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 Perspectives
On Corporate
Communication

Ezekiel S. Asemah, PhD

Daniel O. Ekhareafo, PhD
© Ezekiel S. Asemah, PhD & Daniel O. Ekhareafo, PhD

First published 2022 by

Jos University Press
Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

ISBN: 987 – 987 – 38748 –5 - x

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, computer,
mechanical, photocopying, recording and / or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the authors and
publisher.

Prelimiary
ii
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to God Almighty, the author and
finisher of our faith.

iii Perspectives on Corporate Communication

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are most grateful to GOD ALMIGHTY for the grace,
knowledge, wisdom, understanding and strength to carry
out this work; may his name be praised forever and ever
(Amen).

Prelimiary
iv
PREFACE
Indeed, various scholars have dealt with aspects of public
relations and corporate communication such as integrated
marketing communication, media relations, reputation
management and community relations. Perhaps, there is
no local text that devotes attention to the gamut of
corporate communication which is the buzz word in the
corporate world like this book. This book, perspectives on
corporate communication, embraces the various aspects
of corporate communication. To break it down for the
readers' quick understanding, we divided the text into
twelve chapters, using simple definitions and concrete
examples to explain terms and concepts.
Chapter one introduces the concept of corporate
communication, traces the history, the various types,
objectives, its functions and the various dimensions to it.
The introduction clears the air on the nomenclature
associated with using the term 'public affairs' or 'corporate
communication.' An immersion with this chapter will give
a foundational understanding of what corporate
communication is all about. In chapter two, organisation
culture and behaviour takes the centre stage. It highlights
the features of organisational behaviour, its benefits, how
to build organisational culture, helping employees to learn
organisational culture, the limitations of organisation
culture, organisational citizenship behaviour and job
satisfaction.
Reputation management is the focus of chapter
three. In the chapter, the concept of reputation
management is reviewed, its importance and practical
steps on how to build reputation are highlighted. In the

v Perspectives on Corporate Communication

same vein, the relationship between crisis situation and
reputation management are interrogated, the stages of
crisis and reputation management. The chapter ends by
drawing the various strategies that organisations use in
managing their reputation. Not many scholars bother to
focus on event management as an aspect of corporate
communication. This gap is filled in chapter four of this
book. It looks at event planning, budgeting for event,
organising corporate events and the various stages of event
management. Chapter five deals with corporate
advertising. It provides a basic understanding of the
concept, the controversial nature of corporate advertising,
the objectives, advantages and disadvantages, the different
types of corporate advertising and how to measure the
effectiveness of corporate advertising.
In many corporate organisations, some, especially
accountants, despise the public relations department as
wasteful. Chapter six, therefore, deals with the elements of
corporate public relations programmes, corporate identity
programmes, why organisations embark on corporate
identity programmes, corporate social responsibility
programmes, sponsorship, why organisations sponsor
events, the procedures for sponsorship and the importance
of educating staff on the relevance of public relations. The
essence of this chapter is ultimately to help readers
appreciate the value of philanthropy in positioning an
organisation's image.
Chapter seven is an expanded discourse on
corporate social responsibility with emphasis on the
arguments surrounding it, its philosophy and relevance.
Chapter eight is devoted to corporate branding, its
benefits, the various steps required for effective corporate
branding. Chapter nine extensively deals with the various
relationships in a corporate organisation. Such as customer
relations, stakeholders' relations, employee relations and
media relations. The thrust of the chapter is that effective

Prelimiary
vi
relationship management fosters positive benefits for an
organisation. In assumption that different parts make a
whole drives the interest in chapter ten, where the subject
of integrated marketing communication is discussed. The
chapter brings to the fore the various aspects of integrated
marketing communication and the rules guiding
integration. It offers useful tips on how an organisation can
use IMC to generate newsworthy story for itself.
Chapter eleven handles the subject of crisis
communication in organisations. It discusses the various
types of crises, crisis responds strategies and how to
prepare for crisis. In chapter twelve, the critical theories of
public relations that have import for corporate
communication are interrogated. Theories such as
apologia, image restoration theory, among others are
examined.
This book is a must keep for public relations
practitioners, media practitioners, academics and students
who wish to deepen their knowledge about the various
practices in corporate communication. We sincerely
believe that when one reads and internalises the principles
inherent in it, it will be easy to handle assigned
responsibities with ease.

Ezekiel S. Asemah, PhD

Professor of Public Relations and Advertising
Dean, College of Management and Social Sciences
Samuel Adegboyega University, Ogwa, Edo State, Nigeria
+2347059645098 and +2348035053713

Daniel O. Ekhareafo, PhD

Senior Lecturer
Department of Mass Communication
University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria
+2348032682533

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

vii
CONTENTS
Title Page i
Copyright Page ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Preface v
Contents viii

Chapter One
Introduction to Corporate Communication 1
What is Corporate Communication? 6
Types of Corporate Communication 7
Areas of Corporate Communication 8
History of Corporate Communication 9
Objectives of Corporate Communication 10
Importance of Corporate Communication to
Customer Satisfaction 13
Mapping the Territories in Corporate Communication 19

Chapter Two
Organisation Culture and Behaviour 20
Introduction 20
Features of Organisational Behaviour 21
Benefits of Organisational Culture 21
How to Build Organisational Culture 21
How Employees Learn Organisational Culture 23
Steps to Creating a Positive Organisational Culture 23
Limitations of Organisational Culture 24
Organisational Behaviour 25
Organisational Citizenship Behaviour 29
Job Satisfaction 29
Prelimiary
viii
Chapter Three
Reputation Management 36
Concept of Reputation Management 36
Importance of Reputation Management 38
Building Reputation 41
Crisis and Reputation Management 42
Stages of Crisis and Reputation Management 42
Reputation Management Strategies 43

Chapter Four
Events Management 45
Introduction 45
Events Manager 47
Event Budgeting 47
Organisations and Corporate Events 50
Stages of Event Management 51

Chapter Five
Corporate Advertising 52
Understanding Corporate Advertising 52
Why Corporate Advertising is Controversial 56
Objectives of Corporate Advertising 57
Advantages of Corporate Advertising 59
Disadvantages of Corporate Advertising 60
Types of Corporate Advertising 61
Measuring the Effectiveness of Corporate Advertising 62

Chapter Six
Elements of Corporate Public Relations Programmes 63
Corporate Identity Programmes 63
Why Organisations Embark on Corporate Identity
Programmes 64
Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes 65

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

ix
Sponsorship 68
Why Organisations Sponsor 71
Procedures for Sponsorship 72
Education of Staff on the Importance of Public
Relations 73

Chapter Seven
Corporate Social Responsibility 75
Introduction 75
Conceptualisation of Corporate Social Responsibility 76
Six Important Areas of Corporate Social Responsibility76
Employee Health and Wellness 78
Environmental Integrity 78
Ethical Responsibilities 79
Legal Responsibilities 79
Philanthropic Responsibilities 79
Economic Responsibilities 80
Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility 81

Chapter Eight
Corporate Branding 83
What is a Brand? 83
Benefits of Branding 85
Understanding Corporate Branding 87
Steps in Corporate Branding 89

Chapter Nine
Relationship Management 92
Measurement of Relationships 95
Relationship Marketing 97
Benefits of Relationship Marketing 99
Customer Relations 99
Types of Customers 100
Understanding the Consumer 102

Prelimiary
x
Consumer Complaints in Nigeria 105
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 107
Approaches to Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) 109
Stages of Customer Relationship Management 110
Benefits of CRM 112
Consumer Satisfaction 112
Stakeholders Relations 115
Who are Stakeholders? 117
Understanding and Managing Stakeholders for
Corporate Goals 121
Communication and Media Platform in Stakeholders
Relations 125
Challenges in Managing Stakeholders 126
Employee Relations 128
Factors that foster a Positive Employee Relations 129
Benefits of Employee Relations 129
Employee Communication 129
Media Relations 132
Objectives and Functions of Media Relations 134
Techniques of Media Relations 135
Managing Issues in Media Relations 140
Funding 140
Balancing Relations with different Media
Organisations 140
Dealing with Media Excess 140
No-Comments or Silence 141
Off the Record 141
Media Relations Planning 142
Media Relations Budget 144

Chapter Ten
Integrated Marketing Communication 146
Benefits of Integrated Marketing Communication 149
Ten Golden Rules of Integration 151
Perspectives on Corporate Communication
xi
Various Integrated Marketing Communication Tools 153
Brand Mechandising 153
Benefits of Brand Mechandising 155
Public Relations 158
Events Sponsorship 160
Types of Sponsorship 161
Advertising 163
Direct Marketing 167
Direct Marketing Strategies and Media 169
Advantages of Direct Marketing 174
Disadvantages of Direct Marketing 175
Publicity 176
How Organisations can generate News Stories
about Themselves 178
Importance of Publicity 180
Personal Selling 183
Advantages of Personal Selling 184
Disadvantages of Personal Selling 185
Process of Personal Selling 186
Difference between Personal Selling and Direct
Marketing 188
Brand Positioning 190
Brand Positioning Strategy Process 191
Types of Positioning 194
Brand Positioning Statement 196
How to Create a Brand Positioning Statement 197
Characteristics of a Good Brand Positioning Strategy 197
Importance of Brand Positioning 198

Chapter Eleven
Crisis Communication 200
Types of Crisis 202
Phases of Crisis 204
Prelimiary
xii
Crisis Trend 205
How to Handle Crisis Situations 205
Crisis Management Techniques 205
Crisis Responds Strategies 207
A Comprehensive Breakdown of Crisis Responds
Strategies 208
Conceptualisation of Crisis Communication 209
Crisis Communication Plan 211
Effective Crisis Communication Strategies 214
Best Practices for Initial Crisis Response 219
Some Theories of Crisis Communication 220
Situational Crisis Communication Theory 220
Contingency Theory 222
Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) Theory 224
Threat Appraisal Model 225

Chapter Twelve
Public Relations Theories in Corporate
Communication Situations 227
Apologia Theory 227
Image Restoration Theory 230
Impression Management Theory 231
Situational Theory of Publics 232
Network Theory 233

Glossary 234
References 239
Index 253

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

xiii
 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO CORPORATE
COMMUNICATION

Organisations that have dealings with the public need to

regularly communicate changes, manage crisis and
position the organisation in the minds of the public. Finlay
(1994) offers an insight to the gamut of corporate
communication. The corporate communication function
resists a single fixed definition. It is a dynamic mixture of
problem-solving skills and insights. It should be viewed as
a process, rather than an entity. But there are three key
responsibilities encompassed within a truly effective
corporate public affairs function: Aiding the management
of change, helping to define a corporation's role in society,
assisting in the creation of corporate vision and purpose.
The need to navigate through complex public
environments; to mediate with government, employee and
complex stakeholders; to manage the effects of change and
to operate ethically whilst projecting an inspiring sense of
corporate pride and vision; are amongst the pressing tasks
facing communication executives today.
This clearly suggests that the business of
communicating the overall goal of an organisation lies
with corporate communication. Nevertheless,
communication is a facilitator of all the processes engaged
by an organisation to promote its image, build and retain
relationship, have sound customer relations and build
public confidence and trust. In the world of business with
stiff competition, corporate communication becomes a
means of raising consumer's interest through promotional
activities that will take care of competitors and put the
company in good stead. Corporate communication
becomes imperative for organisation to sustain and
improve consumer interests and satisfaction. Ambroz &
Praprutnik (2008) defined customer satisfaction as an
organisation's ability to attract and retain customers and to
improve customer relationship over time. It is often seen as
the satisfaction with an organisation's products or service.
Furthermore, it is considered to be the key to success and
long-term competitiveness. The knowledge of customer
satisfaction is the source for the fulfilment of customer
expectations. Corporate communication, therefore, serves
as mediator of the company's offering and the consumers'
needs.
Corporate communication serves both the interest
of the organisation and the public. Ogbemi (2011) says
public relations as a management functions involves
evaluating public attitudes, identifying the policies and
procedures of organisations and institution with the sole
purpose of earning public understanding and acceptance.
This is only possible with corporate communication.
Corporate communication is relevant in the evaluation of
consumers' attitudes, while also identifying the
organisation's policies and activities targeted at ensuring
public or consumers understanding and acceptance in the
use of the organisation's product or service.
Ngonso & Ugwonno (2011) citing Keiser & Stein
(2006) observed that constant communication is identified
by organisations as necessary and relevant in keeping
customers aware of happenings within the organisation as
it relates with the interest of the customers. This suggests

Introduction to Corporate Communication 2

that corporate communication is a vital aspect of every
organisation in engaging the customers with aspects of the
organisation that affects its interests. The development of
information communication tools has also added colours
to corporate communications. Ngonso & Ugwonno (2011)
citing Keiser & Stein (2006) argued that these tools have
facilitated the customalisation of communication vehicles
which also assist the organisation employ the use of latest
communication gadgets in constant evaluation of the
customers' needs and deploying the right products and
services to meeting such needs.
Asemah & Asogwa (2012) suggest that corporate
communication is key in public relations as it helps in
anticipating, analysing and interpreting public or
consumers' opinions to organisations' products or services,
attitudes, future trends and issues which become relevant
for the organisation to put into consideration in their
attempt to meet consumers' satisfaction. In the light of the
foregoing, it would seem corporate communication is
public relations. It is instructive to state that there are
various arguments regarding the concept of corporate
communications. Nessmann (1995) contends some
academics believe that corporate communication is the
collective name for all communication disciplines.
Nessmann proposes that communication specialists from
all three areas need to agree on a policy framework for
communications within which co-ordination is possible.
On his part, Van Riel (1995) suggests that corporate
communication is an all-embracing framework
coordinating marketing, organisational and management
communication-integrating the total business message. He
suggests that this helps to define the corporate image and
assists in the process of improving an organisation's
overall competitive advantage. Perhaps this is a Pan-
Continental view of corporate communication. van Riel

3 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

(1995) proposes an all-embracing framework-one that
sees corporate communication embracing three branches:
Management communication-by senior managers
marketing communication-advertising, sponsorship, sales
promotion, direct mail organisational communication-
public relations, investor relations, corporate affairs,
environmental and internal communication.
Harrison (1995) on her part offers a proposal that
suggests that: corporate communication brings together all
communications which involve an organisation as a
corporate entity. Everything, in short that originates from
corporate headquarters is targeted at employees or which
reflects the organisation as a whole. She opined that it does
not include communications such as departmental
newsletters and public relations activities on behalf of
brands or subsidiaries. But, she suggests, it does include
annual reports, corporate identity programmes, corporate
advertising and the greater part of investor relations
activity.
What is common to all the definitions is that
corporate communication is an integrated communication
which is aimed at projecting the image of an organisation
meaningfully to secure her public's confidence on her
products and services. The nomenclature associated with
corporate communication is sometimes misunderstood.
This is because, not every organisation has dealings in the
three territories of corporate communication. Thus, certain
nomenclatures are sometimes associated with it. Some
organisations refer to it as public affairs, public relations,
corporate affairs, social and digital communication.
It is important to state that there is a difference. In
Nigeria, the term public affairs or corporate affairs is
mostly associated with government agencies and
institutions and some quasi-public institutions. The
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and its various

Introduction to Corporate Communication 4

subsidiaries and public institutions go with public affairs
and corporate affairs. Where this is the name, the focus is
on external affairs management and relations with the
media and the public. It may involve a number of
stakeholders. Dolphin (1999) observes that many argued
that the focus is-and must be - on governmental institutions
and the public policy process. Post & Griffin (1997) stress
the role of corporate communications with stakeholders as
the essential focus. Dolphin argues that in practice,
corporate affairs and public affairs are expressions used
largely interchangeably. The expression public affairs is
used more frequently in some industries than others. in
heavily regulated sectors public affairs can be a separate
department altogether. It may well be that the old
specification 'public relations director' is now often used
interchangeably with that of 'public affairs director'
(Simon, 1986).
Dolphin (1999) noted also that many scholars of
management consider that public affairs concerns the
management of relationships with government, whereas
White & Mazur (1995) note that public affairs is often
referred to as government affairs in other countries. Public
affairs is a sort of upgraded title to take into account the
relationships with government. An intermediate step is
corporate communications. Some organisations use the
term 'public relations' to describe the work of the external
relations practitioner. In many corporate organisations, the
term 'public relations' is gradually being replaced by the
tag, corporate affairs, corporate communications and
communication and digital affairs. Experience has shown
that most times, the nomenclature associated with the
communications and relationship management functions
stem from the management knowledge of the nuances of
communication in an organisation. What is in a name?
What is important is the effective discharge of the

5 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

functions associated with the management, marketing and
organisational goals. Where the organisation activities are
limited to certain areas, the effective dissemination and
management of all forms of the organisational
relationships become vital.

What the is Communication?

Corporate communication refers to the way in which

businesses and organisations communicate with internal
and external various audiences. These audiences as noted
by Stobierski (2019) are customers and potential
customers, employees, key stakeholders, the media and
general public and government agencies and other third-
party regulators. The foregoing implies that corporate
communication is all about how companies interact with
various stakeholders through internal and external
communication channels. Organisations and companies
must communicate with their stakeholders so that the
stakeholders will get to understand their policies,
programmes, philosophies, prospects, challenges, etc. The
methods through which companies carry out these
responsibilities is what is referred to as corporate
communication.
Corporate communication empowers businesses
and organisations to communicate with internal and
external audiences like employees, customers, potential
customers, media, the general public, stakeholders,
government agencies, 3rd party regulators, etc. (Bhasin,
2021). Different variations of corporate communication
depend upon the audiences it is addressing. From public
relations and media relations, to press releases, news
conferences, HRM, corporate communication revolves
around written words (promotional materials, reports,
website copy, advertisements, memos, email, social

Introduction to Corporate Communication 6

media, press releases, etc.); spoken words (videos, press
conferences, social media videos, meetings, interviews,
etc.) and non-spoken communication (photographs,
infographics, illustrations, general branding, etc.)(Bhasin,
2021).
The import of the above is that corporate
communication describes activities involved in managing
both internal and external communications in a workplace
and this can include internal presentations, staff
newsletters, media releases for journalists, investor
correspondence, social media and more and external
presentations like advertising, sales promotion, public
relations campaigns, personal selling, etc.

Types of Corporate Communication

As noted by Cotter (2021), the two main types of corporate

communication are internal and external communications.

1. Internal Corporate Communication: Internal

corporate communication is about employees, managers,
executives and board members communicating within a
company. Some examples of internal corporate
communications are a memo sent from management to all
employees, an all-hands meeting between different
departments or even a team chatting on slack (Cotter,
2021). Internal corporate communication can be formal or
informal and it can involve many employees or just a few.
The way your teams communicate internally is very
important because it contributes to your company's
corporate culture. Finding the right tone, frequency and
method for internal communication is crucial to your
business' long-term success (Cotter, 2021).

2. External Corporate Communication: External

7 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

corporate communication is the face a company presents
to the outside world. It is important to manage this type of
corporate communication because it affects your
company's public image. A public misstep can change the
way consumers view your product, thereby affecting sales
(Cotter, 2021). External corporate communication does
not necessarily mean issuing a formal announcement or a
press release. In the age of social media, companies are
also able to interact with consumers in a casual way using
tools like Twitter. Both formal and informal external
communications can have an impact on your company's
brand image (Cotter, 2021).

Areas of Corporate Communication

In corporate communications, there are typically three

principal areas. These, according to Adonai Media (2021)
include:

1. Management Communication: This form of

communication takes place between management
and both internal and external audiences. To ensure
successful external and internal business
communication, management relies on specialists
to deliver their messaging effectively. These
specialists often work in marketing communication
and organisational communication (Adonai Media,
2021).

2. Marketing Communication – As marketing

communication can include advertising, direct
mail, sponsorship and selling, it is quite common
for businesses to allocate the bulk of their budget to
corporate and marketing communications (Adonai
Media, 2021).

Introduction to Corporate Communication 8

3. Organisational communication – Those in the
public relations industry working in business will likely be
involved in organisational communication. This consists
of specialists in areas including public affairs, corporate
advertising, employee communication, investor relations
and public relations (Adonai Media, 2021).

These three principal clusters work together to

achieve effective business communication. Most
organisations will even devise a business communication
plan, also known as a corporate communication plan, to
ensure their company successfully communicates with all
stakeholders (Adonai Media, 2021).

History of Corporate Communications

While it is not common to talk about public relations

anymore, it is important to note that corporate
communication has its roots in public relations. The
development of the theoretical construct of cooperate
image in public relations research gave rise to the
dimension of corporate communication in the
management of corporate image. From the dimension of
public relations, corporate image processes are inevitable
and image may be positive or negative, the reality is
subject to the production and consumption of
organisation's campaign communication messages. Public
relations assumes the concept of image as a fluid process
communicating positive and negative, intended and
unintended, strong and weak images or information to the
public's. While pubic relation is majorly a communication
function in an organisation the need to build and manage
the corporate image of organisation open up an area of
specialisation for corporate communication. In public

9 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

relations, communication is described as the management
of corporate image for the organisation (Heath, 2005). The
utilisation of communication to construct and shape
organisational cooperate image necessitated a specialised
aspect of communication outside public relations to
specifically cater for organisational cooperate image.

Objectives of Corporate Communication

Corporate communication is the heart of modern

management function aimed at making friends for the
organisation. Retaining these friends and building internal
and external goodwill on the reasonable assumption that
these are strongly needed for an organisation to retain in
whatever business it is engaged in, as well as to grow and
prosper in it (Sarah, 2014, citing Nwosu, 1990).
The aim of corporate communication is generally
to achieve good character and responsibility. It means that
the job of the public relations officers is to get the
management to behave in a certain way as they would be
seen to have good character and be responsible citizens.
For institutions to achieve their goals, they must develop
effective relationship with their publics such as customers.
The management of institution needs to understand the
attitude and values of their publics in order to achieve
institutional goals. The goals themselves are shaped by the
external environment. The public relations practitioner
acts as a counsellor to management and as a mediator,
helping to translate private aims into reasonable, publicly
acceptable policy and actions.
The corporate communication executive in an
organisation should perform management function of
directing management and coordinating all activities
aimed at creating favourable image to effective
management of man and resources of the organisation. In

Introduction to Corporate Communication 10

essence, public relations activities or programmes whether
as a management orientation or social act, are developed in
such a way that they will have multiple effects on the
company, the staff and the external policy. Corporate
communication is reciprocal and have mutually-manifest
effects in the parties involved. The corporate
communication strategy used by PR personnel according
to Okpara (2016) includes:

1. Written material in order to build a corporate image

and reputation, public relations practitioner also
prepares written materials to reach and influence
their target markets. The materials should include
annual report, brochures, articles, articles and
organisation's newsletter and magazines.

2. Corporate Identity Materials: This can also help

to create a co-operate identity that the public's
immediately recognise like logo, stationary,
brochures, signs, business for, business cards, all
becomes corporate communication strategies
when they are attractive, distinctive and
memorable.

3. News: one major strategy is news. It is the duty of

the PR practitioner to do everything possible to
facilitate the flow of news of news from the
organisation and its activities to the notice of the
wide politics.

4. Special Events: Another common corporate

communication strategy for corporate image and
reputation is special events, ranging from news
conference, press conference, press tours, grand
opening or educational programmes designed to
reach and interest target publics.

11 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

5. Press Conference: These takes the form of a
meeting or where a major announcement is made
and guest are involved to ask questions. A press
conference may be given in the preference to a press
release, the matter under reviews merits some
explanation which may not be covered
adequately in the press itself.

6. Speeches: This can also create product and

organisation publicity. Organisation executives
would field questions to the media or give talks on
trade associations or sales meeting.

The strategic objectives of corporate communication as

enumerated by Dolphin (2000) are:

1. Advising senior executives.

2. Arousing interest in the corporate brand and

products.

3. Assisting the CEO to overcome rumours and

threats.

4. Carrying out market research into the motivations

and attitudes of target.

5. Communicating corporate strategies and positions.

6. Ensuring that questions from significant publics are

answered.

7. Establishing and nourishing relationships with

significant publics.

8. Establishing a dialogue with media over important

issues publics.

Introduction to Corporate Communication 12

9. Helping to recover losses in corporate credibility.
10. Helping to handle crisis situations and creating
sympathy for the joining in the promotion of new
products and services by lobbying government at
macro and micro level.

11. Offering reassurance to publics concerned about an

issue.

12. Producing a defence for corporate views and

positions.

13. Projecting a corporate image and boosting

reputation.

14. Promoting the corporate brand.

15. Providing an explanation of critical issues to

important opinion formers.

16. Transforming negative situations into corporate

opportunities.

17. Winning support for organisational positions and

goal.

Importance of Corporate Communication to

Customer Satisfaction

Corporate communications perform several functions in

the life of any organisation; they among others,
include the following:

1. C o r p o r a t e c o m m u n i c a t i o n i s used i n
communicating the image and success of the
organisation in such a way that would lead to

13 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

 consumers' satisfaction. When an organisation
channels efforts towards improving consumer's
satisfaction in the use of their products and services,
the organisation is equally promoting its imageand
success as a business organisation.

2. It helps to mould public perception about the

company or organisation. This is because how the
public perceives an organisation is critical to the
organisation's success.

3. As a corollary to the above, corporate

communication helps in building the right
reputation for the company or organisation The
company can create an image, but whether that
image will lead to a good reputation depends on
what it does with its product, services and its
internal and external publics. This is because
reputations are overall assessments of
organisations by their stakeholders. They are
aggregate perceptions by stakeholders of an
organisation's ability to fulfil their expectation,
whether these stakeholders are interested in buying
the company's products, working for the company
or investing in the company's shares (Furman,
2010).Your marketing activity needs to work hard
to build and maintain a positive brand reputation.
Social proof is a key indicator for employees,
customers and the general public that your
company is doing good things and following
through on your brand values. Projecting these
through your corporate communications is a
powerful way to enhance your reputation. Whether
it is a press release highlighting your annual
earnings or a social post about your work in the

Introduction to Corporate Communication 14

 local community, communicating your core values,
positive reviews and examples of your CSR work
indicate to your audiences that you are a reputable
organisation. And this reputation can act as a
powerful factor in a customer or recruit choosing
you over a competitor (Papirfly, 2021).

4. It helps to associate an organisation or company

with a brand. Organisation brand is defined as the
value that customers associate with the
organisation. It is the customers' perception of the
overall superiority of an organisation carrying that
brand name when compared to other organisations.
It refers to consumers' perception rather than any
objective indicators (Chen, 2001).

5. Corporate communications provides avenues for

corporate citizenship through corporate social
responsibility, corporate philanthropy and
sponsorship of noble causes. Corporate social
responsibility (CSR) must be mentioned as another
concept that is influencing the development of
brands in recent times through corporate
communication especially corporate brands as the
public wants to know what, where and how many
brands are giving back to society. Both branding
and CSR have become crucially important now that
the organisation have recognised how these
strategies can add or detract from their value
(Blumenthal & Bergstrom, 2003). CSR can be
defined in terms of legitimate ethics or from an
instrumentalist perspective where corporate image
is the prime concern (McAdam & Leonard, 2003).

6. Consumer based organisational brand through

15 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

 corporate communication is evaluating the
consumer's response to a brand name. Organisation
brand is defined as the value that customers
associate with the organisation (Aaker, 1991, cited
in Agbor, 2011). It is the consumer perception of the
overall superiority of an organisation carrying the
brand name when compared to other organisation.
It refers to consumers' perception rather than any
objective indicated.

7. It is a tool for crisis communication. Both internal

and external corporate communication is
particularly important in times of crisis. Internal
communication ensures that everyone is on the
same page about the crisis situation, while external
communication can help convey appropriate
messages to the public (Cotter, 2021)

8. Corporate communication provides avenue for the

public to gain insights into the organisations'
activities.

9. Corporate communication serves as the

organisation channel for relationship management
both with internal and external publics of the
organisation.

10. Communication Builds Company Culture:

Thoughtfully-written internal communication
shows a commitment to transparency on the part of
leadership. If the business is facing challenges,
leaders can address these and outline a plan for the
future in a tactful message to staff. Collaboration in
and between teams also helps to strengthen
company culture (Cotter, 2021).
11. Improves Customer Loyalty and Trust: Your

Introduction to Corporate Communication 16

 customers are one of the most important audiences
your corporate communication will engage with on
a daily basis. And they expect authenticity through
these in order to build trust with your brand and
become loyal followers.As your marketing
nurtures and connects with them through your
various touchpoints, staying consistent and genuine
with your messaging is crucial to developing this
trust (Papirfly, 2021).

According to Aaker (1996), cited in Agbor (2011),

consumers consider the organisation that is the people,
values and programmes that lies behind the brand. Brand-
as-organisation can be particularly helpful when brands
are similar with respect to attributes, when the
organisation is visible (as in a durable goods or service
business), or when a corporate brand is involved. In the
corporate institutions, corporate communications is public
relations activity which is concerned with the satisfaction
of customers. A poor consumer image does not enhance
the organisation's image in the eyes of its other
stakeholders. Any organisation, whatever its nature has
corporate image simply by virtue of its existence, the point
of corporate communication is to reconcile the gap
between how an organisation sees itself and how others
outside the organisation perceive it and to make the public
think favourably about the company offerings. It requires
listening to the consumers the organisation serves as well
as analysing and understanding the attitude and behaviour
of consumers (Nwosu & Uffoh, 2005). Its main aim is to
create, maintain and protect the organisation's reputation,
enhance the prestige, and present favourable image.
Levary & Mathieu (2000) suggest that
organisational public rating is determined by an
organisation's ability to attract new customers and retain

17 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

existing customers; customer total satisfaction with the
service provision experience affects organisation's ability
to attract new customers and retain existing customers.
Krampf (2003) suggests that customer satisfaction is
fundamental to an organisation's survival in contemporary
business environment.
It is obvious that consumers play important role in
the organisational process (Lee & Ritman, 2005). Before
the placement of strategies and organisational structure,
the customers are the first aspect considered by
managements. The questions asked in the strategic
planning ranges from who will need to consume these
offers, where are they and for how much can they buy to
how to reach the customers and will yield them maximum
satisfaction? After these questions, the organisation will
then design the product, segment the markets and create
awareness. This does not only show the importance of
customers in the business environment, but also, the
importance of satisfying them.
Customers are always aiming to get maximum
satisfaction from the products or services that they buy.
Winning in today's market place entails the need to build
customer relationship and not just building the products;
building customer relationship means delivering superior
value over competitors to the target customers (Kotler et al
2002, p. 391).Whether an organisation provides quality
services or not will depends on the customers' feedback on
the satisfaction they get from consuming the products,
since higher levels of quality lead to higher levels of
customer satisfaction (Kotler & Keller, 2009, p. 169).
Most companies are adopting quality management
programme which aims at improving the quality of their
products and marketing processes, because it has been
proven that quality had a direct impact on product
performance; thus, on customer satisfaction.
Mapping the Territoes in Corporate Communication

Introduction to Corporate Communication 18

 There are three broad areas of corporate
communications: they are management, marketing and
organisational communication. Each of the subareas deals
with specific communication issues, which include:

1. Management: This refers to activities of senior

management staff which impact on the overall
image and perception of the organisation. This
areas focus on sponsorship, corporate social
responsibility, media relations and corporate
philanthropy that help project the good image of the
organisation. It is also important to state that a
wrong action by management staff can send a
wrong message to the public.

2. Marketing: Marketing is a planned process of

creating and satisfying consumers' needs through
an exchange process. These include advertising,
sponsorship, sales promotion, marketing
campaigns and direct mail.

3. Organisational Communication: This area

focuses on public relations, customer relations,
corporate affairs, internal communication,
environmental communication, investors relations,
employee relations, community relations.

19 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

 CHAPTER TWO

ORGANISATION CULTURE AND BEHAVIOUR

INTRODUCTION

An organisation is a company, business intuition, a non-

profit organisation that is formed for a particular purpose.
It is like a living being with a life of its own. Every
organisation is a living entity that has life of its own and the
type of life that an organisation has is dependent on the
management of the organisation. Often times, it is the
management of an organisation that determines the
operational culture of the organisation and the culture of an
organisation impacts on a people's behaviour or in this
context, an organisation's behaviour.
Organisational culture is a system of shared
meanings held by members of an organisation that
distinguishes the organisation from others. It represents a
system of shared meanings, assumptions, values, beliefs,
etc. that govern how a people act and behave in an
organisation. Organisational culture is what is visible for
everybody to see. Every organisation has two cultures;
first is the dominant culture held by the majority of the
organisation and the second is the sub-culture held by a
small number or group in an organisation. Organisational
culture encompasses the values, beliefs, experiences,
meanings and behaviours that can contribute to the unique
social and psychological environment of an organisation.

20
Features of Organisational Behaviour

1. Innovation and Risk taking: This is the degree to

which an organisation is open to adopting new
innovations and it ability to step out of their comfort
zone and venture in new grounds and unchartered
territories.

2. Outcome Orientation: Outcome orientation is

the degree to which management f o c u s e s o n
outcome (result) rather than processes. Many a time
corporate organisations places more emphases on
the end result rather that the t e c h n i q u e s a n d
process use to achieve the outcome.

3. People Orientation: People orientation is the

extent to which an organisation focuses on the
people in its employment. It places emphasis of
investing in the growth and development of human
beings.

