Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix

The emergence of Internet-based social media has made it possible for one person to communicate with hundreds or even thousands of other people about products and the companies that provide them. Thus, the impact of consumer-to-consumer communications has been greatly magnified in the marketplace. This article argues that social media is a hybrid element of the promotion mix because in a traditional sense it enables companies to talk to their customers, while in a nontraditional sense it enables customers to talk directly to one another. The content, timing, and frequency of the social media-based conversations occurring between consumers are outside managers’ direct control. This stands in contrast to the traditional integrated marketing communications paradigm whereby a high degree of control is present. Therefore, managers must learn to shape consumer discussions in a manner that is consistent with the organization's mission and performance goals. Methods by which this can be accomplished are delineated herein. They include providing consumers with networking platforms, and using blogs, social media tools, and promotional tools to engage customers.     

Value orientations and consumer expectations of Corporate Social Responsibility

This paper explores how personal and situational factors impact consumer expectations of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Consumer expectations are known to motivate marketers to incorporate social considerations into their marketing practices and to communicate about those actions. A study was conducted in order to examine the effect of values and issue involvement on consumer CSR expectations, categorised as economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic. The study's findings demonstrated that consumers generally have high expectations of CSR, especially in the legal and ethical‐philanthropic domains. Expectations for the ethical‐philanthropic dimension of CSR are higher amongst consumers holding high self‐transcendent values and practicing high involvement. The main implications of the study are the potential for positioning companies as socially responsible and incorporating CSR in strategic marketing and communications decisions.     

Marketing Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Marriage of Convenience or Shotgun Wedding?

This paper aims to examine the role(s) that the various vehicles of marketing communications can play with respect to communicating, publicising and highlighting organisational CSR policies to its various stakeholders. It will further endeavour to evaluate the impact of such communications on an organisation’s corporate reputation and brand image. The proliferation of unsubstantiated ethical claims and so-called ‘green washing’ by some companies has resulted in increasing consumer cynicism and mistrust. This has made the task of communicating with, and more importantly convincing, an organisation’s stakeholders vis-à-vis its CSR credentials even more difficult. This paper argues that marketing communications tools can play a major role in conveying a company’s CSR messages and communicating a more socially responsible image.     

Marketing and public relations: the relationship revisited

This paper reviews the debate within both the marketing and public relations literatures concerning the relationship between the disciplines of marketing and public relations. The paper considers the arguments advanced in the marketing literature, in particular, for a growing convergence between these two disciplines and examines the recent emergence of the concept of'marketing public relations'. Here the paper takes as one starting point an article which identified a number of possible schematic representations of the relationship between the marketing and public relations functions and argues the case for a model of increasing convergence between them.The paper goes on to consider the more recent development of ‘marketing public relations', examining the arguments advanced. The paper argues that from a public relations perspective, the concept of marketing public relations can be seen as an attempt by marketers to ‘hijack’ public relations, incorporating it as an extra element within the promotional mix in order to inform, persuade or remind existing and prospective customers of product or company benefits. It is argued that what some marketers have termed marketing public relations may be no more than the publicity element of public relations practice under a new guise — one perhaps more acceptable than publicity in the societally orientated firms of today. The paper explores two distinct schools of thought — re-examining the relationship between marketing and public relations from both perspectives. The paper suggests that the uneasy symbiosis between these two functions in practice, reflects to a large degree the ambiguity surrounding the relationship between these concepts within much of the literature.     

代指在创名牌产品中的应用

本文认为,对换位思考的本质认识不清,对顾客代指标感知规律及如何进行有效传播的研究不足,是导致我国品牌建设落后的重要原因。有效的营销传播策略,第一,要研究本土化的代指标体系是什么,不同类型产品顾客使用的代指标是什么及顾客如何使用代指标这些影响到产品形象的基本问题;第二,一定要在研究不同产品的顾客代指标感知规律重要性的基础上,根据营销传播的协同作用,设计出有效的营销传播策略。     

Determinants of the corporate identity construct: a review of the literature

Corporate identity has received significant attention from both academics and practitioners in the last 25 years. Despite many articles written in this area a definitive construct of corporate identity and its measurements does not yet exist. The objective of this paper is therefore to provide a review of the literature on the corporate identity construct and its components and also to present the academic and managerial implications of this study.     

旅游业的整合营销

旅游业的竞争日益激烈 ,在新的竞争环境中 ,我国的旅游业要想获得长远发展 ,就应该充分利用自身资源 ,运用先进的营销理念———整合营销 ,做到资源的合理利用 ,从而提高旅游业的整体营销水平 ,实行可持续发展。     

整合营销传播理论在我国休闲业中的应用研究

由于休闲产业极易受其消费者无形的不可量化的因素的影响,当前休闲产业中所使用4Ps和4Cs等传统营销理论已难以适应休闲业急速发展的需求。本文借用整合营销传播理论的理念,从休闲产品合理定位、口径一致的品牌形象塑造,休闲产业社会营销等方面研究了休闲业整合营销传播策略的实施。