Download college of management in trenčín using pr as an innovative form of

COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT IN TRENČÍN
USING PR AS AN INNOVATIVE FORM OF MARKETING
2010
Matúš Novák
COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT IN TRENČÍN
MARKETING AND PROMOTION:
USING PR AS AN INNOVATIVE FORM OF MARKETING
Bachelor Thesis
Study program:
Workplace:
Thesis advisor:
Consultant:
College of Management, Trenčín
prof. Ing. Dita Hekelová, PhD.
Alan Dykstra, M.A.
Trenčín 2010
Matúš Novák
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Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations …………………………………………………………………... 3
Introduction and Problem Statement ………………………………....
4
1.1 Thesis Statement …………………………………………………………….
4
Chapter 1.
Chapter 2.
Review of Literature ……………………………………………………. 5
2.1. Printed Sources …………………………………... ……………………........
5
2.2. Online Sources ………………………………………. ……………………..
16
2.3. Summary of Literature ………………..……………………………………...
16
2.4. Definition of Terms …………………………………………………………
17
Methodologies and Procedures used in the Study …………………....
18
3.1 Kärcher International ………………………………………………………..
18
3.2 Kärcher Slovakia ……………………………………………………………
22
Results ……………………………………………………………………
24
4.1. Kärcher Intrnational ………………………………………………………...
24
4.2. Kärcher Slovakia . …………………………………………………………..
24
Discussion, Conclusion, Recommendations ……………………...........
26
Acknowledgement………..………………………………………………………...........
29
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5.
Literature ….….……..……………………………………………………………......... 30
Abstract ….……………………………………………………………………………....
31
Anotácia …………………………………………………………………………………. 32
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List of Abbreviations
PR –
Public Relations
MPR -
Marketing Public Relations
CPR -
Corporate Public Relations
CR -
Corporate Relations
4 P´s -
Four Principles of Marketing
CSR -
Corporate Social Responsibility
CR -
Corporate Relations
CRM -
Customer Relationship Management
CEE-
Central and Eastern Europe
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1. Introduction and Problem Statement
The traditional view of corporate operations consists of two main activities. The
first one is the core competency of the company, which is producing goods, or offering
services. The second activity is based on addressing consumer groups and delivering the
outputs to their recipients. However, increased market competition and changes in public
perceptions of corporate behavior, set new requirements on the mutual affiliation between
companies and their target audiences. These circumstances put increased importance on
managing public relations and implementing public relations tools into company’s marketing
and promotion activities in order to achieve business goals of a company.
The markets and consumer preferences are rapidly changing in today’s world
and it is of crucial importance that companies can quickly respond to the changes and ensure
smooth and open communication with their target audiences. Including PR tools and activities
into marketing strategies, is supposed to help build stronger relations with customers and
increase the level of customer’s identification with the organization. This approach shall help
create stronger connection among company and its target audiences and thus be able to better
respond to changing preferences and market mood.
Aim of this project lies in exploring how public relations turn marketing into a twoway communication channel and thus increases its trustworthiness and effectiveness.
An important part is devoted also to stressing out the importance of public relations as a
promotional tool and utilizing the unique capabilities of PR in developing a powerful
marketing and promotional strategy. The project shall provide insight into fundamentals of
marketing, promotion and PR activities and research their mutual interconnection.
The theoretical part is based on practical example of company Kärcher, a world’s
leader in cleaning equipment manufacturing. This company has been chosen for several
reasons. The first one is that the unique market position and brand recognition Kärcher has
managed to achieve over 75 years of its existence. Examined will be operations and activities
of Kärcher worldwide as well as in Slovakia. Another reason for choosing this organization is
my three years personal work experience with this company.
1.1 Thesis Statement
Public relations turn company’s marketing and promotion strategies in two ways
communication channels that add value to the process of addressing target audiences and
represent a powerful and innovative way of achieving company’s business goals.
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2. Review of Literature
The study I had to undertake to support my thesis is based on both printed, as well as
online sources. I have put a priority on printed sources written by experts in their respective
fields, as they provide broad coverage of theories, opinions and case analyses. Online sources
were used to illustrate the latest trends and developments in the field. Also the practical part of
the thesis has been conducted mainly on the basis of online sources. It needs to be stressed out
right in the beginning that the aim of this thesis is by no means to underestimate the importance
of marketing and promotion, or to suggest it can not do without PR. But rather to demonstrate
how can public relations enhance the marketing efforts of a company and make them more
powerful in the process of attaining organizational marketing objectives.
2.1 Printed Sources
This thesis deals with many concepts and theories, but in essence is based on three
main business activities: marketing, promotion and public relations. The first step of the project
is to clarify the main principles and functions of marketing and promotion and analyze their
importance and meaning in corporate operations. It is very important to get familiar with these
concepts and understand their traditional role in the process of delivering goods and services to
their recipients.
I have chosen the book Introduction to Marketing: Theory and Practice by Adrian
Palmer, as the main source for clarification of basic marketing terms and practices. According
to Mr. Palmer, marketing is composed of various activities aiming at discovering the needs and
expectations of consumer groups that are further analyzed and transformed into products and
services that are satisfying the market needs and as accurately as possible addressing potential
customers (Palmer, 2004). The extend to which a company utilizes its marketing activities,
determines its devotion to meeting consumer expectations or even exceeding them. It also
shows what role play the customers and their wants in the hierarchy of organization’s priorities
and how are these wants and needs influencing operations and values of the company. On page
five of the book, author describes the difference between a marketing oriented company and a
company that claims itself to be marketing oriented in a very interesting manner. True
marketing is not composed only by certain activities and one department of the company, but
rather by the way the organization values its customers and how well aware is of their
importance. Therefore, if a company claims itself to be marketing oriented, it needs to be
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reflected on overall behavior of the company and each employee should behave according to
these principles (Palmer, 2004).
Devotion to the marketing orientation can be further developed in the concept of
relationship marketing. As the markets are becoming oversaturated with supply of various
products and services and customers are becoming more demanding, also gaining new
customers is a more challenging task. Therefore a company seeking to maintain and further
increase its market shares shall focus not only on attracting new customers, but also on
customer retention. The point is that a satisfied customer not only represents potential future
profits himself, but usually significantly helps spreading good word about the company and
helps in the process of gaining new customers. It can be said that a satisfied customer
represents a marketing tools himself. The whole process is summarized in the example of
ladder of loyalty. An undecided consumer represents a prospect for the company that can be
turned into a customer. A long-term customer becomes after some time a client that further
turns into a supporter and finally can become and advocate that spreads good word about the
company and increases the company’s image (p.116, Palmer, 2004). This is a very important
and sound concept how a customer can be viewed and approached and it will be further
examined and assessed on the practical example of Kärcher.
