. In another, it could be that some community members resent an organisations building; a new office near the local school. This is a creation of a public that has identified an issue, understand its relevance to them, talk about it and take a decision to do something about it. An alert PR practitioner communicates with these group very early in the process, perhaps even before they become organized.

Proponents and Opponents - Your proponents are those publics who support you on a particular course or are for you. In other words, in favour of your course or are for you. For example, sympathizers of the New Patriotic Party are public’s in favour of the party’s course or are for the party. Your opponents are those publics who are against you and your course. In other words, they are not for you or are not in favour of you. Sympathizers of the National Democratic Congress are not in favour or for the course of the New Patriotic Party (The two largest political parties in Ghana). Your opponents could also be your competitors from other organizations who do not share in your vision. For example, MTN, Vodafone, Glo and AirtelTigo are four different competing telecommunications networks in Ghana.

In dealing with one’s publics, there are some key things to note and they are as follows:

Identify key publics
Establish and maintain relationships with them
Develop communication appropriate to each public
Be sensitive to feedback from your publics
Use appropriate media to disseminate information to your publics
Develop strategies to deal with each identified public

In conclusion, every organisation has to deal with some public or the other whether it likes it or not; a key to their successes or failures. Your comments and views are welcome in the comments section below. And for further consultation or questions, please email to elcommglobal@gmail.com.

Also read: THE CURSE OF THE SPIN IN PUBLIC RELATIONS

THE CURSE OF THE SPIN IN PUBLIC RELATIONS

2020-06-15T12:47:00.016-07:00

The profession of public relations has long had to deal with a certain duality of nature. On one hand, public relation is seen as a connector between companies, individuals, courses, products and people; the process of communicating throughout cultures beyond borders and across all sorts of channels in positive ways. However, PR also has an ugly cousin that people associate with an almost more instinctive level; the curse of the spin associated with the PR flack, the huckster and the spin doctor.

In public relations, spin is an act of propaganda realised through providing an interpretation of or campaign to persuade public opinion in favour or against a certain organisation or public figure. Spin can also mean confusing an issue, distorting or even lying.

Edward Louis Bernays known as the founder and father of public relations in 1918 is as well regarded as the father of spin. Bernays was able to help tobacco and alcohol companies use techniques to make certain behaviours more acceptable in the United States back in the 20th century.

A PR professional’s ability to inform the masses and sway public opinion can take a nasty turn into the world of spin where politicians’ posture, celebrities dish and dishonest public figures insist on their innocence. This can be likened to crisis management where in cases of crisis concerning an organisation or individual, the professional steps in to do what is known as damage control and prevention. Spin doctors are political press agents or publicist employed to promote a favourable interpretation of events to journalist. In other words, spin doctors are professional spinners.

Examples of known spin doctors in our world are Edward Louis Bernays, Alastair Campbell, Peter Mandelson and Karl Rove. Some techniques used by spin doctors include:

Cherry picking (selectively presenting facts and quotes that supports one’s position)

Non denial (a statement [possibly evasive] that is not a denial of an existent problem)

Non apology (Refusal to own up to a negative situation or happening.)

Euphemisms (To disguise or promote one’s agenda.)

Burying bad news (announcing one popular thing among several unpopular things to gain prominence.)

Traditional (T.V, radio and print) and social media platforms (face book, twitter, viber) serve as good grounds where spin takes place. These are avenues where audiences can be located or reached out to in order to persuade and gain an acceptance for or against a position. Information in the form of words, pictures and videos are churned out for consumption to convince one beyond reasonable doubt.

Spinning is antithetical to the proper practice of public relations and therefore has hurt the profession so much. In public relations, if you lie one time, you will not be trusted anymore. An opinion from the popular golfer, Tiger Woods reads that, “Achievements on the golf course are not what matters, decency and honesty are what matter.”

The golfer based on his own personal experiences places honest and decent dealings over his accomplishments; an eye opener for all. Honesty is the only policy. As practitioners, honesty should not be our best policy but our only one. Long term success in the digital and analog market place will depend on it.

Your comments and views are welcome in the comment section below. And for further consultation or questions, please email to elcommglobal@gmail.com.

Also read: Media Relations in public relations

MEDIA RELATIONS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS

2020-06-15T11:40:00.009-07:00

The concept terms of Public Relations (PR) and Media Relations (MR) are used interchangeably. Media Relations refers to the relationship that an institution or firm develops with journalists- the media or press. Public Relations extends the partnership to the general public. Public Relations can therefore be said to be the father of Media Relations.

Media relations involves collaborating with and acting in a strategic partnership with the media with the sole purpose of informing the public about an organization’s mission, policies, practices and expectations in a positive, coherent and credible fashion.

Media relations takes on several forms in most institutions from publicity to crisis management. However, the key for today’s practitioner is to move beyond the crisis management-damage control or damage management to a strategic planner who is ahead of the game. In most cases, a company’s media relations activities are managed through a marketing department, public affairs, external affairs or communications department.

Within this group, sits one person who deals with all enquiries from the press and manages all the efforts to generate attention from the press for positive stories to be published on behalf of the company. They are most often called the director of media relations and are also the spokesperson of the company. In Media Relations practice, there are two types of programmes and they are Passive MR Programme and the Active MR Programme.

The passive MR Programme means that your organisation has for some reason decided not to seek the attention of the public eye- the organisation has decided to be media shy. This lets reporters off your back, except in a crisis situation; suitable for private companies since they are not required by law to disclose their earnings or other vital financial data. For example, all listed companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange are expected to publish their results (quarterly financial earnings).

Active MR Programme looks at organizations that aren't media shy or have decided to seek the attention of the public eye. Mostly practiced by organizations on the stock market and mandated to publish their quarterly financial earnings. Stanbic Bank and Ghana Commercial Bank are some examples.

Organisations plan, implement and measure (PIM) their relationship with the media. This is not about taking journalists out for lunch every day, tweeting every five minutes and scheduling your subject matter specialists on all radio stations.

For one to be a successful MR specialist, he or she must be cooperative, accessible, direct, an authority, a resource, fair, a strategist, a team player, an educator and an advocate. Your comments and views are welcome in the comment section below. And for further consultation or questions, please email to elcommglobal@gmail.com.