4. Team Orientation: A team orientation is a team

focus; it gives credence and rewards to team work
rather than individual effort. Team orientates
creates a core value on team work and collective
responsibility. It forces members of an
organisation to actually work together to actualise a
set goal.

5. Aggressiveness: This is the level of passion and zeal

members of organisation put into their assignment
and jobs.

6. Stability: Stability talks about enduring capacity

and firmness of an organisation and its culture over
the years.

21 Organisation Culture and Behaviour

Benefits of Organisational Culture

1. Organisational culture distinguishes one

organisation from another.

2. It generates commitment to organisational goal.

3. Organisational culture gives members of an

institution/company a sense of identity.

4. It stabilises the social system of an organisation.

5. It serves as glue that hold the organisation together

by setting an appropriate standard that must be
adhered to.

6. It serves as a control mechanism which helps to

guide and shape the attitude and behaviour of
employees.

How to Build Organisational Culture

It is worthy to note that the founders of an organisations

determine the organisational culture. They set the
benchmark that guides what employees values they should
adapt to while in the organisation. The following are ways
of building organisational culture:

1. Founders Orientation/Philosophy: Ownership

ideologies, desires and mentality forms the core
values of the organisation.

2. Through inductions and Socialisation (Trainings,

Inductions and Orientations).

3. Behaviour Modelling: Leaders can serve as an

example and role models for employees to follow.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

22
4. Selection of Employees: This entails employing
with the right attitude, mentality and people will to
adapt and buy into the philosophies of the
organisation.
5. Management Team Orientation: It involves
hiring and bringing in people into the management
cadre who are committed to promote and represent
the philosophies of the organisation and those that
do not speak ills of the organisation.
6. Socialisation: This entails communication and
interactions with employees and reaching out to
staff on a regular basis. Teaching them the ropes in
the organisation's affairs, hosting seminars, in-
house- trainings and entertainments.
How Employees Learn Organisational Culture
1. Through Story Telling: This involves sharing the
stories about how the organisation started and
sharing the difficulties and success the company
has built up the company.
2. Rituals: They are routine activities that have
become part of the ideals of the organisation.
3. Material Symbols such as caps, t-shirt, key holders
and stamps.
4. Language: Uses language to communicate the
values prevalent, in an organisation.
Steps to Creating a Positive Organisational Culture
1. Build on employee strength.
2. Have an adequate reward system for a good
organisational behaviour and for conformity to
organisational culture.

23 Organisation Culture and Behaviour

3. Emphasis is on development and growth of
employees which can in turn translate to overall
organisational advancement.

4. Invest in employees.

Limitations of Organisational Culture

1. Organisational Culture can Act as a Carrier to

Innovations: When a culture is so entrench and
management is set in their ways, it becomes
resistant to new invention and innovation.

2. Organisational Culture can act as a Barrier to

Diversity: Variety add colour to an environment
and is often referred to as the spice of life. People
are a product of different experiences,
background and realities this makes individual
different in their attitude and behaviour. The
uniqueness of people can be problematic to an
organisational culture which places emphasis on
conformity.

3. It can act as a barrier to partnership, acquisition

and mergers: when an organisational culture is
deeply engraved in an organisation, it makes the
organisation very resistant to change. Such an
organisation is often unwilling and resistant to
partner or merge with another organisation whose
culture is different from their even if the partnership
or merger is beneficial.

4. It can also act as a Barrier to Adoption of New

Technologies: Technologies can challenge
organisational culture because it changes the
operational manual or day to day operations of a
company. The rigidity that sometimes characterise

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

24
 organisational culture can become a hindrance to
adopting new technologies.

Organisational Behaviour

Organisational behaviour is the systematic study of people

or employees in an organisation and how their actions and
behaviour affect the organisation's performance. It is an
investigation into individuals, groups and structures
inherent in an organisation and how it affects the
organisation and behavioural outlook of the organisation.
Robbins & Judge (2009) assert that organisational
behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact
that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour
within an organisation, for the purpose of applying such
knowledge towards improving the organisation
effectiveness. This simply implies that organisational
behaviour is concerned about how structures and skills of
individual or a group of people who work in an
organisation can be harnessed for the overall good of the
company. There are independent and dependent variables
that shape organisational behaviour. The independent
variables are:

i. Gender: In some countries of the world, the notion

of gender is no longer indicative of male or female,
but has come to include transgender. In other
words, some organisations no longer define
individuals as man or woman but on the basis of
what the individuals say he or she is. Thus,
organisations have rest rooms for male and female.
Crisis emanate when traditional males are now
invaded by traditional female who now claim to be
males.

25 Organisation Culture and Behaviour

 Apart from this issue, women of
reproductive age are sometimes in difficult
situation in the world or works. The difficulty
comes from the fact that women of reproductive
age need to give time and attention to their children.
In the process, their work commitment is reduced
and their impact in the workplace become less felt.
To avoid these drawbacks, some organisations give
attention to those who can contribute to the
workplace without creating gaps for the
organisations.In countries where paternity leave
has been adopted as part of the labour laws, men can
become absent from work to assist their wives in
the task of home management.

ii. Race/Ethnicity: The question of race and ethnicity

remain contentious. Race is biological mark of
identity which helps distinguishing a people around
the world. Ethnicity has to do with a social group
with common national or cultural tradition,
religion, language which distinguishes them from
others. How does race affect organisational
behaviour? First, there is element of nepotism or
favouritism in the work place. Some managers tend
to show special favour to individuals or people of
their race or ethnicity some race are noted to be
good in certain jobs. Managers show bias in this
sense when they do not give opportunity to none
members of such racial group an opportunity to try.
Even when assessments are conducted, some
officials wilfully give high rating to those from
their ethnic or racial group. When workers in such
organisation discover such bias, they can show
strong negative altitude to work.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

26
iii. Religion: Individual belief system has impact on
organisation behaviour. In an organisation with
strong religious group, the question of prayer
during work hours becomes an issue for
management. If the dominant religion in such a
society has a strong force in state affairs, the
workers will always agitate for their religious rights
in the workplace. However, if they are in the
minority, they will be discriminated against. Some
religion groups are labelled, such labelling results
into discrimination which can affect the health of
the organisation.

Some of the dependent variables that affect

organisation behaviour include the following:

i. Productivity: Productivity is the degree to which

an organisation performs its activities both
effectively and efficiently. Effectiveness is the
ability of an organisation to meet its customers'
needs. When such needs are meant at a low cost, the
organisation is efficient. This is why organisations
have customer relations units to take complaints
and commendation from client base as a way of
getting feedback about their effectiveness.

ii. Absenteeism: The inability of a worker to report to

work or duty is called absenteeism. When a worker
fails to turn up for work, it affects production of
work schedule. This attitude impact on the overall
health of the organisation. Absenteeism disrupts
production activities, it limits the capacity of the
organisation to operate smoothly, it affects the
growth production output, especially when key
specialist is absent and it limits the capacity to meet
its set objectives.

27 Organisation Culture and Behaviour

 However, there are cases in which absenteeism can
be tolerated if a worker's presence at work will
affect output. For instance, a pilot who is need does
not need to report to fly an aircraft, similarly, a
surgeon who needs to perform an operation when
not in the right frame of mind. The implication of
this is that it's better to have an absent case than
create a disaster that will cost the organisation
millions of dollars.

iii. Staff Turnover: It is the voluntary or involuntary

withdrawal of a staff from the services of an
organisation he/she works. When staffs resign,
especially skillful ones, getting replacement is
always difficult. When the rate of turnover is high
in an organisation, its survival will be threatened. In
most cases, turn over arises from the workers
search for better opportunity. The concern of
organisation behaviour is understanding workers'
motivation and taking steps to creating a conducive
atmosphere for them to thrive. Poor understanding
of the workers' motivation may lead to high
turnover when the workers see the working
environment condition at work as de-motivating.

iv. Deviant Workplace Behaviour: These are

behaviours that affect the world of w o r k w h i c h
some employees purposely put up to create
disturbance. Some of these behaviours include
social loafing, watching movies in the office,
wearing-makeups in the office, selling personal
goods during office hours, etc. The danger with
deviant workplace behaviour lies in the fact that it
takes c o n c e n t r a t i o n f r o m a s s i g n e d
responsibilities, threatens the health of the
organisation, distorts the values of the organisation
and destroys organisational culture to work

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

28
 Organisational behaviour is, therefore, necessary to
help the manager understand the root cause of such
behaviour and deploy appropriate strategies to mitigate the
impact of such behaviour on organisational productivity.

Organisational Citizenship Behaviour

Every worker newly employed in an organisation is

usually given orientation and job schedule. However, there
are certain things some workers take their time to do to
promote the wellbeing of the organisation even though
such things are not part of their responsibility. The whole
essence is to have an organisation that is alive. It is
important to state that not all workers have organisational
citizenship behaviour. However, where such workers are
found, the following becomes obvious:

a. They help others to succeed with their tasks.

b. They volunteer to support in organisational

courses.

c. They prevent organisational conflict.

d. They obey organisation rules and resolutions.

e. Accept work inconveniencies.

Managers need to search for workers with

organisational citizenship behaviour in order to stimulate
organisational growth.

Job Satisfaction

Robbins & Judge (2009, p. 21) define job satisfaction as “a

positive felony about one's job resulting from an
evaluation of its characteristics.” The level of a worker's

29 Organisation Culture and Behaviour

satisfaction with organisations' life has a relationship with
the job motivation and performance. By organisation life,
we mean every aspect of an organisation that contributes to
workers' satisfaction. When workers show their attitude to
work, it will impact on the productivity of the organisation.
Managers need to constantly study employees' attitude to
work in order to stem the negative influence of such
attitude in the organisation.

Learning: It is an ongoing endeavour that results from life

experiences. It can take place through formal learning
structures or through informal or accidental ways.
Learning is, therefore, the change in behaviour that sprung
from experience, knowledge or observation.
Psychologists identified three ways of learning; these are
classical conditioning, operant condition and social
learning:

I. Classical conditioning is type of conditioning in

which an individual respond to some stimulus thatwould
not ordinarily produce such a response (Robbins &Jodge,
2009). There are some variables in classical conditioning:
unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response,
conditioned stimulus and conditioned response. The
theory of classical conditioning is grounded in the
experiment conducted by a Russian psychologist called
Iran Pavlou. Unconditioned stimulus is a motivating act
that stimulates a reaction. Unconditioned response is the
reaction that occurs when a motivating act or
unconditioned stimulus occurs. Conditioned stimulus is a
conditioned stimulus is an artificial act created to stimulate
a response; conditioned response is the response to
stimulus. That is independent or an unconditioned
stimulus. The thesis of the classical conditioning is that
people tend to react favourably to conditions or stimulus
that makes for their go. It also means associating
individual reaction to a phenomenon as a result of the
likely effect on them.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

30
ii. Operant conditioning is attributed to the work of
Harvard Psychologist B. F. Skinner. The theory states that
behaviour is an attitude of its effects. In a class w h e r e
punishment is a jowly practice by the teacher will try to be
well-behaved in order to avoid punishment. In the same
vein, when there is a reward for good behaviour, the
tendency is that the students will show good behavior. In
order words, every behaviour results from consequences.
In labour relations, if a worker gets good working
condition overtime, the tendency that such worker will put
in more efforts to get more is very high.

iii. Social Learning: The idea behind this learning

approach is that people learning o b s e r v i n g t h e
behaviour of people they have seen and through their
personal experience. This is why parents take time to
predetermine what a child watches, listens to and reads
in his or her early age. This is the idea of guided learningto
help shape the behaviour of the child. The same appliesto
corporate organisations where new employees are
exposed to the nuances of the job one step at a time. The
whole idea is to help them group the working of the
organisation so that they can grow to be good managers of
the future. Human behaviour can be shaped through
positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement,
punishment and extinction. The application of these
methods depends on behaviour of the individual under
learning.

Personality

It is the sum total or ways in which an individual reacts to

and interacts with other (Robbins & Judge, 2009).
However, Gordon Allport defines it as “the dynamic
organisation within the individual of those psychological
systems that determine his unique adjustment to his
environment. Why is personality a trait that is measured in

31 Organisation Culture and Behaviour

organisational behaviour? The answer lies in the fact that it
helps managers to select the best man for the job. How do
we determine personality? There are many factors that
influence personality. It can be the environmental,
biological, social interaction. In working out these
variables, realise that the physique of an individual
emanates from the genes of the parents. The degree of
attractiveness also depends on the parents. It is important
to state that some personality traits are obvious for people
to see(fear, loyalty, timidity, submissiveness,
aggressiveness, shyness, boldness, etc.). Thus, individuals
that manifest these traits can easily be described.
Nevertheless, some models have been designed to
describe personality traits; they include:

a. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: The model is a100-

question personality test that questions people on howthey
feel or act to persons or situations. The answers provided
help in classifying such personality into extroverted or
introverted (E or I), sensing or intuitive (S orI), thinking or
feeling (T or F) and judging or perceiving (J or P).
Extroverted people are so enviable, outgoing and
assertive in their relationship.
Introverted personality is quiet, shy and can be
timid. Sensing types are practical, engage in routine,
believe in order, they have eyes for details. Intuitive
persons see beyond the physical, but tend to see the 'big
picture.' Thinking person's use reason and logic to solve
problems, while feeling persons depends on their personal
values and emotion to handle issues. Judging people seek
to control and have their way with opinion, follow order
and try to be flexible with things. However, perceiving
persons are flexible and act spontaneously.

ii. The Big five model of personality include:

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

32
a. Extraversion: The extraversion revolves around
the individual level of comfort in relationship. Such
persons tend to be loquacious, assertive and
sociable. The introverted person is timid, reserved
and quiet.

b. Agreeable: It is the level to which such person can

refer to others. They tend to be cooperative and
show understanding. The reverse is that such
personalities are cold, argumentative and
antagonistic.

c. Conscientiousness: These categories of

personality are reasonable, organised, dependable
and resistant in what they do. A low dimension of
this personality trait manifest in people who are
easily distracted, discouraged and unreasonable.

d. Emotional Stability: This trait focuses on the

neuroticism strength. This group of personality can
withstand stress, tend to be calm, self-confident and
reserve. However, when a personality has a low
emotional stability, he or she tends to be nervous,
depressed and insecure.

e. Openness to Experience: It is concerned with ones

range of interest and fascination with something
new. Personalities that extremely open tend to be
creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. The
opposites are those who stick to conventions and
stick to their own routines.

The essence of personality trait is to help

understand the relationship between the personality and
job performance. If a manager gives sensitive

33 Organisation Culture and Behaviour

responsibility to people who are fearful and timid, the
result may not be favourable. Workers who have low
emotional stability tend to resign easily, some who cannot
cope go into depression. Organisational behaviour will
help the manager understand these classes of personalities
and work round them for optimum performance. There are
other types of personality trait which organisation
behaviour literature have revealed, they are:

a. Core-Self Evaluation: It is the extent individuals

like or dislike themselves and whether they see themselves
as capable or incapable. Thus, if individuals see
themselves as capable, they will have positive evaluation
of themselves where they see themselves as incapable,
they will develop inferior complex about themselves.

b. Machiavellianism: It is a personality that is

grounded on using everything within your power to
achieve your aim. The approach can be pragmatic or
manipulative.

c. Narcissism: this is a personality that has a high

opinion of him or herself. Some personalities feel they are
entitled to respect and admiration. Above all, they tend to
be arrogant.

d. Self-Monitoring: The type of personality is able to

adjust to changing times or situation around them. The
degree of individuals self-monitoring relates to the ability
to adjust.

e. Risk Takers: These are personalities that are ready

to take risk or venture. It is the degree of what the
outcome will be.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

34
f. Type A Personality: It is the personality that has an
aggressive urge to achieve a set goal within a short time.
Some people are inordinately competitive and are always
in a hurry.

g. Proactive Personality: These are personalities that

make deliberate effort to change or improve their
circumstances.They see opportunities and take advantages
of them. They are outspoken and success driven.
From our discussion of the various personalities,
you realised that a manager needs to understand the
dynamics of human behaviour and design a p p r o p r i a t e
strategies to manage and communicate with such
personalities in order to realise organisational goals.

35 Organisation Culture and Behaviour

 CHAPTER THREE
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

CONCEPT OF REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

Reputation has become a crucial asset in corporate

organisations; it is built on the aggregate perceptions and
opinions formed by the publics about an organisation.
Every organisation, no matter how large or small,
ultimately depends on its reputation for survival and
success (Asemah, Akase & Nkwam-Uwaoma, 2018).
Abratt & Klyen (2012) note that reputation management is
fast taking the centre stage, both in business and academic
world. This is because the corporate world has come to
recognise and understand that reputation is an intangible
asset that must be managed due to its capability of creating
competitive advantage in the market arena. Many
stakeholders use reputation as benchmark and
precondition in contract and business dealings. Helm
(2011) acknowledges that reputation is one of the most
relevant corporate assets. It is painstakingly acquired, yet
can be easily lost if not properly managed. This suggests
that reputation is an intangible asset that can be managed
or mismanaged. Reputations are value judgements that
evolve over time primarily based on emotional, financial,
social and cultural attachment between an organisation
and various publics. Reputations are subject to perception
cultivated over time. It represents the aggregate
perceptions that stakeholders have developed about an
organisation over a period of time (Coombs, 2010). They

36
are made up of perceptions and orientations formed on the
basses of the interactions and dealings with organisation
over a period of time. Reputations are created through
direct and mediated contact with an organisation; direct
experience includes buying a product, visiting a store or
using a service; while mediated contact includes messages
from the organisation, word-of-mouth communication,
online messages from the organisation and others and
news media coverage about an organisation (Coombs,
2010).
Reputation management is the strategic use of
corporate resources to positively influence the attitudes,
beliefs, opinions and actions of multiple corporate
stakeholders, including consumers, employee, investors
and media. Munyoro & Magada (2016) contend that
cooperate reputation management is a systematic set of
strategies to predict and meet expectations, foster and
manage strong relationships and engender positive
feedback among all stakeholders in order to meet expected
organisational goals. Reputation management seeks
balance public and stakeholders' perceptions, which can
foster attitude and orientations that helps corporate
organisations actualise short and long-term goals. Fielder
(2011) explains that the increased significance of
reputation management over the last few years can be
explained in terms of a generally growing reputation
orientation and changing environmental conditions. The
paradigm of reputation management is that an
organisation's reputation is dependent on its behaviour as a
corporate citizen, as part of the societies in which it
operates from (Watson & Kitchen, 2010). Liehr-Gobbers
& Storck (2011) highlighted six basic ideas about
managing corporate reputation thus:
a. It is reputation that drives corporate value in the
first place.

37 Reputation Management
b. Corporate value depends on the behaviour of
various stakeholder groups.

c. Reputation management aims at creating shared

interests with stakeholders.

d. Stakeholder perception is generated by every

member of an organisation.

e. Building and protecting the right reputation is a

fundamental part of leadership.

f. Reputational goals need to be linked to corporate

strategy.

Importance of Reputation Management

The market value of a corporate entity is largely dependent

on the reputation that has been built overtime. Reputation
has quickly become a critical resource and concern for
organisations. A favourable reputation helps to motivate
employees, attract customers, promote investment, attract
top employees and improve financial performance
(Coombs, 2010). Reputation forms an intangible value
chain that influences and shapes the patronage decisions of
the publics and stakeholders towards a corporate entity.
This makes reputation management a necessity for the
corporate organisation. The following are some of the
importance of reputation management:

a. Builds a Solid Corporate Identity: Corporate

identity is the embodiment of an organisation personality.
It represents the unique attribute, defines the character
of an organisation positively or negatively. Melewar,
Foroudi, Dinnie & Nguyen (2018) note that coporate
identity is the presentation of an o r g a n i s a t i o n

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

38
to every stakeholder. It is what makes an organisation
unique and incorporates organisation's communication,
design, culture, behaviour, structure and strategy. The
over-riding notion of corporate identity conveys the idea
that every organisation has its own personality (Simones
& sebastiani, 2017). Corporate identity is instrumental in
influencing an organisation's position in the market place
or corporate world. At the instrumental level, corporate
identity may be used as a managerial toolto operationalise,
articulate and convey the organisation'sidentity (Simones
& Mason, 2012).

b. Minimise Infodemic: In an era of ubiquitous

information where technology has democratised
information; false, misleading and destructive information
cum rumours is constantly peddled by unscrupulous and
ignorant persons. In a time when corporate and executive
reputations can hinge upon fast-moving story or malicious
social media conversations, communication professionals
cannot afford to be caught off guard. Neglect of reputation
by means of apathy, indifference or ineffective
communication is leaving key communication to the
vagaries of other market forces (Watson & Kitchen, 2010).
The quality of direct interaction between a company and
its consumers is increasingly becoming vital in creating a
favourable brand image and managing corporate
reputation (Loureiro, Sarmento & Le Bellego, 2017).

c. Builds Corporate Integrity: The integrity of an

organisation is a direct reflection of its ethical values and
standards. The scope of integrity that exists in a
corporation can intrinsically affect public perceptions and
shape the behaviour of both the internal and external
publics of an organisation. Corporate integrity generally
complies with the principles of honesty and

39 Reputation Management
trustworthiness in production and operation activities such
as adhering to compliance and integrity management,
ensuring quality of product and information disclosure and
employees welfare and corporate social responsibility
(Wan, Chen & Ke, 2020). The quality of products and
services is a vital dimension in building brand reputation
which can lead to loyalty (Loureiro et al 2017). The scope
of corporate integrity can either breed trust or mistrust with
various stakeholders, which generally affects corporate
reputation and its competitive edge. A good corporate
reputation is built and managed by integrity elements
such as accountability, credibility, responsibility and
reliability.

d. Maximises Corporate Strategy: Cooperate

strategy is the blueprint of a firm's fundamental objectives
and strategies in their given market (Melewar,
Karaosmanoglu & Paterson, 2005). Mukhezakule &
Tefara (2019) citing Pitelis & Wagner (2018) observed that
corporate strategy is a long-term path and scope that a
firm utilises to maximise and achieve a competitive
advantage through the best use of its resources to fulfil
stakeholders' expectation. This means that reputation is
one of the resources that corporate organisation can best
maximise to attain a position of competitive advantage. A
good reputation is regarded as a source of competitive
advantage; as such, it must be managed effectively.

e. Foster a Corporate Brand Loyalty: A brand

reputation is significant for brand loyalty (Loureiro et al
2017). This suggests that a favourable reputation c a n
engineer brand or corporate loyalty. Brand loyalty
revolves around consumers' perceptions of a brand. Brand
loyalty is product of a reputation of corporate integrity that

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

40
brand has built overtime that has cumulated to
trustworthiness, which in turn, inspires loyalty to a brand
or corporate organisation.

f. Promotes Profitability: Profitability is the goal of

every corporate institution; even NGOs need a favourable
reputation to attract investment and partnership to
generate the funds needed to manage the organisation. A
good corporate reputation precedes and helps business
grow internationally and preparing the ground in new
market among key constituents (Watson & Kitchen, 2010).
Corporate entities compete for brand reputation with the
knowledge that organisations with a strong reputation
across their product can assume highest sales price
(Loureiro & Kaufmann, 2016).

Building Reputation

Reputation does not occur by chance; it is a function of

leadership, management and organisational operations,
the quality of products and services and crucial
relationships with stakeholders (Watson & Kitchen,
2010). Reputation must be cultivated and managed; it
entails internal and external communication. Hasan
(2013) posits that a favourable image cannot be bought or
made, it is rather earned. The consistent communication of
organisational values helps to create consistency and
solidity of reputation. A solid reputation accords a
corporate entity a position of strong competitive
advantage over other competitors. There are certain
criteria for building a company's reputation; they are
innovations, quality of management, employee talent,
quality of products and services, long-term investment
value, financial soundness, corporate social responsibility,
the use of corporate assets, organisational positioning in

41 Reputation Management
the market, conformity to social norms and values,
accountability, consistency and reliability and credibility.

Crisis and Reputation Management

Stages of Crisis and Reputation Management

1. Prevention / Mitigation Stage: This has to do with

efforts to eliminate or reduce risk or potential crisis. The
prevention or mitigation stage seeks to identify the various
and crises risk that an organisation will likely face and
prevent it from occurring. It is an attempt to mitigate crisis
by identifying risk of crisis, locating potential sources of
this risk and tackling it before it matures into full-blown
crisis. This can be achieved through environmental
scanning.

2. Preparation Stage: The preparation stage entails

getting ready for a crisis, having a crisis response plan or
preparing the management plan by simulation. This is
done in order to identify cross vulnerability with the mind
of determining the type of crisis that an organisation is
likely to encounter.

3. Responds Stage: This is the actual reaction to a full

blown crisis; it entails how a crisis management team
handles a crisis or what to say to manage a crisis. The first
and the most appropriate response to a crisis is to issue a
holding statement to media enquires about the crisis. A
holding statement is a statement already prepared by an
organisation's data bank for different range of issues and
crisis situation as a precautionary measure. It is the first
response given in the event of a crisis and is often followed
up by an updated information.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

42
4. Learning Stage: The learning stage is also known
as the evaluation stage. Learning has to do with evaluation.
This involves evaluating the crisis, the causes of the crisis,
the crisis response, strategies utilised to combat the crisis
and the effectiveness of the strategies. There are three (3)
activities that must transpire after a crisis; they are
monitoring and cooperating with investigation, updating
stakeholders about crisis issues as it unfolds and
evaluating the crisis management efforts.

Reputation Management Strategies

1. Public Relations Team: Having a round-the-clock

working public relations team is a vital instrument in
reputation management. The public relations team helps
the organisation to be in control of the communication
narratives. A negative or positive reputation is a function
of public's perception of an organisation. It is the
responsibility of the public relations team in control of the
communication narrative to influence the public's
perceptions of the organisation.

2. C o n t ro l C o m m u n i c a t i o n N a r r a t i v e :
Communication is a vital instrument for managing
reputation; it can shape public perceptions of an
organisation. Therefore, a company must take ownership
of its communication narrative, both on the main stream
and interactive media. Asemah et al (2018) call it tracking
everything, everywhere both online and offline.

3. Proactive Response: This entails anticipating

potential crisis situation and preventing it from happening
or decisively and quickly dealing with a budding crisis
situation.

43 Reputation Management
4. Corporate Social Responsibility: Corporate
social responsibility simply means corporate philanthropy
or donation, which is giving back to the environment of an
organisation domiciliation. Corporate social
responsibility is an attempt made by organisations to
provide certain social services to the environment where
they operate (Asemah, Edegoh, Ekhareafo & Ogwo 2013).
This accords a company a favourable reputation in the eyes
of the host communities and the public in general. Asemah
et al (2013) contend that corporate social responsibility
improves a company's public image which in turn,
improves the impression that people have about the
corporate existence of the organisation.

5. Solid Value System: Reputations are built on value

system, weather tangible or intangible. Some
organisations build their reputation on integrity,
efficiency, quality of service delivery, while other
reputations are built on quality of products or contents.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

44
 CHAPTER FOUR
EVENTS MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Events are organised meetings, occasions, etc. for people

to convene together at a particular location. It is an avenue
for people to meet, interact, celebrate and relate together.
Event is an organised celebrations, ceremonies, rituals and
occasions to satisfy or meet specific needs. Events provide
both the internal and external publics of a corporate
organisation the necessary opportunity to get informed of
the latest development or future outlook of the
organisation (Babaleye, 2013). There are different types of
events in a corporate organisation; they are service award,
book presentation, corporate meetings, annual general
meetings, seminars, workshop, public lectures, product
presentation, service exhibitions' and forum with clients
(Babaleye, 2013). Awodiya (2017) posits that events can
be classified in to four broad categories; namely:

i. Organisational/Corporate Events: This category

of events includes product launch, press
conferences, corporate anniversaries, meetings,
marketing programmes, conferences, grand
openings, conventions, political rallies, etc.

ii. Personal Events: These are occasions such as

weddings, burials, birthdays, fashion shows,
anniversaries, chieftaincy titles, house warming
and promotion ceremonies.

45
iii. Leisure Events: These include music carnivals
sports festivals, recreational sports.

iv. Cultural Events: Cultural events include national

sports festivals, national arts festivals, religious
ceremonies, heritage festivals, etc.

Event management is a process that requires a step-

by-step planning and coordination of human and material
resources to accomplish a task. Awodiya (2017) posits
that event management as the process of creating and
developing a planned occasion involves planning,
executing and branding of an event and the goal is to use
such an occasion as a marketing communication strategy
to sell a particular brand or idea to the public. Hasan (2013)
is of the view that event management involves studying the
intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience,
devising the event concept, planning the logistics and
coordinating the technical aspects before actually
executing the modalities of the purposed event. Event
management can simply be described as the process of
planning, organising, coordinating, monitoring and
controlling of an event. Planning in event management
entails the optimisation and maximisation of human and
material resources towards the success of an event. The
human resources are the persons. The material resources
include venue, decorations, snacks, food, drinks,
transportation, accommodations, entertainment and
security.
Event planning is a flexible operational road map or
blue print of the event. It lays out the day-to-day actions
and tactical design to actualise a specific event. Event
planning begins with an understanding of the client's needs
and wants and designing the event to as much as possible
to satisfy the client. Event coordination involves liaising

Events Management 46
with the human resources and managing all human
elements to efficiently work together to achieve set goals.
The human resources are the persons or individuals with
the ability and skill sets necessary to handle events, they
include the creative team and staff. Organising is the
process of arranging an organisation and coordinating its
managerial practice and uses of resource to achieve its
goals (Awodiya, 2017, citing Stoner & Freeman, 1989).
This suggests that organising an event entails bringing
together or assembling the different resources both human
and material to create a working synergy to actualise set
goal.

Events Manager

An event manager is a person/individual who plans,

organises, coordinates and executes an event. An event
manger can be likened to a project manager who oversees
and organises, coordinates and supervises a project.
Events managers must possess negotiation, creative,
convincing, coordinating, planning and implementation
skills to successfully execute an event. An event manger
maximises and manages the human and material resources
to successfully execute an event. An event planner cannot
single- handedly plan and execute a project. He/she will
require the help of a creative team to delegate task
according to their skill sets and areas of specialisation.
Hasan (2013) notes that event mangers and their
team are often behind-the-scenes running the event. The
onus lies on the event manger to not only manage the
event, but also manage the team. Event management
involves a lot of delegation of responsibilities and task and
the event must oversee this team, liaise and communicate
with to ensure the delegated tasks are optimally carried
out. The failure or incompetence of any of the team

47 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

members will be the failure and incompetence of the event
manger; this makes it a collective responsibility. It does not
take an individual to successfully execute an event, it takes
a team and the event manger is the leader or head of the
team, the success of one becomes the success of all and the
shortcomings of one becomes the shortcomings of the
entire team. the creative team of an event comprises the
interior decorators, set designers, lighting engineers,
technical and sound engineers, photographers,
cinematographers, confectioneries, caters, security
experts, logistics manager, disc Jockeys (DJ) and masters
of ceremonies (MC).

Event Budgeting

One vital aspect of event management is budgeting; it

caters for all the financial aspects of the event. Budgeting
is the monetary estimation and expenditures of an event. It
accounts for the monetary facts and figures of an event.
The budget of an event determines the scale and size of the
event. Hasan (2013) notes that the entire plan of an event
is in the budget. It is the backbone on any event. A budget
represents the projected revenue that is to be spent on an
event. There are various aspects of event budgeting some
which include:

a. Overhead cost Budget: This is cumulative cost of

an event it also covers the day-to-day running of
event; the overhead can be broken in to operational
expenses. Operational expenses are expenses that
can be traced to specific cost unit.

b. Graphic Design Expense: It accounts for the

proposed funds that should be spent on designing
and printing invitations, name tags, program
leaflet.

Events Management 48
c. Rental Budget: This is the projected expenses for
venue, space, hotels and accommodations. It also
accounts for the cost of renting equipment.

d. Décor Expenses: Covers the proposed cost interior

decorations, set design, lighting.

e. Entertainment Artist Cost: This covers the

projected cost of hiring artists (musicians,
comedians and MCs) and their travel cost.

f. Gift Expenses: For a lot of events, guests are given

gifts before departure. Hasan (2013) notes that one
of the rules of event management is never allow a
guest leave empty-handed. Event expenses cover
the cost of providing a gift or gift pack to the guest.

g. Catering Cost: Food and drinks is vital aspect of

event; the catering cost includes the required
expenses to provide of food, drinks, snacks for an
event.

h. Logistics: This accounts for the proposed cost of

transporting creative team and materials resources
to the event venue.

I. Contingency Expenses: Every event should

always have a contingency plan and the
contingency plan ought to have a projected budget.

j. Publicity in form of radio jingles, newspaper

advertisements and social media marketing.

Some events can generate income or revenue; it is

in this light that Awodiya (2017) asserts that a budget is
generally a laid out document in two sections that are
grouped under two headings:

49 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

a. Earned Income: There are the income that comes
from generated sources such as, tickets sales,
merchandising, catering and rentals.

b. Grant Incomes: Grant incomes are the income

received by a corporate organisation, for which the
organisation do not have to provide anything in
return. However, the organisation may be expected
to account for how the grant is expended. A grant
can either be from the private sector or public
sector.