All of the marketing concepts that will be analyzed in the thesis are based on the
marketing mix, or 4 P´s . The marketing mix is composed of four variables: product, price,
place and promotion. The marketing mix determines what products is the company producing,
to which price level, or category the products belong, where are the products being offered and
what promotional tools are being used in order to get the products to final consumers. As there
are four variables in the marketing mix, the mix can be different even for the same product in
various parts of the world.
If a company wants to become marketing oriented, it needs to be familiar with
consumer needs and preferences and possibly even foresee them. Therefore a marketing
research represents a crucial activity that is needed in order to be successful in the market. The
marketing research deals with two areas. The first one focuses on the market and its
characteristics and the other area of interest to the marketing researchers is an evaluation of
company’s performance and current marketing activities (Palmer, 2004). Thus the research
fulfills two roles, to obtain a conceptual basis for future marketing activities as well as to assess
the effectiveness of ongoing activities. The research data can be gathered through various
ways, such as questionnaires, sampling, observations, surveys and analyses (Palmer, 2004).
The research can be carried out on quantitative or qualitative levels.
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The book Introduction to marketing by Adrian Palmer deals also with the theme of
promotion. Meanwhile marketing takes care of discovering and satisfying consumer needs and
wants, promotion is based on making the customers interested in the company’s production
portfolio and getting the products to their final recipients. Promotion represents one part of the
marketing mix and is comprised of, or based on a promotion mix. The promotion mix includes
advertising, selling, sales promotion, public relations, sponsorship, direct marketing, online
marketing and word of mouth (Palmer, 2004).
The first component of the promotion mix is advertising. It is a communication
channel, usually paid, that is being used to deliver desired information to selected target
audiences and form their opinions on the product, or services being advertised (Palmer, 2004).
Advertising is usually executed through print, broadcasted, or internet media. Another
promotion element is the direct selling. Mastering the selling process requires many skills and
sets high demands on the sales personnel. A good sales person needs to posses a perfect
knowledge about the company and its products, be patient, have excellent communication and
negotiation skills, time management skills, be able to immediately identify customer’s needs,
work under stress and many more (Palmer, 2004). The selling process will be analyzed in
detail in the practical part, as it is of crucial importance for Kärcher, mainly in the area of
commercial consumers. I will extensively use also my three years sales experiences for
Kärcher in order to analyze this subject matter and provide concrete examples.
Very important part of the promotion mix is represented also by the sales promotion
activities. They are used to address the target audiences and increase the probability of
executing future sales. According to Mr. Palmer, the most common sales promotion tools are
free visits/consultations, money-off price incentives, coupons, gifts and competitions. As many
of these tools are extensively used by the Kärcher Company, they will be described more in
detail later on, in the practical part. Another component of the promotion mix is public
relations. Mr. Palmer views PR in a more traditional way, as a tool used to improve image of a
company, handle crises and gain publicity (Palmer. 2004). This approach suggest that PR is
more of a corporate relations tool and underestimates the true marketing and promotional value
of PR that this thesis is trying to point out. Sponsorship represents another way of improving
the public awareness of the company and sometimes can be viewed as a way of promoting
corporate social responsibility as well.
Last, but not least important component of the promotion mix is direct marketing,
which is a form of marketing that is steadily gaining on importance over the last years. It can
be characterized as a direct communication among the company and its potential customers
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and thus avoiding communication through media, or even retailers (Palmer, 2004). Direct
marketing can take various forms, but is usually based on a database system that provides data
such as names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses required to contact the
consumers. The databases can be either used for contacting the consumers with an offer, or for
keeping track of existing customers and evaluating performance of marketing campaigns
(Palmer, 2004). Direct marketing can be executed through telemarketing, direct mail, door-todoor, newspapers and TV, or electronic media (Palmer, 2004). This form of marketing or
promotion can be very effective, but it needs to be executed very carefully in order to meet the
required goals through addressing the right target audiences in an appropriate way and not to
become annoying. Direct marketing is being used also by Kärcher, either by the mother
company, or by individual distribution centers/ retailers and therefore will be also analyzed in
the practical part of the paper.
A very important source of information directly related to the thesis statement of this
study is the book The Marketer’s Guide to Public Relations written by Mr. Thomas L. Harris.
This book provides a summary and a guideline of PR tools that can enhance the effectiveness
of marketing campaigns and stresses out the increasing importance and benefits of such
approach. The MPR concept is build on the premises of standard public relations tools and
techniques that add value to the marketing mix used in the process of achieving desired
marketing goals. Marketing public relations can therefore be defined as a set of processes with
increased credibility and enhanced mutual communication aimed at meeting marketing
objectives (Harris, 1991).
The increased importance of including public relations concepts into the marketing mix
can be tracked down to the changes in markets and consumer behavior in recent decades. Most
of the markets for various products are becoming oversaturated with the supply of goods and
services and customers are becoming more demanding, curious and harder to influence by
standard marketing and promotional tools. A very simplified definition of marketing states that
marketing is trying to force a consumer into a purchase of certain product, meanwhile the aim
of public relations is to arouse interest in a consumer and navigate him to the purchase in a
more natural way. The truth is that massive and often aggressive marketing campaigns used in
the past, have caused a wave of reluctance among the consumers towards advertisements and
some other traditional marketing techniques. Many people became fed up with the way
marketers are trying to influence their minds and tell them what they shall do (Harris, 1991).
This is a serious problem, if a company is spending significant amounts of time and financial
means on campaigns that are missing their audiences. However it is important to bear in mind
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that PR is by no means trying to replace marketing, but to enhance its effectiveness and power
mainly in the area of advertising.
Modern companies “must spend a great deal of time and energy anticipating or
personally interacting with consumer advocates, environmentalist, political activists,
legislators, and governmental agencies, whose influence on the marketing of their products is
enormous” (p.38, Harris, 1991). This shows that public relations can be used not only to
directly promote a company’s production portfolio, but also to prepare the ground for other
marketing activities. The main advantage of MPR in this sense is that meanwhile marketing
can effectively promote the goods and get them to their customers; standard marketing tools
fail to respond to sudden changes in market mood and preferences that require immediate
attention. In such cases, the MPR tools tend to have faster response time and higher influence.
A model, in which a company experiences product launch difficulties because of objections
from certain stakeholder group, and the company decides to respond to the situation through
radio, can be used as an example. Standard marketing response would be to make a radio
advertisement and air it in order to address the situation that incurred. The MPR response
would be engage in a radio discussion aimed at addressing the problem that needs to be
resolved, and further promote the product while stressing out its main benefits. This would
give the company more space for responding, as well as more effectively promote the product
through engaging in a public discussion and demonstrating the company’s interest in its
customers.
