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Week 6 Assignment Focus of the Final Paper

The Final Paper should demonstrate understanding of the reading assignments as well as the discussion points. The purpose of this assignment is to integrate the concepts studied in this course into a cohesive and comprehensive paper. The Final Paper will be titled “An Integrated Marketing Strategy for ____.” You will fill in the blank with an existing or a new brand name of your choice. The goal of the paper is to integrate theories and concepts from the textbook and readings into your own ideas to create specific marketing ideas to promote the brand (good or service) with a particular target market. Refer to the previous assignments completed in this course for insight on how to develop your Final Paper. You must

  1. Provide an Overview/Executive Summary of the marketing strategy.
  2. Describe the good or service and desired brand image.
  3. Describe the target market, including buyer motivations, demographics, and psychographics.
  4. Describe the overall marketing strategy, including positioning strategy versus competitors.
  5. Describe a promotions and advertising campaign that includes a description of one advertisement.
  6. Recommend and describe a Public Relations campaign.
  7. Describe the use of an Internet marketing campaign, including web site and use of email.
  8. Describe a direct marketing campaign, including Customer Relationship Management.

The paper

  • Must be 6 to 8 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style sixth edition
  • Must include a separate title page with the following:
    • Title of paper
    • Student’s name
    • Course name and number
    • Instructor’s name
    • Date submitted
  • Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
  • Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
  • Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
  • Must use at least four scholarly sources in addition to the course text, including a minimum of two from the Ashford University library.
  • Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
  • Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style.

Week 6 Discussion 1 Public Relations

What is the role of public relations within an organization’s integrated marketing communications (IMC) plan? Evaluate how the success of a PR campaign can be measured. Support your position. Incorporate concepts and examples from this week’s lecture in your post.

Public Relations

Welcome to the world of public relations! Just what is public relations? Is it advertising? Is it marketing? Is it community activities or crisis management? What do public relations professionals do? Has anyone known a PR professional?  Exposure to this individual will reveal a flurry of unending energy and enthusiasm. One of the most important skills of this individual is the ability to develop relationships and contacts with every kind of person. A PR professional can call a CEO and have his or her phone call returned! In addition, a PR professional must possess superior writing skills as well as verbal communication skills. Could this be why Ashford faculty members hold high, rigorous standards for writing? According to the Public Relations Society of America, public relations professionals communicate with the external publics of an organization. Is this the same as marketing or sales? No! According to Cameron, Wilcox, Reber, and Shin (2008), sales is a function of marketing. Sales is focused on an organization’s customers and selling the products of the organization. The objective of sales is to increase market share and profitability. Ogden & Ogden discuss three differences between public relations and advertising: since the organization does not pay for PR, it cannot control the message; PR may not always be positive; and the third difference is the public tends to believe the information from PR is from a trusted and reliable resource (Ogden & Ogden, 2014). Public relations is focused on building relationships and implementing communications strategies that will build goodwill for the organization. Public relations is what we see when organizations are working on Habitat for Humanity or the Salvation Army bell ringer or the Toys for Tots campaigns. Public relations’ only focus is to build a positive relationship and create goodwill with its publics. PR never thinks of sales or market share or profitability. One important function of the public relations professional is to be the liaison between its publics and the organization in times of an emergency, conflict or crisis. Did you know there are four stages of the conflict cycle? Many organizations in our current economic downturn are experiencing layoffs, job cuts, and wage reductions. It is the PR professional’s job to “spin” what is typically viewed as a negative into something positive.

Crisis management is another area of responsibility for a PR professional. A crisis is something that interferes with the normal business operation. Spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico was clearly a crisis. Do you remember who the organization used as their initial spokesperson? British Petroleum (BP) had their CEO, Tony Hayward, in front of the cameras to reassure the public all measures were being implemented to restore the surrounding environment from the damage of the oil spill. Mr. Hayward also told the public their vessel’s leak had been contained when that was not the case. What was the public reaction? Outrage! Vehement outrage and an insistence on containing the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. As you may have read in the news, Mr. Hayward violated just about every PR rule and was replaced.. For more information, click http://www.deepwaterhorizonsettlements.com/ to see the final outcome and BP’s legal responsibility.

