Establishing a relation with the targeted segments of customers and users forms an integral part of communication process. How we are able to market our ideas, concepts, products and services depends upon the success of the marketing communication process. Under the globalization regime, with the availability of a wide variety of tools for marketing communication to cater to a diverse target segment located in geographically diverse regions across the globe, an integrated approach is required to take care of different aspects of this communication process.
Schultz et al. (1992) while underlining the need for integrated marketing communication, talks about a new trend towards integrating different element like advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion and public relations. How the integration takes place depends upon the message content, the intended audience, format of the message, timing of the communication etc. While carrying out a research the researcher tries to make use of as many sources as possible, so that the research findings can be more relevant and useful. For communicating the research findings in an effective manner, illustration and comparisons also play a key role.
.Makers of Barbie doll, for example, relied on public relations move by projecting Barbie as one of the celebrities for girls to emulate. The visual illustrations in media, particularly the electronics media and colorful magazines proved most suitable and helpful in propagating the message. The success of the move can be gauged from the way girls tried to emulate Barbie during the playacts.
For a research study, the visual illustrations prove to the key ingredients for an effective marketing communication and public relations exercise. Meticulous writing, data collection from reliable sources, detailed literature review etc. definitely form integral parts of the research study, but how the data is presented, how the reports are generated and how the findings and futuristic projections are presented before the targeted segment plays an equally crucial role towards the success of research study. Some of the effective delivery tools for this purpose are;
Pie charts
Pie charts present relative magnitude of values, percentages or frequencies. The circular graph or chart is divided into sectors of different colors which help in making the differences clearer by having a look at the graph, without going into actual details. The arc length and the representative areas are proportional to the quantities being represented by the graph. Though it is difficult to compare different sectors quantitatively, but the chart certainly provides good enough idea about the relative strength of representative quantities or ideas. One such example is displayed here;
Bar Charts
In this method, bars of equal width represent different values in the form of varying length depending upon the values of the variables being compared during the research. Histogram is one such special type of bar chart. In fact the bars can of different shapes. For example, instead of rectangular shaped bars, we can have conical bars as well, in which case the length of cone depicts the magnitudes of the variables. One such bar chart is as depicted below;
Column Charts
Columns are somewhat similar in shape to bar chart depiction; the difference being in general in the layout of the chart. While in bar chart different quantities are represented by different bars, in column type representations, we often use stacked type bars to depict the differences in representative qualities for one particular variable. In addition some more visual representing tools during research are; Doughnut Charts, X-Y scatter charts, Line charts, Bubble charts, Diagrams, Caricatures, Audio-Video presentations, Technology Acceptance model (TAM) etc. During the research study it is planned to prepare pie charts and bar charts with the help of MS-Excel.
In any organization, company or project, there are a number of stakeholders varying from product/ service providers to opinion builders, NGOs, government agencies, regulating agencies, related institutions, shareholders etc. The objective of public relations exercise is to address to the needs of all these sectors by providing relevant information in such a manner that it reaches out to the intended segment in easily understandable format.
This in turn helps the organization in gaining access to finances and other resources. The process of gathering data is also quite cumbersome one. While primary sources of data help in providing access to the latest information about the data elements, secondary sources provide comparisons of historical and contemporary data together with judgmental details as well. To what extent such data is used depends upon the framework of research study.
According to Haley (2003) many researchers have opted to conduct secondary research as opposed to primary research, because of limited opportunities for conducting primary research and the costs of qualitative work that goes into conducting such a research. Depicting the data thus gathered in eye catching format ensure the success of research and in fulfilling the aims and objectives of the study.
One of the key research objectives is to make the findings available to a wider audience, so that the benefit of research reaches out to the intended segment in requisite measure. Research studies are evolutionary in nature, which implies that research scholars take assistance of the studies carried out in the past. The parameters, the data elements and associated variables keep changing with time, which provide further opportunity to researchers to carry out researches on similar subjects as times passes by.
Therefore the research studies also helps in setting a guiding direction for the study. How the data is gathered, which are the sources, how much time is devoted to the study etc. are the key questions which help in making the research more elaborate. With technological advancements and innovative marketing techniques, the methods of carrying out researches have also seen innovative advancements.
For example, now days YouTube has become a favorite hotspot for watching different types of videos, human interest stories and documentaries. Such videos also prove helpful in reaching out to the intended audience. In fact NGOs, trade unions, human rights organizations have made good use of such methods in the recent past to highlight the intended message. Therefore preparing the research reports, findings or analysis in such format also helps in reaching out to a wider audience. What is more crucial in carrying out the research study is how critically we are able to analyze the data, do the marketing exercise and present it before the public in the understandable format.
The advent of software’s to aid the coding, retrieval and analysis of qualitative data is another development which greatly influences the final outcome of the research study. Once the research study is carried out, we strive to convey the idea to the intended audience with clarity and ease. It is worth mentioning here that at times, the interest of the intended audience must also be aroused towards studying the research findings, so that the research is able to serve some useful purpose. Public relations exercises prove to handy tools in arousing the interest of the ‘public’ towards studying or critically analyzing the research findings. Such analysis further helps in multiplying the audience numbers and levels.
If we take a look at the world around us, we can easily figure out the distinctive emphasis on advertising techniques in reaching out to the customer. In today’s world ‘promotion’ field, one of the elements of 4Ps for marketing activity, has been further widened by renaming it as marketing communication. Such a communication now forms a crucial part of managerial activities. Kotler (1974) termed marketing as a set of human activities directed at facilitating and consummating exchanges.
Public relation helps in influencing the audience behavior. While on the one hand the intended audience might be having plenty of sources of information, limited amount of time and interest; through public relation we need to impress upon the audience about the worth of the research, accuracy of the findings, dedication of researcher and truthfulness of the data sources. With the help of innovative ideas, choice of language, mode of delivery etc. we can always help the cause for which research activity has been undertaken.
The communication is said to be successful if ‘a customer goes to buy the shoes of a particular brand, not for keeping his/her feet warm and dry but because the shoes make him/ her feel masculine/ feminine, rugged, young, glamorous etc.’ From the point of view of business organizations, the corporations are supposed to remain in continuous touch with customers, suppliers, bankers, government and the general public.
While some of the communication happens to be casual, some is made to be informative while some other is designed to be persuasive (Kotler, 1974). This is equally true for a public relations exercise carried out to ‘market’ the research report as well. The formal public relations exercise might include, calling press conferences, giving interviews, posting critical reviews, handing out press releases, distributing publicity material etc. there are a number of informal channels of public relation exercise as well. Word of mouth publicity, presentations amongst college groups, peers, friend circles, party circles etc. help in preparing a formidable group of people interested in the research findings.
References
- Haley, G. (2003). “An introduction to using data at DPLS.” Data and Program Library Service. Web.
- Kotler, Phillip (1974). Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning and Control. Prentice Hall, NY.
- Schultz, D.E., Tannenbaum, S.I. and Lauterborn, R.F. (1992), Integrated Marketing Communications, NTC Publishing, Lincolnwood, IL.