The key word for understanding the value of this concept is credibility. The information
that come from trusted sources in an informative manner, tend to be much more respected and
valued by consumers that a simple marketing message. As an advertising expert David Ogilvy
states: “roughly six times as many people read the average article as read the average
advertisement” (p.44, Harris, 1991). What shall not be overlooked is also the cost-effectives of
marketing public relations actions compared to marketing and advertising campaigns. Doing
business is always about costs and profits and therefore an approach that has the potential to
decrease costs while increasing the value of the communicated message shall be considered
interesting. It is usually much cheaper to achieve publicity through making an editor of a
respected magazine interested and write about a product that to place an advertisement in the
same magazine (Harris, 1991). And it is not only about cost, but also about increased exposure
of potential customers to the article, compared to the time they would spend reading an
advertisement.
As far as advertising is concerned, the benefits of MPR driven approach are clearly visible.
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Marketing public relation should be considered a vital addition to advertising and promotion
and can either enhance, or substitute them (Harris, 1991).
Marketing public relations have many tools and functions. Some of them are unique,
some of them are similar to traditional marketing and corporate relations. Basically it can be
said that MPR chooses the best of both worlds in order to produce a persuasive mix of credible
communication strategies aimed at achieving sales and business objectives. The MPR tools and
functions include: product publicity, special events, sponsorship, news conferences, media
publicity, seminars, contests, demonstrations, exhibits, presentations and many more (Harris,
1991). These are all methods supposed to improve the image of a company, increase its
credibility, demonstrate expertise in the subject matter, present company’s interest in its
customers and other stakeholders group and use it for achieving organization’s marketing and
business goals.
An important role in the marketing mix is assigned also to advertising. I have decided
to use the book Strategic Advertising Management written by Larry Percy and Richard Elliott
to outline the basic concepts of advertising. According to the authors, advertising can be
described as a way of dragging attention of the target audiences towards a brand or a product
and making the public interested in the subject matter being advertised (Percy & Elliott, 2009).
From all the tools obtained in the marketing mix, advertising in its essence is probably closest
to promotion. The book devotes some space also to various forms of promotion; however these
two concepts can not be considered the same. It needs to be distinguished between the longterm orientation of advertisement and its lasting impact on modeling public attitudes and the
short-term orientation of promotion usually aimed at achieving concrete sales targets (Percy &
Elliott, 2009). Advertising and promotion should also go in hand with public relations and
direct selling techniques in order to create a powerful and effective product oriented
communication. These four strategies play an important role also in the Kärcher marketing mix
and their real life applications in this company will be further analyzed in the practical part of
this thesis.
A more detailed definition of advertising suggests that it is a brief and powerful
message communicated towards the customers in order to shape their opinions and attitudes on
a brand or a product. Choosing the right channel through which the message will be
communicated and selecting a proper form of the message is therefore of crucial important to
make sure the information reaches its audiences. The key terms for understanding the concept
of advertising are attitude and creating needs. A powerful advertisement has the potential not
only to influence people’s attitude towards a certain product, but also to create the impression
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in someone that he needs, or wants a subject that the did not even think about previously. And
as an advertisement can often be the outcome to which many other marketing efforts lead, it
needs to be executed really properly in order to make sure all the previous efforts that led to the
message obtained in the advertisement are not wasted. An advertisement can therefore not be
made without a previous research about the needs, preferences and available choices of the
target audience and careful selection of the communication channels to make the ad appeal to
the audience (Percy & Elliott, 2009).
The history shows that an immensely important premise for the success of and
advertisement is also assessing the cultural, lingual, religious, social and ethnic background of
each area where the advertisement shall be presented. It is very important to always bear this in
mind mainly for international companies. Sometimes, they need to at least modify their
promotional and advertising strategies, if not change them completely to fit various specifics of
certain markets. A failure to consider this issue, can lead to a failure of the whole marketing
campaign and the company may sometimes block out itself from the market for many
consecutive years.
Important is also the consistency of advertising and promotion in the context of brand’s
positioning and other marketing strategies. This can be an issue for a large multinational
company with regional headquarters, branches and systems of official retailers and distributors,
which is for example also the case of Kärcher. The organization has certain strategies outlined
globally, some are determined more closely based on regions, such as CEE and some forms of
advertising and promotion are carried out directly by the official distribution centers. This will
again be discussed more in detail in the practical part.
The book Strategic advertising management describes the advertising strategic planning
process in five steps. The process starts with selecting the target audience, understanding target
audience decision making followed by determining the best positioning, developing a
communication strategy and finishes with setting a media strategy (Percy & Elliott, 2009).
Each message and information makes sense and fulfils its role only when received by the right
recipient who is able to process its meaning and understand its value and then transform it into
an action, or knowledge. Selecting a target audience is thus a logical first step. Understanding
the way the target audience thinks and makes its decisions, is then needed for correct
formulation of the message to make it appeal to its recipient. Third step is not related to
positioning the brand in the market as such, but rather about assigning a role the advertisement
in the context of overall marketing strategy for the brand, or product (Percy & Elliott, 2009).
The data gathered in previous three steps are then used to develop a communication strategy.
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The communication strategy is directly linked to the brand awareness strategy and determined
upon the objectives of either creating a need for a certain product among the customers, or
driving attention of customers to the brand, or product while satisfying their already existing
needs (Percy & Elliott, 2009). The last step is to choose the right media and media strategy
based on the selection of target audiences and character and objective of the message.
The authors of this book devote some pages also to evaluating the role of public
relations in the context of achieving advertising and promotional goals and put it in one
subchapter together with sponsorship. They distinguish between proactive PR that is aimed at
gaining publicity and attention of consumers towards a brand or product, an reactive PR that
shall fix public perception of the brand when something goes wrong (Percy & Elliott, 2009).
They even mention Mr. Harris and his concept of marketing public relations. In general
however is this book concerned with PR only marginally and while acknowledges the
contribution of PR towards building brand name and improving image of a company, it rather
underestimates the concept of MPR and the value of using PR as a promotional tool (Percy &
Elliott, 2009). As for sponsorship, the book gives credit to its brand awareness building value,
but views the role of sponsorship as a way of promoting sales for the brand with strong
skepticism. The book however rather cleverly points out the importance of the need for
existing link among the subject being sponsored and its connection to the organization. In this
sense, it would not be wise, or meaningful, for a company producing maintenance tools to
sponsor a beauty convention.