Organisations and Corporate Events

Event management has become a strategic marketing and

communication technique used by corporate
organisations. Corporate organisations host events for
launching of a new product, promotion, general assembly,
corporate luncheon/dinners to foster interactions and
communication in a more-relaxed or informal atmosphere.
To successfully organise a hitch free event, the event
manger must take cognisance of the following:

a. Clearly define the objectives of the event.

b. Decide the publics.

c. Carefully select an organising committee.

d. Design a realistic budget.

e. Select the theme.

f. Select an appropriate date and venue.

g. Assemble the creative team.

Events Management 50
h. Delegate task to the team according to their
capacity and skill sets.

i. Always communicate, monitor and liaise with the

team.

Stages of Event Management

1. Management before Events: This is the planning

and preparation stage of an event. This entails arriving
early at the event venue with the creative team and setting
up the equipment that will be utilised for the event. This
involves cleaning the venue and the interior decorators and
light engineers beginning to work on the hall or space of
the event. At this set up, a registration or reception counter
or booth at the entrance to the event hall that will guide the
guest concerning what is required of them is needed; this is
important, especially if the event is strictly by invitation.

2. Management During Event: Management during

an event is all about overseeing the operations of a live or
an on-going event. It calls for a round-the-clock
communication with team leaders; monitoring the
ongoing activities during the event and tackling problems
as they arise and giving instructions to team members.

3. Management after Event: This stage requires the

mobilisation of creative team to pack up their equipment,
checking for damages and ensuring rented equipment are
returned to the renters in the best working conditions. It
also involves cleaning up of the venue and leaving the
place as good as or even better than the event manger found
it. Finally, management after event entails appreciating
your creative team, paying of leftover bills and balancing
accounts.

51 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

 CHAPTER FIVE
CORPORATE ADVERTISING

UNDERSTANDING CORPORATE ADVERTISING

Corporate advertising is the advertising done for an entire
institution, company or organisation and not for individual
brands or products. This kind of activity is an extension of
the public relations activity done by the company to
improve its image in the minds of the general public and
increase its goodwill, which is an extremely important
intangible asset. Instead of advertising for its individual
brands and products, the corporation advertises to build its
own image. Companies can go a long way in improving
their overall perception; they want to prove that they are
ethical and their brands and products are secondary.
Bhasin (2017) avers that the main objective of corporate
advertising is to improve the image of the company and
make it a more desirable workplace at times and also a
desirable corporation to buy from; its objective is to build a
firm's corporate image, reputation and name-awareness
among the general public or within an industry. Corporate
advertising is an advertising campaign that is aimed at
boosting the corporate image of an organisation; its aim is
not to increase the sales of products, rather, it is aimed at
promoting the corporate existence of an organisation.
Thus, corporate advertising is an advertising that is
more public relations than sales promotion. It is a strategy
that companies can use to increase their financial
capability. This is because through corporate advertising,

52
companies can create a favourable image for themselves
and this will, in turn, increase the financial performance of
such companies. This is why it is very important for
financial public relations expert to always encourage their
companies to carry out corporate advertising. Corporate
advertising is effective for companies that are involved in
businesses that have a lot of negative potentials; negative
potential means possible distress to human life. These
companies are extremely susceptible to controversies;
hence they need to regularly invest in corporate
advertising to keep their image stable in the market.
Cigarette companies, oil drilling and exploration
companies, pharmaceutical companies and mining
companies are examples of organisations that have a need
for corporate marketing (Bhasin, 2017). With the extra
time and monetary investment required for face-to-face
sales meetings, it is essential businesses lock down ROI by
choosing the right prospects to meet in person through a
comprehensive lead-qualifying process. As noted by
National Open University of Nigeria (2006, p. 74):
Corporate advertising is an extension of the
public relations function which does not aim at
promoting any one specific product or service. It
is a form of advertising designed to promote the
overall image of a corporate organisation or
organisational reputation. In essence, corporate
advertising is image and reputational advertising.
It is advertising that focuses on projecting a good
image for the firm. It is not focused on
advertising any particular product or service. The
rationale is that if the organisation has good
reputation and image before its various publics,
patronising the organisation's products and
services becomes a guaranteed matter.

53 Corporate Advertising
 Nwosu (1996, p. 124) describes corporate image as
''the overall reputation of an organisation as determined by
the various pictures, impressions, knowledge, information
and perceptions that the publics of the organisation have
about it. The corporate image is also determined by
multiple factors that include its corporate performance or
non- performance, corporate identity and corporate
communications over a given period of time. The
corporate image of an organisation, therefore, needs to be
properly and professionally managed through corporate
image programme that is continual and systematic in
nature. Corporate image according to Offonry (1985) is
seen as the varied impressions which an organisation
creates in the minds of all those who come in contact with it
through its internal and external activities. Corporate
image is seen as all the variables which influence the
opinions of the people about an organisation. These
variables among others as noted by Offonry (1985)
include, organisation's name, product quality, social
responsibility programmes, calibre of staff, behaviour and
attitude of staff, style of correspondence and quality of
paper used, staff uniform, nature of office or factory
building with particular reference to environmental
sanitation, method of operations, equipment/fittings,
corporate identity programmes, life styles of top
management members – the type of cars they ride and the
type of residential houses they live, relations with the
organisation's publics, media coverage received, volume
of kind of advertising, staff welfare programme and
adherence to government's rules and regulations. Thus,
what is projected under the corporate public relations
programme is known as corporate image. Therefore, in
this chapter, we shall look at how organisations can
promote their corporate images through corporate public
relations programmes.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

54
 We say advertising is a tool of public relations
because it can be used for public relations purposes. For
example, a company can buy space or time in newspapers
or radio/television station respectively to run its messages.
Since it is not possible for an organisation to assemble all
the members of its publics and explain its goals, aims,
objectives, policies and achievements, then, a means of
reaching these groups must be arranged. Organisations
have to find a way of communicating with their various
publics and advertising is such an effective means that can
be used because it can communicate with a large number of
people at the same time and at a very low cost. Despite the
values of having an organisation's story told in the editorial
columns of newspapers and magazines or in broadcasts on
radio and television stations, organisations cannot rely
entirely on news columns to tell an important story to the
publics. They must use paid–for advertising space when
they wish to tell their stories at a time they want it told,
where they want it and exactly the way they want it
(Oyeneye, 2005).
Grunig & Hunt (1984) gave a broad definition of
corporate advertising as being the concept, general
promotion; goodwill image, issue, personality and
responsibility advertisements which they collectively call
public relations advertising. Corporate advertising is also
known as institutional or non–product advertising. This
implies that corporate advertising can be used by any
organisation to create a public relations image, to defend a
reputation or to address an issue. It is the positioning of an
organisation to build public awareness of or to defend the
company's activities. All kinds of organisations use
corporate advertising or public relations advertising.
Organisations use public relations advertising to influence
public opinion surrounding an issue relating to the
organisation. It can also be used to defend an organisation's

55 Corporate Advertising
reputation or to build awareness of an organisation where
public awareness is low (Yemons & Tench, 1997).

Why Corporate Advertising is Controversial

A number of reasons have been given on why corporate

advertising may be regarded as controversial in nature and
conceptual application. National Open University of
Nigeria (2006) gave the following reasons:

i. Consumers are not interested in this form of

advertising because they do not understand the reasons
behind such advertisements and most of the ones they have
come across are not very good from a communications
standpoint or point of view (Belch & Belch, 2001, cited in
National Open University of Nigeria, 2006).

ii. It is also a costly form of self-indulgence as most

firms who engage in it have been accused of only trying to
satisfy the egos of the top management of such
organisation. This argument stems from the fact that
corporate advertisements are not easy to write; so, top
management often dictates the content of the
advertisements. Therefore, the copy usually reflects their
ideas and images of the organisation (Belch & Belch,
2001, cited in National Open University of Nigeria, 2006).

iii. Another vital element of/or reason for the

controversial nature of corporate advertising is the belief
by critics that firms engage in corporate advertising only
when they are in trouble and so they are merely advertising
to attempt to remedy the problem and restore confidence in
their dwindling reputation or wounded image (Belch &
Belch, 2001, cited in National Open University of Nigeria,
2006).

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

56
v. There is a major concern that corporate advertisingis
an unnecessary waste of money because the
advertisements do not directly appeal to anyone in
particular, are not easily understood, and do not promote
anything specific. This argument is based on the fact that
Corporate Advertising is often intangible (Belch & Belch,
2001, cited in National Open University of Nigeria, 2006).

Objectives of Corporate Advertising

Corporate advertising has the following objectives:

i. Creating a Positive Image for the Firm:

Corporate advertising basically aims at creating a positive
image for the organisation using it. By identifying with
certain viewpoints in the society or by supporting a course
of action or the other, organisations that use corporate
advertising make it clear that they are with a particular
public on such an issue in question.

ii. Communicating the Organisation's Views on

Social, Business and Environmental Issues: Corporate
advertising is one subtle way by which a corporate
organisation could convince its numerous publics that it is
in a particular social, business or environmental concern.

iii. Boosting Employee Morale and Smoothing

Labour Relations: Corporate advertising also helps to
boost employee morale in an organisation. When
employees have high morale, work flows well and there
are better labour relations that translate to peaceful
coexistence.

iv. Helping newly deregulated Industries ease

Consumer Uncertainty and answer Investor

57 Corporate Advertising
Questions: A firm could use corporate advertising to ease
out shareholder or stakeholder uncertainties.

v. Helping Diversified Companies establish an

Identity for the Parent Firm rather than relying solely
on Brand Names: Newly diversified companies could use
corporate advertising to establish an independent identity
and create its own brand potentials (Culled from National
Open University of Nigeria, 2006).

Grunig & Hunt (1984) outline the primary goals of

corporate advertising as follows:

i. Improving customer relations.

ii. Presenting stands on public issues.

iii. Improving stakeholder / financial relations.

iv. Improving trade relations.

iv. Improving community / employee relations.

vi. Improving image and representation.

Other uses of corporate advertising as noted by

Oyeneye (2005) are:

i. To publicise the move of the head office.

ii. To fight against an attempted takeover.

iii. To announce a major expansion plan.

iv. To launch a new product or service.

iv. To explain key personnel changes.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

58
vi. To publicise change of a company's name.

vii. To announce a public relations event such as

meeting, film show, exhibition, product demonstration,
etc.

Advantages of Corporate Advertising

Below are some of the advantages of corporate public

relations (corporate advertising):

i. Corporate advertising is an excellent vehicle for

positioning the multinational corporation in the market
place as well as in the minds of the various publics and
consumers.

ii. Corporate advertising takes advantage of the

benefits derived from public relations while still using
traditional advertising platforms. When a firm engages in
public relations efforts, there is no guarantee it will receive
press coverage and publicity. Corporate advertising helps
get the message out; although, consumers may not
perceive it as positively as information from an objective
source, the fact remains that it can communicate what has
been done.

iii. It reaches a select target market. It is not like

traditional advertising media that sometimes finds it
difficult to segment the market before unleashing
advertising on both potential and non-existent market
forces.

iv. Corporate advertising is also relatively cheaper

than traditional public relations functions which are meant
to achieve same or similar objectives.

59 Corporate Advertising
Disadvantages of Corporate Advertising

Below are some of the advantages of corporate public

relations:

i. Questionable and uncertain about the

Effectiveness of Corporate Advertising: The impact of
corporate advertising remains uncertain and sometimes,
questionable. This is so because there is no strong evidence
to support the belief that corporate advertising works.

ii. Constitutionality and/or Ethics: Some critics

have argued that since the big firms are the ones that have
the kind of resources required to engage in corporate
advertising, they can easily use such resources aided by
corporate advertising to control public opinion unfairly
and to their advantage.

iii. Expensive Backlash: When corporate advertising

backfires, it could be very costly and expensive to deal
with. This is apart from the fact that the tool is costly. A
backlash could arise when the firm inadvertently through
corporate advertising puts its support on a project,
programme or issue the majority of its publics or core
markets do not support.

iv. Attempts by multinational corporations to use

corporate advertising to replace corporate social
responsibility have often been criticised by industry
experts who strongly feel this is a wrong move. According
to them, corporate advertising benefits a few of the
publics, while corporate social responsibility is for the
majority of the community hosting that organisation.
Therefore, corporate advertising should not replace
corporate social responsibility.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

60
Types of Corporate Advertising

There are four major types of corporate or institutional

advertising; they include:

i. Image or Prestige Advertising: This kind of

advertising is used to inform the publics about the aims,
objectives, policies and actions of an organisation and
thus, build favourable opinion and goodwill for the
organisation. Information usually given under prestige or
image advertising include history of an organisation, staff
strength, successful research conducted, sponsorship
programmes, financial capability, assets, social
responsibility programmes and expansion plans.

ii. Advocacy/Issue / Cause Advertising: Any of the

three names is used to describe advertising messages
which persuade the member of the public or the target
audience to accept a certain viewpoint on a matter which
concerns the public. In other words, the advertisement is
used to introduce, discourage or advocate specific
corporate, social, government or economic actions with a
view to getting the support of the publics.

iii. Public Service Advertising: This is another kind

of corporate advertising. It is designed to benefit the public
directly and also build or generate goodwill for the sponsor
of the advertisement. The advertising message carries
information of direct benefit to the publics.

iv. Employee Relations Advertising: This is used to

pass important information to the employees of a large
organisation who work in the different branches of the
organisation scattered around the country. The objective of
the advertising is to improve the image of an organisation

61 Corporate Advertising
with its employees. The advertising may inform them of
new employee benefits, welfare programmes, etc. It is also
a means of making the publics aware of the attractive staff
welfare package of the organisation.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Corporate Advertising

National Open University of Nigeria (2006) suggests the
followings methods of measuring the effectiveness of
corporate advertising:

i. Attitude Surveys: This is one sure way to

determine or gain insights into both the publics' and
investors' reaction to advertisements. This is usually
carried out by advertising agencies on behalf of their
clients to determine the effectiveness of a running
campaign or one that just entered the market (National
Open University of Nigeria, 2006).

ii. Studies Relating Corporate Advertising and

Stock Prices: This method seeks to relate various
elements of corporate advertising to stock prices (prices
that investors offer for a firm's stock). These studies,
however, have yielded conflicting conclusions, indicating
that while the models for such measures seem logical,
methodological problems may account for at least some of
the discrepancies (Belch & Belch, 2001, cited in National
Open University of Nigeria, 2006).

iii. Focus Group Research: This method has been

used to find out what investors want to see in
advertisements and how they react after the
advertisements are developed. This is a practical approach
that ensures investors participate in the evaluation of
corporate advertising (National Open University of
Nigeria, 2006).

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

62
 CHAPTER SIX
ELEMENTS OF CORPORATE PUBLIC
RELATIONS PROGRAMMES

Corporate relations has several elements. The elements as

identified by Asemah (2011) are:

1. Corporate Identity Programmes

Corporate identity can be described as the visual variables
which enable the members of the general public to
remember or recognise an organisation and its activities.
Corporate identity tends to be associated with more visible
symbols than corporate image which tends to be more
associated with mental thought, intangible, invisible
things or impressions. Corporate identity is a planned
assembly of visual cues by which the publics of an
organisation or the audience generally, can recognise a
company and differentiate one company from the other
and which, may be used to represent or symbolise the
company. The key elements of corporate identity are
logos, graphic designs, clothings, colours, letter heads,
corporate or company's name, trade characters, delivery
packaging, typography and printed materials, flags,
buildings, corporate slogans, structures among others.
These corporate identities help to contribute to the
formation or emergence of a good corporate image or
picture in the minds of the people (Nwosu, 1996).
Nwosu (1996), however, advises that organisations
must conceptualise, design and produce these corporate
identity materials or symbols very carefully and
professionally and take the right decisions and actions on

63
them. In creating the symbols and identities, we must be
simple, creative, imaginative, original, interesting, clear
and communicative. For example, the corporate identity of
Union Bank is elephant, which means that it is big, strong
and reliable. Corporate identity programmes have the
power to contribute positively to the success, growth and
survival of any organisation working with other vital
business factors. As noted by Ajala, cited in Nwosu (1996),
organisations, commercial and non-commercial, as well
as, political parties, want to present themselves as clearly
and comprehensible as possible so that employees can
share the same spirits and then, communicate it to all
external publics. This is why each organisation wants to
differentiate itself and its products/services from those of
its competitors.
Ajala's submission shows that good corporate
identity programme goes a long way in contributing
positively to the corporate image of an organisation. That
is, the corporate identity has a lot to contribute to an
organisation, its managers, workers, products, services or
ideas. It is in line with the relevance of corporate identity
programme that Nwosu (1996, p. 127) advises that a good
corporate identity plan should be an intrinsic part of the
corporate and product positioning strategy of any
organisation. This should form part of a good corporate
plan of an organisation.

Why Organisations Embark On Corporate Identity

Programmes

The reasons why an organisation may embark on corporate

identity programme include:

i. When an organisation amalgamates or merges with

another.

Elements of Corporate
Public Relations Programmes
64
ii. When the nature of operation of an organisation
changes; for example, from forestry to fishery
business or from transportation to construction.

iii. When a new organisation is established.

iv. When an organisation changes its name.

2. Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes

Even though companies are not the governments, they are
also encouraged to provide some important infrastructures
to the communities where they operate. They need to
execute certain projects in the vicinity where they operate
so that, they will be seen in good light and perceived as
socially responsible. Harrison (1997, p. 128) notes that
''companies are not the states and they are not there to
provide services and facilities which should properly be
provided by the welfare agencies and paid for out of
taxation, but companies as it were are part of the society in
which they exist and operate and they need to consider
their corporate behaviours as part of their roles in the
society.'' This implies that as an organisation takes so much
from the society for its existence and survival, it should
also contribute to the maintenance, well-being and growth
of the society. This it can do by executing certain projects
that will be of benefit to where it operates. This is what
corporate social responsibility is all about and it can
contribute positively to a company's corporate image.
Most organisations have had serious clashes with
the youths in the regions where they operate because they
fail to execute certain projects that will benefit them,
especially in the oil region of Niger–Delta. Corporate
social responsibility is, therefore, an intelligent and
objective concern for the welfare of society which
restrains individual and corporate behaviours from

65 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

ultimately destructive activities no matter how
immediately profitable and which leads in the direction of
positive contribution to human betterment (Nwachukwu,
1988, p. 272). It has, however, been argued by Harrison
(1997, p. 130) that organisations should consider their
social responsibilities for the following reasons:

i. We live in a pluralistic society where many diverse

groups exist and where power and responsibilities
are shared. This implies that every organisation has
some powers over its employees and external
publics and is responsible to a number of groups of
which its stakeholders are only one. They include
the staff and the wider community; that is, the
community at large. The organisation has to be
socially responsible to these staff and the
community where it operates.

ii. Organisations need to be socially responsible to its

staff and the community so as to build a good
reputation for themselves. A reputation according
to Harrison in kitchen (1997, p. 130) can be seen ''as
the sum of the public's belief about a company,
based on their own experiences of its products,
services, what they have read or heard about it from
others and the way through which it through its
frontline and top level staff is seen to behave.'' A
company or an organisation can, therefore, have a
reputation for fast service delivery, good product
quality and good customer care, good reputation for
fair dealings with its suppliers, good reputation for
project execution in the community where it
operates and for solid achievement with its
shareholders. Organisations may have good or bad
reputation or no reputation at all, because they are
not well-known.
Elements of Corporate
Public Relations Programmes
66
 Going by the above, it is important for
organisations to embark on projects that will
benefit the employees and the host communities.
This is to create a favourable reputation for the
organisation. It is, however, not just sufficient to
execute projects, the organisation must also
publicise projects executed so that the people will
be in cognisance of such projects that have been
executed as this will lead to good reputation;
thereby, positively affecting the corporate image of
the organisation. Corporate responsibility is
important because it shows an organisation as:
showing high standard of corporate ethics, good
employer, committed to training, committed to
equal opportunities, investing in research and
development and having respect for community
contribution.

iii. The demand of public opinions. The public opinion

may be of the view that an organisation should
execute some projects in the community.

iv. Corporate social responsibility is a licence to

operate in a community. Davis's Iron law of
responsibility states that those who do not take
responsibility for their power will ultimately loss it
(Davis & Blomstrom, 1966). The RSA's Inquiry
into Tomorrow's Company, cited in Harrison in
kitchen (1997, p. 135) makes a similar point when it
notes that business success will only be sustained if
there is a supportive operating environment. This
can only be achieved by companies who are
understood by the communities in which they
operate and whom they affect (See chapter seven
for more on corporate social responsibility)

67 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

3. Sponsorship
Sponsorship according to Jefkins (1985) is the provision
of resources for an independent activity intended to be to
the advantage of both the sponsor and the sponsored. It is
essentially a business deal intended to be to the advantage
of both the sponsor and the sponsored. The activity being
sponsored does not have to be related to the marketing goal
of the sponsor. The decision to sponsor an event or another
one should be objectively taken. In some organisations, an
independent committee is set up to advise management
accordingly. Sponsorship is a very expensive venture;
however, its impact is invaluable. Whatever the size of
your organisation and your public relations budget, you
can always have one event or the other to sponsor. Joint
sponsorship is possible and is very common in sports. If an
event such as the media transmission of a football
championship is costly to sponsor by an organisation, two
or more organisations can combine their resources. The
benefits of the sponsorship will, therefore, be for all the
sponsors. There are many examples of companies such as
banks, airlines and manufacturing companies, which put
their resources together for the sponsorship of a football
championship or the other.
Sponsorship can benefit organisations in various
ways. It may be used to attract new customers and retain
old customers; it can also be in form of social contribution
thereby, convincing the general public and the government
at various levels that the organisation is not just out to
make huge profits, but, to also contribute to the social well-
being of the people. Sponsorship may be designed to
convey a specific message about your company. It may be
wholly or partly for public relations purposes. An
organisation can decide to sponsor international or local
events. The various kinds of sponsorship among others
includes:
Elements of Corporate
Public Relations Programmes
68
i. Sports: Organisations can sponsor sporting
activities or events just to attract attention to
themselves. Among the events that can be
sponsored are football, basketball, lawn tennis etc.
They sponsor these events both at the international
and local level. This is the most form of
sponsorship all over the globe. For example, MTN
sponsored the last world cup in South Africa.

ii. Exhibitions/Trade Fairs: Organisations sponsor

both public and trade exhibitions just to create good
images for themselves. Trade associations,
professional bodies and chambers of commerce
industries, etc. sponsor trade fairs/ exhibitions.

iii. Seminars/Conferences: Organisations also

sponsor seminars and conferences; they foot the
bill of all the expenses that will be involved in
organising a particular conference or seminar. They
sponsor seminars, conferences, symposia, etc. that
deal with issues or matters of special interest to the
publics. This, no doubt creates a positive corporate
image for such an organisation. Oyeneye (n. d, p.
11) notes that ''to organise a successful seminar or
conference, the sponsor should give serious
attention to selection of speakers, convenient
venue, comfortable facilities, invitation of
participants, media coverage, use of exhibits,
charts, films, etc.

iv. Educational: Most organisations also give

students research grants. This implies that awards,
fellowship, scholarship and bursary may be
sponsored by organisations. Education can,
therefore, benefit from individual and corporate

69 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

 sponsorship activities. A sponsor can decide to be
giving a particular department a regular financial
and material resource. Oil companies and banks
now engage mostly in this kind of sponsorship.

v. Professional Awards: Organisations can decide to

sponsor an award ceremony to honour an
individual who has excelled in his filed or who has
contributed to a particular profession or
occupation. For example, we see vanguard
sponsoring the professional award of Governor of
the Year.

vi. Publication: It is also common to see organisations

sponsoring the publication of a book on political,
economic or social issues. We have publications on
birth control, breast feeding, nation building,
population control, road accidents, HIV/AIDS, etc.
Corporate organisations sponsor or commission the
writing and publication of certain books. The
sponsors normally provide the author with research
grants, contribute to the production cost and also
buy a large quantity of the books which they
distribute to individuals or corporate entities.

vii. Television and Radio Programmes: Most radio

and television drama programmes are often
sponsored. This according to Oyeneye (2004, p. 11)
''is always a good form of sponsorship as the two
media appeal to a large number of people who are
likely to be members of an organisation's
community public, customer public, shareholder
public, employee public, etc.'' Oyeneye further
notes that the sponsorship programme is a morale
booster to these publics because it is an indication
Elements of Corporate
Public Relations Programmes
70
 that their organisation is a viable and socially
responsible corporate entity. Most television and
radio programmes like drama, musical,
documentaries, etc. are sponsored by various
organisations. For example, the soap opera that is
popular today super story is sponsored by Wale
Adenuga.

viii. Local and Cultural Events: Organisations can

also sponsor events such as masquerade festivals,
Irepa festival, fishing competition, cultural dances,
etc.

ix. Public Service: This is a programme that will be of

benefit to the majority of the people. This public
service sponsorship is good for local or regional
organisations that want to create good image for
themselves in a local community or in a particular
locality. This sponsorship programme may come in
form of provision of “waste bin” which bear the
name of the sponsor.

x. Causes and Charity Homes: Corporate

organisations can also donate to charity homes.
They provide material and financial supports for
motherless baby homes, old people's homes,
donating advertising space, site and air time.

Why Organisations Sponsor

The reasons organisations sponsor among others include:

i. To win the goodwill of the publics.

ii. To generate publicity. This helps to communicate

the name of the organisation and the product

71
iii. To encourage people to patronise the goods,
products and the services of an organisation.

iv. To further a company's marketing objectives.

v. To make an organisation and its products popular in

the society.

vi. To promote and improve the reputation of an

organisation as being socially responsible and as a
good corporate citizen.

vii. To create understanding and the acceptance of a

company.

viii. To boost the corporate image of an organisation.

ix. To help the dealers to promote the product of the

sponsoring company.

Procedures for Sponsorship

A prospective sponsor should know why he wishes to

sponsor and with whom he wishes to communicate.
Approaches are frequently made to prospective sponsors
but, the proposals have to be assessed carefully. The
checks below provided by Oyeneye (n. d, p. 10) may help
prospective sponsors to decide whether to sponsor or not to
sponsor and also, to benefit enormously from the
sponsorship:

i. Will the investment achieve tangible objectives and

results?

ii. Will the organisations' publics be interested in the

sponsorship?

Elements of Corporate
Public Relations Programmes
72
iii. Will the sponsorship benefit the organisation's
customers and publics?

iv. How much will the programme cost?

v. Is the sponsorship relevant to the organisation's

objectives?

4. Education of Staff on the Importance of Public

Relations
Public relations programmes can only be effective and
successful if all the staff of an organisation are public
relations conscious and are always ready to cooperate with
the public relations department. In other words, public
relations can only work if properly understood by all. It is,
therefore, the responsibility of the public relations
department to educate employees on the importance of
public relations. Staff should be made to realise that public
relations or good corporate image cannot be built on
nothing but, their attitudes, activities, organisation's
operations, etc. This is to say whatever happens in every
department of an organisation affects its corporate image.
Despite the fact that public relations people are referred to
as image makers, every employee or a member of an
organisation, in one way or the other, makes or damages
the image of the organisation by his or her actions or
utterances.
There is no better public relations medium or tool
than employees because they interact with the members of
the public on daily basis. To capitalise on this, public
relations department must ensure that staff are well
informed about organisation's objectives and aims,
policies and programmes, achievements, problems and
prospects, plants, operations and activities, management
members, organisation's historical background, size of
investment, etc.

73
 Oyeneye (2004, p. 12) posits that the knowledge of
the above matters and others will put the employees in a
position to talk authoritatively about their organisation.
Education of staff on the importance of public relations
also calls for making employees appreciate the
implications of their behaviours and actions on the
organisation. Each department should know how to
achieve and maintain good image for the organisation. For
example, marketing department should seek good
relationship with dealers and customers. Finance
department should project a good image for the
organisation by paying organisation's creditors within
reasonable time or be ready to explain the reasons for any
delay. Personnel department should employ and promote
staff on merit thereby, ensuring a good image for the
organisation.
Another method of carrying employees along and
making them public relations conscious is to inform them
of the organisation's public relations and functions.
Knowing what public relations department intends to
achieve and its functions will no doubt, go a long way in
getting a support and cooperation with public relations
department and other departments. The moment a public
relations department is set up, management should send a
list of its objectives and functions to all departmental heads
and other staff of the organisation so that, they will be
aware of its necessity. Staff should be made to know what
can favourably or unfavourably affect the image of an
organisation.

Elements of Corporate
Public Relations Programmes
74
 CHAPTER SEVEN
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

INTRODUCTION

One crucial area of corporate communication is corporate

social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility or
corporate citizenship as it is also called, is the commitment
of a corporation to the environment where it operates. An
organisation that values CSR is automatically
communicating to the members of the public that it is
caring. Organisations sometimes operate in an
environment that is dynamic, complex and uncertain.
Thus, they must take into consideration the interests of
their external public in the performance of their day-to-day
operations. The existence of organisations has
consequences for society and both the organisations' and
their host communities share a symbiotic relationship;
their interdependence is indispensable and, therefore, they
are expected to reinforce each other. Organisations depend
on the society for their personnel, security and the
patronage of their goods and services while the society in
turn expects them to make socio-economic contribution to
the development of their environment (Palmer, 2001; Ojo,
2008, Uadiale & Fagbemi, 2011 cited in Oladipo, Aremu
& Lawal, 2015 and cited by Chukwuma & Agbim, 2020).
The foregoing has perhaps made corporate social
responsibility to become a deck in corporate policies of
multinational corporations (MNCs) and other
organisations in recent time, owing to the growing concern
of government policy makers, agitation of host

75
communities and environmental degradation effect of
operation of most of the organisations/companies around
the world. Corporate social responsibility encompasses a
variety of issues revolving around companies' interactions
with society. Thus, corporate social responsibility
concerns the integrity with which an organisation governs
itself, fulfills its mission, lives by its values, engages with
its stakeholders and measures its impacts and publicly
reports on its activities. It based on the foregoing that it can
be categorically said that the recognition and acceptance of
corporate social responsibility as a vital communication
tool in the hands of all organisations in all modern societies
cannot be overemphasised.

Conceptualisation of Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be seen as the

"economic, legal, ethical and discretionary expectations
that society has of organisations at a given point in time"
(Carroll & Buchholtz 2003, p. 36). The concept of
corporate social responsibility means that organisations
have moral, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities in
addition to their responsibilities to earn a fair return for
investors and comply with the law. Carroll and Buchholtz's
four-part definition of CSR makes clear the multi-faceted
nature of social responsibility. The economic
responsibilities cited in the definition refer to society's
expectation that organisations will produce goods and
services that are needed and desired by customers and sell
those goods and services at a reasonable price.
Organisations are expected to be efficient, profitable and
to keep shareholder interests in mind.
The legal responsibilities relate to the expectation
that organisations will comply with the laws set down by
society to govern competition in the marketplace.

Corporate Social Responsibility

76
Organisations have thousands of legal responsibilities
governing almost every aspect of their operations,
including consumer and product laws, environmental laws
and employment laws. The ethical responsibilities concern
societal expectations that go beyond the law, such as the
expectation that organisations will conduct their affairs in
a fair and just way. This means that organisations are
expected to do more than just comply with the law, but also
make proactive efforts to anticipate and meet the norms of
society even if those norms are not formally enacted in law.
Finally, the discretionary responsibilities of corporations
refer to society's expectation that organisations be good
citizens. This may involve such things as philanthropic
support of programmes benefiting a community or the
nation. It may also involve donating employee expertise
and time to worthy causes.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business
concept whereby a company seeks to behave in socially
and environmentally responsible ways so that its business
contributes to society in meaningful and lasting ways
(Hopkins, 2007). Scarlett (2011, p. 3) avers that
“companies are incentivised to engage in socially
responsible programmes because of the potential benefits
to business, which include brand enhancement, market
differentiation and employee satisfaction.” This implies
that organisations carry out corporate social responsibility
activities with a view to reaping certain benefits.
Corporate social responsibility is the continuing
commitment by business to behave ethically and
contribute to economic development while improving the
quality of life of the workforce and their families, as well
as, the local community and society at large; it is one of the
management strategies where companies try to create a
positive impact on society, while doing business. Social
responsibility is an ethical ideology or theory that an entity,

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

77
be it an organisation or individual, has an obligation to act,
to benefit society at large (Asemah, Edegoh & Anatsui,
2013)

Six Important Areas of Corporate Social

Responsibility

There are several types of corporate social responsibility

programmes; they are:

1. Employee Health and Wellness

Organisations have to be socially responsible to their
employees. The employees are an organisation's greatest
assets. Since the longevity of employees is influenced by
the lifestyle choices that they make, organisations need to
offer tools and incentives that encourage employees to
adopt or maintain healthy lifestyles. There is also the need
to offer a variety of benefits aimed at protecting
employees' physical and emotional health (Lantos, 2001).

2. Environmental Integrity
Corporate social responsibility also covers commitment to
protecting and even improving the environment for the
benefit of current and future generations. Environmental
protection and preservation makes sound business sense. It
not only enriches the lives of our employees, clients and
their loved ones, it can also reduce our expenses and
improve bottom line (Lantos, 2001). Through actions such
as, but not limited to: using energy-efficient properties,
reducing reliance on paper and investing in alternative
energy and clean air technology. Environmental
responsibility covers precautionary approaches to prevent
or minimise adverse impacts support for initiatives,
promoting greater environmental responsibility,
developing and diffusing environmentally friendly
technologies and similar areas (Lantos, 2001).

