Public relations: a powerful marketing weapon

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 22, 1990 by Aaron D.. Cushman

Public relations: A powerful marketing weapon

For this year as well as the foreseeable future the magic words in building greater sales volume in the foodservice industry are marketing public relations.

This is hardly a new marketing concept in the food industry; however, there is renewed interest among managers everywhere in public relations and its correlation to a healthy bottom line.

For almost 40 years, I have been preaching the basic public-relations equation - exposure equals awareness equals sales - to anyone who would listen. Today when we speak of the cost-efficiency of public relations and the credibility factor inherent in editorial coverage vs. advertising, chief executives and marketing vice presidents are really listening.

Search for alternatives

Marketing directors and chief executives in the food industry know that consumers' sophistication is growing in direct proportion to the flood of information pouring forth from the nation's media. Consumers have been "had" so often by misleading claims that they tend to be wary of advertising messages. They are increasingly aware that advertising messages are paid for, that they are carefully prepared to be appealing, and that there may be a greater need than ever before to attend to the fine-print footnotes referred to in the ad copy by tiny asterisks.

In complete juxtaposition, consumers still believe in the integrity of information presented editorially. The so-called disinterested third-person implied endorsement carries credibility. The belief is, "I read it in the paper, so it must be true." Therein lies the strength of public relations.

Marketing executives are also much aware that television advertising costs, both network and local, are unbelievably high and attractive time slots are difficult to secure. There is tremendous competitive ad clutter, and ratings are down. It's no wonder that marketing professionals are searching for alternative communications methods.

One of the major inhibitors to increased budgetary support for marketing public relations is a "comfort zone." Advertising has historically been the marketing stalwart, and some advertisers do not take kindly to change. It represents potential danger. There is a risk involved in beefing up PR budgets, and some marketers do not want to rock the boat.

Savvy marketers who are not risk-adversive and are hungry for intelligent alternatives to advertising are finding their answer in public relations - but in public relations as practiced by experienced, marketing-oriented practitioners.

Marketing executives are increasingly "experimenting" with marketing public relations.

For instance, our firm for 12 years represented several of a major hospitality conglomerate's divisions. Particularly within the hotel division, it was not unusual to see annual major cutbacks in fourth-quarter advertising appropriations to assist management in achieving predetermined profit margins. In several instances these advertising cutbacks were accompanied by increases in the public-relations budget, with the attendant request that public relations make up the difference in exposure - the gap in market penetration. PR increases came to as much as 20 percent of the advertising dollars that had to be cut.

When another client, a food company, set out to introduce a lower salt product line, we launched a consumer media relations campaign targeted to specific markets. Through careful selection and training of a physician spokesman, combined with well-placed media appearances in 16 markets, we succeeded in garnering more than 75 million reader, audience and viewer impressions. As a result, sales of the products increased substantially across the board, with an additional increase of more than 9 percent in those markets to which we took our spokesman.

Building share at lower costs

When a snack foods company prepared to introduce a new line of cookies, its president explained that two competitors had a six-month head start, and because of its competitive size, it needed to avoid an advertising battle.

The marketing public-relations program we created and implemented resulted in more than $3 million in national television exposure.

Every indication is that marketing public relations is proving to be an effective alternative to a 100-percent commitment to advertising.

Aaron D. Cushman is a principal in Aaron D. Cushman and Associates Inc., a public relations firm based in Chicago.