Mr. Percy and Mr. Elliott provide an insight also on the commonly believed negatives
of advertising. They mention most importantly creating needs that people do not really have,
being annoying and ignored by the market, lack of trust towards the brand, misleading the
customers in certain way, the risk of creating an unsuitable advert and thus missing its target
audience (Percy & Elliott, 2009). Despite of that, the authors still seem to overlook the point of
MPR and the value of public relations in overcoming, or softening these commonly known and
still more and more visible disadvantages of advertising.
Next source is represented by the book Image Marketing: Using public perceptions to
attain business objectives written by Joe Marconi. The relevance of this source in my thesis is
underlined also by the importance of image building in the Kärcher marketing mix. The
concept of image marketing deals with cultivating the way people perceive a brand in the sense
of associating the brand name with certain message that shall be instantly recognized once the
public hears the name. Again, the image needs to be built in accordance with the organization’s
overall marketing strategy and positioning of the brand in order to make sure the image that is
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being created corresponds with other marketing and promotion strategies. This process is
mainly about differentiating the brand from its competitors and making it instantly
recognizable by the target audiences (Marconi, 1997). The marketers however need not only to
consider the current marketing objectives, but most importantly the overall positioning of the
company and its long-term goals and vision. This is important as the image crated and public
perceptions of the company often tend to be long lasting and create also an expectation towards
the future production. For example Volvo which has been for decades establishing itself as a
producer of safe and practical estate cars, would most probably encounter a market
misunderstanding if they suddenly switch to production of sport cars. The objectives in the
image building process therefore need to be stated very carefully, as the company’s image and
recognition can not only represent an advantage, but also represent a potential threat of
unacceptance for new products that do not fit the public expectation based on the known image
of a company (Marconi, 1997).
The latest development in marketing and PR are summarized in the book The New
Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott. I have used the Czech edition of this
book with a headline “Nová pravidla marketingu a PR”. There is no doubt that internet and all
it has to offer have completely changed our lives. For a vast majority of people that want to
gather certain information, or find out more about a new product, the web is a first place to
search. It has become a natural choice and almost an automatic process. And it is true not only
for private customers, but nowadays also for corporate customers. For many companies, online
communication with their customers has become an inseparable part of their marketing mix
and it would not be wise for anyone to ignore this trend. Internet is offering an immense
quantity of new marketing tools and each marketer shall consider how using these tools can
enhance the traditional marketing mix (Scott, 2008). The book The new rules of marketing and
PR is by no means trying to underestimate the importance and benefits of traditional
marketing, advertising and promotion, but provides a guideline for evaluating the old methods
and discovering the marketing value of being on the web. The tools used under the new rules
are not only internet advertisements, but most importantly blogs, podcasts, social webs, videos
and viral marketing (Scott, 2008).
The main idea of these new rules is direct communication with customers. Mr. Scott
describes the traditional ways of gaining publicity and evoking public interest through various
media channels and compares them to the concept of communicating with the customers
directly through web (Scott, 2008). The old way is based on inserting, or publishing a message
through certain media, which based on the media selected and its appropriateness for selected
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target audiences, can be an effective way of delivering the message to its recipients and there is
nothing bad to it. However, once the message is sent out, marketers usually loose control over
it and can only hope the recipients get the message right and thus achieve their goals.
Monitoring of how the target audience responds to the message is a bit more difficult and more
time consuming in that case and the message itself can not be modified while in progress, it
only needs to be reissued.
The idea behind the new rules of marketing and PR is hidden in the possibility of direct
communication with target audiences through internet (Scott, 2008). It may seem awkward to
keep repeating this, but it is the key to understanding this concept and the benefits it offers.
Internet gives the marketers and PR practitioners the amazing possibility of communicating
with their customers and holding the success of their marketing campaigns in their hands,
instead of relying on someone else. It is important to understand that internet is not just a place
where a marketing message can be displayed, but it is also a place where many people come to
seek and advice. Curious customers read blogs, engage in discussions, read reviews and
opinion forming articles and basically conduct a research upon which they form their
purchasing habits and decisions. And therefore the marketers need to decide whether they want
to be a part of this process and influence directly influence it with their own efforts. Because
they can not stop this trend. They can just decide whether they want to be an active part of it,
or not.
Blogging has become a very popular way of presenting personal opinions and
impressions and respected bloggers posses the ability to influence other people’s minds. From
the marketers’ point of view, issuing news releases and articles directly by an organization, can
either provide a topic for bloggers to write about, or through issuing certain message influence
the way the bloggers will write about the company, or product. The company can also decide
to provide its own blogging platform and thus be able to better observe public opinions and
interact with their audiences (Scott, 2008). Blogs and discussion portals represent also an
important research tool for a company as it helps collecting information on what the perception
of the brand is, what are the needs of their customers and what the customers suggest and
criticize about the company. Blogs however do not represent only a source of information for
the company, but represent a way of delivering information to the customers in a way that
enables the company to profile itself as an expert on the topic and then suggest how the
customers can benefit from the company’s production portfolio. Blogs are usually viewed as
websites administered by experts in their respected fields and thus the informative value of the
blog’s content is highly valued by many customers and can significantly push an undecided
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customer towards purchasing, or rejecting a product.
Internet has changed also the opportunities for marketing oriented public relations
activities in the sense of issuing news releases. Internet makes it much easier to aim a news
release directly on customers, instead of making it available only to journalists (Scott, 2008).
The point is that journalists usually modify the content of a press release and present it to the
public in a way they consider appropriate. Another limitation is that each media will devote to
your press release only a limited space and influence also the frequency of publishing or
broadcasting the information coming from certain company. The advantage of issuing a press
release directly to the customers is that the message gets to its recipients undiluted and in way
the marketer or public relations practitioner considers the best. It also allows publishing the
information as often as the company likes and the more often it is the better of course (Scott,
2008).
Another new important tool is viral marketing. Viral marketing can take form of an
article, but most often is represented by a video. Broadcasting video advertisements has its
limitations and disadvantages. The broadcasting time is often expensive, the duration of the
video is therefore very limited and TV ads also need to meet content related criteria. Publishing
videos on internet is bypassing all of these issues. There are still the costs for creating the
video, but publishing in on the internet through web sites like youtube is usually for free. The
duration of the video can be longer and also the criteria for form and content of the video are
less strict. The idea of viral marketing is that it is catchy, original, often funny, arouses interest
and creates buzz (Scott, 2008). It is based on creating interest in people and spreading among
the public like a virus. Yet another advantage of viral marketing is that is often also very fast in
terms addressing target audiences compared to traditional paid video ads.
A significant phenomenon is also a marketing use of wide spread social networks. Best
known social networks are facebook, myspace, twitter and hundreds of others (Scott, 2008).