Corporate Social Responsibility

78
3. Ethical Responsibilities
Ethical responsibilities are responsibilities that a company
puts on itself because its owners believe it is the right thing
to do; not because they have an obligation to do so. Ethical
responsibilities could include being environmentally
friendly, paying fair wages or refusing to do business with
oppressive countries (Smith, n. d). Ethical CSR entails
incorporating responsible practices that minimise the
societal harms of business operations (Lantos, 2001).
There are many ways for organisations to implement
ethical business practices; these include: minimising
environmental pollution from manufacturing facilities and
providing healthcare benefits to employees.

4. Legal Responsibilities
A company's legal responsibilities are the requirements
that are placed on it by the law. Next to ensuring that
organisation is profitable, ensuring that it obeys all laws is
the most important responsibility, according to the theory
of corporate social responsibility. Legal responsibilities
can range from, securities regulations, to labour law,
environmental law and even criminal law (Smith, n. d).

5. Philanthropic Responsibilities
Philanthropic responsibilities are responsibilities that go
above and beyond what is simply required or what the
company believes is right. They involve making an effort
to benefit society; for example, by donating services to
community organisations, engaging in projects to aid the
environment or donating money to charitable causes
(Smith, n.d). Philanthropic corporate social responsibility
involves giving funds, goods or services; sometimes,
serving as advertising. Asemah, Okpanachi & Olumuji
(2013) opine that philanthropic CSR describes a
company's support for an activity that occurs outside of its

79 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

business operations, but provides benefit to society.
Companies will usually choose a cause or organisation on
which to focus their contributions, which can include
donation of equipment or technology, employee time.
Under the umbrella of philanthropic CSR, there are
distinguishing elements that drive motivation for a
company's involvement and actions; these differences are
represented by altruistic (intrinsic) and strategic
(extrinsic) motivations (Lantos, 2001; Matten & Moon,
2008; Du, Bhattacharya and Sen, 2010). Altruistic motives
are woven into the corporation's character as part of its
intrinsic institutional values and environment (Matten &
Moon, 2008). Strategic motives, however, are considered
more of a business investment, where company
contributions are expected to yield a profitable return
(Lantos, 2001). Whatever the motives, it is certain that
CSR has become an important tool for measuring a
company's reputation and public image (Ellen, Webb and
Mohr, 2006).

6. Economic Responsibilities
An organisation's first responsibility is its economic
responsibility; that is to say, an organisation needs to be
primarily concerned with turning a profit. This is for the
simple fact that if a company does not make money, it will
not last; employees will lose jobs and the company will not
be able to think about taking care of its social
responsibilities. Before a company thinks about being a
good corporate citizen, it first needs to make sure that it can
be profitable (Smith, n. d). This implies that economic
responsibility covers areas like integrity, corporate
governance, economic development of the community,
transparency, prevention of bribery and corruption,
payments to national and local authorities, use of local
suppliers, hiring local labour and similar areas.

Corporate Social Responsibility

80
Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility

Organisations such as companies or universities ought to

be socially responsible to their host communities, so that
they can win their goodwill (Alshuwaikhat & Abubakar,
2008; Haden, Oyler & Humphreys, 2009; Hoffman &
Woody, 2008).
Corporate social responsibility has been seen for
sometime as an activity that should be carried out by
organisations; universities are often seen as organisations
that are not established for business purpose and so, they
tend not to embrace corporate social responsibility; but the
fact remains that universities and other tertiary institutions
need to carry out corporate social responsibilities so as to
win the goodwill of their stakeholders. Most studies on
corporate social responsibility are on large multinational
corporations; there are not many studies on corporate
social responsibilities of higher institutions of learning.
The fact again remains that universities that leave up to
their responsibilities in terms of their corporate social
responsibility performance are likely to gain the goodwill
of their host communities than those that do not leave up to
their responsibilities.
Therefore, reputation is based on accomplishments
or worthwhile efforts to gain publics' goodwill; it has to be
more than mere publicity efforts (Mohamad, Bakar &
Rahman, 2007). Moreover, it is commonly accepted that a
good reputation can create a strong competitive advantage
(Smith, 2007; Filho, 2010). Consequently, corporate
social responsibility has emerged as a valuable and
necessary strategy to the competitive business
environment of today. Yet, besides creating a good
reputation and a competitive advantage, corporate social
responsibility can help the business world to contribute to
the well-being of the society, as successful corporations

81 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

need a healthy society (Porter & Kramer, 2006). Since
higher education institutions have begun to behave in a
business-like manner, they also need to be managed in the
same manner. Therefore, implementing corporate social
responsibility strategies in a higher education institution
should be considered in order to obtain a true competitive
advantage and a positive reputation. Moreover, practising
what is taught and thereby generating a real example of the
academic knowledge can create a unique proposition for
any higher education institution. Besides, as the
complexity of higher education operations increasingly
overlap with societal interests, higher education
institutions are pressured for responsible practices. Thus,
responsible higher education practices not only will
contribute to the well-being of the shareholders and the
public in general, but also, these practices will increasingly
become a long-term value proposition for the institution
itself.

Corporate Social Responsibility

82
 CHAPTER EIGHT
CORPORATE BRANDING

WHAT IS A BRAND?

To understand branding, it is important to know what

brands are. A brand is the idea or image of a specific
product or service that consumers connect with by
identifying the name, logo, slogan or design of the
company that owns the idea or image (Brick Marketing,
2016, cited in Asemah, Akase & Nkwam-Uwaoma, 2020).
The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a
brand as a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a
combination of them, intended to identify the goods and
services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate
them from those of other sellers. Thus, it is seen as a
distinguishing symbol, mark, logo name, word, sentence
or a combination of these items that companies use to
distinguish their products from others in the market. The
foregoing implies that a brand is a set of perceptions and
images that represent a company, product or service. It is
also seen as a product, service or concept that is publicly
distinguished from other products, services or concepts, so
that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed.
A brand name is the name of the distinctive product,
service or concept. Brands are usually protected from use
by others by securing a trademark or service mark from an
authorised agency, usually, a government agency. Before
applying for a trademark or service mark, you need to
establish that someone else has not obtained one for your

83
name. Although, you can do the searching yourself, it is
common to hire a law firm that specialises in doing
trademark searches and managing the application process.
Once you have learned that no one else is using it, you can
begin to use your brand name as a trademark simply by
stating it is a trademark. The objectives that a good brand
will achieve include: delivers the message clearly,
confirms your credibility, connects your target prospects
emotionally, motivates the buyer and concretes user
loyalty (Brick Marketing, 2016, cited in Asemah et al
2020).
Branding can, therefore, be seen as the marketing
practice of creating a name, symbol or design that
identifies and differentiates a product from other products.
Branding is the process of creating and disseminating the
brand name. Branding is the process which involves
creating a unique name and image for a product in the
consumers' mind, mainly through advertising campaigns
with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a
significant and differentiated presence in the market that
attracts and retains loyal customers (Business Dictionary,
2016, cited in Asemah et al 2020). This implies that
branding is amarketing practice of creating a name,
symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a
product from other products. Branding is when that idea or
image is marketed so that it is recognisable by more and
more people and identified with a certain service or
product when there are many other companies offering the
same service or product.
Thus, branding is seen as the process of giving
identity and image to products so as to create an
impression in the mind of the consumer. Branding is a long
process and it involves lots of investments in terms of
money and time from the company. Building brand
identity involves designing name, symbol and logo for the

Corporate Branding 84
product. Branding involves developing strategy to create a
point of differentiation from competitors as well point of
similarity with product class. Packaging of the products
also forms part of branding strategy. Creating a unique
product identity and branding strategy is important in
formulating success of the company. Customer's purchase
decision will be based on attractive product and branding
strategy. Thus, branding is seen as all of the ways you
establish an image of your company in your customers'
eyes (Asemah et al 2020).
Branding can build an expectation about the
company's services or products and can encourage the
company to maintain that expectation or exceed them,
bringing better products and services to the market place.
Defining your brand is like a journey of business self-
discovery; it can be difficult, time-consuming and
uncomfortable. It requires, at the very least, that you
answer questions like what is your company's mission?
What are the benefits and features of your products or
services? What do your customers and prospects already
think of your company? What qualities do you want them
to associate with your company? (Small Business
Encyclopedia, 2016, cited in Asemah et al 2020).

Benefits of Branding

Branding has so many benefits; among which are:

1. Proper branding can result in higher sales of not

only one product, but on other products associated with
that brand. For example, if a customer loves grand cereals
oil and trusts the brand, he or she is more likely to try other
products offered by the company (Grand Cereals Limited).
This is because brand is the personality that identifies a
product, service or company (name, term, sign, symbol or
design or combination of them) and how it relates to key
constituencies: customers, staff, partners, investors, etc.

85 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

2. People that engage in branding seek to develop or
align the expectations behind the brand experience,
creating the impression that a brand associated with a
product or service has certain qualities or characteristics
that make it special or unique. A brand is, therefore, one of
the most valuable elements in an advertising theme, as it
demonstrates what the brand owner is able to offer in the
marketplace. The art of creating and maintaining a brand is
called brand management.

3. Careful brand management seeks to make the

product or service relevant to the target audience. Brands
should be seen as more than the difference between the
actual cost of a product and its selling price. They represent
the sum of all valuable qualities of a product to the
consumer.

4. A brand which is widely known in the marketplace

acquires brand recognition. When brand recognition
builds up to a point where a brand enjoys a critical mass of
positive sentiment in the marketplace, it is said to have
achieved brand franchise. Brand recognition is most
successful when people can state a brand without being
explicitly exposed to the company's name, but rather,
through visual signifiers like logos, slogans and colours.

5. Consumers may look on branding as an aspect of

products or services as it often serves to denote a certain
attractive quality or characteristic. From the perspective of
brand owners, branded products or services also command
higher prices. Where two products resemble each other,
but one of the products has no associated branding (such as
a generic, store-branded product), people may often select
the more expensive branded product on the basis of the
quality of the brand or the reputation of the brand owner
(Culled from Asemah et al 2020).

Corporate Branding 86
Understanding Corporate Branding

Corporate branding strategy seeks to create unique

identity and position for its products, services and ensures
that both product and organisation create value beyond
that of their competitors (Ind, 1997, cited in Shahri, 2011).
Van Riel & Bruggen (2002), cited in Shahri (2011) define
corporate branding strategy as a systematically planned
and implemented process of creating and maintaining a
favourable reputation. Some factors impact the crafting
strategy of the corporate brand. Corporate strategy,
business model, organisational culture, pace of
innovation, added-value lever, resources and brand vision
are factors that should be taken into account when
choosing a branding strategy (Kapferer, 2008, cited in
Shahri, 2011). There are two approaches in the corporate
brand exercises. First, is to promote its name as the main
brand name sometimes referred to as monolithic or
umbrella branding. Here, the product is not branded
individually or as strongly as the corporate brand. The
basic principle is that the companies believe that the
company's name is the life of an enterprise. The second
approach which is becoming popular whereby the product
brand name has a high profile, but is endorsed by the parent
company which gives the product a stamp of quality and
credibility. Here, the product brand is self-supporting in
practically every respect, but retains the assurance of the
corporate brand endorsement. This type of corporate
branding is also called house or endorsement branding.
Nestle uses this approach to protect and guarantee
the performance of their multitude products. Also, suitable
for companies engaged in service industries as their
products are more intangible in nature. When consumers
cannot see the products, the company's name helps to give
them an assurance of quality, heritage and authenticity.
Thus, corporate branding is the practice of using a

87 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

company's name as a product brand name. It is an attempt
to use corporate brand equity to create product brand
recognition. This implies that corporate branding entails
an orgnaisation creating positive impression about its
corporate existence. Reputation takes a long time to build
and a short time to damage. One needs to look at some
questions when rating a company's overall reputation;
namely: does the company produce good or excellent-
quality products and services? If the answer is no, there is
no need to ask any of the other questions; does the
company show good profits over the long term? If not,
people are not likely to trust it; does the company have
good management or visionary management or are its
leaders asleep at the wheel? Does the company have
dedicated employees, suppliers and distributors? This we
will come across in good teamwork and satisfied
stakeholders; does the company exhibit social
responsibility in a meaningful way? This last question
adds another level to the company's overall reputation.
Corporations around the world are increasingly
becoming aware of the enhanced value that corporate
branding strategies can provide. Corporate branding
employs the same methodology and toolbox used in
product branding, but it also elevates the approach a step
further into the board room, where additional issues
around stakeholder relations (shareholders, media,
competitors, governments and many others) can help the
corporation benefit from a strong and well-managed
corporate branding strategy (Roll, 2004). Corporate
branding is a potentially strong tool for re-aligning a
corporate strategy and ensures that the corporation, big or
small, is leveraging adequately on the un-tapped internal
and external resources. There are 10 crucial steps on the
way to a successful corporate branding strategy and they
can serve as a useful guide for any corporate branding
project.

Corporate Branding 88
Steps in Corporate Branding

The following are the steps in corporate branding:

Step 1: Outline Your Company's Mission, Values and

Objectives: Yes, you already know what your company's
brand is about. But do your employees know exactly what
the business stands for? In this first step, you will do the
groundwork by getting everyone on the same page.
Whether you are a small business or a large corporate
entity, you need to make your objectives, mission and what
you stand for crystal clear.

Step 2: Define Your Target Audience: While the first step

was about what you stand for, this step is about who you
stand for. Knowing your potential customers is crucial for
attracting them and sharing their interests. The more you
know your target audience, the better you'd be able to
create loyalty.

Step 3: Conduct a Brand Audit: Now is the part when

you review all that you have. With the research you have
done in the prior steps, you are in a strong position to
understand how well your present corporate identity is
doing and what you can do to make it better appeal to your
target customers. You need to ask yourself whether your
brand image showcases what you stand for and your
objectives and whether your corporate identity is human
enough. That is, does it have a personality and does your
brand voice and personality speak to your target audience?
Does it align with their interests? Since you can be biased
while answering these questions, consider asking your
employees and customers. You can also ask them what
comes to your mind when you think of our business? Who
else they think is doing great with their marketing? Ask if

89 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

they would buy from a competitor? And Why? What they
think can improve the corporate image? How they rate
their experiences buying from the corporate business? And
whether they have any suggestions.
The corporate Brand Manager will have to compile
all the responses into a template as this will enable him/her
see the big picture. Through this, he/she will know what
needs work, what is not working and so on. More so, a
SWOT analysis can be carried out; that is an analysis of
your brand's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats. A SWOT analysis can show you what your
business is good at and where it lacks, which can help you
focus on the right aspects and find your competitive
advantage.

Step 4: Settle on Your Differentiation Point: Your USP

or unique selling point, is a particular benefit that helps
make your brand stand out and differentiate itself from the
sea of competitors. Clearly spelling it out is essential for
your corporate branding as marketers on your team can
then promote your value proposition to target the right
potential customers.

Step 5: Define Your Brand Voice and Messaging: You

need to work on your business's voice. Again, this is an
essential aspect of your corporate branding as it helps
develop a strong brand image and makes your business
memorable. Not only that, but a well-defined brand voice
can help you get your target audience's attention right
away. Make sure you circulate this brand voice chart
widely so all marketers, salespeople, customer service
reps—everyone, in short, knows about your brand voice.
Do not forget to write all your content in your brand voice
including your Website, blog content and advertisements,
email and social media marketing, printing material,

Corporate Branding 90
including product packaging, sales and customer service
communication and storefront and internal employee
documents.

Step 6: Work out Your Visual Identity: This is the part

that does most of your corporate identity talking. One
estimate even goes on to say that the brain processes
visuals 60,000 times faster than text. One of the things you
need to work on to create a strong visual identity is your
logo. Your logo is the face of your visual identity. So, make
sure you give it the time and attention it deserves. If you are
rebranding, think how you can make it better. If you are
only just getting started, reflect over how your logo can tell
your brand's story.

Step 7: Establish Your Corporate Branding

Guidelines: With your competitor analysis done, visual
identity ready, USP defined and brand voice clear, your
work is done. Now, you only need to take a step toward
making sure everyone on your team follows your
corporate identity. And there is one simple way of doing so
called a style guide. A style guide is a manual that puts all
aspects of your visual identity, including details of your
colour scheme, typography and more in one place. But it
does not need to be a hefty document that needs an hour
just to read (Culled from VISME, 2021).

91 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

 CHAPTER NINE
RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Relationship management is not about having a one-night

stand, but building a long-term and sustainable
relationship process based on mutual trust, integrity,
consistency and value. In modern times, organisations are
quickly catching up to the importance of a sustainable
relationship between them and their consumers and
stakeholders. This explains the shift from transactional
marketing to relationship centred marketing. Transactions
at best can bring about short-term patronage and nothing
sustainable can be built on short-term patronage, but
relationship in business and marketing as the capacity to
accentuate to not only long-term patronage, but also a
long-term value exchange which is of mutual benefit to
organisations and their customers. The modern paradigm
of of business and marketing views consumers and
stakeholders as corporate assets. Therefore, relationship
with consumers and stakeholders must be strategically
managed.
Relationship management is the process of
managing the internal and external publicsof an
organisation. In other words, it is the strength of
relationship between an organisation and its publics; such
that a breakdown in good relationship can result or impact
the economic, social, cultural or political well being of the
other. The essential point about this relationship
management is a rethinking of the role of communication
message production and dissemination both in public

92
relations and corporate communication. At the earliest
stage, communication was seen as the most important
function in public relations. However, the current thinking
suggests that communication is a tool in the management
of key relationship as the core function. In this sense,
communication helps to foster messages towards
relationship building. This implies that it is not just the
quality of the messages delivered, but also, how well
communication is anchored towards managing the
relationship between organisation and its publics.
Relationships are seen as exchanges designed to
support understanding and benefits, both for organisations
and interacting publics. The mutuality of understanding
creates benefits and foster long-lasting relationships. The
key is to design initiatives that benefit both the
organisations and their publics. Relationships are products
of communication and interactions that takes place
overtime. A well-managed relationship is an asset that can
result in good perceptions, loyalty and protects an
organisations' market share. Relationships change over
time. Parties become closer or more distant; interactions
become more or less frequent (Buttle & Maklan, 2019). All
relationship goes through dynamic phases; an
understanding of these phases will ensure better
relationship management process:

a. Awareness Phase: At this phase there is no actual

relationship between any parties. It is a knowledge phase
where potential members of relations are conscious ofthe
other; possibly observing from a distance. Buttle &
Maklan (2019) explain it as the attention phase. Each
potential member of the relationship is independently
operating hoping to develop a relationship
someday (Agbonifoh et al 2017).

93 Relationship Management
b. Exploration Phase: This is the testing or trial
phase, where the potential consumer takes a chance to
explore the relationship or in this context where
consumers make trial purchases. If the consumer is
impressed or satisfied with the service, subsequent
patronage takes place and if not the budding
relationship is terminated.

c. Expansion Phase: Expansion is the phase in which

there is increasing interdependence. More transactions
take place and trust begins to develop (Buttle & Maklan,
2019).

d. Commitment Phase: This refers to a lasting desire

to maintain and preserve a v a l u a b l e , i m p o r t a n t
relationship, it is characterised by parties exchanging
significant resources dedicated to maintain the
relationship (Agbonifoh et al 2007). Commitment is
regarded as a key ingredient in successful, long-term,
relationships. Commitment, therefore, may arise from
trust and shared values or the beliefs that partners will be
difficult to replace. This belief or feeling motivates
partners to cooperate in order to preserve the relationship
investments (Buttle & Maklan, 2019). Most consumers
and partners detest commitment because it leaves them
vulnerable and open to opportunistic tendencies.

e. Dissolution Phase: This is also known as the

termination phase; it represents the termination of a
relationship, either personal, business or trade
relationship. Dissolution often arises from a breach of trust
or a decline in customer satisfaction either in price, value
product and service quality.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

94
Measurement of Relationships

Successful relationships are often measured by the

following indices:

1. Trust.

2. Openness.

3. Credibility.

4. Intimacy.

5. Similarity.

6. Immediacy.

7. Arrangement.

8. Accuracy.

9. Common interest.

10. Relational history.

Strategic customer relationship management is a

relationship management concept based on established
market principles that recognise the need to balance
organisational and customer interest (Kumar & Reinartz,
2018). The emphasis is on the relationship management
concept in customer relationship management.
Relationship management is anchored on the framework
of the following

1. Situational Analysis.

2. Planning Programme Implementation.

95 Relationship Management
3. Impact Evaluation.

4. Relationship management emanates from four (4)

key developments.

5. The recognition of the central roles of relationship

in customer and public relations.

6. Reconceptualising public relation as a management

functions

7. Identifications of components and types of

organisations. That is, public relationship linkage
to public attitudes, perceptions,and knowledge,
behaviour and relationship measurement
strategies.

8. Construction of relationship models.

Roberts-Phelps (2008) highlights four steps to

relationship management thus:

a. Segmentation.

b. Analysing current behaviours

c. Developing a strategy to achieve target behaviour.

d. Behaviour Maintenance

There are 2 models of relationship management:

a. Relationship that is communication driven which is

symbolic

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

96
b. Relationship that is behavioural driven which is
programmatic.

Relationship model is anchored on the following:

a. Analysis.

b. Planning.

c. Implementation.

d. Evaluation.

A typical relationship management model is SMARTS

S – SCAN (Environmental Surveillance)

M – MAP (Setting Goals and Objectives)

A – ACT ( Designing and Pro- Testing

Initiatives)

R – ROLL OUT (Putting Programs in Place)

T – TRACK ( Eva l ua ti ng the Success of

Initiatives)

S – STEWARD (Monitoring and Maintaining

Quality Relationships)

Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing is an aspect of customer

relationship management that is focused on long-term
customer engagement, rather than short-term patronage.
Relationship marketing emerged to address the
shortcomings of the traditional marketing. Traditional

97 Relationship Management
marketing was more focused on transactional model of
marketing approach which centred more on increasing the
numbers of sales, but the modern paradigm of marketing is
more relationship driven. Agbonifoh, Ogwo, Nnolim &
Nkamnebe (2007) noted that the transactional marketing
approach thrived on the manipulation of the buyer by the
seller in a bid to achieve more sales, but the relationship
approach to marketing emphasises on cooperation and
interactions in determining the terms of exchange relations
for the mutual benefits of both parties. Relationship
marketing seeks to establish long-term committed,
trusting and co-operative relationships with consumers
(Agbonifoh etal 2007). It involves the strategic
management of relationships with multiple stakeholders
(Payne & Frow, 2013).
Relationship marketing emphasises two important
tenets; first is to understand and optimise relationships
with customers, while the other is manage relationships
with relevant stakeholders (Payne & Frow, 2013).
Relationship marketing undertakes marketing from
dimension of relationship, not just any kind of
relationship, but a valuable relationship. It focuses on
creating value to customers; it is in the value that is created
for consumers that the profitability of organisation is
actualised. Payne & Frow (2013) defines relationship in
this context:
Relationship marketing is an umbrella concept
concerned with the identification of the
appropriate relationships to have within a network
of customers and other key stakeholders and then
initiating, developing, extending, maintaining or
ceasing interactions with these actors based on the
types of relationships that are desired. These
relationships can be considered on a continuum,
ranging from an intimate partnership-type
relationship, to having no relationship at all with a
given actor. The concept involves an enterprise
offering value propositions which represent

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

98
 promises of value and maintaining relational
exchanges aimed at co-creation of mutual value,
long-term profitability and shareholder value.

Benefits of Relationship Marketing

1. Relationship marketing builds social ties

(connections) that can be leveraged on to promote
continuity and increase in value patronage and
technical services beyond the normal services.
Social ties are the building of blocks of social
capital that creates relational utility.

2. It creates an exchange of long-term value system

beneficial to both the consumers and organisation.

3. It breeds consumer loyalty and customer loyalty

often translates to customer extension.

4. It increases the total turnover of organisations as

loyal customers tend to buy more products
(Agbonifoh et al 2007).

5. Good relationship marketing engenders word of

mouth publicity as consumers communicate their
satisfaction and experiences with the organisation
product and services.

Customer Relations

Customer relation centres on the interactions between

organisations and its customers. It is a process that
describes efforts organisations engage in to create
communication and relationship network with its
consumers. Customer relations is a budding step to
building a sustainable customer relationship. It practically

99 Relationship Management
entails effective and prompt communication with
customers; addressing their complaints, listening to
customers, having a feedback mechanism and having an
excellent service delivery. Customer relations is involving
customers in an interaction process by keeping
communication channels open for a two-way
communication process between consumers and
organisation.
Customer relations is a comprehensive relational
process and strategy to acquire, maintain and retain
customers in an organisation. Customer relations is a
customer-centric relations that focuses on the provision of
values to consumers. Customer relations is geared towards
delivery of a value system to customers in return for
profitability. This implies that creating value to consumers
is the optimal goal; it is the value creation that
organisational profitability is attained. Customer relations
is a business strategy that an organisation employs to win
and retain customers. As a business strategy, its customer
relations focuses on creating value to meet the needs of
customers. This implies that production or business idea
starts with recognising consumers' needs, distribution is
strategised to appeal to customers' comfort and
convenience and pricing system are designed to be
customer-friendly.

Types of Customers

The following are the different types of customers:

1. Prospective Customers: They are potential

customers that fit the target market profile or
persons/firms who is interested in a company's
product services and has the financial capacity to
make purchase.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

100
2. New Customers: These are budding customers
who are just starting to patronise an establishment.
Relationships with new customer need to be
nurtured and managed so that they can be retained
as customers.

3. Wandering Customers: Wandering customers

are customers who gallivant from one shop to
another. They may wander into different shops and
end up buying nothing or buy a thing or two.
Wandering customers interact a lot in the course of
their meandering and they are likely to share their
experiences to friends, family and even potential
customers.

4. Impulsive Customers: These set of consumers

make patronage on a whim and purchase what
seems to be good or strikes their fancy at a
particular time. They undertake or make unplanned
buying decisions.

5. Discount or Bargain Hunters: They only

purchase products when there is an ongoing sales
promotion or when offered a discount. They are
very fierce bargainers and prefer to buy products at
low cost.

6. Need-based Customer: They are intentional

consumers who patronise products and services to
meet a particular need.

7. Seasonal Consumers: These types of consumers

make only seasonal purchase. Seasonal products
attract seasonal purchase.

101 Relationship Management

8. Personal Consumers: Personal consumers shop
for personal and household use.
9. Organisational Consumers: They make
purchases for institutions, government, business
and other organisation. Organisational customers
often purchase in bulk.

10. Habitual Consumers: Certain customers are

associated with certain products or services.These
are consumers who have a habit of buying a
particular product continuously and consistently. If
well managed, these set of customers could become
loyal customers.

11. Loyal Customers: Loyal customers are consumers

that are committed to a particular organisation,
brand or product. They are largely resistant to
switching brands or suppliers and have a strong
positive attitude towards the company they are
loyal to.

12. Advocate Customer: Loyal customers are often

advocate customer the go the extra mile to publicise
and recommend organisational products and
services to acquaintances, friends, family and even
their clients. Advocate customers generates
referrals through positive word-of-mouth publicity.

Understanding the Consumer

Understanding the consumer entails having a sound and an

in depth knowledge of consumers in any organisation.
Pearson (2021) in simple terms questions how an
organisation can realistically communicate and market
their products and services if the organisation has no sound

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

102
knowledge base of their consumers? A good
understanding of consumers helps organisations to better
meet the needs and offer value to consumers which will in
turn, cumulate in growth and sustained profitability.
Consumers are often referred to those individual or people
that patronise a particular products or services; This,
however, is a narrow definition or scope coverage of
customers. Customers are not only limited to patronisers
of any organisation's product and services, but also include
suppliers, investors, partners, distributors, middlemen,
and employees all forms an organisation's customer base.
For an organisation to adequate know and meet the needs
of its consumers, the organisation must have a consumer
data base. The data base is a power house of information
that serves as a storage bank for consumer information.
The data bank encapsulates the following categories of
customer information such as:

Customer Profile: Customer profiling entails the

description of customer demographics or personal
information, such as;

 Name of the customer.

 Gender disposition.

 Location of the customer.

 Social class.

 Educational qualification.

 Belief system.

 Location of the customer.

103 Relationship Management

 Class of account that the customer is operating.

 Type of business (Individual or organisational).

 Size of their business.

 Time frame of business relationship.

Customer Buying Behaviour:

 Type of product bought.

 Medium of purchase communication (phone call,

email, text website social media).

 Frequency of their patronage.

 Pattern of patronage (weekly, quarterly, seasonal).

 Volume of purchase.

 Reason for Purchase

Customers Service Profile

 Issues encountered in service delivery.

 Status of the issues.

 Mode of payment (bank transfer, cash or checks).

 Pattern of payment (payment before service or after

service, credit).

 Service complaints.

 Referrals.

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104
Consumer Complaints in Nigeria

Nwane (2004) identified 10 groups of what can be termed

contemporary consumer problems or complaints in
Nigeria. They are:

1. Higher and arbitrary prices introduced and forced

on consumers by channel members. An item is
advertised from a price and sold at a higher price.

2. Deceptive Marketing Process: These practices

wear their ugly heads in making imitation/ fake
product which are then given label of good quality
when in fact, it is a product of low quality

3. High pressure selling: Here prospective consumers

are subtly and consistently pressurised by the use of
sweet words, cajoled or outright deceit to make
consumers or their victim believe what they say,
even though this might not be true about their
product or services.

4. Shoddy/Unsafe products: Here, products of very

low quality or even expired are brought to the
marked. These kinds of product abound in our
markets due to unscrupulous business men /women
who want to reap where they did not sow.

5. Planned obsolescence: This problem is rampant

among manufacturers, especially automobile
manufacturers in the world over, who stress
aesthetic beauty and elegance at the expense of
high-quality parts and body shapes. This is a
deliberate marketing strategy to make the
consumer to buy more and more of the products in

105 Relationship Management

 question at regular periods of say between 3pm-
5pm, when the current one becomes old and
obsolete due to planned obsolesce already built into
the ear.

6. Minority Discrimination: This is a peculiar

problem associated with owners of the minority
black colour group in the USA. And also, but rather
ironically, the majority blacks in the then Apartheid
in South Africa. The colour segregation had eaten
so deep into the publics of the society that blacks
and white travel in different buses, attend separate
schools and concerts, etc. This kind of segregation
made it impossible for producers of goods that
manufacturers certain goods that are inferior to
those of the white for the black minority.

7. Share Advertising Practices: This kind of problem

takes various forms, amongst which is misleading
advertisements, exaggerating of facts, for example,
ABC restores youth.

8. Lack of Adequate In-depth Information: Most

people accept the idea that consumers have the right
to full disclosure about what product can do and
what it cannot do. This is anchored on the freedom
of choice which is taken as a sine-qua-non in a free
market enterprise or society. However, the
difficulty then is in determining what would be the
adequate quantity and quality of relevant
information about a product restricted to price,
performance, characteristics and availability.

9. Lack of Effective Servicing: But for durable

products, the need for effective sales after services

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106
 is crucial in consumer affairs. But this is an area
where consumers have always received the short
end of stick (cheated).

10. Pollution: of the air, sea and the deregulation of the

two systems generally, is a real problem of our age.
One only needs to take a walk round industrial
estates areas like Ikeja, Kano, PH, for one to fully
appreciate the causes of the problem. A visitor to the
Niger Delta area where exploration and
exploitation of the black gold is going on will drive
one to tears as a result of the monumental damage to
farmland, fishing, water and the ecology in general.
The question then arises, should manufacturers and
business men wait for government intervention or
the cry of the consumer before finding an
acceptable solution to the very serious problem of
pollution?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer relationship management is a business strategy

that places the consumer at the centre of all business
activities. All other factors of production, distribution and
exchange revolves around the centre which is the
consumer. CRM is a comprehensive strategy that is
channeled towards the development of a customer-centred
organisational culture that is dedicated to acquiring,
retaining and sustaining customer relationship. Customer
relationship management starts and ends with customers.
Therefore, a company's marketing team must “live and
breathe” the consumer and ensure that the board of
directors do the same (Pearce, 2021). It is a relationship-
driven-adventure centred on building a personal and one-
on-one relationship with customers that is valuable to both

107 Relationship Management

customers and organisation. Pearce (2021) avers that
customer relationship management relates to acquiring,
developing and retaining satisfied loyal customers.
Customer relations management is a broadly recognised,
widely implemented strategy for managing and nurturing
a company's interactions with customers, clients and sales
prospects. It involves using technology to organise,
automate and synchronise business process for sales
activities, customer services and technical supports
(Zamil, 2011).
Buttle & Maklan (2015) contend that CRM is the
core business strategy that integrates internal process and
functions, by external networks to create and deliver value
to targeted customers at a profit. Similarly, CRM is a
business strategy that maximises profitability, revenue and
customer satisfaction by organising around customers'
segments, fostering behaviour that satisfies customers and
implements customer-centric process (Buttle & Maklan,
2019). It is grounded on high quality customer-related data
and enabled by information technology. Roberts-Phelps
(2008) asserts that customer's relationship management
requires a holistic approach so that information that is held
about customers across the organisation is drawn together
in one central source or at least, cross-accessed, so that it
can be complied and collated. Buttle & Maklan (2019) on
the other hand purport that customer relationship
management is an integrated approach to identifying and
retaining customers by enabling organisations to manage
and coordinate customer's interactions with multiple
channels, departments, lines of business and geographies.
The general purpose of customer relationship
management is to manage organisational value system to
ensure sustainable profitability for both customers and
organisation itself. However, Pearce (2021) contends that
the commercial focus of CRM is to develop a company's

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108
“best customers” on the principle that “All customers are
equal, but some are more equal than others.”This strategy
focuses on customers' segmentation based on the volume
of revenue and profit that customers bring to the table. This
explains why organisations can address one or more
customers as their “major customers.” Kumar & Reinartz
(2018) see CRM as a strategic process of selecting
customers that a firm can mostly profitably serve and
shaping interactions between a company and these
customers. The ultimate goal is to optimise the current and
future value of customers for the company.

