Tuesday, November 6, 2007

PR: Consumer Relations

Consumer Relations Objectives

a. Building sales is the primary consumer relations objective.

b. Typical goals:

i. Keeping old customers

ii. Attracting new customers

iii. Marketing new items or services

iv. Expediting complaint handling

v. Reducing costs

Consumer-Generated Media

a. Consumer-generated media encompasses the millions of consumer-generated comments, opinions, and personal experiences posted in publicly available online sources on a wide range of issues, topics, products, and brands.

b. For any marketer trying to be beard or to break through the clutter, understanding and managing CGM may be critical.

Office of the Ombudsperson

a. Research indicates that only a handful of dissatisfied customers will ever complain. But that means that there are many others with the same complaint who never say anything.

b. The office of the ombudsperson investigates complaints made against the company and its managers.

c. It provides a central location that customers can call to seek redress of grievances.

d. The ombudsperson monitors the difficulties customers are having with products.

e. They are in business to inspire customer confidence and to influence an organization’s behavior toward improved service.

The Consumer Movement

a. Legislation to protect consumers first emerged in the United States in 1872.

b. Congress passed the Food and Drug Act and the Trade Commission Act

c. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

d. Consumers have their own bill of rights, containing four basic principles:

i. The right to safety

ii. The right to be informed

iii. The right to choose

iv. The right to be heard

Federal Consumer Agencies

a. Justice Department

b. Federal Trade Commission

c. Securities And Exchange Commission

d. Food and Drug Administration

e. Consumer Product Safety

f. Commission Office Of Consumer Affairs


Consumer Activists on the Internet

a. The most significant activity to keep companies honest has occurred on the internet

b. 1968, the Consumer Federation of America was created unify lobbying efforts for pro-consumer legislation.

c. The internet poses a hotbed of consumer activism

d. Internet activism uses Internet communications technologies to enable faster communications and coordination by citizen movements.

e. Internet activism has been criticized on grounds that it gives disproportionate access to affluent activists

f. The emergence of the consumer watchdog has generally been a positive development for consumers.

Business Gets the Message

a. Consumer relations divisions have sprung up, either as separate entities or as part of public relations departments.

b. Companies have broadened the consumer relations function to encompass such activities as developing guidelines to evaluate services and products for management, developing consumer programs that meet consumer needs and increase sales, developing field-training programs, evaluating service approaches, and evaluating company effectiveness in demonstrating concern for customers.

c. Most consumer criticism can be modified with a prompt, personalized reply.

d. On the other hand, failing to answer a question, satisfy a complaint, or solve a problem can result in a blitz of bad word-of-mouth advertising

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