Introduction
An advertising campaign is a series of coordinated advertisements that are broadcasted through a series of print or digital media carrying the same theme. This campaign may focus on a specific product or service or target a particular section of the population. Successful advertising campaigns have been known to achieve better results as compared to sporadic advertising. An advertising campaign can run anywhere from a few weeks, months or even years.
A public relations campaign on the other hand is a series of events that are planned beforehand aimed at achieving a specific goal. The aim of public relations is usually to pass on a positive image about a product or service. A public relations specialist uses the media to communicate with their intended target audience in an aim to establish a strong relationship with them. Gupta (2005) argues that a successful public relations campaign is achieved by first indenting an objective for the campaign, then finding the right message that will help achieve this goal and lastly communicating this message to a targeted audience. A firm should employ an advertising and public relations campaign to help achieve the firms set goals.
Reasons to Develop an Advertising and Public Relation Campaign
The main purpose an organization should advertise is so as to tell a story with their product or service. Every product, service or brand has a unique identifier, a reason it would stand out among other products. The human mind is a very powerful tool that an advertiser should exploit. Advertisement should create a world that the viewer gets lost in and are challenged to use their imagination to create their own interpretation of the advertisement. After the viewers mind has been engaged the advertiser can now put across their intended message. This encourages the viewer to consider the advertised product over others in the market (Field, 2005).
Advertising campaigns should instill brand loyalty in a client. An advertisement portrays a certain personality or lifestyle that once the viewer identifies with, they get the urge to be associated with this brand. This will increase the organizations bottom line through increased sales of the advertised product. An advertisement should inform the viewer of the products functionality, purpose and features. It should inform the viewer of the gap that this product will fill. A viewer will invest in a product only if they are certain that it will fulfil the need they have. An advertising campaign should also be used to remind already existing clients that the organizations products or services are still in the market. This is to ensure that in a society that one struggles to stay relevant, that they maintain a strong presence with their client base and also attract new customers (Taşkıran & Yilmaz 2015).
Reputation and trust are essential in any business. Public relations ensures that clients do not loose trust in an organization and also ensure that the reputation of the organization remains untarnished. Good business relies a lot on referral. People are more likely to trust your product if a third party such as a blogger, media house or a strong social influencer endorses your product. Quesenberry (2016), argues that in today’s world where everyone is over connected, people are exposed to a lot of information with no way to identify trustworthy organizations from dubious and questionable organizations. Public relations aims at establishing an organization into a brand that is not second guessed by potential clients. This can be established by ensuring that an organization is always connected with its target audience.
Reasons, why the Theories and Skills Taught in Other Classes, Were Beneficial
In addition to this class, I have had the pleasure of taking other related classes that have prepared me extensively for this class. The CAP 105 - Technology in Public Relations and Advertising class taught me how to use technology in advertising and public relations. The world we live in today is highly connected through the internet. This class gave me knowledge on how to fully exploit the internet and other relevant software and equipment to achieve my advertising and public relations goals. I also attended the CAP 115 - Research Basics for Advertising and Public Relations class. It was highly essential since I learnt how to carry out research by collecting and analyzing data from different sources such as the internet, corporate documents and libraries to help solve communication problems. The CAP 210 - Fundamentals of Advertising and CAP 220 - Fundamentals of Public Relations classes taught me the basic principles of both advertising and public relations and their socioeconomic roles.
Benefits of the skills I learnt in this course
This course has taught me in depth how to carry out a successful advertising and public relations campaign. Knowledge acquired in this course will help me contribute to the attainment of an organizations long-term and shorter goals by ensuring that all advertising and public relations campaigns carried out are effective and meet their objective. This course opened my mind to the advertising and public relation industry and gave me practical experience on the industry. I now have a deeper understanding of the role advertising and public relations plays not only in an organization but also in the community. From this course I learnt that advertising is a vital tool for the smooth running of an organization due to increased profits. They ensure that there is a healthy relationship between clients and the organization as they work to meet their individual needs.
How this Class has prepared me to Successfully Work with a Team in Completing a Project in the Workplace
One of the objectives of this course was for students to work together in teams on an integrated advertising and public relations campaign for a client. Working in a team on this project gave me experience on how to be a team player. We all had to collaborate and bring all our different ideas together to implement a successful campaign for the client. This prepared me on how to interact with different stakeholders involved in making a successful campaign once I join the job market. It has taught me how to value other people’s opinions and how to work smoothly within a team without any wrangles that would inconvenience the client. Being a team player is essential for an advertiser since I will work alongside photographers, videographers, graphic designers and other personnel during the implementation of any advertisement campaigns I handle in the future.
How and what I contributed to the successful completion of the campaign
A course requirement was for the student to work in a group of 6 people to create a successful advertising and public relations campaign for a client. As a group we all had to come together and pool our different ideas for the successful completion of the project. My contribution to the group was my extensive knowledge in advertising that I have acquired over the duration of this course. I was able to apply theoretical knowledge impacted on me in class to come up with practical ideas for the campaign. I also employed my research skills to help with the completion of this project since Watson & Noble (2007) argue that research is an essential part in the implementation of a successful public relations campaign.
Conclusion
This course opened my mind on the importance of advertising and public relations to not only the organization but also to the society. It also helped me establish that it is the ethical responsibility of an advertiser to ensure any information broadcasted to the viewer is not misleading but instead helps them make an informed decision on what product to invest money on.
References
Field, S. (2005). Advertising and Public Relations. New York: Infobase Pub.
Gupta, D. (2005). Handbook of advertising media and public relations. New Delhi: Mittal Publ.
In Taşkıran, N. O., & In Yilmaz, R. (2015). Handbook of research on effective advertising strategies in the social media age.
Quesenberry, K. A. (2016). Social media strategy: Marketing and advertising in the consumer revolution.
Watson, T., & Noble, P. (2007). Evaluating public relations: A best practice guide to public relations planning, research & evaluation. London: Kogan Page.