Approaches to Customer Relationship Management

(CRM)

1. Strategic Approach: The strategic approach to

CRM is a customer-centric business strategy that aims at
winning, developing and keeping profitable
customers.

2. Operational Approach: Operational approach to

CRM focuses customer interactions in business operations
using automated software. This approach uses
technologies to facilitate and streamline communication
with customers by connecting to customer touch points.
interactions on the integration and a u t o m a t i o n o f
customer-facing processes such as selling, marketing and
customer service.

3. Analytical Approach: The analytical approach to

CRM processes customer data for an actionable purpose
that is utilised by organisations for diverse
operations. Analytical CRM is concerned with capturing,
storing, extracting, integrating, processing, interpreting,
distributing and reporting customer-related data to

109 Relationship Management

enhance both customer and company's value (Buttle &
Maklan, 2019). Organisations take consumer data analyse
and mine the data and utilise the generated information to
improve internal and external operations. This
approach uses customer data as foundation for designing
and executing market campaigns, analyse consumers'
buying patterns, design customer segmentation, analyse
market trends and forecast, data banking and data mining.

4. Collaborative Approach: This approach to CRM

incorporates the integration and synchronisation of data
collated by various departments in an organisation, their
dealings and interactions with customers. It focuses on
facilitating communication between teams and
departments. Various departments in organisations such as
the customer service, sales, marketing and technical
support aligning together to collectively share information
and interactions with consumers. Essentially, different
departments of an organisation deal and interact with one
another at various levels; the marketing department
interacts with customers in the course of promoting
products and services of the organisation; the sales team
also deal with consumers. In a similar vein, customer
service deals with customer's complaints and needs and
the technical team offers technical support andservices to
customer. In all these dealings and interaction, data are
generated from these departments. The objective is to
synchronise these data collected by all the department into
a pull or data bank and use themto improve the qualityof
services to consumers.

Stages of Customer Relationship Management

1. Customer Acquisition: The foremost step in

building a solid customer base is customer acquisition.
This is the processes of attracting customer. The

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110
acquisition state is the courtship and engagement stage. At
this stage, organisation attracts and court customers
through advertisement, sales promotion and target
marketing to woo consumers into engaging in their first in
the series of patronage.

2. Customer Retention: Customer retention is the

maintenance of continuous trading relationships with
customers over the long-term (Buttle & Maklan, 2019). It
focuses on keeping consumers consistently engaged in
product patronage after the first trials and series of
patronage. The goal is to keep consumers committed to the
organisation.

3. Customer Loyalty: The loyalty stage becomes a

reality when commitment to an organisation's
products/services brings about product or service
satisfaction. Customer loyalty is a fusion of superior
product/service satisfaction on and the emotional
attachment to the brand stemming from their customer
experience and connection with the brand's value system
and positioning (Pearce, 2021).

4. Customer Extension: Loyal consumers are

powerful promotion and sales instruments through the
word of mouth testimony. The word of mouth is the
philosophy of telling the satisfaction story to others
(friends, family and clients), thereby bringing in others'
share in the customers' satisfaction. Another dimension of
customer extension is to introduce new or supplementary
products and services that may not be originally related to
consumer's usual product and service patronage, thereby
extending range of products and services that consumers
patronise.

111 Relationship Management

Benefits of CRM

1. CRM helps organisations to maximise the value of

every customer interaction to drive corporate
performance (Buttle & Maklan, 2019).

2. CRM helps to build mutually profitable

relationship through consumers' interactions.

3. CRM sustains long-term profitability through a

better understanding and management of both
customer and organisational value system.

4. CRM creates customer profile that ensures a better

customer service gathers efficiency.

5. CRM provides an organisation with a

comprehensive and centralised data base.

6. A comprehensive CRM data base will help

organisation to better segment their markets and
consumers.

Consumer Satisfaction

Consumer satisfaction can be defined in two ways: either

as an outcome or as a process. As an outcome, consumers'
satisfaction emanate from the organisation or product
characteristics in which the satisfaction or end-state results
from the consumption experience. Sarah (2014), citing
Churchill & Suprenant (1982) defined customer
satisfaction as an outcome of purchase and use, resulting
from the buyer's comparism of the rewards and the cost of
the purchase in relation to the anticipated consequences.
On the other hand, satisfaction can be considered a

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112
process, emphasising the perpetual, evaluative and
psychological processes that contribute to satisfaction.
Wilson (2002) argues that customer satisfaction is
ambiguous and complex in nature and it often consists of
various components that are measured with different
methods under different conditions. Ambroz & Praprutnik
(2008), citing Edwardson (1996) argues that customer
satisfaction is an individual category since the customer
concerned understands it is in its own unique ways. This
means that customer satisfaction can be understood as a
web of psychological, social and physical variables, which
correlate with the notion of a satisfied customer.
Customer satisfaction measures future customer
expectation and qualifies the measures customers should
expect from the service in the future, which is more
abstract category. The outcome of both measures is the
relation between expectations and performance. Customer
satisfaction is the outcome of his or her needs and
expectations which influence the interaction with service
providers and other customers. The quality of this
interaction impacts customer decision to repurchase the
service, his retention and the intention of the customer to
recommend to other customers and finally, to pass on
useful information about the service quality and delivery.
Customer satisfaction is related to different ways of
interaction with the environment (Mackey, 2005). When
corporate communication is used during period of service
delivery, it reinforces selling activities by motivating the
customers using items of gifts. While when used as an after
service delivery, its activities will be to reinforce loyalty
and continuous patronage by customers. Corporate
communication as a tool in corporate and product
promotions specialise in polishing the image of
organisations and their services. Improve customer's
confidence through relationship management and

113 Relationship Management

provides sufficient and reasonable information, including
a feedback process for correct evaluation of result.
Customer satisfaction has emerged as one of the
most powerful tools for sustaining a competitive
advantage for business success and survival in recent
times. For business organisation to gain competitive
advantage over rival organisation, there is every need to
focus effort at customer satisfaction. For every
organisation to achieve this objective, there is every need
to utilise corporate communication. Hasan (2013) avers
that corporate communication refers to the efforts of
corporate institutions in ensuring that the organisation
communicates its policies and activities to its consumers,
while evaluating their interests in the use of the
organisations' products or services. This is to ensure that
misunderstanding between the organisation and its publics
is avoided in relation to its policies and activities. It is
targeted at meeting the satisfaction of the consumers
which remains critical publics of every business
organisation.
Corporate communication supports awareness; its
inputs are highly needed in the conceptualisation of the
organisation's image. Ehikwe (2005) supports this fact as
he believes that corporate communication usually
prepares the minds of customers before they get the
services and this may happen before, during and after the
actual service delivery. In the pre-service delivery periods,
corporate communication focuses on the organisation,
while preparing their minds for future patronage. Asemah
(2011) says corporate communication refers to the public
relations strategy which includes the efforts of an
organisation to communicate policies targeted at the
interest of its publics such as customers. It also entails
communicating policies of action to the consumers which
is aimed at providing the consumers with satisfaction in

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114
the use of the organisation's products or services. This is to
ensure that the consumers perceive the organisations a
corporate institution that is concerned about doing its best
to meet their satisfaction in the use of the organisation's
product or service, while in response, the consumers give
the organisation its continues loyalty and patronage in the
organisation's efforts to achieve its overall aims and
objectives as a corporate organisation.

Stakeholders Relations

The notion of a stakeholder is an old concept. In law where

it originally emanated from, it is referred to as a person
who holds the values (money or property) while efforts are
been made to determined who the right owner is. In
gaming, a stakeholder can be referred to as a person who
holds the bets in a game or a contest. Today, stakeholders
are most usually described as interest groups who have
interest in an organisation.
According to the Oxford Learners' Dictionary 7th
Edition, a stakeholder is a person or company that is
involved in a particular organisation, project, system, etc.
especially because they have invested money in it.
Advance English Dictionary sees it as someone entrusted
to hold the stakes for two or more persons betting against
one another: must deliver the stakes to the winner.
In the mid-19805, Edward Freeman (1984, p.25)
introduced the notion of the stakeholder to management,
defining it asany group or individual who can affect or who
is affected by the achievement of the firm's objectives.
Among such groups and individuals, we find managers,
consumers, investors, suppliers, grassroots organisations,
employees and their families, host communities, local
governments, state and national governments, general
society and sometimes, even foreign governments. While

115 Relationship Management

employees, for example, are affected by issues like
working conditions, salaries and security of employment,
the local community holds stakes in the natural
environment, taxes and jobs. In his analysis of
stakeholders, Freeman (1984) emphasised the urgency of
ethics, arguing that an ethical decision is one that takes into
consideration the implications of the corporate decision on
all relevant stakeholders (Freeman & Gilbert, 1988;
Freeman & Velamuri, 2006). In practice, however, most
stakeholder analyses focus on strategic stakeholders; that
is, the groups and individuals who have sufficient power or
media attention to seriously affect corporate decisions.
While a stakeholder is any group or person with stakes in
organisational decisions and outcomes, in practice, it most
often refers to interest groups with the power to shape
corporate reality.
In this context, stakeholders are the communities
where the oil industry operates because they own the
natural resources (Land, oil, access road and river) which
are of upmost importance to the growth of the company.
Just like the way other financial stakeholders dictate and
involve in the decision making of an organisation, so also
the stakeholders in this context join in decision making of
the organisation. Every company has stakeholders, these
stakeholders need certain information to be able to support
an organisation and buy into its culture and processes as
they also have something to gain or lose as a result of
corporate activity. Stakeholders are important to the public
because these groups are essentially the public in public
relations. Stakeholders are the audience for organisational
messages. Organisations look upon stakeholders for
resources. These stakeholders have the ability to withhold
their resources or agree with the organisation on important
issues.

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116
 Stakeholders exist both internally and externally,
these stakeholders can have competing priorities and
needs. Stakeholder relationships that are unmanaged or
mismanaged have a number of less than favourable
consequences for companies. These include unnecessary
expenses and lack of buy-in to processes and initiatives
aimed at transforming the company. Since organisations
are such powerful forces in society, it is arguable that they
have the ability to impact all of society. Public relations
professionals are expected to narrow the potential
stakeholder possibilities and priorities key stakeholders
for the organisation. Mitchell, Agle & Wood (1997)
suggested that stakeholder identification is a function of
the stakeholder's power to influence the organisation, the
urgency of their claim and the legitimacy of the
relationship with the organisation.

Who are Stakeholders?

Stakeholders are not restricted to the community, but can

be found within and outside the community. Health (l987)
identifies the following categories of stakeholders:

Intra industry players.

Inter industry players.

Potential activist publics.

Customers.

Employees.

Legislators.

Regulators.

117 Relationship Management

 Judiciary.

Investors.

Neighbours.

The media.

Current research adds non-human stakeholders as

wildlife and the environment.

In categorising stakeholders, Freeman's definition is

something of a 'catch' and many writers in the field have
found it helpful to develop other ways of distinguishing
one type of stakeholder in an organisation from another.
According to Student Accountant (2008), it covered the
different ways in which stakeholders are categorised and
how they are distinguished from each other. Their
categorisation includes the following:

a. Internal and External Stakeholders: Perhaps the

easiest and most straightforward distinction is
between stakeholders inside the organisation and t h o s e
outside. Internal stakeholders will typically include
employees and management, whereas external
stakeholders will include customers, c o mp et it or s ,
suppliers, and so on. Some stakeholders will be more
difficult to categorise, such as trade unions that may have
elements of both internal and external membership.

b. Narrow and Wide Stakeholders (Evans and

Freeman): Narrow stakeholders are those that are the
most affected by the organisation's policies and will
usually include shareholders, management, employees,
suppliers and customers who are dependent upon the

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118
organisation's output. Wider stakeholders are those less
affected and may typically include government, less-
dependent customers, the wider community (as opposed to
the local community) and other peripheral groups.

c. Primary and Secondary Stakeholders

(Clarkson): According to Clarkson (1995), a primary
stakeholder group is one without whose continuing
participation in the corporation cannot survive as a going
concern. Hence, whereas Evans & Freeman view
stakeholders as being (or not being) influenced by an
organisation, Clarkson sees the important distinctions as
being between those that do influence an organisation and
those that do not. Secondary stakeholders are those that the
organisation does not directly depend upon for its
immediate survival.

d. Active and Passive Stakeholders (Mahoney):

Mahoney (1994) divided stakeholders into those who are
active and those who are passive. Active stakeholders are
those who seek to participate in the organisation's
activities. These stakeholders may or may not be a part of
the organisation's formal structure. Management and
employees obviously fall into this active category, but so
may some parties from outside an organisation, such as
regulators (in the case of, say, UK privatised utilities) and
environmental pressure groups.
Passive stakeholders in contrast, are those who do
not normally seek to participate in an organisation's policy
making. This is not to say that passive stakeholders are any
less interested or less powerful, but they do not seek to take
an active part in the organisation's strategy. Passive
stakeholders will normally include most shareholders,
government and local communities.

e. Voluntary and Involuntary Stakeholders: This

distinction describes those stakeholders who engage with

119 Relationship Management

the organisation voluntarily and those who become
stakeholders involuntarily. Voluntary stakeholders will
include, for example, employees with transferable skills
(who could work elsewhere), most customers, suppliers
and shareholders. Some stakeholders, however, do not
choose to be stakeholders, but are so nevertheless.
Involuntary stakeholders include those affected by the
activities of large organisations, local communities and
'neighbours,' the natural environment, future generations,
and most competitors.

f. Legitimate and Illegitimate Stakeholders: This

is one of the most difficult categorisations to make as a
stakeholder's legitimacy depends on your viewpoint (one
person's 'terrorist,' for example, is another's 'freedom
tighter'). While those with an active economic relationship
with an organisation will almost always be considered
legitimate, others that make claims without such a link
or that have no mandate to make a claim, will be
considered illegitimate by some. This means that there is
no possible case for taking their views into account when
making decisions. While terrorists will usually be
considered illegitimate, there is more debate on the
legitimacy of the claims of lobby groups, campaigning
organisations and non governmental/charitable
organisations.

g. Recognised and Unrecognised (by the

Organisation) Stakeholders: The categorisation by
recognition follows on from the debate over legitimacy. If
an organisation considers a stakeholder's claim to be
illegitimate, it is likely that i t s c l a im will not be
recognised. This means the stakeholder's claim will not be
taken into account when the organisation makes decisions.

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120
h. Known about and Unknown Stakeholders:
Finally, some stakeholders are known about by the
organisation in question and others are not. This means, of
course, that it is very difficult to recognise whether the
claims of unknown stakeholders (e.g. nameless sea
creatures, undiscovered species, communities in close
proximity to overseas suppliers, etc.) are considered
legitimate or not. Some say that it is a moral duty for
organisations to seek out all possible stakeholders before a
decision is taken and this can sometimes result in the
adoption of minimum impact policies. For example, even
though the exact identity of a nameless sea creature is not
known, it might still be logical to assume that low
emissions can normally be better for such creatures than
high emissions.

Understanding and Managing Stakeholders for

Corporate Goals

Managing stakeholders involves the targeting in advance

of all internal and external audiences and analysing what
they will need and want to know. It also involves
calculating what you want them to know under given
circumstances. The management of stakeholder relations
has become an integrated dimension of an organisation's
responsibility towards the local and the global community.
Carroll (1979) talks about four types of corporate
responsibilities to stakeholders: economic, juridical,
ethical and philanthropic. While the economic and the
juridical responsibilities already reside within business
logic, the ethical and philanthropic responsibilities seem to
appeal to moral obligations beyond, and perhaps even
against, business interests.

121 Relationship Management

a. Economic Responsibilities: Historically, business
organisations were created as economic entities designed
to provide goods and services to societal members. The
profit motive was established as the primary incentive for
entrepreneurship. Before it was anything else, business
organisation was the basic economic unit in our society.
As such, its principal role was to produce g o o d s a n d
services that consumers needed and wanted and to make an
acceptable profit in the process. At some point the idea of
the profit motive got transformed into a notion of
maximum profits and this has been an enduring v a l u e
ever since. All other business responsibilities are
predicated upon the economic responsibility of the firm
because without it, the others become moot
considerations.

b. Juridical/Legal Responsibilities: Society has not

only sanctioned business to operate according to the profit
motive; at the same time, business is expected to compl y
with the laws and regulations promulgated by federal, state
and local governments as the ground rules under which
business must operate. As a partial fulfilment of the
"social contract” between business and society, firms are
expected to pursue their economic missions within the
framework of the law. Legal responsibilities embody basic
notions of fair operations as e s t a b l i s h e d b y o u r
lawmakers. They are depicted as the next layer on the
pyramid to portray their historical development, but they
are appropriately seen as coexisting with economic
responsibilities as fundamental precepts of the free
enterprise system.

c. Ethical Responsibilities: Although, economic and

legal responsibilities embody ethical norms about fairness
and justice, ethical responsibilities e m b r a c e t h o s e
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122
activities and practices that are expected or prohibited by
societal members even though they are not codified into
law. Ethical responsibilities embody those standards,
norms or expectations that reflect a concern for what
consumers, employees, shareholders and the community
regard as fair, just or in keeping with the respect or
protection of stakeholders' moral rights. In one sense,
changing ethics or values pre-cede the establishment
of law because they become the driving force behind the
very creation of laws or regulations. For example, the
environmental, civil rights and consumer m o v e m e n t s
reflected basic alterations in societal values and thus may
be seen as ethical bellwethers foreshadowing and resulting
in the later legislation.
In another sense, ethical responsibilities may be
seen as embracing newly emerging values and norms
society expects business to meet, even though such values
and norms may reflect a higher standard of performance
than that currently required by law. Ethical responsibilities
in this sense are often ill-defined or continually under
public debate as to their legitimacy and thus, are frequently
difficult for business to deal with. Superimposed on these
ethical expectations emanating from societal groups are
the implied levels of ethical performance suggested by a
consideration of the great ethical principles of moral
philosophy. This would include such principles as justice,
rights and utilitarianism.
The business ethics movement of the past
decade has firmly established an ethical responsibility as a
legitimate CSR component. Though, it is depictedas
the next layer of the CSR pyramid, it must be constantly
recognised that it is in dynamic interplay with the legal
responsibility category. That is, it is constantly pushing the
legal responsibility category to broaden or expand, while
at the same time, placing ever higher expectations on

123 Relationship Management

business persons to operate at levels above that required
by law.

d. Philanthropic Responsibilities: Philanthropy

encompasses those corporate actions that are in response
to society's needs that a company carries out in the course
of business as a good corporate citizen. This includes
actively engaging in acts or programmes to promote
human welfare or goodwill. Examples of philanthropy
include business contributions to financial resources or
executive time such as contributions to the arts, education
or the community. A loaned-executive programme that
provides leadership for a community's United Way
campaign is one illustration of philanthropy.
The distinguishing feature between philanthropy
and ethical responsibilities is that the former are not
expected in an ethical or moral sense. Communities desire
firms to contribute their money, facilities and employee
time to humanitarian programmes or purposes, but they do
not regard the firms as unethical if they do not provide the
desired level. Therefore, philanthropy is more
discretionary or voluntary on the part of businesses even
though there is always the societal expectation that
businesses provide it. One notable reason for making the
distinction between philanthropic and ethical
responsibilities is that some firms feel they are being
socially responsible if they are just good citizens in the
community. This distinction brings home the vital point
that CSR includes philanthropic contributions, but is not
limited to them. In fact, it would be argued here that
philanthropy is highly desired and prized, but actually less
important than the other three categories of social
responsibility, in a sense, philanthropy is icing on the cake
or on the pyramid, using our metaphor.

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124
Communication and Media Platform in Stakeholders
Relations

Communication is the exchange of words, information and

ideas. It can either be intrapersonal (self-communication),
interpersonal (communication between persons) or mass
communication (communication using a medium to reach
a wide, scattered heterogeneous audience). Michael
(2006) sees communication as that indispensable function
of people and organisations through which the
organisation or the organism relates itself to its
environment and relates its parts and internal process one
to the other. He adds that communication is so important to
human society that there cannot be any meaningful human
existence without communication. It is not surprising that
the word has elicited interest from writers and scholars of
all ages and disciplines.
Richard (1999) sees communications is a process
that needs to be geared to the needs, ideals and aspirations
of all its audiences. It can facilitate an understanding of and
deepening appreciation for the organisation. It is an
enabling process; one which should form an essential part
of corporate strategy. It is a process that can impact upon
performance and upon overall competitive advantage.
According to Richard (1999), “communication is the
process that enables organisations to develop relationship
with important stakeholders, to identify with them and by
which to gain their approval.” He further adds that
communication is a facilitating process that enables an
organisation to evaluate attitudes and to have an
understanding of those publics that impact upon the
organisation. Sophisticated management now understands
the strategic importance of communicating with those
publics and of having a constant dialogue with them.
According to Schiller (2007, p. l8):

125 Relationship Management

 Communication is the sharing of meaning through
the exchange of information. The process of
communication is defined by the technology of
communication, the characteristics of the senders
and receivers of information, their cultural codes of
reference and protocols of communication, and the
scope of the communication process. Meaning can
only be understood in the context of the social
relationship in which information and
communication are processed.

The most important dimension of communication

convergence as Jenkins (2006, p. 3) writes “occurs within
the brains of individual consumers and through their social
interaction with others.”Communication demands
togetherness. If linked to togetherness, it is a central
process through which social actors and institutions
develop understanding and construct meaning. It cannot
be established without anyone's active and cognitive
participation. Communication philosopher, Gadamer
summed this up as speaking does not belong into the
domain of the 'I' but in the sphere of the 'We.' In managing
stakeholders, sophisticated communications is a key role.
Communicating with stakeholders reduce real problems to
issues of procedures and semantics. In this Way,
statements such as “we are in dialogue with our
stakeholders” may deflate criticism from social
movements: a disagreement is acknowledged and action is
taken in the form of “dialogue.”

Challenges in Managing Stakeholders

In everything in life, there is a challenge and managing

stakeholders is not an exception. The following can be
outlined as the challenges encountered in managing
stakeholders' relations in the oil industry:

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126
a. Feeling of neglect, suspicion and distrust towards
oil companies: Decades of environmental harm and
political neglect have bred the feeling of neglect
and distrust.

b. Some stakeholders impose decisions on the oil

company because they feel they are the owners of
the land and oil.

c. Lack of visibility of the government in ensuring

that the needs of the communities are met and so
they see the oil companies as the government to
meet their needs.

d. Poor orientation of community leaders.

e. Constant threats by stakeholders to disrupt

activities in the flow station; sometimes they even
shut it down.

f. Lack of education and practical skills of the

stakeholders.

g. Power tussle within the representatives of the

stakeholders.

h. Security concern of the oil company: Security

concern in the sense that the organisation is not
relax during meeting hours with the community for
fear of the unknown.

i. Blocking of roads leading to the flow station.

j. Hijacking of personnel/vehicles.

k. Seizing of barge/ferry.

127 Relationship Management

l. Land, lease/ legal battles.

m. Many years of political neglect.

Employee Relations

Employee relations is the interactions and dealings with

the employees of an organisation. It focuses on the
individual and collective relationship between employers
and employees. Leat (2008), citing Gennard & Judge
(2002) defines employee relations as a set of rules and
regulations and agreements by which employees are
managed both as individuals and as a collective group, the
priority given to the individual as opposed to the collective
relationship varying from company to company
depending upon the values of management. As such, it is
concerned with how to gain people's commitment to the
achievement of an organisation's goals and objectives in a
number of different situations. Hasan (2013) asserts that
employees represent the largest and the most important
investment a company can make. Employees are one of the
most important audiences a company has and as such,
there is a need to have an ongoing public relations
programme to maintain employees' goodwill as well,
upload the company's image and reputation among
employees (Asemah, Kente & Nkwam-Uwaoma, 2021).
The quality of relations between employers and
employees can determine the level of productivity an
organisation encounters. The goal of employee relations is
to improve the quality of relationships, teamwork and
collaboration in the workplace. Organisations' employees
are more than just a means to an end or profitable
productivity, but represents vital aspect of the
organisations overall development. Hasan (2013) explains
that while the management of an organisation serves as the
central nervous system which creates intelligence and

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128
strategy for the organisation, financial capital is the
lifeblood of a company, but the employees are the vital
organs of any organisation. If there are no people to paddle
an organisation's products, services and ideas, the
organisation will eventually wither and die out. Hasan
(2013) asserts that by virtue of position, employees are an
organisation's most important publics and they are also its
stakeholders in every sense of the word.

Factors that foster a Positive Employee Relations

1. Good working environment.

2. Teamwork.

3. Collaboration among different teams.

4. Open lines of communications.

Benefits of Employee Relations

1. Fosters employee satisfaction.

2. Motivates employees for better productivity.

3. Reduce friction in the work place.

4. Better employee relationships and team

collaborations.

Employee Communication

Just like any other relationship, a good employee relations

is only feasible through communication. Communications
flows horizontally, vertically and diagonally. Horizontal
communication also known as lateral communication

129 Relationship Management

involves information flow from employees at the same
level or hierarchy. Vertical communication is the
communication that flows from top management to
employees while diagonally communication flows across
team. Employee relations in corporate organisations are
created, maintained and managed by communication.
Employee communication often referred to as internal
communication is an aspect of corporate communication
that focuses on dissemination of information to the internal
publics of a corporate organisation. It is defined as the
exchange of information, ideas and messages between
management of a corporate organisation and its employees
and vice-versa. Employee communication is channelled
towards using interaction to foster and improve the
relationships between employees; between management
and employee and also, between the different managerial
cadres of an organisation. Employee communication
focuses on developing programmes that facilities
knowledge sharing and interaction platform to enhance a
better working relationships and better working
environment.
Corporate organisations have established
communication channels that disseminate and manage the
communication networks in their environment. The
communication channels of an organisation can be
categorised in to two; one is the formal communication
channels and the other is the informal communication
channel:

a. Formal Communication Channels: Formal

communication channels are channels established
by corporate organisational structures to transmit
messages related to professional activities
(Robbins & Judge, 2009). Robbins & Judge (2009)
explain that formal communication follows an
authority chain within the organisation. Formal

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130
 communication channels are categorised into
downward and upward communication channels.
Downward communication channels are used to
convey directives and instructions from
management to employees, while upward
communication channel is used by employees to
communicate and relate with management.
Upward communication also provides feedback
mechanism from employees to management.
Formal communication employs newsletters,
bulletins, web-based communication, memos,
reports, face-to-face address, emails, official
organisational social media handles as means of
communication.

b. I nf o r m a l C o m m u n i c a t i o n C ha nn e l s :
Information communication channels are channels
created spontaneously and emerge as responses to
individual choices (Robbins & Judge, 2009).
Information communication channels are
grapevine channels of communication. Grapevine
channels of communication are simply gossip
channels of communication. The grapevine
channel can be a single strand, gossip channel,
probability or a cluster. A single strand gossip is a
linear communication channel that emanates from
a single individual to a long line of persons. The
communication channel can be trace backward to a
single individual.
In the gossip channel, communication
emanates from a source who communicates to all
other members of his circle or network at the same time.
In the probability channel, people communicate on a
random basis (Imianvan, Okonofu & Oloyede, 2012).
Here, a source randomly selects persons in his/her

131 Relationship Management

network to communicate message to. In a similar vein
another source also selects a set of random persons to
communicate messages to and the chain continues to
spread. The cluster communication channels
transmits messages to select group of persons who in turn,
transmit to other set of persons.

Media Relations
The media are vehicles of communication. This infers that
the media are the vehicles for transporting mass media
messages. The media are a tool of communication and the
promotion of goodwill in public relations. The media are
used to shape and influence the communication narrative
in the public sphere. Babaleye (2013) asserts that the
media are the specialised publics of any corporate
organisation because they hold the publicity power to
make known the company to the outside word. Activities,
policies and promotions of organisation are made known
by the media, making the media the link between
organisation and its publics. Nwanne (2015) posits that
media relations is an art; it is the adroit and professional
interaction with and the use of the mass media to achieve
meaningful communication between an organisation and
its various publics.
Media relations focuses on the relationship
between organisation and the mass media. The media have
the capacity to shape the perceptions of the publics
towards an organisation. An organisation can either have a
good relationship or bad media relations, depending on
how the relationship between the media and organisations
is cultivated and managed. The media are an instrumental
factor in corporate image building and management. A
favourable corporate image is a product of the working
relationship between an organisation and the media.
Media relations refers to the relationship that a company

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132
develops with journalist (Asemah, Edegoh, Ekhareafo &
Ogwo, 2013). As previously mentioned, media relations
is centred on building good rapport between organisations
and the media and one strategic way of actualising this
goal is via partnership. It involves organisation actively
partnering and participating in the activities of the media;
it could be in form of sponsoring a media programme or
award, recognising the inputs of the media in various
sectors of the public sphere.
Babaleye (2013) asserts that journalists are a
necessary evil as such, they should be handled with care.
As a necessary evil implies that organisations often have a
sort of complicated relationship with journalists. Having
journalist is not always a convenient and pleasant
experience, but they are extremely useful to have around.
Organisations often do not want journalists around,
especially during sensitive situations that they are not
interested in making known; irrespective of this, having
journalists in your corner in sensitive or even in crisis
situation can be an advantage card. Some organisations
have a love-hate relationship with the media; they love the
media when the media are singing their praises and hate
the media when journalists turn around to expose ills about
their establishments. A public relations executive must
understand the workings of the media. Journalists go after
stories weather good or bad, it is the relationship with the
affected organisation that will determine the slant of the
publication. This is why it is of utmost necessity to for
organisation to have a good working relationship with the
media.
Every relationship needs to be managed, including
that of organisations and media. A good media relations
also requires frequency and consistency of
communication with the media. Babaleye (2013)
compares building and managing media relations to a

133 Relationship Management

young man courting a lady, where constant
communication, complementary messages and giving of
material gifts is needed to fuel the relationship.

Objectives and Functions of Media Relations

Asemah et al (2013) outline the following as the

importance of media relations:

a. It brings about mutual cooperation and

understanding between an organisation and the
various channels of communication

b. Effective media relations is a component to

corporate success and stability in today's
competitive business environment.

c. Organisations engage in media relations to secure

maximum positive publicity and media support for
their activities, policies and programmes;
organisations are able to reach out to their publics.

d. To create an avenue for interacting with journalists,

publishers, broadcasters and electronic media
owners in a friendly manner that they begin to see
organisation as partner in progress and a friend.

e. Organisations engage in media relations to inform,

educate and explain to the media about their
programmes, policies and actions, so as to reduce
rumour which may lead to misquotations,
misrepresentation, distortion of facts and
unfounded criticisms.

f. To get close to the mass media, so as to appreciate

their problems and mode of operations as well as

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134
 effectively utilise their potentials in a mutual and
profitable manner (Asemah et al 2013, citing
Nweke, 2001).

Other objectives/functions of media relations

include, but not limited to the following:

a. To get positive media visibility and publicity;

media visibility and publicity create organisation
awareness in the public space. This means the
public will know about the organisation which in
turn, can attract customer's patronage.

b. A positive media review accords credibility to the

organisation in the public eye.

c. To foster a good working relationship and

partnership with the media.

Techniques of Media Relations

1. Press Release: Press release or news release are

often used interchangeably. A press release is a written
letter to the media to announce a range of news items,
including scheduling events, new products and services,
promotions, awards and sales accomplishments (Asemah
et al 2013). It is a controlled message that is presented in
the traditional straight news format from an organisation to
the various media channels (Nwanne, 2015). It is an
avenue to publicise notable or newsworthy information to
the public; news releases are written by an organisation
and sent to relevant media outlets. It follows the typical
inverted pyramid format of news writing, meaning the
vital elements or piece of information comes first.
Babaleye (2013, p.139) gives the following as the essential
parts of a standard press release:

135 Relationship Management

a. The company logo/letter head with the colour of the
company for proper identification.

b. The date of the press release (put an embargo if not

to be used immediately).

c. Title of the press release (in bold prints and

possibly, more points than the main text).

d. The main text of the story (usually not more than

and half page).

e. Conclusion with the signature of the writer and an

ash sign ### or simply “END.”

f. Designation of the writer with a telephone, fax and

email.

g. The company's slogan at the end of each page.

h. Just before the signature, make an appeal “for

further details contact.”

