5 Ancient Public Relations Secrets

The practice of public relations is not what it used to be. In the past, great care and effort went into crafting messages and pitch development. For example, when Julius Caesar wrote his compelling pitch in 50 B.C., his vivid portrayal of military exploits convinced the people of Rome that he was the best candidate to be head of state. When Cleopatra combined her fluent command of the Egyptian language and mathematics as a communications tactic, she improved relationships and restored economic instability in ancient Egypt. Today, the tides have changed as digital public relations professionals attempt to recreate this dynamic.

In 2015, news can be spread farther, faster, and more directly than any other time in history. The digital revolution—even over the past decade alone—has forever altered the practice of public relations. While some have yet to embrace the new rules of digital outreach, others have lost sight of the time-tested art of engagement that has been on display since antiquity. Perhaps the ability to strum the chords of human emotion through words and execution has gotten lost in the tombs of digital technology.

Making the Uniqueness of your Brand Known

Imagine this; you have finally been called for an interview you have been looking forward to for months. Now is the moment of truth and you do not want to miss any detail;  you bring out the new skirt suit and shoes you have been saving for this special day; all necessary documents set and confidence hoisted;  you are indeed poised and set for action. You get to the organisation’s premises; you are ushered to the waiting room and then boom! It happens; two other candidates, all but their faces, are rocking the same outfit as you are. This was totally unexpected and you do not have any backup plan. What are you going to do? For some people, this will be like the derailing moment of their life or more like the Titanic sinking slowly with just twenty lifeboats onboard. Now the question is; how do you convince your prospective employers that despite wearing the same outfit as the others, you have something unique your fellow applicants do not possess? This is where advertising comes in. You need to create awareness about yourself; enough for your potential employers to take action, in other words, choose you!

Personal Branding: You Must Build Your Digital Empire

The Digital Era of Going Viral

 
 
 

If you have ever studied the science of cross pollination, you would realize that the plants that use this mechanism to reproduce need certain agents to achieve this goal. These agents are mostly birds and insects and it is the flowers that have certain features; colorful, sweet scented and sometimes contain nectar that that are polinated. When the birds and insects settle on the plants and feed on them, they carry pollen on to the next plant; fertilization takes place, leading to reproduction. If you are to explain this in the language of marketing, you would say the pollen has gone viral.

Consumer Psychology

                                                                             

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The key object of every marketing strategy is to develop lucid customer-specific solutions that are superior to competing solutions. To achieve this objective with precision involves understanding the psychology of the target markets who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of that solution.  Developing the solution is only one part of the equation, the target market needs to be aware of the solution, they must believe that it is unique to their needs and also have faith that it is superior to competing ones available. This part of the equation even makes the relevance of understanding the consumer’s psychology more crucial.

Customer Service: Hotlines and Their Myths

 

Customer service in Ghana is as real as the Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth. No seriously, think about it. How many times have you not felt like a service provider was acting like they were giving you freebies when you are actually paying for the service? Sometimes you enter a shop to buy something with YOUR money and the attendants make you feel like you are some homeless beggar asking for handouts. Usually, these people get away with this.

Today, however, my rant is not about customer service as a whole, it is a little targeted at hotlines and the seriousness and attention companies pay to them. It is like most Ghanaians take the name of hotlines seriously… it is actually so hot that no one dares to answer these lines lest they get burnt or scalded. I live in the technology era where I believe everything should be a click, email, text or phone call away, but no! Companies are good at frustrating their clients.

The Business Creator - Spiritpreneur

Randy is a young vision-minded, Ghanaian-based entrepreneur who is passionate about making an impact in his generation. He belongs to a new breed of entrepreneurs whose motivation for going into business is not just to satisfy a need and get rewarded for it, but most importantly, to use business as a tool to change the world and advance the kingdom of God on earth. Hence, he refers to himself as a “Spiritpreneur” (Spiritual and entrepreneur).

Mr. Randy Osae Bediako, the Spiritpreneur, lets us in on his business:

PRACTICAL MARKETING STRATEGIES – AN ILLUSTRATION FROM GHANA’S CORPORATE ENVIRONMENT

From my personal experiences as a marketing student and later as a lecturer in Marketing with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana, I have realized that most text books are awash with foreign examples that are sometimes difficult for students to grasp. Marketing as a course is clearly related to our ‘day-to-day’ activities and it should be as practical as possible and full of fun.

The essence of marketing is the delivery of customer-centric solutions to maximize the achievement of organisational goals. Every organisation exists to offer some form of solution to its target market and those solutions can be in the form of products or services. 

Marketers should therefore devise strategies to help the organisation to improve its internal weakness and use its identified strengths to exploit the opportunities in the external environment and minimize external threats.