To provide customer awareness of the business and its products/services
This is to attract new customers to a business and its products/services and to hopefully increase the businesses sales and profits. Through doing this business' would hope to gain customer loyalty to the company’s products.
Potential customers may not be aware that the business exists and that it is offering a product that may be an improvement over the customers’ current choice of product, for example the quality of product or service may be higher, or the business may be offering a more competitive price.
To increase sales by emphasising the desirable qualities of the product/service
Some companies may use public relation methods to highlight the desirable qualities of their products. For example, for my campaign I may try to highlight the fact that none of Hugo Boss’ products are tested on animals.
This would be a good way of showing potential customers that the business is environmentally friendly. One of the ways of doing this is to use press releases. Press releases in local and/or national newspapers give free publicity and are a good way of highlighting the strengths of Hugo Boss’ Dark Blue fragrance and Hugo Boss as a company.
To deter competition
When a company uses good advertising campaigns and maintains good public relations with potential and existing customers it may lead other businesses who are considering entering the market to reconsider.
When a company gains a large considerable share of the market, through advertising and effective use of public relations, it may benefit from the economies of scale. This is when a business such as Hugo Boss produces such a large batch of a product, such as the Dark Blue fragrance, that it is able to pass the benefit of cheaper production directly onto the customer in the form of lower prices.
To attract wholesalers and retailers
If a product or company is well advertised and has made good use of public relations wholesalers and retailers will be happier to take on the product, as it is generally more likely to sell.
Companies such as Selfridges or John Lewis would be happier to take on the Dark Blue fragrance if it has been advertised well. This could lead to increased sales and higher profits for Hugo Boss. This may justify spending more money on better advertising campaigns.
To change attitudes about the business and its products/services
Organisations may especially wish to change the attitude that the public holds of them if the image of the organisation has been damaged by bad public relations and bad publicity. Business may need to change their image, the negative attitudes of the consumers and the entire culture of the company. For example the way that Marks and Spencer had to reshape its image of selling drab boring clothes. Which through the use of good advertising and public relations it has managed to do.
To create goodwill and enhance the company image
Creating goodwill is one of the ways in which organisations may be able to change their image. They can do this by donating to charities, by sponsoring local events or local environment projects, such as placing more trees in the community or helping to build safety crossings for children etc.
Companies may use advertising and public relations to target products at different groups and/or re-position themselves with the market. For example Hugo Boss may wish to re-position their product Dark Blue in the market so that it specifically targets men only. They may need to improve their image to the new target market.
Previous adverts may have affected the audience’s perception or attitudes to the product and have had a negative impact on consumers.