The marketing potential of these networks lies in the fact that they join millions of people that
tend to spend quite a lot of time logged on these portals. The fact that people spend significant
amounts of time on these social networks increases the exposure of target audiences to paid
advertisements that are being displayed on these web pages. It also allows the marketers to join
social networks users into groups and use those groups for delivering messages to their
members, observe their mood and reactions and communicate with them through articles, news
releases, viral marketing and direct discussions. It basically allows the marketers and PR
officers gather prospective customers and brand supporters in one place and communicate with
them via the new marketing and PR tools. I have used also a book Marketing to the Social Web
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by Larry Weber to conduct a research on social networks, but Mr. Scott provides a better and
more up to date summary of information on this topic.
2.2 Online Sources
As for the online sources, they have been used mainly to contribute to the practical part
of the thesis and will be present later on. For the sake of the theoretical part, as an addition to
the books that represent a backbone in the pursuit of conducting a theoretical research for my
thesis, has been selected and article Two disciplines on same road; PR and marketing must be
co-pilots of brand reputation written by Peter Debreceny and Lisa Cochrane. This article
directly contributes to the title of my thesis and underlines the concepts presented in my study.
It emphasizes the importance of interconnecting marketing with public relations in order to
effectively address the issues and challenges of our age and explains the value of marketing
going hand in hand with PR in the pursuit of achieving marketing goals. The authors point out
benefits of the MPR concept and consider integration of marketing and PR representatives into
cross functional teams a vital premise for success of marketing and PR campaigns (Debreceny,
P. & Cochrane, L., 2004). They rather interestingly stress out than not only marketing can
benefit from cooperation with PR, but the model is valid also vice versa. The writers perceive
MPR an inevitable new trend and a way how to effectively cope with market challenges and
secure corporate image (Debreceny, P. & Cochrane, L., 2004).
2.3 Summary of Literature
The second chapter of the thesis has provided a summary of basic marketing,
promotion and public relations terms and concepts. It has also gathered respected expert
opinions on the importance of interconnecting marketing with public relations in accordance
with the headline of the thesis. Important section of literature review is devoted also to
informing about newest trends in the area of marketing and promotion and suggesting how to
get the best out of these techniques.
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2.4 Definition of Terms
Advertising
- is a form of product/service promotion addressed to the public and
trying to deliver certain message from the company to its target
audiences. It is usually a long term process (Palmer, 2004)
CRM
- (customer relationship management) Strategies used for
maintaining good relationships with customers
Marketing
- a communication channel and set of activities aimed at identifying
customers´ needs, creating needs in customers and satisfying those
needs (Palmer, 2004)
Marketing mix
- the pillars of effective marketing communication, including
product, price, place, physical evidence, processes, people,
promotion (Palmer, 2004)
Promotion
- component of a marketing strategy, a communication channel used
for delivering information about a specific product, or service to its
target audiences. It is usually a short term action (Palmer, 2004)
Public relations
- a tool used for closer communication among a company and its
target audiences, for building long lasting relationships and
overcoming psychological barrier between public and organization
(Palmer, 2004)
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3. Methodologies and Procedures used in the Study
As for the methodology used, the best for my project is to focus on the development
project. The thesis focuses on fundamentals of marketing, promotion and public relations and
explores their main principles and tools and procedures used to achieve desired goals. Core of
the paper is based on evaluating the tools and techniques of public relations as an innovative
and effective marketing strategy. The project examines the level to which these three systems
can be integrated and suggest an ideal combination of marketing, promotion and PR tools.
This chapter analyzes the marketing, PR and promotion activities of Alfred Kärcher
GmbH and defines marketing activities the company uses at the moment. If there are any of the
suggested solutions already being used in the company, I will analyze how the benefits of
respective solutions later on. The practical part determines also the marketing needs of Kärcher
and position of the company in the market. Afterwards, a custom solution will be designed for
the company based on the research executed in the theoretical part.
The company Alfred Kärcher Vertriebs-GmbH has been selected because of my
personal experience with the company and familiarity with many of its marketing strategies
and activities. This chapter focuses on Kärcher’s international operations on the basis of
information available to general public, as well as on inside marketing and PR information
presented in the press section of Kärcher international’s website. Another section provides a
closer look on marketing activities of Kärcher Slovakia and the information provided in this
section are based mainly on my personal three years work experience on the position of sales
representative/ sales manager for one of the official Kärcher distribution centers in Slovakia.
3.1. Kärcher International
Prior to examining the marketing activities of Alfred Kärcher Gmbh, a brief
introduction to the company and description of the market in which Kärcher operates is
needed. Kärcher operates in the market of cleaning equipment and appliances and constantly
positions itself as a leader and worldwide biggest manufacture of cleaning equipment (Kärcher,
2010). It is a global company with headquarter in Winnenden, Germany, that does business in
most countries in the world. In year 2008, Kärcher has achieved an annual turnover of 1,4
billion EURO and directly employed 6859 employees (Kärcher, 2010). An interesting figure
that demonstrates the strive to maintain the position of market leader and innovator is that the
company employees about 550 engineers in the research and development department which is
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a totally unique number in its field. An important message is transmitted to the customers also
through Kärcher´s claim to achieve a 0 defect target.
Kärcher claims itself to be a marketing oriented company and the market orientation
can be documented on the guiding principles published at the company’s website. The most
important principles will now be described more in detail. The first guiding principle is
customer orientation (Kärcher, 2010). Customer orientation means that the company is aiming
at exact fulfilling of consumers needs and thus creating a premise for maintaining long lasting
relationship. Second guiding principle is the focus on employees (Kärcher, 2010). Having
satisfied and competent employees is beneficial not only to the company in the sense of
assuring smooth operations, but it also increases the probability that the employees will
approach the customers in a similar manner and take good care of their needs and wants.
Another principle is the market position (Kärcher, 2010). As has been mentioned earlier,
Kärcher positions itself as a leader in its industry. Being a leader is a big responsibility, as it
evokes certain public expectations towards the company. Being aware of these expectations is
an important reminder for the company to maintain the position and fulfill, or even exceed
those expectations in order to retain the trust of customers. With another guiding principle,
Kärcher positions itself as an innovation leader (Kärcher, 2010). It is again not only a big
responsibility, but also a marketing signal towards the customers, telling them that Kärcher is
constantly trying to improve the high quality of its production portfolio and introduce new
cutting edge technologies that will provide additional benefits for the users. It is another
practical demonstration of the customer orientation. Guiding principle number seven identifies
the cornerstones of the company’s marketing strategy as quality, excellent performance and
innovation (Kärcher, 2010). Number nine deals with the social responsibility (Kärcher, 2010).
