Marketing public relations : juice it right

The proliferation of media means that consumers are increasingly inundated with commercial messages to persuade them to purchase a particular product or service. As a result, marketers are finding it increasingly difficult for their messages to have the desired impact on consumers. On one platform or another (for example smartphone, tablet or desktop) and either at home, in transit or at work, the World Wide Web (web) is accessible to the majority of Australians. The web provides options to find, reach, communicate with and facilitate consumer behaviour, and has therefore become embedded as a core function in marketing and public relations practice. The web provides an 'all-purpose communication medium' (van der Merwe, Pitt & Abratt 2005, p. 40 ). Organisations must not only be aware of their identity in traditional marketing forums, but also be aware of their corporate image in cyberspace (McLennan & Howell 2010). Social media networks can be used by organisations to build relationships with various publics, and to provide a variety of organisational information and services to a diverse group of direct and indirect stakeholders (Liu et al. 1997).