2. Press Conferences: Press conferences are pre-

arranged meeting opened to virtually all media
establishment where organisations address the media on a
particular subject or issue. It gives room for press persons
to ask questions on the issues raised and other issues that
affect the organisation. It could be an avenue to
communicate official statement or information or to give
official response to an already existing situation. Asemah
et al (2013) aver that press conference is the coming
together of journalists from different media organisations
with a view to discussing issues of public interest. It is a
voluntary presentation of information to the media. The

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136
organisation or institution holding the conference decides
the information that is presented to the media and the
members of media represented are given the opportunity to
ask questions. A press or media conference typically has a
spokesperson who answers the questions raised by the
various journalists in attendance. Asemah et al (2013)
notes that press conferences provide an opportunity for
media appearance in management's contact and
interaction with the media. Asemah et al (2013)
highlighted the appropriate time to hold a press conference
thus: when there is a high news interest, when reporters are
all gathered in the same place, during political campaigns,
when public safety is involved, when there is a crisis
situation and when announcing the loss of a life.

3. Press Luncheon: A press luncheon is a get-

together or a treat organised by the public relations officer
of an organisation to entertain members of the press. It is
an avenue for journalists and media owners to interact and
share pleasantries with an organisation in an informal and
relax setting. It is a time for eating, drinking
andjollification. Asemah et al (2013) posit that at a press
luncheon, media executives are entertained and in the
process of entreating them organisation are winning their
goodwill.

4. Facility Tours: Facilities tours are arranged press

or media visit; where gentle men and ladies of the press are
given a tour round organisations premises with a view to
making them aware and knowledgeable on organisational
operations. Facility tours entail media visit organisation
project sites, factory, corporate social responsibility
projects, office buildings, manufacturing plants and many
more. It is a public relations strategy to acquaint the media
with the workings of the company in bid for the media to

137 Relationship Management

showing solidarity to the organisations and giving them
good publicity. Asemah et al (2013) note that when media
men and women are aware of the success achieved by
organisations, the press can help to publicise those
achievements.

5. Annual General Assembly or Annual General

Meetings: It is where an organisation's annual financial
and performance report is present to shareholders and
stakeholders. It is of essence to note that the media are
strategic stakeholders in corporate organisations. In
meetings like this, members of the media can be invited as
guests or as stakeholders. If it just an in-house general
meeting, the public relations executive officer can ensure
that the relevant media get a copy of the report along with
the chairperson's statement or speech.

6. Interview with Management: The management

of a corporate organisation can liaised with the public
relations team to organise a special or periodic interview
with the press. The public relations team decides on the
media channel that can be favourable after carrying out its
media analysis. This can be a medium where the
organisation communicates its goodwill to its publics and
highlight organisational milestones. Nwanne (2015) notes
that it is important for the public relations team to interact
with the journalists with the view to acquainting them on
the focus of the interaction. The interview itself is also an
opportunity to showcase the unique style and branding of
the organisation. It also a medium for the CEO or
spokesperson of the company to publicise the culture of
the organisation.

7. Sponsorship of Press Event: Corporate

organisations can decide to partner with the press by

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138
sponsoring a press event. An organisation can choose to
sponsor the Nigerian Union of Journalist Week, World
Press Day Celebrations. This creates goodwill and fosters
positive relations between the organisation and the press.

8. Letters to the Editors: This technique usually

features in the print media; it is the section of a newspaper
or magazine dedicated to entertaining the contributions
and opinions of the audience on a given issue. A public
relations executive can write to the editor to express this
opinion or the organisational standpoint on issues of public
interest. Through this, the public relations executive is
building a good relationship between his organisation and
the media organisation (Asemah et al 2013). Furthermore,
if the letters are published in a local newspaper, it puts the
organisation in the limelight locally, nationally or
internationally, depending on the range of coverage of the
newspaper or magazine.

9. Lectures, Seminars and Symposiums: A

corporate organisation can carry out a lecture, seminar or
symposium to enlighten and educate staff and stakeholders
on issues as it relates to them and then and invite the press
to cover these gatherings. The focus of the gathering can be
on diverse subject matter that is of mutual benefit to
employees, stakeholders and the organisation. These
events can fire up the commitments of participant for
greater organisational growth. It can also be an avenue
were organisation invest in the personal growth and
development of its internal publics. The media can be
instrumental in communicating the goodwill of the
organisation to the public. This gives the organisation a
favourable image and reputation to the public eyes and
builds a good working relationship with the media.

139 Relationship Management

Managing Issues in Media Relations

Funding
One prevalent issue in media relations is funding. The
reality is that resources are needed to manage and maintain
a productive relationship with the media. Engaging in
tangible media relations endeavours can be quite an
expensive venture. Hosting a press luncheon for instance
is a capital-intensive project that requires a lot of planning.
As such, an organisation that is interested in conducting
media relations campaign needs to design a realistic and
working budget within its finical capacity. Furthermore,
the organisation will have to choose media relations
techniques that affordable to them and make the best of it.

Balancing Relations with different Media

Organisations
Media relations often entails building and maintaining
relations with different media, so the need for balance is
paramount. For instance, when an organisation has a close
working relations with 3-4 media, chances are that the
organisation may favour one above others. If this is not
balanced and adequately managed, it will affect the
relations with the media stations in the organisation's
circle. And there is also the other media station that the
corporate organisation has acquaintance relationship with.
A relationship with multiple interests needs to be carefully
balanced to minimise overlapping and spillover that can
result in conflicts. An organisation should as much as
possible avoid open favouritism of one media station over
the others.

Dealing with Media Excess

To deal or mange the excess of the media is vital to

understand that it is in the nature of the media to go for the

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

140
story relationship or no relationship. However, it is
relationship that will influence the slant or angle of story or
news presentation. It is often a futile venture to hide a
story from the media as they have the nose for news and big
stories and they can be annoyingly persistent. If an
organisation has a story, especially one with an
unfavourable narrative, it is advisable for the public
relations executive to reach out to the media organisations
that they already have close relations with to brief them
ahead or give them the scoop. This can go a long way to
tilting the story in a way that it can minimise damages and
appeal to the understanding of the public.

No-Comments or Silence

It is risky for an organisation to give no comments or

remain silent to journalist's questions, especially on
controversial issues because it opens up negative
suggestions, interpretations and misinterpretations. No-
comments or silence is like poking a bear;it offends
journalists and fire them up to come after an
organisation. No- comments and silence often
communicate that something hidden that is going on that
an organisation does not want the public to know. This
alone sharpens journalist's investigative tentacles. This is
why a holding statement is very important in a crisis
situation and the need for a follow-up statements and
updates cannot be overemphasised.

Off the Record

Carefulness in off-the-record interaction with media

persons, both in a formal and informal settings by the
employees of an organisations and public relations persons
is very important. The Journalist's tools of the trade may be

141 Relationship Management

off, but his brain is not off. His brain can be recording that
conversation for future purposes. When the internal
publics of an organisation converses with a journalist
without caution and the relationship goes sour, the
employee and public relations person may have
inadvertently given the journalist ammunition to come
after the organisation without them realising. Therefore, it
is advisable to use judgement and caution when interacting
with journalists, whether in a formal or an informal
environment.

Media Relations Planning

Planning is a management function that entails settings

objectives and goals and determining the course of actions
that will be engaged in to accomplish them. It requires
managers to make informed decisions from different
alternate options. Media relations planning can be
anchored on therelationship model of analysis, planning,
implementation and evaluation. A typical relationship
management model that can be employed in media
relations planning is SMARTS

S – SCAN (Environmental Surveillance)

M – MAP (Setting Goals and Objectives)

A – ACT ( Desig ning and Pro- Testing

Initiatives)

R – ROLL OUT (Putting Programs in Place)

T – TRACK ( Eva l ua ti ng the Success of

Initiatives)

S – STEWARD (Monitoring and Maintaining

Quality Relationships)
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142
 Asemah et al (2013) assert that media relations
programmes are not haphazardly done; they are
thoroughly planned. Media relations planning begins with
the process of “Scanning.” This is the environmental
surveillance of both the internal organisation and the
media. Any organisation that wants to invest in media
relations must first engage in an internal or a self-
surveillance before looking at the media. An internal
surveillance is to determine the financial capacity of the
organisation to carry out a media relations programme. A
comprehensive media relations programme is capital
intensive. It is from the internal surveillance that the
organisation determines techniques of media relations that
the organisation will engage in. after the internal
organisational surveillance, then there is the media
surveillance. Media surveillance entails investigation of
media activities to determine media economic situation
and what will appeal to them and analyse the different
competing media for strength and weakness to determine
which of the media that the organisation want a closer
relations with.
It is from the data obtained during environmental
surveillance that the organisation will “Map” out its
objectives and goals in its media relations process. This
also involves mapping out the best course of action and
initiatives required to actualise the set objectives and
goals. The next step is to “Act” on the actions put in place
to accomplish the set objectives and goals. This is the time
to design and develop the actions and the set initiatives;
this could be in form of designing and developing media
projects and programmes. After the programmes have
been, it is advisable to pro-test the programmes before the
launching or implementation of the programmes. Pro-
testing is engaged in to identify and correct any
shortcoming that was not accounted for in the programme

143 Relationship Management

development process and check for the adaptability of the
programme in a real life scenario. Pro-testing the
initiatives is all about carrying out a test-run; it could entail
doing a simulation of the project/initiative or selecting one
or two media organisation for a test-run before embarking
on the full scale project/ initiative.
Next is to “Roll Out” the programme; it is putting
the designed, developed and pro-tested programmes in
place. It is often referred to as the implementation stage
where media programmes or projects are practically put to
work. When there is an ongoing media relations campaign
or programme, it is vital to “Track” the campaign. To track
is to evaluate the success or shortcoming of programmes
before, during and after media relations programmes or
campaigns. After each campaign, sit down and review the
result. Did you achieve the defined objectives and goals of
this campaign? Should there be a modification in the
original plan? If the answer is a yes, how and why should it
be accomplished? (Asemah et al 2013, p. 185). After
media relations campaigns, a list of the basic minimum for
a good relationship must have been established. The final
step is to “Steward” the relationship. To steward a
relationship is to monitor and maintain quality
relationships. This can be achieved by frequent interaction
and communication of financial goodwill to the media.

Media Relations Budget

Media relations budget is the capital breakdown of income

and expenditure an organisation has designated for a
media programme. This outlines the total funds an
organisation allocates for a specific media relations
campaign. Nwoke (2017) is of the position that a budget is
a plan of action quantified in monetary terms; that is
prepared and approved prior to a defined period of time

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

144
and it usually shows the income to be generated or
expenditure to be incurred over a period of time. Media
relations programme such as facility tours, letters to the
editors, press conference, workshops, seminars, press
release and material incentives to journalist and media
organisations cost money. It is, therefore, paramount for an
organisation to visibly and actively plan the funds that will
be used to execute these programmes. Media relations
budget is, therefore, a plan of action that shows the
expenditure breakdown for a media campaign. Asemah et
al (2013) refer to it as the total amount of money spent on a
media programme. It also helps an organisation to keep
track of the money that has spent on media programmes
over a period of time. Budgets are an integral part of
running an efficient and productive corporate
organisation. Media relations budget could either be static
or flexible.
A static media relations budget is fixed and remains
unchanged, irrespective of the changes that occur during
the period of the budget. All the calculated figures remain
the same. It is a rigid budget that is not subject to change,
despite the changing times. On the other hand, a flexible
budget is a fluctuating budget that is subject to changes and
relational variables. This simply means that a flexible
budget is an adjustable budget subject to significant
changes in times and seasons.

145 Relationship Management

 CHAPTER TEN
INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS

Corporations do not need to only rely on one marketing

communication strategy to reach out to their target
audience. The use of one marketing element will definitely
not have much impact on the promotion of an
oraganisation. Thus, the need to combine different
marketing elements for the promotion of the products,
image, services, etc. of organisations. Belch & Belch
(2004) see integrated marketing communications as the
communication that recognises the value of a
comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a
variety of communication disciplines advertising, public
relations, personal selling, and sales promotion and
combines them to provide clarity, consistency and
maximum communication impact. This perhaps explains
why American Association of Advertising Agencies (n. d)
defines it as an approach to achieving the objectives of a
marketing campaign, through a well-coordinated use of
different promotional methods that are intended to
reinforce each other. It recognises the value of a
comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a
variety of communication disciplines advertising, public
relations, personal selling, and sales promotion and
combines them to provide clarity, consistency and
maximum communication impact (American Association
of Advertising Agencies, n. d).
Integrated marketing communication is a
management process through which an organisation

146
engages with its various audiences. By understanding an
audience's communication environment, organisations
seek to develop and present messages for its identified
stakeholder groups before evaluating and acting upon the
responses. By conveying messages that are of significant
value, audiences are encouraged to offer attitudinal and
behavioural responses (Fill, 2002, p. 22). The foregoing
implies that integrated marketing communication is the
adoption of different marketing or communication
strategies which helps an organisation to achieve its aims
and objectives. Thus, it is a concept of marketing
communications planning that recognises the added value
of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles
of a variety of communication disciplines and combines
these to provide clarity, consistency and maximum
communication impact. Integrated marketing
communications is a simple concept; this is because it
ensures that all forms of communications and messages
are carefully linked together. At its most basic level, it
means integrating all the promotional tools so that they
work together in harmony for the good of organisations
(MMC Learning, 2020).
The import of the definitions and meanings of
integrated marketing communications presented above is
that corporations need not use one strategy in their
communication efforts; they need to use as many elements
as possible because the use of one may not affect the target
audience persuasively. All of the communications tools
work better if they work together in harmony, rather than in
isolation. Their combination is greater and better than the
use of one.

147 Integrated Marketing Communications

The following points must be considered when
planning integrated marketing communication:

I. The Foundation: The foundation stage involves

detailed analysis of both the product as well as target
market. It is very important for marketers to have a proper
understanding of the brand, its offerings and end-users. An
organisation needs to research into the needs, attitudes and
expectations of the target customers and must also keep a
very close tab on competitor's activities. The need to know
the competitor's activities is important because it will help
you know the steps to take to fight the competition since, in
marketing communication, marketers are not allowed to
condemn the brands and products of competitors.

ii. The Corporate Culture: The features of products

and services ought to be in line with the work culture of the
organisation. Every organisation has a vision and it is
important for the marketers to keep in mind the same
before designing products and services.

iii. Brand Focus: Brand focus represents the

corporate identity of the brand. The brand must be a
reflection of the corporate identity. Thus, the promotion
should be used to give the organisation its identity.

iv. Consumer Experience: Marketers need to focus

on consumer experience which refers to what the
customers feel about the product. A consumer is likely to
pick up a product which has good packaging and looks
attractive. Products need to meet and exceed customer
expectations.

v. Communication Tools: Communication tools

include various modes of promoting a particular brand
such as advertising, direct selling, promoting through
social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 148

vi. Promotional Tools: Brands are promoted through
various promotional tools such as trade promotions,
personal selling and so on. Organisations need to
strengthen their relationship with customers and external
clients.

vii. Integration Tools: Organisations need to keep a

regular track on customer feedbacks and reviews. You
need to have specific software like customer relationship
management (CRM) which helps in measuring the
effectiveness of various integrated marketing
communications tools (Management Study Guide, 2020).

Benefits of Integrated Marketing Communication

The benefits of integrated marketing communication

cannot be down played in the corporate world.
Corporations that value integrated marketing
communication will always have every course to do more
of the activity as it opens many positive doors of success. It
is important for the following reasons:

i. It can create competitive advantage, boost sales and

profits, while saving money, time and stress.

ii. It wraps communications around customers and

helps them move through the various stages of thebuying
process. The organisation simultaneously consolidates its
image, develops a dialogue and nurtures its relationship
with customers. This relationship marketing, in turn,
cements a bond of loyalty with customers which can
protect them from the inevitable onslaught of competition.
The ability to keep a customer for life is a powerful
competitive advantage. Integrated marketing
communication scores over traditional ways ofmarketing
as it focuses on not only winning new

149 Integrated Marketing Communications

customers, but also maintaining long term healthy
relationship with them. It ensures two-way dialogue with
customers, which is a must in all business. Customer
feedbacks need to be monitored well if you wish to
survive in the long-run.

iii. IMC increases profits through increased

effectiveness. At its most basic level, a unified message
has more impact than a disjointed myriad of messages.
In a busy world, a consistent, consolidated and crystal
clear message has a better chance of cutting through the
'noise' of over five hundred commercial messages which
bombard customers each and every day.

iv. Carefully linked messages also help buyers by

giving timely reminders, updated information and
special offers which, when presented in a planned
sequence, help them move comfortably through the stages
of their buying process and this reduces their 'misery of
choice' in a complex and busy world.

v. IMC also makes messages more consistent and,

therefore, more credible. This reduces risk in the mind of
the buyer which, in turn, shortens the search process and
helps to dictate the outcome of brand comparisons.

vi. Integrated marketing communication plays an

integral role in communicating brand message to a larger
audience and it helps in integrating all essential
components of marketing to communicate similar
message to potential and existing end-users.

vii. Integrated marketing communication goes a long

way in creating brand awareness among customers at a
minimal cost. It is essential not only for business to

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 150

business marketing, but also for direct interaction with
customers. Organisations implementing integrated
marketing communication not only successfully promote
their brands among target audience, but also develop
trust among them who would always stick to their brands,
no matter what. Through integrated marketing
communication, similar message goes to customers
simultaneously, eventually creating a better impact on
them (Events Management, 2020; Management Study
Guide, 2020).

Ten Golden Rules of Integration

Despite its many benefits, integrated marketing

communications, has many barriers. The main barrier to
the acceptance of integrated marketing communication by
corporations is the usual resistance to change and the
special problems of communicating with a wide variety of
target audiences. As noted by Events Management (2020),
sadly, some organisational structures isolate
communications, data and even managers from each other.
For example, the public relations department often does
not report to marketing.
The sales force rarely meets the advertising or sales
promotion people and so on. More so, IMC can restrict
creativity. No more wild and wacky sales promotions,
unless they fit into the overall marketing communications
strategy. The joy of rampant creativity may be stifled, but
the creative challenge may be greater and ultimately, more
satisfying when operating within a tighter, integrated,
creative brief (Events Management, 2020). To, therefore,
overcome these barriers to integrating market
communications approach to effective organisational
branding, Events Management (2020) supplies the
following ten Golden Rules:

151 Integrated Marketing Communications

i. Get Senior Management Support for the
Initiative: You do this to ensure thatthey understand the
benefits of IMC. In a corporation, the management can
only key into the idea of integrated marketing
communication if they understand the advantages the
company stands to benefit from such an activity. There is,
therefore, the need for the Corporate Communications
Manager or Corporate Affairs Manager, as the case may be
to educate the management on the importance of
integrated marketing communication

ii. Integrate at Different Levels of Management:

There is need integration on the agenda for various types of
management meetings, whether annual reviews or creative
sessions. Horizontally, the Communications Manager
should ensure that all managers, not just marketing
managers, understand the importance of a consistent
message, whether on delivery trucks or product quality.
Also, ensure that advertising, public relations, sales
promotions staff, etc. are integrating their messages. To do
this, you must have carefully planned internal
communications; that is, good internal marketing.

iii. Ensure the Design Manual or even a Brand

Book is used to maintain common Visual Standards for
the use of logos, typefaces, colours and so on.

iv. Focus on a Clear Marketing Communications

Strategy: Have crystal clear communications objectives;
clear positioning statements. Link core values into every
communication. Ensure all communications add value to,
instead of dilute, the brand or organisation. Exploit areas
of sustainable competitive advantage.

v. Start with a Zero Budget: Start from scratch.

Build a new communications plan. Specify what you need
to do in order to achieve your objectives. In reality, the

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 152

budget you get is often less than you ideally need, so you
may have to prioritise communications activities
accordingly.

vi. Think Customers First: Wrap communications

around the customer's buying process. Identify the stages
they go through before, during and after a purchase. Select
communication tools which are right for each stage.
Develop a sequence of communications activities which
help the customer to move easily through each stage.

vii. Build Relationships and Brand Values: All

communications should help to develop stronger and
stronger relationships with customers. Ask how each
communication tool helps to do this. Remember that
customer retention is as important as customer acquisition.

viii. Develop a Good Marketing Information System

which defines who needs what information when. A
customer database for example, can help the telesales,
direct marketing and sales force. IMC can help to define,
collect and share vital information.

ix. Share Artwork and Other Media: Consider how,

say, advertising imagery can be used in mail shots,
exhibition stands, Christmas cards, news releases and web
sites.

x. Be prepared to change it All: Learn from

experience. Constantly search for the optimum
communications mix. Test. Test. Test. Improve each year.

Various Integrated Marketing Communication Tools

1. Brand Mechandising

Brand merchandising is a form of general awareness that

great businesses use as a strategic approach to help ensure

153 Integrated Marketing Communications

that their merchandise (products) is a core part of their
overall marketing strategy. Brand merchandising has
dependably become an effective and necessary piece of
sponsorship and promotions by taking a company's logo or
“brand” and adequately place it on products that are
regularly being purchased or utilised by customers. This
implies that brand mechandising is aimed making the
consumers to be used to an organisation through the use
logos on products. Brand merchandising according to
Browning (2017) is seen as the act of creating an authentic
and identifiable company logo and brand identity and then
incorporating this recognisable visual aesthetic on
products or services that are used by customers. There are
several products that can be merchandised; these, among
others, include t-shirts, face cape, rings, bags, journals, etc.
Brand merchandising, as noted by Jackson (2020)
is about designing an authentic company logo as well as
brand identity and the company incorporates the logo and
other visuals on merchandise that customers so often use.
The marketers strategically use products of daily use such
as drink-ware, T-shirts, hoodies and all men's and women's
apparel, accessories, etc. to promote a business. The
branded mechanised in this case is any product that has a
logo or any other identity of a company printed on it with a
motive to promote a brand. Thus, marketers and
entrepreneurs use high-quality products to promote their
business.
Marketers use almost all merchandise for brand
promotion; however, the ones that yield more results that
organisations should include in their marketing plans are t-
shirts; everyone loves to wear T-shirts not only as a casual
dress, but also as office apparel; so, you can pick branded
high-quality t-shirts and put your logo on them to promote
your business. There is also home and living products; the
corporation can add custom mugs, aprons, bean bags,
beach bowls and pillowcases in your list. Accessories are
also great branded merchandise that you can use for brand
promotion; these include hats, socks, phone cases, bags
Perspectives on Corporate Communication 154
and many more. Every product that has a company's logo
on it is a branded item; thus, merchandise is also known as
a promotional product or gift.

Benefits of Brand Mechandising

Brand mechandising provides a lot of benefits to
companies that value it; some of the benefits are:

i. It leads to Improved Brand Awareness: It creates

awareness about products and organisations. For example,
a person who wears a custom apparel piece like a branded
hat will likely wear this hat around their friends, family
members and other associates. In this way, overall
awareness of a brand can be easily and effectively
enhanced, especially if the product itself is well-designed
and adds value to its recipient. Thus, Repsly (2020) avers
that a great merchandising strategy can help not only boost
sales, but also improve your brand recognition and
relationship with retailers. Because the logo of a company
is visible to the user for a long time, it helps in generating
brand awareness, which is the main purpose behind
merchandise with a logo. A smart marketing tactic while
using branded merchandise is to pick the items of daily use
for distribution as a gift. The recipient of the gift will use or
see the gift regularly for many months to come. As long as
the product is accessible and visible, the user will see your
company's logo and brand message. For example, you
print your company's logo on a t-shirt or flash drive or t-
shirt and gift it to people, they will use such branded
merchandise on a daily basis and see your brand logo and
message. This way, as people repeatedly see the logo, the
merchandise helps in creating brand recognition for your
small business (Jackson, 2020).
ii. Reduce Your Advertisement Costs: Small
businesses are particularly concerned about their restricted
budgets. They look for cost-effective means to generate

155 Integrated Marketing Communications

more brand awareness. For them, branded merchandise
comes as a boon. All they need to do is to buy some
merchandise and print their logos on the products. Then,
give away these items to people as gifts for promotional
purposes. This cost is much lower as compared to the
budget spent on digital ads and billboard advertisements.
Moreover, useful merchandise such as a branded flash
drive will stay with the customer. This means that besides
the low cost, the merchandise gives you more value for
money. The user will continue to possess the product for a
long time (Jackson, 2020).

iii. It builds Emotional Connect: Branded

merchandise marketing is also useful in engaging your
target audience with your brand. When they continue to
use a merchandise that has your logo on it, they kind of
build an emotional connection with your company via the
product (Jackson, 2020). Since the people remember your
gift fondly, it in turn, helps in turning the users into your
customers. The user is most likely to visit your business
and buy your products at least once when required.

iv. Increase in Audience Reach: Branded

merchandise has acquired a prominent place in marketing
strategies. You can increase your audience reach easily
with merchandise that has your company's logo and other
brand-related visual identities on it (Jackson, 2020).

v. The use of merchandise is a sure fire way to lure

people to a company's business. People like to buy
merchandise that has something attractive printed on it; it
can be a company's logo,abrand message, a motivational
slogan, an illustration, etc. A function of branded
merchandise is to promote a company's products or
services. Therefore, the merchandise is also known as a
promotional product.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 156

vi. Introduces Your Business: One of the major
considerations behind the use of branded merchandise is
its power to introduce a business in a big way. It functions
like your business card, which you give to a client while
meeting for the first time. These merchandise with your
logo are the means of introducing your business to many
people who are not familiar with what you do. By
distributing the products free to people, you let thousands
of them know about your company for the first time. The
merchandise is thus useful, especially for the small
businesses which have started new in the market and
looking for generating awareness of their business.

vii. It enhances Customer Loyalty: Marketers use

branded merchandise or promo products strategically also
to win customers' loyalty. Various surveys have revealed
that an overwhelming majority of customers who receive
branded merchandise are most likely to purchase from
such brands in the future. Consumers getting free gifts
from retailers are expected to buy from the brand even
more. Branded merchandise can drive your customer
loyalty without a company using additional resources;
thus, as compared to the other marketing means, the
merchandise can ensure loyalty in a short period.

viii. It engages the Audience with your Gift: One of

the major advantages of branded merchandise is that it is
tangible for the recipient of the product, whether bought or
received as a gift. The person holding or seeing such a
product involves all five senses, which is missing in most
other forms of advertisements. Know that digital
advertising can activate our only two senses. Moreover,
after the app is closed, the digital advertisement also is no
more seen. Thus, when all of the senses of a person are
actively experiencing a product, the act of engaging with
your brand becomes even more memorable. We can say
that the realness of the experience helps in winning the

157 Integrated Marketing Communications

potential customers' hearts. Once merchandise carrying
your logo, slogan or message is in the people's hands, they
use and experience it in their daily life.

ix. It increases Direct Sales: It has been found that if

companies employ branded merchandise, it helps them
increase their sales manifold. The total sales and average
sales per customer goes up considerably. If the company
uses some clever marketing tactics, the merchandise will
increase sales in many ways. With merchandise
marketing, companies encourage not only impulsive
purchases, but also upselling and cross-selling. Upselling
involves purchasing of premium versions of products.
Cross-selling refers to the selling of products that go well
with the main products from different departments
(Jackson, 2020).
2. Public Relations
Public relations is everything directed towards improving
communication between people and organisations or all
actions to broaden the sphere of influence of an
organisation by appropriate publicity, advertising and
other forms of communication. Public relations is,
therefore, about devising and implementing strategic
campaigns, reacting to crisis and ensuring that an
organisation is always, correctly and positively presented.
Public relations seeks to present a positive image and not
false one. A good public relations image built in good years
can see an organisation through during its dark or crisis
period. This explains why the France Government's
definition of public relations cited in Wilson (1997), cited
in Asemah (2019) says that the duties of the public
relations practitioner whether he belongs to the staff of a
firm or is an independent consultant are to devise the
means of establishing and maintaining good relations,
based on mutual confidence with the publics and keeping it
informed of their achievements and more generally, of all
matters relating to their operations. Public relations is a
system that encourages the support of public opinion as

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 158

essential in all facets of activities in an organisation. To
Moss (1990), cited in Asemah (2019), public relations is a
part of every manager's portfolio of responsibilities; as a
means of understanding and influencing the perception
held about an organisation; a strategic counselling
function; a potentially valuable and cost effective
marketing support function; a means of monitoring and
managing internal communication or issues management
functions; marketing support functions; a means of
monitoring and internal communication on issues
management function, reputation management
reinforcing; reputation and combating damage to
reputation.
Public relations is considered a two-way
communication between an organisation and the audience
critical to its success; it is the management function
primarily responsible for shaping and implementing
policies of mediation, among social, political and
economic interests, capable of influencing the growth and
survival of an organisation's basic franchise. Public
relations is also seen as the promotion of rapport and
goodwill between a person, firm or institution and other
persons, especially public or community at large, through
the distribution of interpretative materials and the
development of neighbourly interchange. Public relation
activities help promote a brand through press releases,
news, events, public appearances, etc. The role of public
relations officer is to present the organisation in the best
light (Asemah, 2019). Asemah (2019) identifies the
following principles of public relations:

i. PR practitioner employ social science, psychology

and public opinion communication in order to
understand what the publics is saying and also, to
reach them effectively.

ii. PR deals with reality and non-fictions through

planned programmes and campaigns.
159 Integrated Marketing Communications
iii. PR practitioners depend on scientific and public
opinion research; research enhances the two-way
communication.

iv. PR practitioners should be guided and measured

only by his ethnical performance.

v. Public interest is a criterion by which the

professional selects who will be presented to the
publics.

vi. PR practitioners are to prevent crisis in an

organisation and also, explain problems to the
publics before they occur; public relations is much
more than crisis management but, prevention of the
crisis.

vii. The PR practitioner must recognise and work with

other people involved in PR in general.

viii. PR practitioners act as bridges between an

organisation and its public.

ix. PR practitioner reaches many publics through mass

media; therefore, a good relationship should be
maintained with the media and all other people
working in the media must be seen as a partner in
progress and not enemies.

x. PR is a service-oriented profession; public interest

is, therefore, very important.

3. Events Sponsorship
An event sponsorship is seen as a critical source of funding
for all kinds of events where companies, nonprofits and

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 160

small businesses give a certain amount of cash or
incentives, in exchange for both visibility and brand
awareness at an event. Thus, Optimy (2020) notes that it
has to do with the way in which organisations give support
to an event by providing financial assistance, products or
services. It is probably the most profitable form of
sponsorship. As noted by Kramer (2019), sponsors are the
lifeblood of fundraising events as nonprofit organisations,
political campaigns and social movements rely on a
variety of funding sources and often, this includes
fundraisers like dinners, performances, exhibitions and
galas. Businesses that sponsor events like these can gain
brand recognition and industry clout while supporting
causes they believe in.

Types of Sponsorship

There are different forms of sponsorships that

organisations can embark on to boost their reputation in
the market and among their target audience. Let us quickly
look at the following forms:

i. Media Sponsors: For large-scale and high-profile

events that require plenty of publicity, media sponsors will
certainly be advantageous. They are by definition
companies that are able to provide financial aid in securing
media coverage for your event. For example, a media
sponsor might pay for an advertisement in a local paper or
cover the cost of filming a TV commercial (Events
Management, 2020). Media sponsors secure advertising
for an event. This can mean purchasing advertising space
on local television or in a local newspaper or publishing
content about the event on their own channels, like
creating a blog post about the event or cause.

161 Integrated Marketing Communications

ii. Financial Sponsorship: Financial, or sometimes
referred to as cash sponsors continue to be the leading type
of event sponsorship. As the title suggests, financial event
sponsors give money to an event organiser in exchange for
promotions or other benefits outlined in their sponsorship
agreement. They are sponsors who literally give money to
an event organiser in exchange for the benefits outlined in
a sponsorship agreement. This may include logo
placement on signage or promotional materials, pre-event
content creation, promotions and keynote speeches
(McCann, 2020; Events Management, 2020). The
foregoing shows that financial sponsors give money
directly to an organisation and campaign leaders to fund
their events.

iii. In-kind Sponsors: Unlike cash or financial

sponsors, in-kind sponsors donate products or services
instead of offering cash. For example, a hotel may offer
free use of its facilities as a form of sponsorship. In this
regard, the hotel is not making a cash contribution, but
rather serving as a location (sponsor Events Management,
2020). Kramer (2019) sees this type of sponsorship as the
one where is an arrangement where the sponsoring
business provides goods or services in lieu of direct
financial support. For example, a restaurant may opt to
provide food for a fundraising event.

iv. Promotional Partners: Similar to media sponsors,

promotional partners are people who are public figures,
bloggers or local celebrities who have a lot of followers to
help promote your event to their own customer or fan bases
(McCann, 2020). Kramer (2019) says promotional
partnerships are similar to media sponsors. The difference
between these types of sponsorships is that promotional
partners are typically individual figures rather than

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 162

companies and media outlets. A promotional partner
advertises the event or cause to his network.