High level of social responsibility and environmental responsibility are also a way of appealing
to the prospective customers and helps improving the image of a company, which always helps
the business. Last guiding principle states that Kärcher is a family owned business and intends
to keep it like that (Kärcher, 2010).
As the headquarters of the company is located in Germany, also the core of marketing
activities is determined through the central. However being a global brand with many branches
and subsidiaries located in various countries around the globe, the marketing activities can
slightly vary depending on the country and prevailing culture. Most of the strategies are though
naturally being set in Germany and then can be slightly adjusted based on the geographical
location, demographic and social composition of citizens, cultural and legislation backgrounds
etc. Therefore the marketing and PR departments do not look the same in each country. As the
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German headquarters is responsible for determining main marketing and PR strategies, it
logically employs more employees that other national subsidiaries. Meanwhile the German
headquarters employs seven officers solely in the press office, in Switzerland and Austria are
the marketing and PR tasks carried out only by one person. Based on the information I received
from the German headquarters, the marketing and public relations departments are separate
from each other and handle different tasks. Kärcher therefore at least formally appears to
perceive marketing and public relations as two separate functions. The press office employs
also two people who are in charge of visitors coordination (Kärcher, 2010).
As previously explained in the literature review section, a marketing oriented company
needs to be precisely familiar with its market and customer needs and preferences. As stated in
the corporate film hosted on the Kärcher international website, it is of crucial importance or
Kärcher not only to know its customers and involve them in the product development cycle,
but also to get detailed feedback from customers (Kärcher, 2010). Strong emphasis on
communication with customers and active involvement in the development process is also on
of the points of difference that sets Kärcher apart from its competitors and helps the company
maintain a position of industry leader. Kärcher assigns a very important role to design; in the
sense of the saying “design sells”. As the design of Kärcher cleaning equipment is really
outstanding compared to its competitors Kärcher constantly manages to win numerous design
awards based not only on pure looks, but also on the functional aesthetics and user friendliness.
These achievements are then heavily communicated to the customers and represent one of the
points of difference that sets Kärcher apart from its competitors.
The promotion mix plays a very important role in the context of company’s sale
oriented activities and involves many tools. Advertising is executed mainly through TV ads,
billboard campaigns and print ads. A sign of a MPR approach can be seen in a recent article
issued by the Kärcher´s British subsidiary, which is advertising on the web page UK´s
newspaper Telegraph, through a paid press release promoting Kärcher´s new range of high
pressure cleaners (Telegraph, 2010). Even though it is clearly visible that the article is listed in
the sponsored section, it appeals to the consumer much more as a standard ad, as it is a full
article published in a respected British newspaper. The concept of direct selling is also
important for Kärcher, mainly in the area of commercial products. The sales are being
promoted for example through participating in conventions, or distributing leaflets with special
limited time actions offering lower prices, or other bonuses on selected product range.
The marketing related public relations activities of Kärcher include product publicity,
sponsorship, exhibits, or demonstrations. The product publicity is being achieved mainly
22
through press releases, however in a more traditional way, where the press release is either sent
o journalist and the company expects whether the journalists will, or will not write about the
product. Or some of the press releases are published as paid articles. New products are being
presented also on the company’s website, but Kärcher is not actively using social networks, or
blogs for communicating various messages in accordance with the new rules of marketing.
Many interesting information about the company and its products is published only in the press
section of Kärcher international websites and thus are available only to a very limited audience.
This section could use also a more frequent updating, as some of the information are fairly old
and new ones are coming rather slowly and sporadically.
Kärcher is traditionally taking part in various industry related exhibitions, as exhibitions
represent a great way for introducing new products to the market and for holding discussions.
As for sponsorship, the company is sponsoring football events and the Ford rally team
(Kärcher, 2010). However probably the most important and interesting concept that fits the
definition of MPR, is what Kärcher call a cultural sponsorship (Kärcher, 2010). Through this
program, Kärcher is being involved in cleaning and preserving historical monuments around
the world. To the monuments that have been cleaned within this program belong Mount
Rushmore, the statue of Jesus Christ in Rio, the Brandenburg gate and many more. It is a
unique program and an exceptional MPR tool through which the company achieves great
publicity, shows its social responsibility values and demonstrate it class leading competence in
high pressure cleaning.
Kärcher is also intensively using the image marketing concept and lays huge emphasis
on building an instantly recognizable image. It is a consistent effort that has lead into a creation
of very strong brand awareness and some of the cleaning equipment products, most
importantly the high pressure cleaners, are inseparably connected to the Kärcher name in
minds of many consumers. The concepts introduced under the new rules of marketing and PR
is however still missing in the Kärcher marketing mix. Kärcher does not use blogs on its
websites, is absent on facebook and other social networks and does not have a youtube
channel, apart from the US division for professional high pressure washers that feature three
videos on you tube (Kärchercommercial, 2010). Some Kärcher ads and product application
demos can be found of course on youtube, but they are not published directly by Kärcher.
Kärcher also does not currently feature any real viral marketing videos. The benefits of direct
communication through internet are mostly utilized on the US division’s Kärcher commercial
website, which features a couple of videos and articles providing information on product
applications.
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3.2 Kärcher Slovakia
An analysis of the Slovak division of Kärcher has been chosen because of my
professional background and personal experience with this division. As Kärcher Slovakia is a
relatively small division with limited market and marketing opportunities, this section will
rather analyze the sales promotion tools and customer relationship management.
Kärcher Slovakia is a direct subsidiary of Alfred Kärcher Gmbh that oversees
authorized Kärcher dealerships operating on the Slovak market. The sales promotion activities
can be divided into two groups. The first bunch of sales promotion activities is executed
directly by Kärcher Slovakia, and these activities include distribution of leaflets with time
limited action offers for certain products that are aimed at promoting, or stimulating sales of
selected products through price discounts, promoting the brand on industry specific
exhibitions, or organizing road shows that give the customers the possibility not only to discuss
their requirements with the sales representatives, but most importantly to demonstrate the
machines live in action. All of those three activities are aimed mainly on professional users and
commercial product range. In order to promote the sales of hobby product range aimed at home
users, Kärcher Slovakia advertises in relevant media and organizes a live demonstration of the
product portfolio in cooperation with selected dealerships. The second bunch of promotion
activities can very in its content and it is being chosen and implemented directly by the official
dealerships directly in their own competence.
The ways of executing the customer relationship marketing can be again brought up
into two sections, CRM by Kärcher Slovakia and CRM by individual dealerships. In general
the customer relationship management in Kärcher Slovakia and in the official dealerships is
based individual approach towards each customer and stressing out the points of difference.