Celebrities whose names have become their brand also hire a PR professional. Think of celebrities such as Tiger Woods or Kobe Bryant, for example, who have had negative publicity. How have their managers handled the crisis and tried to rebuild the positive brand image of the athletes? Has either athlete lost endorsement contracts as a result of negative publicity? Who is a recent celebrity in the news trying to rebuild a brand? The world of PR can be a fascinating glimpse into what is happening behind the scenes. Should a public relations policy be made in the middle of a crisis? Of course not . . . organizations should have protocols and PR releases already on file that can be implemented at a moment’s notice.Forbes School of Business Faculty

References:

Cameron, G. T., Wilcox, D. L., Reber, B. H., & Shin, J. (2008). Public relations today: Managing competition and conflict. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Ogden, J. R., & Ogden, D. T. (2014). Utilizing a strategic marketing approach to managing marketing communications. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Qualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Week 6 Discussion 2 Content Marketing

An increasing trend in marketing communications is to use “content marketing.” Discuss the components of content marketing and how each component contributes to the integrated marketing communications (IMC). Support your position. Incorporate concepts and examples from this week’s lecture in your post.

Public Relations

Welcome to the world of public relations! Just what is public relations? Is it advertising? Is it marketing? Is it community activities or crisis management? What do public relations professionals do? Has anyone known a PR professional?  Exposure to this individual will reveal a flurry of unending energy and enthusiasm. One of the most important skills of this individual is the ability to develop relationships and contacts with every kind of person. A PR professional can call a CEO and have his or her phone call returned! In addition, a PR professional must possess superior writing skills as well as verbal communication skills. Could this be why Ashford faculty members hold high, rigorous standards for writing? According to the Public Relations Society of America, public relations professionals communicate with the external publics of an organization. Is this the same as marketing or sales? No! According to Cameron, Wilcox, Reber, and Shin (2008), sales is a function of marketing. Sales is focused on an organization’s customers and selling the products of the organization. The objective of sales is to increase market share and profitability. Ogden & Ogden discuss three differences between public relations and advertising: since the organization does not pay for PR, it cannot control the message; PR may not always be positive; and the third difference is the public tends to believe the information from PR is from a trusted and reliable resource (Ogden & Ogden, 2014). Public relations is focused on building relationships and implementing communications strategies that will build goodwill for the organization. Public relations is what we see when organizations are working on Habitat for Humanity or the Salvation Army bell ringer or the Toys for Tots campaigns. Public relations’ only focus is to build a positive relationship and create goodwill with its publics. PR never thinks of sales or market share or profitability. One important function of the public relations professional is to be the liaison between its publics and the organization in times of an emergency, conflict or crisis. Did you know there are four stages of the conflict cycle? Many organizations in our current economic downturn are experiencing layoffs, job cuts, and wage reductions. It is the PR professional’s job to “spin” what is typically viewed as a negative into something positive.

Crisis management is another area of responsibility for a PR professional. A crisis is something that interferes with the normal business operation. Spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico was clearly a crisis. Do you remember who the organization used as their initial spokesperson? British Petroleum (BP) had their CEO, Tony Hayward, in front of the cameras to reassure the public all measures were being implemented to restore the surrounding environment from the damage of the oil spill. Mr. Hayward also told the public their vessel’s leak had been contained when that was not the case. What was the public reaction? Outrage! Vehement outrage and an insistence on containing the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. As you may have read in the news, Mr. Hayward violated just about every PR rule and was replaced.. For more information, click http://www.deepwaterhorizonsettlements.com/ to see the final outcome and BP’s legal responsibility.

Celebrities whose names have become their brand also hire a PR professional. Think of celebrities such as Tiger Woods or Kobe Bryant, for example, who have had negative publicity. How have their managers handled the crisis and tried to rebuild the positive brand image of the athletes? Has either athlete lost endorsement contracts as a result of negative publicity? Who is a recent celebrity in the news trying to rebuild a brand? The world of PR can be a fascinating glimpse into what is happening behind the scenes. Should a public relations policy be made in the middle of a crisis? Of course not . . . organizations should have protocols and PR releases already on file that can be implemented at a moment’s notice.Forbes School of Business Faculty

References:

Cameron, G. T., Wilcox, D. L., Reber, B. H., & Shin, J. (2008). Public relations today: Managing competition and conflict. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Ogden, J. R., & Ogden, D. T. (2014). Utilizing a strategic marketing approach to managing marketing communications. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Qualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.