4. Advertising

Advertising is any communication that is paid for,

identified by a sponsor, directed at a target audience,
through the various mass media like radio, television,
billboards, newspaper and magazine, with the aim of
creating awareness about goods and services (Asemah,
2019). Arens (2008, p. 7), cited in Asemah (2019) sees
advertising as ''the structured and composed non-personal
communication of information, usually paid for and
usually persuasive in nature, about products, services and
ideas by identified sponsors, through various mass media.''
The definition given by Arens (2008) is closely in line with
that of Dominick (2007, p. 321), cited in Asemah (2019),
which says that ''advertising is any form of non-personal
presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services,
usually paid for by an identified sponsor.'' Advertising is a
controlled, identifiable and persuasive communication
that is presented via the mass media and designed to
develop product demand and to create a company's image.
One can go a step further to describe advertising as a form
of communication which attempts to interpret the qualities
of products, services and ideas in terms of consumer's
needs and wants.
Advertising is seen as a persuasive communication
strategy that is aimed at convincing a particular target
audience to be loyal to products and services advertised. It
is, therefore, seen as one of the most effective ways of
brand promotion by corporations. Through advertising, an
organisations can reach a wider audience within the
shortest possible time frame. Advertising is important
because it can go a long way in increasing the consumption

163 Integrated Marketing Communications

of a particular product/service and also, creating brand
awareness among customers. The foregoing, therefore
implies that advertising is a marketing technique that
involvespaying for space to promote a product, service or
cause. The actual promotional messages are called
advertisements and the goal of advertising is to reach
people most likely to be willing to pay for a company's
products or services and entice them to buy. This may
explain why Ward (2018) sees advertising as an attempt to
influence the buying behaviour of customers or clients
with a persuasive selling message about products and/or
services and that the goal of advertising is to attract new
customers by defining the target market and reaching out
to them with an effective ad campaign.
The sole purpose of a business is to sell products
and services to earn profits. Advertising helps a business to
earn profits by enabling more people to know about the
products and services and thus resulting in more sales. The
consumers on the other hand will never get to know about
the products and services if they are not advertised.
Advertisements help the consumers to make decisions
regarding which product and service to buy. With the help
of advertisements, a consumer gets the best possible
options (ADARMYGROUP.COM,2019).Today, the
advertising industry has become a huge industry because
of the large number of products and services being offered.
As a result, the competition has also increased, requiring
every businessman to promote his products and services in
the best possible manner. This has further led to the
development of new advertising techniques and an
increase in the number of advertising agencies which are
available today. The aim of every promotional campaign is
to enable the products to reach the right people by
increasing the awareness about the product, its benefits
and drawbacks; this is important for the success of a
business (ADARMYGROUP.COM,2019).

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 164

 Hazelden (2019) notes that businesses use
advertising to accomplish varied goals and companies
place those advertisements in different media. Besides
advertising products in traditional venues such as
newspapers, magazines, radio, television, billboards,
businesses advertise in media that reach specific markets.
For example, a portable communications device is
advertised on a social media site that reaches younger
customers. The importance of advertising are, but not
limited to the following:

i. Product Introduction and Awareness: When a

business introduces a new product, advertising provides a
means to make a large market aware of the product.
Advertisements often focus on the product's solution to a
common problem. Through advertising, companies that
are new in business can easily penetrate the market.
Advertising is pro-competitive. Thus, it helps new
organisations with new products or services to take on the
giants in the industry and carve out a niche for itself in the
market.

ii. Product Sale Events: Advertising provides an

effective way to inform the market about limited-time
product sale events. Sale-based advertisements can be
generated by local retail outlets or can originate from the
product's national manufacturer. In many cases, the
national manufacturer shares the cost of the advertisment
with the local retailer. This type of advertising is called co-
op advertising and commonly uses manufacturer-supplied
graphics and advertising templates.

iii. Product Differentiation from Competitors:

Businesses frequently use advertising to show how their
product has more benefits or is more effective than similar

165 Integrated Marketing Communications

competitors' products. In some cases, the retailer feels it is
necessary to advertise because the competition is
blanketing newspaper pages or television airwaves with its
own advertisements. Advertising as noted by Asemah
(2019) is unavoidable to compete with or neutralise
competitor's advertising. When competitors are adopting
intensive advertising as their promotional strategy, it is
reasonable to follow similar practices to neutralise their
effects. In such cases, it is essential for the manufacturer to
create a different image of his product.

iv. To Promote a Good Image: When a business

communicates information about its operations or
illustrates why its product is the best choice for consumers,
the company uses institutional advertising. This type of
advertising is not really designed to increase sales, but is
structured to promote a good image of the company or
product. This perception will hopefully translate into
future sales. So, even if the consumer does not buy the
product right now, the company will have kept its name in
front of its consumer market.

v. Customer Loyalty: Consistent quality advertising

increases consumer loyalty for a product, service or idea.
Advertising seeks to maintain the current customer base by
reinforcing purchasing behaviour with additional
information about the benefits of brands. The goal of
advertising is to build and reinforce relationships with
customers, prospects, retailers and important
stakeholders.

vi. Generates Consumer Demand: The demand

generated by advertising, public relations and sales
promotion "pulls" the goods or services through channels
of distribution, notes "Reference for Business." One of the

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 166

powerful functions of advertising is to generate consumer
demand for specific products, services and ideas, through
advertising campaigns that target the audiences that are
most likely to buy them. Products, services and concepts
are sold in volume, according to the consumer demand for
them (Stefan, 2016). Advertising induces the firm's cost of
production per unit output; this is because advertising
increases demand for the firm's output, thereby,
encouraging manufacturers to manufacture more
products.

vii. Persuasion: Powerful visual advertising

presentations compel consumers to purchase goods,
services and ideas as a way to achieve emotional
fulfillment. Persuasion is the core mission of advertising.
Advertising tells you how the product, service or idea you
are considering will improve your life. Advertising feeds
on the concepts of ideology, myth, art, sexual attraction
and religion. Advertising infuses images and ideas into
products and services, just as the meanings of products and
services are infused into images and ideas.

5. Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is a marketing communication strategy
that is seen as an interactive system of marketing, which
uses one or more advertising media to affect a measurable
response and or action at any location. It is any direct
communication to a consumer or business recipient that is
designed to generate a response in the form of an order
(direct order) and a request, for further information and or
a visit to a store or other place of business for the purchase
of a specific product or service. In the words of Uto (2008,
p. 17), cited in Asemah, Kente & Nkwam-Uwaoma
(2020), ''direct marketing is a system of marketing through
which organisations communicate with target customers
to generate a response or transactions.'' These responses,

167 Integrated Marketing Communications

according to Uto (2008) may take the form of an enquiry, a
purchase or even a vote.
Direct marketing is also one of the marketing
communication tools used by organisations to stimulate
the purchase of their goods and services. It is a personal
communication tool in the integrated marketing
communication, which is used by companies to convince
the customers to use their goods and services. Direct
marketing eliminates middle men in the process of selling
a product. It can be used to build and maintain goodwill
and relationship between the customers and the
organisation. From our definitions so far, it is evident that
direct marketing involves immediate or direct response. It
has opportunities, such as provision of phone numbers, so
as to make it easier for consumers to make calls
immediately, thereby giving room for interaction. For
example, phone-in-programmes on radio and television,
face to face communication, web chat just to mention a
few. The import of Arens & Bovee's definition is that direct
marketing has different channels through which the
costumers can be contacted and as a result, communication
process is initiated. Kotler's definition does not only
emphasise the data base of information; it also lays
emphasis on relationship (Asemah et al 2020). The media
through which the marketers reach the customers enable
them to build cordial relationship with the customers in
question. Direct marketing is a personal communication
tool, it involves a two-way communication channel, it
seeks direct response from consumers, it eliminates
middlemen, it operates with a data base of customers, it is
direct communication with consumers, it is often targeted
at a narrowly specified audience and it builds lasting
relationship with customers (Asemah et al 2020). Direct
marketing has a measurable response. The kind of
advertising direct marketers use is called direct-response

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 168

advertising. This is because direct marketing efforts are
always aimed at stimulating some actions or response on
the part of the customer or prospect; it may be in the form
of request for information, a store visit or an actual
purchase. Direct marketing is an aspect of total marketing-
it involves marketing research, segmentation and
evaluation. Direct marketing uses a set of direct response
media, including direct mail, telephone marketing,
interactive television, print, the internet and other media.
These media are the tools by which marketers implement
the communication process (Asemah et al 2020).

Direct Marketing Strategies and Media

It employs a number of media, including direct mail,

telemarketing, direct response broadcasting, the internet
and print media. Each medium is said to perform specific
functions, although they generally follow a one or two step
approach. In the one step approach, the medium is used
directly to obtain an order; whereas, the two step approach
mainly involves the use of more than one medium.

i. Direct Mailing: This entails sending vital

information about marketing offers to customers
through mails. Materials containing information
about product brands, prices, quality, sales outlet
and phone number of an organisation, are mailed to
a target group of customers. Some organisations
mail audio or video messages about their products
to customers, hoping to be contacted with phone
numbers made available in such messages. The
advent of internet has popularised the use of e-mails
in direct mail marketing. Organisations flood e-
mail boxes of customers with messages about
marketing offers, expecting immediate response.
Direct mail marketing provides opportunity for

169 Integrated Marketing Communications

 targeting narrowly specified audiences or
customers. This is still an unpopular direct
marketing technique in Nigeria. Most of the e-
mails about marketing offers received by Nigerians
are from foreign companies. It is very relevant to
direct marketers seeking an immediate response
and it is often called junk mail. It is the unsolicited
mail you receive. The key to the success of direct
mail is the mailing list, which constitutes the data
base for which names are generated.

ii. Broadcast Media: Two broadcast media available

to direct marketers are television and radio. Direct
marketing in the broadcast industry involves direct
response advertising and support advertising. In
direct response advertising, the product or service
is offered and a sales response is solicited through,
either the one or two step approach. As the name
implies, support advertising compliments the other
forms of advertising.

iii. Infomercials: An infomercial is a long commercial

that ranges from 3-60 minutes. The lower cost of
commercial or cable and satellites channels have
led advertisers to adopt this new form of
advertising.

iv. Print Media: Magazines and newspapers are

common examples.

v. Telemarketing: Telemarketing is also known as

telephone marketing. It includes selling and
prospecting by telephone, answering phone
inquiries and providing sales related services to
callers. Telemarketing is a major source of income
for some companies and organisations, such as

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 170

non-profit and charitable causes, political
candidates and home study causes. The
organisation uses telephone to search out for and
persuade customers to buy products. Sales people
either use a telephone directory or build a database
of customers with phone numbers and open up
selling process with specific customers and take
purchase order from them. The sales people also
service old customers and build relationships with
them, using the telephone. Sales people are either
taking orders on phone or searching out for new
prospects (getting orders on phone). However, the
growing GSM awareness may change this trend
positively, with more companies wishing to reach
more customers through GSM phones. G o o d
telemarketers can develop strong and lasting
relationships with customers they have never met,
but with whom they speak with every week. When
combined with other direct-response media, it
becomes more effective. Research has shown that
when telemarketing, for example, is combined with
direct mail, there is usually at least, 10 percent
increase in responses. If you have a telephone, you
probably do not need to be told about the rapid
increase in the use of telemarketing or sales by
telephone. Both profit and charitable organisations
have employed this medium effectively in both one
and two step approaches. As telemarketing
continues to expand in scope, a new dimension
referred to as audio text or the media has evolved.
Telemedia is the use of telephone and voice
information services to market, advertise, promote,
entertain and inform the audience. Many telemedia
programmes are interactive. Problems associated
with telemarketing are its potential for fraud and
deception.

171 Integrated Marketing Communications

vi. Electronic Teleshoping: Unlike infomercial,
which has relied on broadcast or cable television,
electronic teleshoping is an online shopping and
information retrieval service, assessed through
personal computers.

vii. Direct Response Advertising: It is an advert that

asks the reader, viewer or listener to provide
feedback straight to the sender. Any medium can be
used for direct response, but the most common are
direct mails, catalogues, magazines and television.

viii. Catalogues: A catalogue contains information

about marketing offer and procedures for ordering
or buying the offer. Organisations use printed and
electronic (web-based) catalogues on the internet to
target customers expecting responses that will
improve sales. A variety of products are offered for
sale to consumers through the catalogue marketing
strategy. They are reference books and CD ROMs
that list, describe and usually, picture the products
sold by a manufacturer, wholesaler, Jobber or
retailer. To increase readerships and standout from
the glut of other catalogues, some marketers have
added editorial and slick photography, all designed
to sell a certain image.

ix. Kiosk Marketing: This could be described as the

most common type of direct marketing in Nigeria.
It involves the use of make-shift structures, small
buildings, pre- fabricated buildings or sales outlets,
to either sell products to customers or provide
information on how products could be purchased.
Fast food and provision sellers, GSM accessory
dealers, pharmaceutical dealers, newspaper sellers

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 172

 and motor-parts dealers, are among many business
people that make use of Kiosk marketing strategy in
reaching out and selling to customers. Kiosk
marketing also entails the use of electronic
machines to take orders from and provide
information to customers. This is a self-vending
computerised machine common in the developed
world, particularly in stores, streets, train stations,
airports and other public places. Mobile shops or
motorised Kiosks are also common tools of kiosk
marketing.

x. Direct Response Radio and Television

Marketing: This consists of interactive radio and
television programmes that basically market goods
and infomercials (programmes that run for 1 hour
or less, explaining how a marketing offer could be
used to solve a problem that bothers consumers, for
example, how to get rid of rashes and pimples). The
direct response television programmes provide
phone numbers with which the audience can call in
and ask questions about products and how to buy
them. This could be in form of phone-in-interactive
programmes or the direct marketer will leave a
phone-number with which he could be contacted,
especially if it is a direct response advert message.
In Nigeria, some companies engage in this kind of
marketing. Traditional medicine dealers often buy
air time, speak about their products and display
their phone numbers on screen for consumers to
contact them after the programme or call
immediately, in some instances.

xi. Ambush Marketing: This is a kind of siege

marketing in which sales people move to places
where they expect to see their target consumers and

173 Integrated Marketing Communications

 approach the consumers with the marketing offers
as the consumer appears. It is an aggressive
marketing technique used by salespeople to utilise
market opportunities to increase sales through
personal selling techniques. The numerous food
vendors and sellers of other goods that wait outside
football stadium for spectators to come out, people
who sell goods outside conference venues, schools,
social gatherings, including those who negotiate
businesses in such scenarios are ambush marketers.
During the 2003 national identity card registration
exercise in Nigeria, lab technologists used the
ambush marketing technique to make huge profits.
One of the registration requirements was blood
group of the individual. Most people did not know
their blood group. The presence of lab
technologists at the registration venues ready to
immediately determine blood group of any
customer saved people the stress of going to lab to
undertake such tests. Lab technologists at the
venues through ambush marketing, made huge
amount of profits and also cultivated relationship
with some of their clients, who then started visiting
the lab technologists at their offices. Ambush
marketing provides avenue to utilise opportunities
in increasing sales (Culled from Asemah et al
2020).

Advantages of Direct Marketing

Direct marketing has the following advantages:

i. It is the best way to develop a good database. The

data base enables the marketer to build a
relationship by learning about customers' indepth-
what they like, dislike, what and where they buy,

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 174

 what they are interested in and what they need. With
the data base, companies will be able to choose the
customers they can serve most effectively and
profitably.

ii. Through direct marketing, companies can send

discrete messages to individual customers.

iii. By providing a tangible response, direct marketing

offers accountability. Marketers can count the
responses and determine the cost per response.
They can also judge the effectiveness of the
medium they are using and test different creative
executions.

iv. Direct marketing offers some convenience to time

sensitive consumers and it offers precision and
flexibility of cost sensitive marketers (Culled from
Asemah et al 2020)

Disadvantages of Direct Marketing

It has the following disadvantages:

i. It suffers from clutter. People are deluged with

mails from commercial sponsors and drum beating
politicians.

ii. Many consumers are also concerned with privacy.

They do not like having their names sold by
vendors.

iii. Image factors

iv. Inaccuracy

v. Lack of content support (Culled from Asemah et al

2020).

175 Integrated Marketing Communications

6. Publicity

Publicity is media attention that is directed the product,

service or an organisation as an entity. This is done through
traditional news sources, like news shows and
newspapers, new media, etc. The whole essence of
carrying out publicity is to create awareness of an
organisation, its business, brand, products or services
through media coverage like television, newspapers,
magazines, social media, newsletters, journals and other
forms of communication.
Publicity concerns a company, organisation or
individual's presence in the media. Forms of publicity
include news stories, articles and event information.
Publicity creates public awareness and attention around a
brand and publicists gain publicity for their clients by
promoting their clients (Easland, 2015, cited in Asemah,
2019). Publicity simply means publicising an event,
activity or project. It has to do with creating awareness or
bringing into the knowledge of the people what is about to
be done or what has been done. In an organisation,
publicity has to do with making information known either,
through the electronic or print media. The result of the
information that is given to an issue, cause, project or a
programme is what is referred to as publicity. The publicity
may be favourable, depending on how the publics
understand it. Jaideep (n. d) notes that publicity involves
giving public speeches, giving interviews, conducting
seminars, offering charitable donations, inaugurating
mega events by film actors, cricketers, politicians or
popular personalities, arranging stage show, etc. that
attract mass media to publish the news about them.
Publicity is undertaken for a wide range of purposes like
promoting new products, increasing sales of existing
product, etc. It is also aimed at highlighting employees'

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 176

achievements, company's civic activities, pollution
control steps, research and development successes,
financial performance, its progress, any other missionary
activities or social contribution. Publicity can be of
different types; these may include, but not limited to press
release, product release, emergency, offers and
conferences.
Note that public relations and publicity are not the
same, but many public relations campaigns include
provisions for publicity. Publicity is the spreading of
information to gain public awareness for a product, person,
service, cause or organisation and can be seen as a result of
effective public relations planning. More recently, in
public relations, professionals are using technology as
their main tool to get their messages across to the target
audiences. With the creation of social networks, blogs and
even internet radio, public relations professionals are able
to send direct messages through these media that attract the
target audiences (Asemah, 2019). Public relations is,
therefore, not publicity; publicity is just an aspect of public
relations because all public relations actions, inactions,
projects, performances, etc. must be published (media
relations). According to Ubani (1996), cited in Asemah
(2019), public relations differs from publicity in the
following ways: public relations is a planned management
process which encompasses media relations whose results
are one of the many aims of public relations, while
publicity is a result of media activities. Secondly, public
relations is a continuously sustained process, while
publicity is only dependent on media activity. Public
relations talks about the image as it is, while publicity can
be good or bad, depending on the behaviour of the subject
(Ubani, 1996, cited in Asemah, 2019).
Easland (2015) notes that unlike public relations,
publicity is used solely to attract attention; it differs from

177 Integrated Marketing Communications

public relations in the sense that public relations focuses
on more than just public attention. The intent in public
relations is to accomplish an organisation's stated goals by
sending strategic messages to the appropriate audiences in
hopes of impacting their knowledge, behaviours or
attitudes. In short, public relations manages the overall
reputation of the client, while simultaneously building
relationships among all of those who are affected by it. As
a management function, public relations focuses on
building relationships and managing an image (Easland,
2015, cited in Asemah, 2019). However, there exists a
similarity between public relations and publicity. Public
relations and publicity are both processes of
communication in an organisation (Ubani, 1996, cited in
Asemah, 2019).

How Organisations can generate News Stories about

Themselves

There are multiple ways through which organisations can

generate news stories about their business. Below are
some of the ways:

i. Use of Press Releases: Press release can be used to

alert the media to newsworthy events or changes regarding
your business. Press releases use a specific format, tend to
be short and lead with the most important information
(Lake, 2020). A press release is a written statement to the
media; they can announce a range of news items, including
scheduled events, personnel promotions, awards, new
products and services, sales accomplishments, etc. They
can also be used in generating a feature story. Reporters are
more likely to consider a story idea if they first receive a
press release. Newspapers, magazines, radio and
television are important channels for communicating with

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 178

customers, investors and the community. If you launch a
new product, for example, you can raise awareness and
stimulate interest by issuing a press release to newspapers
and magazines that reach your target market.

a. What is the key message? This means that there is a

particular message you want to pass across to the
media houses; the writer needs to identify and
specify the exact message. The key message has to
be expressed in one key sentence.

b. Who is the primary audience for the release? Every

news item has a target audience. The writer needs
to clearly define the audience of the release. The
foregoing implies that every release has its target
audience. It may be consumers, who may buy
products or services; it may be for purchasing
agents in other communities. This will, however,
determine whether the release will be sent to a daily
c o m m u n i t y n e w s p a p e r or t o a t r ade
magazine.

c. What does the target audience gain from the

product or service? What are the potential benefits
and rewards? People will definitely benefit from
the release; there is the need to identify them.

d. What is the objective of the release? Every release

serves an objective; it may be to inform, educate,
persuade, etc. The writer needs to clearly state the
objective. Is it to increase the sales of goods and
services? Is it to enhance the organisation's
reputation or to increase attendance at any event?
(Wilcox & Cameron, cited in Asemah et al 2013).

179 Integrated Marketing Communications

ii. Developing contacts within the media to increase
coverage of your business. You can do this through
networking, introducing yourself and your
business and getting in touch when you hear about
newsworthy items, whether they involve your
business or not (Lake, 2020).

iii. Get involved in charity drives, local events or

industry milestones so your b u s i n e s s w i l l b e
mentioned in press coverage of those events (Lake,
2020).

iv. Pitch yourself as an expert source for news stories.

Journalists are often l ooking for people to
contribute their knowledge for news articles. Keep
in mind that you cannot directly promote your
product or service when acting as a source, instead,
you are promoting your expertise, which helps
potential customers see you as an authority in your
field (Lake, 2020).

Importance of Publicity

Publicity is important in the following ways:

I. Publicity is an effective medium to disseminate

message to the mass with more credibility as people
have more trust on news given by publicity.
Sometimes, publicity is targeted to disseminate
information more reliably. Customers do not
express doubts on what publicity appeals.
Customers assign more value to information
supplied by mass media via publicity than by the
advertisement. The credibility level of publicity is
much higher than advertising and other means of
market promotion. People express more trust on
what the third party independently says. It appears
directly through newspapers, magazines,
Perspectives on Corporate Communication 180
 television, or radio by the third party. It is free from
bias. This implies that publicity ensures credibility
as the consumers expect a significant level of bias
or exaggeration in the advertisements a company
produces about its services or products. However,
third-party sources, such as blogs, online reviews
and magazines are often considered less biased.
This is specifically true with trusted sources, such
as longstanding publication houses or well-
regarded professional reviewers.

ii. It provides more information as the valuable

information is free from space and time constraints.
Similarly, publicity takes place immediately. No
need to wait for time or space in mass media. It
enjoys priority.

iii. The firm is not required to pay for publicity. The

indirect costs related to publicity are much lower
than other means of promotion. Not so considerable
cost is needed in publicity. Advertisement is a
costly method of promotion, but publicity is
comparatively much economical method. In other
words, if we calculate the cost for advertisement,
more benefits can be received from publicity.

iv. It is a part of public relations. It is free from

exaggeration; it carries more factual information
about company. It is more trustable. It helps
establish public relations.

v. Generally, publicity covers the varied information.

It normally involves name of company, its goods
and services, history, outstanding achievements
and other similar issues. The knowledge is more
complete compared to advertisement.
181 Integrated Marketing Communications
vi. Publicity directly helps middlemen and sale
persons. Their tasks become easy. Publicity speaks
a lot about products on behalf of middlemen and
salesmen. Sellers are not required to provide more
information to convince the buyers.

vii. It is suitable to those companies which cannot effort

the expensive ways to promote the product.

viii. Publicity increases credit or fame of the company.

Publicity on company's assistance in relief
operations during flood, earthquake, draught, and
other natural calamities highlights its name and
social contribution in mass media. People hold high
esteem to this company.

ix. Publicity can be used by non-commercial

organisations/institutes like universities, hospitals,
associations of blinds or handicaps and other social
and missionary organisations. They can publicise
their noble works by the medium of publicity.

x. It helps to remove bad image. In many cases,

publicity is aimed at removing misunderstanding or
bad impression. Whatever a publicity conveys is
more likely to be believed.

xi. It helps in building corporate image: Through

publicity, a company can build or improve its
corporate image. People trust more on what press
reporters, columnists, or newsreaders say via mass
media independently than what the company says.
Publicity highlights the company's name and
operations. It popularises the name of the company.

xii. Speed is another importance of publicity. It is the

faster means for communication , information and
Perspectives on Corporate Communication 182
 messages about firm and its goods or services.
Publicity has greater speed to reach the public
(Business Marketing, 2018; Jaideep, n. d; MBA
Skool Team, 2020).

7. Personal Selling

Personal selling is a face-to-face selling technique by

which a salesperson uses his or her interpersonal skills to
persuade a customer in buying a particular product. The
salesperson tries to highlight various features of the
product to convince the customer that it will only add value
(The Economic Times, 2020).
Personal selling is one of the interpersonal
communication tools in marketing. It is seen as the
interpersonal communication process by which a seller
ascertains and then satisfies the need of a buyer to the
mutual long term benefit of other parties. It is a kind of
marketing strategy, which brings the marketer and the
buyer into face to face contact and it is the ultimate one to
one medium (Asemah et al 2020). This explains why
Nwabueze (2006, p. 262), cited in Asemah et al (2020).)
says that ''personal selling is a contact marketing
communication tool used by sales representatives to
penetrate a market, interact with customers, win and
maintain a lasting relationship with them.'' Personal selling
involves selling through a person to person
communications process. Kotler & Armstrong (2004, p.
527), cited in Asemah et al (2020) see personal selling as
''the interpersonal arm of marketing communications in
which the sales force interacts with customers and
prospects, to make sales and build relationship.'' This
implies that personal selling involves selling through a
person to person communications process. The importance
attached to personal selling as a marketing communication
varies from organisation to organisation; some
organisations may value personal selling, while others may
not value it.

183 Integrated Marketing Communications

 The emphasis placed on personal selling by firms
according to Uto (2008) depends on a variety of factors,
which among others, include: the nature of the product or
the service being rendered, size of the organisation and the
type of industry. Uto went further to say that personal
selling often plays the dominant role in industrial firms,
while in other firms, such as makers of low priced
consumer non-durable goods, its role is minimised. Most
companies combine personal selling with other integrated
marketing communication elements, such as advertising,
sales promotion, direct marketing and public relations, so
as to effectively market a product or service. This is very
common among companies that are just introducing new
products or services into the market. The competitive
nature of the market makes personal selling a must when a
product is newly introduced.

Advantages of Personal Selling

Personal selling has the following advantages:

I The interpersonal nature of personal selling makesit

possible for sales representatives to appreciate
customer's problems, re-package or modify product
to suit expectations of customers and build a lasting
relationship with those who take purchasing
decisions in organisations. This is because in
personal selling, sales reps and customers can
engage in face to face communication; thus, it
allows for two-way interaction.

ii. Personal selling cultivates a long-term relationship,

which ensures product loyalty and repeat or
replacement purchase from a sales person. This
depends, however, on the nature of product and
satisfaction derived from the product.

iii. Tailoring of the message. Because of the direct

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 184

 interaction, messages can be tailored to the receiver.
This more precise message content allows the
sender to address the consumer's specific
needs/concerns and problems. The sales rep can
also determine when to move on to the next step.
iv. Involvement in the decision process. Through
consultative selling and relationship marketing, the
seller becomes more of a partner in buying decision
process, acting in conjunction with the buyer to
solve problems.
v. Source of research information in a well-integrated
marketing/sales department. The sales force can be
the eyes and ears of the firm. Sales rep can collect
information on competitors' products and services,
promotion, pricing, etc. first hand. In addition, they
can learn about the buying needs and wants of
potential customers.

vi The face to face situation facilitates instant

feedback.
vii The sales person can demonstrate the products live
and the rep can negotiate, finding those terms that
best suit the buyer's needs (Culled from Asemah et
al 2020).

Disadvantages of Personal Selling

Personal selling has the following disadvantages:
I. Inconsistent message
ii. Sales force/management conflict
iii. High cost

v. Poor reach

185 Integrated Marketing Communications

v. Potential ethical problems

vi. It is very time- consuming and this is because, it is

basically a one- on one medium (Culled from
Asemah et al 2020).

Process of Personal Selling

Kotler & Armstrong (2004), cited in Asemah et al (2020)
identify seven steps in the personal selling process;
namely: prospecting and qualifying, pre-approach,
approach, presentation and demonstration, handling
objections, closing and follow-up.

i. Prospecting and Qualifying: This entails the

process of identifying the right potential customers from
the numerous people in the market and determining those
among identified potential customers, who are qualified to
be approached and those who should be left out. This is
because not every person who moves in the market or has
money to spend should be approached. The salesperson
may end up going after too many prospects and spending a
large amount of money in the process, only to get very few
customers and sell little. Once the qualified potential
customers are identified, next is the process of qualifying
them, which means, screening out the bad ones and
selecting the good prospects based on certain factors,
which include the prospects' financial ability, volume of
business, the customer's needs, location, growth prospects,
among others. The first step is always very important.
Prospects could be found through directories, websites, by
asking dealers and manufacturers for leads, through leads
provided by an organisation, by asking old-customers,
among other strategies.

ii. Pre-approach: Having determined who a qualified

prospect is, the next step involves understanding the
prospect (individual or organisation), his buying habit, the

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 186

best time to approach him, the best strategy to adopt in the
selling process (phone-call or face-face) and other relevant
information that will facilitate a successful business
meeting with the prospect. The pre-approach is research-
based step in the personal selling process, which provides
relevant data that will be utilised in achieving approach or
call objectives.

iii. Approach: This is the stage of opening up a

relationship or commencing the meeting or discussion
with the prospect. The salesperson could simply present
product samples before opening statement, greet and
commence discussion with prospect or ask questions to
understand more about customers' needs, which the
product that is being sold is to satisfy.

iv. Presentation and Demonstration: Presentation

entails telling prospects about the product value and how it
will satisfy the customer's needs. As the salesperson
speaks, the product itself is also presented physically or
through sales aids, such as charts, product albums and
video display facilities. Demonstration of product usage
could also be done to back-up the presentation efforts. The
salesperson carefully listens to the customer's comments
and possibly, includes him in product demonstration.

v. Handling Objections: This entails listening to

objections that prospects may raise during the personal
selling process and using communication skills to ensure
that such objections do not forestall sale of the product. The
salesperson should find out and clarify objections to
product purchase and convince the customers to buy,
explaining how the product can satisfy what led to the
objection.

vi. Closing: This is the stage the salesperson takes

order for product from the prospect. One of the basic
targets of the personal selling process is to obtain an order.

187 Integrated Marketing Communications

The salesperson should know when to commence “closing
remarks” that lead to placement of order. He could show
the prospect the model he should buy and ask him to place
the order, opt to write the order for the prospect, give
reasons order should be immediately placed, play-up any
purchase incentive, such as price-off or discount, if order is
placed or use any other technique to close the process. The
salesperson should be cautious with this step and guard
against putting the prospect off or getting him angry by
being too forward with order request.

vii. Follow-Up: This simply entails closely monitoring

order delivery to ensure that agreed terms-time, place of
delivery and any after sales services are met. It helps in
building a lasting relationship with prospects, which
ensures repeat purchase and customer loyalty. The
salesperson ensures that the customer is fully satisfied with
the transaction and keeps in touch for any replacement
demand or service requirements, depending on the product
(Culled from Kotler & Armstrong, 2004, cited in Asemah
et al 2020).

Difference between Personal Selling and Direct

Marketing
Although, personal selling and direct marketing are both
attempts to reach potential customers directly, there are
some differences to consider. Personal selling occurs when
a company's employee, typically a salesperson, has a
conversation with a potential customer. This may occur
face-to-face in a retail setting, over the phone or on social
media platforms. No matter the medium, the distinctive
characteristic of personal selling is the direct line of
communication between a company representative and a
consumer. The theory behind personal selling is that a
customer is more likely to buy something from a person
that he has a positive relationship with, and whom he trusts
to provide accurate information. Though personal selling

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 188

often occurs in person or by phone, many companies today
are experimenting with other means of communication.
Some companies use social media platforms such as
Facebook and Instagram, as well as email, to build
personal relationships with customers that can ultimately
lead to sales (Kuka, 2018).
in the case of direct marketing, companies are also
reaching consumers directly, but instead of speaking with
them, they send emails, text messages, fliers, catalogues,
letters and postcards. Though direct marketing campaigns
can be tailored and customised for different groups of
recipients, they typically do not involve forming personal
relationships with customers. Instead, direct marketing
materials are generally mass-produced and sent to large
audiences. Direct marketing is a marketing tool used by
some companies because it allows them to target specific
groups of consumers, like an entire neighbourhood; by
incorporating a specific coupon or a unique phone number,
companies can track and measure the success of their
direct-marketing campaign. This feedback allows them to
tweak future campaigns to result in additional sales or
inquiries. Direct marketing can also reach very large
numbers of people at one time (Kuka, 2018).
Direct marketing involves communicating directly
with buyers about their products via different channels.
The individual buyer is the target in direct marketing and
not the masses. This can be carried out through direct mail,
e-mail, apps, telephone calls (telemarketing), catalogues,
fliers, promotional letters, etc. The goal is to generate sales
or leads for sales representatives to pursue. If the customer
is interested, he/ she can directly contact the concerned
department or person on the telephone number of address
given with the message (ABC of Marketing, 2018).