Kärcher positions itself not only as an innovative, market leading and quality brand, but also as
a premium brand. The level of CRM and therefore needs to be adequate to the brand’s
positioning. Exceptional and professional service with excellent customer care can be viewed
as yet another point of difference that adds to the brand’s value and further improves public
perceptions of the brand. Such approach in combination with outstanding products contributes
to the concept of ladder of loyalty introduced in the theoretical part and helps spreading good
word about the company and attracting new customers. And based on my personal sales
experiences, I can verify that this often really works. It also helps retain the existing customers
which are also very important as the pool of potential customers has its limits and retaining a
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customer is usually much cheaper than finding a new customer. Probably also the service
contracts offered to important corporate customers can be considered of a way of CRM and
customer retention.
Another CRM tools used by Kärcher Slovakia are service questionnaires that are
supposed to gather feedback from customers that is further analyzed and used for improving
the services or various contests for the customers that can win Kärcher products or trips.
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4. Results
4.1 Kärcher International
The analyses in chapter three has shown and Kärcher has the right to consider itself a
marketing oriented company. Unlike some other companies, the marketing orientation is
visible on all levels within the company. It is reflected not only in the structure of marketing
and public relations strategies, but also in the approach of the company towards its employees
and in the approach of employees towards the customers. The guiding principles have been
selected carefully and are relevant to the mission of the company and Kärcher also sticks to
these principles. The cultural sponsorship program together with the values and approaches
described among the guiding principles significantly contribute to the process of building
brand image and increasing brand awareness. The company has a centralized planning and
determining of marketing and PR strategies that are later on adjusted to suit the needs of
different regions where Kärcher operates. The organization is distinguishing between
marketing and PR and even though there are some indications of using the MPR concept, a
clear interconnection between marketing and PR is missing. The role of Public Relations in
Kärcher is still assigned more to the traditional PR activities such as press relations, exhibitions
and sponsorship and the marketing potential of PR remains rather undiscovered. Very
important role is being paid to the points of difference that Kärcher believes to set it apart from
its competition. The points are outstanding quality, exceptional design, innovative technical
solutions and unquestionable level of customer care.
The company still heavily underestimates the new rules of PR and marketing and the
value that is hidden in utilizing the opportunities of extensive use of online communication
channels. In general, the overall Kärcher marketing strategy can be characterized as being
based on creating powerful image and strong brand awareness on one side, and personal face to
face communication in the sales process on the other side.
4.2 Kärcher Slovakia
The main marketing strategies of Kärcher Slovakia are based on sales promotion and
customer relationship management. The sales promotion is based on seasonal action offers
providing certain products and discounted prices and live demonstrations of products, either in
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the commercial or home users segment. These demos are a great way of combining promotion
and public relations tools, as their meaning is to demonstrate the products, provide the target
audiences with specialist advices and gain important feedback from existing customers, while
having chance to directly discuss possible issues and resolve various situations.
Customer relationship management is probably the most important marketing tool used
by Kärcher Slovakia to differentiate itself from competitors. Very high level of customer care
and professional competency of the sales staff accompanied with world class products are the
key premises to high market penetration, customer retention and identification of customers
with the brand.
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5. Discussions, Conclusion, Recommendations
During my management bachelor studies, the main focus has been placed on effective
running of a business and making decisions that will lead to meeting the needs of customers.
Each business and company would be pointless, if it did not listen to their customers and meet
their needs. Marketing used to be the most conventional form of communication with
customers. However, a relative disadvantage of classical marketing approach is that it tends to
be mainly a one-way communication channel, with most of the information flowing from the
organization towards the customer and only a little information flowing vice versa. If taken too
aggressively, this kind of communication can lead to customers’ resistance against the
marketing tools and thus it looses its points.
On the other hand, public relations represent mainly a two-way communication channel
and bring the organization closer to its target audiences. It is also a more natural form of
creating awareness of the company, as its purpose lies not only in communication with
customers, but also in evoking interest in the company based on own decisions of the target
audiences. It can be considered also a more responsible way of propagation of the company, as
it lets people create their own opinions instead of marketing campaigns that are often forcing
the customers what the company wants them to believe. Corporate responsibility is also a
concept that has been brought up in many classes during my study and represents another link
to one of the most important concepts that nave been stressed out in my study program.
Another logical connection among marketing, promotion and public relations and my
bachelor business program is that each company operates in order to provide a service, or sell a
product and no company would be able to do so without some publicity and their potential
customers aware of their business. Marketing and promotion is therefore a necessary activity
for every company.
I have chosen company Alfred Kärcher GmbH, a manufacture of cleaning equipment. I
have based my decision to pick up this company on my personal experiences, as I work for a
company selling Kärcher products for three years and thus have corresponding insight
information about the company. My practical experiences with Kärcher allow me to asses the
implications of applying a PR driven marketing approach in the company and identify expected
benefits for the company of choosing this approach.
Evaluating the marketing, promotion and public relations strategies of Alfred Kärcher
Gmbh, has revealed that the company posses a powerful marketing mix, knows how to address
its target audiences and over the last three decades consistently increases its market share and
28
revenue turnover (Kärcher, 2010). Despite of that the company is still falling behind in the use
of new marketing tools and concepts. They are most importantly online marketing strategies
and marketing pubic relations. The question is, whether Kärcher should be concerned, as the
business results shows the company is doing fine. I say they should.
The history shows us that even bigger companies have encountered serious problems,
when they were ignoring latest trends and developments in the business world. We are standing
at the beginning of a brand new era and many of the old principles and market patterns will not
be valid anymore in the future. The current economic crises has rewritten many business rules,
the emerging economies of China and India are starting to demonstrate their power and impact
and through aggressive pricing and marketing strategies are starting to take over positions of
old market leaders. The companies that want to survive and continue growing in the next
decade must be dynamic, innovative, be able to respond to the market changes in a timely
manner or possibly even forecast and influence the changes and carefully observe all the new
trends. Because even though online marketing may seem inappropriate to Kärcher at the
moment, it may soon change and it could be already too late for Kärcher to fully respond and
defeat its position.
I therefore recommend Kärcher to focus more closely on the value that public relations
can give to marketing. To evaluate mainly the benefits of a more effective mutual
communication, on the fantastic opportunity to directly communicate with the consumers
without having to rely entirely on the media that can often miscomprehend and modify that
message that are marketers trying to get to their customers and to start utilizing the benefits of
online marketing channels. During my three year sales experience with Kärcher, I have also
underestimated the role of online marketing in this industry. However, once I started paying
more attention to it, I was amazed how many customers and even big corporate customers have
contacted me based on the information they found on the internet. Internet is playing a very
important advisory and guidance function and its significance in this context is still increasing.
Of course also the traditional media like TV, newspapers and magazines offer counseling, test
and reviews, but undoubtedly the biggest advantage of online based information is that they are
available anytime, from anywhere and for anyone. Therefore also the exposure time to the
message published on the internet is usually much higher compared to a message aired on TV.
As for Kärcher Slovakia, the most attention needs to be paid to the control of the level
of service offered and to increase the support for authorized dealerships from side of the
Slovak and CEE headquarters. It is important to receive sufficient and immediate support and
have stable background, in order to able to adhere to all the points of difference and without
29
doubts fulfill customers expectations connected to the brand name. Because all marketing
efforts are wasted, if something fails in the sale process. Otherwise the recommendations
presented for Kärcher International apply also to the Slovak market.
Practical application of the project is believed to increase profits and market share of
the company through improved effectiveness of marketing and promotion campaigns. Using
PR driven marketing is expected to create strong and long lasting relationships with customers,
get closer to the customers and other target audiences, create better image and awareness of the
organization and help better understand the market needs.
Including PR in promotional strategies is meant to improve image of the company and
increase the effectiveness of promotion strategies through higher significance of promotion due
to better mutual communication.
30
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I want to devote a special thanks to Mr. David Wickel, a Press and Public Relations
Officer of Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG, Winnenden, for immediate response to my
application and granting me an exclusive access to the press section of the Kärcher
International web page.
31
Literature
Alfred Kärcher Gmbh. (2010). About Kärcher. Retrieved March 10, 2010 from http://www.
karcher.com/int/about_kaercher.htm
Alfred Kärcher Gmbh. (Producer). (2010). Corporate Film. [Motion picture]. Germany
Alfred Kärcher Gmbh. (2010). Kärcher Helpful Hints Enhance Your Cleaning Experience.
Retrieved March 23, 2010 from http://www.karchercommercial.com/HelpfulHints.aspx
Alfred Kärcher Gmbh. (2010). Presse International. Retrieved March 25, 2010 from
http://www.karcher.de/print/startpage.htm
Debreceny, P., & Cochrane, L. (2004, November 8). Two disciplines on same road; PR and
marketing must be co-pilots of brand reputation. Advertising Age, 28. Retrieved March
21, 2010, from LexisNexis Academic Database.
Elliott, R., & Percy, L. (2009). Strategic Advertising Management (3rd). New York: Oxford
University Press
Harris, T.L. (1993). The Marketer’s Guide to Public Relations. New York: John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.
Marconi, J. (1997). Image Marketing: Using Public Perceptions to Attain Business Objectives.
Chicago: NTC Business Books
Palmer, A. (2004). Introduction to marketing: Theory and practice. Oxford: Oxford University
Press
Scott, D.M. (2008). Nová pravidla marketingu a PR [The new rules of marketing and PR].
Brno, Czech Republic: Zoner Press
Weber, L. (2009). Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build
Your Business (2nd). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
X Design Pressure Washers from Kärcher hit the spot for spring cleaning. (2010, March 1).
The Telegraph. Retrieved March 27, 2010 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk
/sponsored/lifestyle/karcher/7543650/X-Design-Pressure-Washers-from-Karcher-hitthe-spot-for-spring-cleaning.html
32
ABSTRACT
Marketing and Promotion:
Using PR as an Innovative Form of Marketing
Name of Student: Matúš Novák
Name of Advisor: Alan Dykstra, M.A.
New technologies that emerged over the recent three decades, have significantly changed
the ways of production, communication and through instant availability of resources and
information have pushed the markets for various goods to a brand new level. The markets have
become oversaturated with the supply of products and customers have become more curious and
demanding. Companies that want to succeed in the market can not rely only on an appealing
production portfolio, but need to be able to effectively communicate with their customers and
convince them they are the best. However, to be able to do so, also their marketing and
communication strategies need to be adjusted to keep up with the market changes and new
consumer preferences.
This thesis is evaluating the traditional marketing and promotional strategies that have
been used by the companies and discusses the benefits of enriching those strategies by new
approaches. The new trends are marketing interconnected with public relations and using online
marketing communication channels. The perceived benefits of this new view on marketing lie in
a more direct, more credible and more effective communication with customers.
The practical part of the thesis examines the marketing and promotion strategies of the
market leader in production of cleaning equipment, the company Alfred Kärcher Gmbh. The
information summarized in the theoretical part of the thesis are then applied on the example of
Kärcher and recommendations on how can this company benefit from utilizing these marketing
concepts are drawn in the final section of the thesis.
Student’s Signature:
Date:
33
Anotácia
Marketing a Podpora Predaja:
Využitie PR Nástrojov ako Inovatívna Forma Marketingu
Meno Študenta: Matúš Novák
Meno Poradcu: Alan Dykstra, M.A.
Nové technológie ktoré sa objavili za posledných 30 rokov, významne zmenili spôsoby výroby a
komunikácie a vďaka okamžitej dostupnosti surovín a informácií, posunuli rôzne trhy na úplne novú
úroveň. Trhy sa stali presýtené ponukou tovarov and zákazníci sa stali zvedavšími a náročnejšími. Firmy
ktoré chcú na trhu uspieť, sa nemôžu spoliehať len na žiadúce portfólio produktov, ale musia byť
schopný efektívne komunikovať so svojimi zákazníkmi a dokázať ich presvedčiť, že práve oni sú tí
najlepší. Aby však takéhoto cieľu mohli dokázať, ich marketingové a komunikačné stratégie,
musia byť schopné držať krok s trhovými zmenami a novými požiadavkami zákazníkov.
Zmyslom tejto bakalárskej práce, je zhodnotiť konvenčné stratégie marketingu a podpory
predaja ktoré firmy v súčasnosti používajú a preskúmať výhody obohatenia týchto stratégií o
nové riešenia. Novým trendom je prepojenie marketingu s PR nástrojmi, ako aj využitie on-line
komunikačných kanálov. Výhody tohto nového pohľadu na marketing spočívajú v
priamočiarejšej, dôveryhodnejšej a efektívnejšej komunikácii so zákazníkmi.
Praktická časť bakalárskej práce skúma marketingové stratégie a spôsoby podpory
predaja u lídra v oblasti čistiacej techniky, firmy Alfred Kärcher Gmbh. Informácie obsiahnuté v
teoretickej časti práce, sú následne aplikované na príklade firmy Kärcher a v závere práce sú
uznesené odporúčania ako môže daná spoločnosť profitovať z využitia nových marketingových
konceptov opísaných v tejto práci.
Dátum:
Podpis Študenta:
34