8. Brand Positioning
Brand positioning may be described as conceptual place
that an organisation wants to own in the mind of the target
consumers. It simply captures the benefits the organisation

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want the consumers or customers to think of when anytime
they think of the company's brand. The brand here
represents the products, services or goods of an
organisation. Companies always want to make the
audiences think of what they will benefit from their
exposure to and usage of their; thus, the process of ensuring
that this objective is achieved is what is referred to as brand
positioning. Buemo (2019) sees brand positioning as the
process of positioning your brand in the mind of your
customers and it can also be referred to as a positioning
strategy, brand strategy or a brand positioning statement.
According to Buemo (2019), the idea is to identify and
attempt to “own” a marketing niche for a brand, product or
service using various strategies including pricing,
promotions, distribution, packaging and competition.
Thus, Kotler (n. d) sees brand positioning the act of
designing the company's offering and image to occupy a
distinctive place in the mind of the target market. This
implies that brand positioning describes how a brand is
different from its competitors and where or how it sits in
customers' minds. Kotler further notes that brand
positioning strategy involves creating brand associations
in customers' minds to make them perceive the brand in a
specific way. The is also shows that the goal of brand
positioning is to create a unique impression in the
customer's mind so that the customer associates something
specific and desirable with the brand that is distinct from
other brands in the marketplace.
Brand position is, therefore, seen as the space that
an organisation, a company or an institution, as the case
may be, owns in the mind of the public or target audience
and how it differentiates itself from competitors; thus,
brand positioning is a marketing strategy that helps
business set themselves apart. For a company to create a
unique and successful positioning for its brand, there is
need to understand what the consumers want, understand
the company's brand and brand capabilities also
understand how each competitor is positioning their brand.
Once that is done, the next line of action will be to choose a

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positioning statement that will resonate with your
consumers; that can be delivered by your company, which
is the capabilities, which is different from that of your
competitors (Marion, 2016). An easy way to define a brand
positioning statement is to summarise it in three words; for
example, “vegan, traditional and feminine.” Try not to
choose generic words such as “quality-products, unique,
successful” because this is the aim of every brand. This will
not be in any way different from statements from your
competitors. The next challenge is to reflect this brand
positioning in everything that you do (brand personality,
packaging design, product, service, visual identity design,
communications, etc.
It is worthy to note that brand positioning
statements are different from tag lines or slogans; brand
positioning statements are for internal use; these
statements guide the marketing and operating decisions of
your business. A positioning statement helps you make key
decisions that affect your customer's perception of your
brand; while a tag line is an external statement used in your
marketing efforts. Insights from your positioning
statement can be turned into a tagline, but it is important to
distinguish between the two.
Brand Positioning Strategy Process
In order to create a position strategy, you must first identify
your brand's uniqueness and determine what differentiates
you from your competition (Buemo, 2019). Connecting
with your prospects on a human level before going in for
the hard sell builds trust and helps your prospect have a
more positive experience with your company's brand. For
example, at the beginning of the sales process, you should
take ample time to learn about your prospects and what
problem they are looking to solving by using your product
(Patel, 2010). With a strong brand position, the
differentiating properties of your company's offering
should be easy to understand and referred to. Make sure
your prospects understand what makes your brand unique
throughout the sales process (Patel, 2010).

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 As a sales rep, your main goal should be to help your
prospect solve a problem or overcome a challenge they are
experiencing. Ideally, your company's offering is part of
the solution. Throughout the sales process, you should
always be looking to problem solve on behalf of your
prospect (Patel, 2010). When working in a customer-
facing role, you are your company's most valuable
ambassador. As you work with prospects, ensure they
receive an experience that embodies the core values of
your company and aligns with the company's brand. For
example, if your company takes a light, fun approach to
branding, you should incorporate this language into your
sales conversations. Having an overly serious or stiff tone
would not be authentic to your company's brand (Patel,
2010). The following key steps to will help you to develop
a brand position:
i. Determine your current Brand Positioning: Are
you currently marketing your product or service as
just another item on the market or are you marketing
it as something distinctive? Your current brand
positioning gives you important insight into where
to go next. You will need to understand your current
position to further analyse your competition.
ii. Determine your Competition: After analysing
yourself, it is important to analyse your competition
by performing competitor analysis. The reason for
this is that you need to see who you are up against to
conduct competitor research. That research will
help you decide what you can do better in your
strategy to gain an edge. This implies that you need
to identify the brands in the marketplace that pose a
direct threat to your brand. The brand needs to
analyse and understand the core value, brand
strengths, nature of products and services offered,
ethos and fundamentals of the competitive brands
plus spot their unique selling propositions and the
factors that make them different and unique in the
market and in the minds of the customers.

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iii. Conduct Competitor Research: Once you have
determined who your competitors are, it is time to
conduct in-depth competitor research. You will
need to analyse how your competition is positioning
their brand in order to compete. At its simplest, your
research should include what products or services
your competitors offer, what their strengths and
weaknesses are, what marketing strategies they are
using successfully and what their position is in the
current market. It is very important to intricately
study the positioning and brand strategies of the
competitor brands in order to come up with the
positioning that is unique and distinctive giving a
competitive edge in the market.
iv. Identify what makes your Brand Unique:
Building a unique brand is all about identifying
what makes you different and what works best for
your business. You have to start by defining what
'effective' really means for your brand and then
build its image based on that. As you compare your
product or service to theirs, you might find one of
their weaknesses is your strength. This implies that
there is need for in-depth introspection of the brand
within and identify the core values, fundamentals
on which the brand is formulated, strengths, value
propositions, long-term vision, and the features and
attributes that make the brand unique and different
from the rest of the brands in the market offering the
similar lines of products and services.
v. Develop the Unique Selling Propositions: This
stage has to do with the development of the unique
selling propositions depending on the features,
objectives, attributes, core values, and strengths of
the brand that will give the brand a unique and
distinctive identity in the market and in the
customer's minds.
vi. Create your Positioning Statement: With what
have learned, you can now create a brand
193 Integrated Marketing Communications
 positioning statement. Positioning statement is a
one- or two- sentence declaration that
communicates your brand's unique value to your
customers in relation to your main competitors.
There are four questions to answer before creating
your positioning statement; they: Who is your target
customer? What's your product or service category?
What's the greatest benefit of your product or
service? And what is the proof of that benefit? From
there, you can craft a simple but compelling
positioning statement.
vii. Does your Positioning Statement work? Taking
the time to position your brand to appeal to a certain
customer is just the beginning. Once your
positioning statement is created, it is time to test,
experiment and gather feedback from your
customers on whether or not your positioning
achieves its goal (Bhasin, 2020; Patel, 2020)
.Types of Positioning
Below are some types of position of branding:
i. Value-Based Positioning: Value-based brand
positioning strategy positions the brand based on
the value the customers get on buying or consuming
the brand's offerings. In simple terms, this type of
brand positioning is chosen to position the brand
based on its value proposition. This value often
relates to the customer-centric tangible benefits like
getting the work done, making things easier, etc.
ii. Features-Based Positioning: When the
competition is huge and the products are similar,
companies usually position their products by
focusing more on product-specific features like
price, quality or other micro features depending on
the product sold. This type of positioning strategy is
also called USP-focused positioning and is often

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194
 seen in the mobile industry. For example, as much
as quality plays an important role in the product
success, price is an equally important factor which
determines the enormity of success of a particular
brand. Why is there are expensive brand positioning
themselves as unique and niche, the appeal to a very
limited segment of customers who can afford to
purchase them? There still remains a major bulk
order chunk of customers who are not able to
purchase those nice products or services. It is to
appeal to these customers that price positioning is
done by many brands.
iii. Problem and Solution-Based Positioning: Most
of the brands focus on positioning their products as
a one-stop solution for a specific problem. They
pinpoint the pain areas and the challenges the
consumers face in their communication and other
marketing strategies and mend it into promoting
their product.
iv. Lifestyle Positioning: By positioning itself as a
lifestyle brand, a brand tries to sell an image and
identity rather than the product. The main focus is to
associate the brand with a lifestyle and focus is
more on the aspirational value than the product
value. Cigarette, alcohol and tobacco companies are
often seen to use lifestyle positioning while
marketing their products.
v. Parent-Brand-Driven Positioning: This
positioning strategy aims at establishing a brand
promise and a reputation of the parent brand. All the
products and sub-brands under the parent brand
seem to comply with the established promise.
vi. Experience-Based Positioning: Experience-based
positioning refers to positioning the offering based
on the experience the customer gets while buying or
consuming it. The main focus is on to developing a

195 Integrated Marketing Communications

 unique experience for the customer which
differentiates the offering from the competition.
Restaurants, hotels and other service-based
operators use this type of brand positioning
strategy.
vii. Celebrity-Driven Positioning: Using celebrities
as a spokesperson to endorse a particular category
of product or services has been a popular way for a
long time. The aim of celebrity-driven positioning
is to get the attention of people and increase brand
awareness and recognition by associating the
product or a brand with the glamorous personality
of the particular celebrity. This is often an expensive
affair for the companies but they knowingly choose
this method of splurging because of the fact of
familiarity and popularity of the celebrity. This
association of celebrity with the brand inspires
many buyers who follow the celebrity to buy the
same brand and make them feel psychologically
associated with the celebrity.
viii. Benefit Positioning: Working with the benefits of
attributes and communicating those benefits to the
customer has been an old strategy followed by
many brands. The strategy highlights the benefits of
the product or service to the customers and cream
that no computer can copy them since their unique
to that particular brand (Bhasin, 2019; Pahwa,
2020).
Brand Positioning Statement
Implementing a brand position for your business all begins
with a statement. A brand positioning statement is a
description of your target market that also includes a
holistic picture of how you will like your brand to be
perceived by customers (based on research and data).
Simply put, this statement is the who, when, where, why
and how of your brand's identity (Kwap, 2020). A
positioning statement is a one or two sentence declaration

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196
that communicates your brand's unique value to your
customers in relation to your main competitors.
How to Create a Brand Positioning Statement
To create a brand positioning statement, there are four
essential elements that must not be neglected; they are:
I. Target Customer: What is a concise summary of
the attitudinal and demographic description of the
target group of customers your brand is attempting
to appeal to and attract?
ii. Market Definition: What category is your brand
competing in and in what context does your brand
have relevance to your customers?
iii. Brand Promise: What is the most compelling
(emotional/rational) benefit to your target
customers that your brand can own relative to your
competition?
iv. Reason to Believe: What is the most compelling
evidence that your brand delivers on its brand
promise? (Buemo, 2016).
Characteristics of a Good Brand Positioning Strategy
A good brand position must have the following
characteristics:
i. The positioning strategy you decide should be
relevant according to the customer. If he finds the
positioning irrelevant while making the purchase
decision, you are at loss.
ii. Your message should be clear and easy to
communicate. A strong brand p o s i t i o n i n gmeans
you have a unique, credible and sustainable
position in the customers' mind.
iii. The unique feature should be desirable and should
be able to become a factor which the customer
evaluate before buying a product.

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iv. The promise should have the ability to be delivered.
False promises lead to negative brand equity.
v. The customer should be able to tell the difference
between your and your competitor's brand.
vi. The unique feature should be recognisable by the
customer. This includes keeping your positioning
simple and in a language which is understood by the
customer.
vii. Your positioning strategy is not successful until the
time it is validated by the customer. He is the oneto
decide whether you stand out or not. Hence, try tobe
in his shoes while deciding your strategy (Pahwa,
2010).
Importance of Brand Positioning
The importance of brand positioning cannot be
overemphasised, especially in this era of high competition
as companies are not allowed to condemn the products of
their competitors; instead, they are use persuasive
techniques to woo the public to purchase their products.
Thus, brand positioning is important. Some of the
importance of brand positioning are:
I. By shaping consumer preferences, brand
positioning strategies are directly linked to
consumer loyalty, consumer-based brand equity
and the willingness to purchase the brand.
ii. Showing the uniqueness of your product in any
industry creates a major advantage. When you use
your brand positioning to celebrate how your
product solves a particular problem or need
differently than your competitors, customers will
take notice.
iii. By clearly defining your product and how it can
benefit your customer, you take the guesswork out
of the purchase process. When you give customers
the answers to questions they are looking for, they
will be quicker to trust and buy.

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198
iv. A strong brand does not have to rely on pricing wars
with competitors. Instead, great brand positions
establish the high value of their product, making
customers want to buy it no matter what (even if it is
not the cheapest on the market),
v. A clear brand positioning statement gives you a
springboard for compelling creative storytelling.
By having a concrete vision, you can elevate each
additional piece of marketing to further solidify
your place among the competition (Frederiksen,
2017).
vi. Brand positioning enables you to stake out a unique
territory for your practice into which no competitor
will dare venture because they will b e c o m e
labelled as a “me-too” firm, an also-ran following in
your footsteps.
vii. By laying claim to a particular feature or benefit
through positioning, you will be forced to focus
your services accordingly. This, in turn, will cause
you to be perceived as an expert in those services,
which increases your value to prospects
(Frederiksen, 2017).
viii. Positioning your firm against the competition will
help you decide what new services to offer and how
they are priced. Are you a higher-priced boutique
accounting firm or a no-frills, low-cost provider?
Which new services and pricing support that
positioning? (Frederiksen, 2017).
ix. Positioning helps provide the persuasive sales tools
your business development team needs to nurture
and close more sales. Unique brand
positioning boosts firm visibility and top-of-mind-
recall for prospects to help shut out the competition.
Brand positioning, if done correctly, can t u r nyour
firm into a marketing powerhouse. It can helpfocus
your services, your marketing message, and your
firm's appeal to prospects (Frederiksen, 2017)

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 CHAPTER ELEVEN
CRISIS COMMUNICATION

Crisis is inevitable in the occurrences in the society;

virtually all nations of the world is affected by one for of
crisis of the other (Bland, 1998). In a crisis situation,
corporate values that are important during times of
normalcy and stability may not be as critical. For instance,
the normal emphasis on cost saving would no longer be
appropriate when it is necessary to take urgent steps to save
lives in a natural disaster.
Crisis is simply seen as a negative circumstance
involving an organisation and its stakeholders, such as
employees, customers and investors. A crisis according to
Institute of Public Relations (2007), can create three
related threats; and these include public safety, financial
loss and reputation loss. Some crises, such as industrial
accidents and product harm, can result in injuries and even
loss of lives. Crises can create financial loss by disrupting
operations, creating a loss of market share/purchase
intentions or spawning lawsuits related to the crisis. Crisis
refers to sequence of unwanted events at the workplace
which lead to disturbances and major unrest amongst the
individuals. Crisis generally arises on a short notice and
triggers a feeling of threat and fear in the employees. In
simpler words crisis leads to uncertainty and causes major
harm to the organisation and its employees (Management
Study Guide, 2020). It is essential for the employees to
sense the early signs of crisis and warn the employees
against the negative consequences of the same. Crisis does
not only affect the smooth functioning of the organisation,
but also pose a threat to its brand name (Management

200
Study Guide, 2020). A crisis is, therefore, seen as any
situation that may result in the loss of public trust, support
and legitimacy for businesses, brands and public
institutions.
The foregoing implies that crisis is an unpredictable
major threat that can have a negative effect on an
organisation, industry or stakeholders (Caombs, 1992, p.
2). Crisis is an accidental occurrence or an accident that is
never envisaged or planned (Asemah, etal 2018). It
generally characterised by the absence of peace and a
disruption in an organisation daily routine and procedures.
Asemah etal (2018), citing Ubani (1996) explains that
crisis is a period of heightened uncertainty that increases
the need to plan and a point in time in which external and
internal pressure change the objectives and operations of
an organisation. Babaleye (2013) describes it as an
unpredictable negative occurrence that bring with it
unwholesome public attention, contempt and outright
condemnation. Crisis generally has a negative
consequence on organisation's reputation and image and if
it is well managed, the effects of crisis can be minimised or
mitigated. Depending on the gravity and level of
occurrence, a crisis may have either a short-term or long-
term negative effects on the organisation or public at large
(Babaleye 2013). A crisis according to Babaleye (2013)
can create three related threats; these are public safety,
financial loss and reputation loss.
Adkins (2010) summaries crisis as an unexpected
and unpredictable event which is caused by some type of
event, threatens an organisation's stakeholders'
expectations, places non-routine demands on an
organisation, produces uncertainty in an organisation, has
a negative impact on organisational performance,
potentially produces negative outcomes, threatens high
priority organisational goals, harms either the organisation
or the public and produces accusations concerning the
organisation(s) involved. The features of crisis are that it is
unpredictable, has a potential to disrupt normal

201 Crisis Communication

organisational operations and it is a threat an organisation
and its stakeholders.

Types of Crisis

There are different types of crisis and each of the crises

depends on who was responsible for the crisis and how the
crisis affects the reputation of the organisation. The history
with the crisis of organisation determines the threat to the
organisation's reputation. Below are some of the types of
crises:

1. Victim Crisis
This type of crisis occurs when the organisation is
perceived to be a victim of the crisis. For example, a victim
crisis can happen when the organisation is rumoured to be
at fault. This events can destroy the physical infrastructure
of a company, leaving it with no facility to conduct its
business. In cases like these, a victim crisis presents the
organisation with little to no reputational threat because the
situation is unavoidable and the company has no way of
preventing it (Amaresan, 2019).

2. Accidental Crisis
This type of crisis occurs when the organisation is at fault
for the crisis, but its actions were unintentional. An
accidental crisis can occur when an organisation faces
product or equipment failure like when Samsung had to
recall the Galaxy Note 7 in 2016 due to batteries catching
on fire and exploding (Amaresan, 2019). More so,
accidental crises can occur when an accuser challenges the
organisation.

3. Preventable Crisis
This occurs when the organisation intentionally takes a risk
that leads to a negative outcome or event. A preventable
crisis is the worst possible threat to an organisation because
there is a high reputational threat to the business. In these

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202
situations, there is immense pressure placed on the
organisation's response as well as their actions moving
forward after the crises (Amaresan, 2019).

Crisis can also categorised into personal,

organisational, national, international or global:

1. Personal: As the name implies, personal crises are

incidents that happen to individual's private life. It
could be at home, work, relationships and families.

2. Organisational: Organisational crises are crises

that affect corporate i n s t i t u t i o n s a n d
establishments.

3. National: National crisis are crisis that affect a

country it is a time where a country experience
difficulty, uncertainties and threats that is potential
destructive to different facet of the country. It could
be security, economic, agricultural, health and
political aspects of the nation.

4. International: International crisis is a crisis that

occurs between sovereign states

5. Global: Global crisis are crisis that affects the

entire world. An example is COVID-19 pandemic
that rocked virtually all nations of the world.

Crisis can also be grouped into the known-unknown

crisis and the unknown unknown crisis.

1. Known Unknown Crisis: These are crises that are

predictable or a possibility because they are peculiar to
certain organisations. For instance, students' protest and
unrest is a peculiar crisis in higher institutions. This is the
“known” aspect if this crisis. The “unknown” aspect is that
there is no definite time when this crisis will occur.

203 Crisis Communication

Babaleye (2013), citing Black (1998) describes known
unknown crisis as the type of misfortune that may occurs
because of the nature the business of the corporate
organisation is involved. Known Unknown crisis may be
fore-shadowed by series of events and may also have some
warning signs or indicators before translating to a full
blown crisis. It can be likened to a gathering in the clouds
before rain fall.

2. Unknown Unknown Crisis: These types of crises

are unanticipated and unpredictable. They are usually
sudden and not pre-empted. Natural disasters such as
earthquake, volcanoes, etc. fall in this category.

Phases of Crisis

Every crisis is always in four phases. An organisation must

communicate during each of these phases and evolve its
communication along the way. Crisis is in the following
five stages:

1. The Pre-crisis Phase: This stage involves planning

and education. The organisation should monitor emerging
risks, anticipate possible crises, educate interested parties
about possible risks and suggest actions in the event of a
crisis. It reaches out to necessary authorities and groups for
collaboration and future help. The organisation creates
potential messages and communications systems and tests
them. It also identifies the crisis communication team that
will communicate during the event (Rouse, 2020).

2. Initial Phase: During the initial phase, the crisis

has started and the organisation begins communicating.
Because it may be a confusing and intense period, the
organisation needs to seek to provide clear and accurate
direction, provide resources for more information and
calm fears if necessary (Rouse, 2020).

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204
3. Maintenance Phase : The organisation
communicates updates on the crisis and details any
ongoing risks. At this time, the organisation gathers
feedback from anyone affected by the crisis, corrects any
misinformation and continues to assess the situation and
how it is responding (Rouse, 2020).

4. Resolution State: When the crisis reaches the

resolution phase, the situation has effectively ended, but
recovery remains and communication continues. The
organisation should communicate how it is recovering and
rebuilding, and provide more detailed information about
how the crisis happened. The resolution phase is also a
good time to remind people how to be prepared in the event
of another crisis (Rouse, 2020).

5. Evaluation: During evaluation, two-way

communication is important. The organisation evaluates
and assesses how the response went and how it could be
improved. The organisation reviews the crisis
communication plan and updates or improves it
accordingly. An after-action report comprehensively
documents the crisis and response (Rouse, 2020).

Crisis Trend

This refers to the movement or the cycle of crisis. The

movement of crisis is in:

a. Prodromal: This is the warning signs before a crisis

Asemah et al (2018), citing Ubani (1996) calls it the pre-
crisis period. The pre-crisis period is concerned with
prevention and preparation (Coombs, 2009). This is often
when a crisis is gradually building up. Every crisis has a
gestation period. This is the conception or building up
stage before an actual crisis. When issues or
misunderstanding are ignored, unchecked and left to fester
on, it eventually builds up to a crisis. This is the stage to

205 Crisis Communication

proactively tackle a potential crisis situation before it
becomes a full-blown crisis.
b. Acute or Crisis Break out:This is when the issue
that triggers the event occurs and the crisis is at the early
stage. At this stage, if properly managed, a chronic crisis
situation can be averted.

c. Chronic: This is when crisis breakout is heightened

at its peak. It is a state when crisis management team works
over time to minimise the effect of crisis to its organisation.
d. Resolution: This stage is often refered to as the
post-crisis stage which literally means after crisis. It is the
evidence that a crisis is over. The post-crisis period is when
the dust from the crisis is setting down, fence mending
public relations action is taken to reshape, build better
understanding and re-establish goodwill (Asemah etal
2018, citing Ubani, 1996).

How to Handle Crisis Situations

1. Establish a news head-quarters.
2. Release a holding statement
3. Guide reporters to the scene of crisis.
4. Keep a log of all facts given out and the time the
facts were related.
5. Commend exceptional acts by employees.
6. Monitor all photograph taken and video recording.
7. Know who you talking to.
8. Do not deny that a crisis exists.
9. Do not refuse media enquiries.
10. Do not conceal facts
11. Do not give partial or inaccurate information.

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206
12. Do not release names of victims until their families
have been properly briefed.

Crisis Management Techniques

1. Risk Management: This entails monitoring for
situations that can trigger a crisis incident and nipping it in
the board. Risk management is the process of identifying,
controlling and managing a potential threat or situation that
may result in a crisis. Risk management focuses on
averting a potential crisis situation; the focus here is
prevention. It can be compared to managing and treating
the symptoms of a disease in this context crisis, instead of
the crisis itself.
2. Crisis Simulation: Regular crisis simulation
exercise will enhance an organisation's ability to handle an
actual crisis situation. Crisis simulation is not praying for a
crisis, but preparing for a crisis. Every organisation is
susceptive to one form of crisis or the another. For instance,
an organisation that is susceptible to a fire outbreak due to
the nature of their establishment can regularly engage in a
fire drill simulation to better equip them for an actual crisis.

Crisis Responds Strategies

Hasan (2013) is of the opinion that in crisis situation,
publicity is the fastest and most credible means of
response. Nevertheless, there are 3 general response
strategies that can be deployed in crisis situation:
a. Deny Strategy: This is to outrightly deny that the
organisation is responsible for the crisis.

b. Diminish Strategy: Diminish strategy is to weaken

the connection between organisation and the crisis.

c. Deal Strategy: This strategy addresses

stakeholders' concern directly, by offering

207 Crisis Communication

 compensation or accepting full responsibility for
the crisis.

A Comprehensive Breakdown of Crisis Responds

Strategies

Strategies Key Attributes

Denial
Simple Denial To lie/Did Not Perform the Act
Shift Blame Blame Another for the Act
Evasion of Responsibility
Accident Mistake/Mishap
Defeasibility To Blame Forces Beyond your
Control/ Ability
Disassociation To Deflect/ Isolate/ Separate/
from an Action
Good Intentions To Mean Well
Provocation To Respond to the Action of
Another
Reducing Offensiveness of Event
Attack the Accuser To Reduce the Credibility of the
Accuser
Bolstering To emphasis on the good traits
Differentiation To compare and rate issues
small to others
Minimisation Reduce the Seriousness/gravity
of an Offense
Transcendence To place Act in a different
context/ Introduce Sentiments.
Conciliation
Compensation To Take Responsibility and
Give Reparation
Corrective Action To Take Steps to Resolve an
Issue
Mortification To Accept Guilt/Ask for
Forgiveness/Apologise

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208
Conceptualisation of Crisis Communication

Crisis communication is simply seen as the collection,

processing and dissemination of information required to
address a crisis situation. Arthur (2020) notes that it is the
dialogue between the organisation and its publics prior to,
during and after the negative occurrence. The dialogue
details strategies and tactics designed to minimise damage
to the image of the organisation. Crisis communications is
an aspect of public relations that deals with protecting
individuals, companies and organisations facing
challenges to their public image and reputation. It is quite
different from the traditional public relations, which
concentrates on generating and harnessing positive earned
media to boost brand awareness and reputation.
Crisis communication is aimed at containing
negative earned media by ensuring prompt, honest and
informative communication between all parties. This
shows that crisis communication is aimed preventing crisis
from taking place and in a situation whereby an
organisation is already facing a crisis situation, it is aimed
at mitigating the effect of the crisis by doling out
information that will help to effectively manage the crisis
and prevent it from escalating further. There, corporations
must continually carry out sound information aimed at
managing crisis. Thus, Businessdictionary (2020) sees
crisis communication as the effort taken by a company to
communicate with the public and stockholders when an
unexpected event occurs that could have a negative impact
on the company's reputation. This can also refer to the
efforts of business or governmental entities to inform
employees or the public of a potential hazard such as an
impending storm which could have a catastrophic impact.
The foregoing implies that crisis communication is
a special area which centres on the reputation of the
individuals as well as the organisation. The aim is to
communicate as frequently as possible so at to create
goodwill between an organisation and itself so as to

209 Crisis Communication

maintain peace. Thus, it is seen as an initiative which aims
at protecting the reputation of the organisation and
maintaining its public image. Crisis communication
specialists, therefore, fight against several challenges
which tend to harm the reputation and image of the
organisation. Crisis can have a negative effect on brand
image. Crisis communication experts are employed to save
an organisation's reputation against various threats and
unwanted challenges. Brand identity is one of the most
valuable assets of an organisation. The main purpose of
crisis communication team is to protect the brand identity
and maintain the organisation's firm standing within the
industry (Management Study Guide, 2020). T h e r eare
different objectives of crisis communication; some ofthe
objectives as identified by Arthur (2020) are to provide
accurate, timely information to all targeted internal and
external audiences; to demonstrate concern for the safety
of lives; to safeguard organisational facilities and assets
and to maintain a positive image of the organisation as a
good corporate or community citizen. Crisis
communications protects and reduces the impact of the
various threats to individuals or to organisations and their
stakeholders. Mistakes, serious errors of judgement or
natural disasters cannot be foreseen. This means that every
public-facing organisation or individual is vulnerable to
crises. Thus, proper crisis communication, as noted by
Smarp (2020) can benefit an organisation in the following
ways:

i. Protect your employees and other stakeholders

during a crisis.

ii. Build trust in the workplace.

iii. Prevent the spread of misinformation in the

workplace.

iv. Prevent panic and help employees feel secure.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 210

v. Prevent the threat a crisis may have on the
organisation's strategic objectives, reputation and
viability.

vi. Align employees with the overall crisis

management strategy and enable them to work
towards the same goals.

vii. Align the internal and external messages.

viii. Keep customers loyal.

ix. Keep the reputation of being an attractive employer.

Crisis Communication Plan

A crisis communication plan is a comprehensive document

that includes details about audiences, contact information
and messaging. It should also contain a glossary of terms
relevant to the crisis to ensure that the language used in all
communications remains consistent. The crisis
communication plan should contain contact information
for each potential audience. That information must be
easily accessible during a crisis and the contact
information should be comprehensive, including names,
phone numbers, addresses and email addresses (Rouse,
2020). Potential audiences for crisis communication
include customers, employees and their families, survivors
of the incident and their families, media, the neighbouring
community, company management and investors,
government officials and other authorities and suppliers.
With each crisis, an organisation must determine who to
contact, when and how (Rouse, 2020).
It is a set of guidelines used to prepare a business for
an emergency or unexpected event. These plans include
steps to take when a crisis first emerges, how to
communicate with the public and how to prevent the issue

211 Crisis Communication

from occurring again. Crisis communication plans focus
on the company's response and how it will communicate
with its stakeholders. These steps ensure information
reaches employees, partners, customers, media, the
general public and any other valuable stakeholders. Most
importantly, these plans guarantee a quick release of
information, as well as a consistent message on all
company platforms (Amaresan, 2020).
The crisis communication plan must have a
comprehensive element that explains how the crisis
communication will be carried out; thus the
communication plan is broken into a number of elements.
The elements as identified by Bararia (2018) are:

i. Detailed Plan: The plan should outline and explain

how your organisation will communicate about the crisis
and handle the crisis. Within the plan, you need to include
the purpose of the plan, which explains why the plan is
needed; the activation criteria, where you identify who can
activate the plan and under what circumstances and the
procedures where you outline the steps that need to be
taken in regard to internal and external communication,
include who is responsible for what and what tools (e-mail,
voicemail, intranet, news release, Twitter, etc.) will be used
to carry out the plan.

ii. Crisis Communication Team: The crisis

communication team is responsible for collecting
information, creating and disseminating key messages and
working with the media. The team also monitors response
to the crisis and crisis communication. Within the plan,
identify the members of the crisis communication team and
describe their roles. Who will act as spokesperson and will
there be more than one? Who will field media calls? Who
will handle internal communication? Who will serve as
backups in each role? Include contact information for all
team members, including personal cell phone numbers.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 212

iii. Key Messages: Consider all possible crises your
organisation could face and develop key messages to be
used in response. Also consider what possible questions
you could be asked by the media and draft responses to
those. You may want to develop a vulnerability or grid
assessment to help you determine how likely different
types of crises are to occur at your organisation or within
your community. While you may not use the messages
verbatim, they can serve as a starting point and help you
quickly pull statements together when needed. Your
messages should identify the cause of the crisis, provide a
brief description of what happened, provide a timetable for
future plans, communicate compassion for any victims of
the crisis and there is need to provide suggestions for
protection if appropriate (remembering to wash your hands
during a flu outbreak).

iv. Internal Communications Procedures: Once a

crisis occurs, determine how employees will receive key
messages whether through department meetings,
voicemail, the company intranet or all of the above.
Consider how employees would be reached in a crisis if
your building or internal communications were no longer
available. Employees also should be made aware of your
organisation's media and social media policy and they
should understand that they are not to talk to the media.
Include a copy of these policies in the appendices of the
plan.

v. Contacts and Media List: During a crisis you will

not have time to go searching for phone numbers. Gather
contact information for local government offices, public
health departments, evacuation centres, police and fire
departments, Red Cross centres, suppliers and any other
organisations you may need to communicate with during a
crisis. For the media list, include contact information for
local, national and trade press as well as trade and
influential industry bloggers.

213 Crisis Communication

vi. Appendices: This section includes guidelines,
checklists and forms that support and facilitate crisis
communication. Appendices may include:
 First steps checklist.

 Media policy.
 Social media policy.
 Media call log to document calls/communication
received from members of the media.
 Internal and external communication checklists.
 Fact sheets.
 Profiles and biographies for each key administrator.
 Copies of organisation logos/photos.
 News release template.
 Copies of the orga ni sa ti on ' s busi nes s
continuity/disaster recovery plans.
 Contact information for employees, crisis
communication team members (including any
outside legal or public relations representation) and
the media (Bararia, 2018
Effective Crisis Communication Strategies
Corporations must have effective communication strategy;
thus, the following steps to effective crisis communication
strategy must be considered:

I. Create a Crisis Communication Plan: Crisis

communication needs a well-set plan and objectives.
Without the proper plan, crisis communicators are less
likely to follow the company rules and they may not be able
to align employees with the overall strategy. The crisis

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 214

communication plan should also identify all the possible
situations in which crisis communication is needed.

ii. Appoint your Crisis Communication Team and

Spokesperson: Choosing and appointing the right
people who will be in your crisis communication team is
extremely important. It is very important to understand that
even though the company's CEO is an important figure,
people from other departments such as managers, HR
professionals, operations, internal communications and
public relations departments should be involved in the
strategy. The person you assign as the spokesperson should
be trained and experienced in how to handle crisis and
emergency, communicate well with the employees, react
on a timely basis and always be readyto answer employees'
specific questions.
Categorically, any organisation should ensure, via
appropriate policies and training that only authorised
spokespersons speak for it. This is particularly important
during a crisis. Each crisis communications team should
have people who have been pre-screened and trained to be
the lead and/or backup spokespersons for different
channels of communications. All organisational
spokespersons during a crisis situation must have the right
skills, the right position, the right training and the right
skills.

iii. Train Communicators and help them Develop

Good Communication Skills: Appropriate training and
skill development are essential to help a crisis
spokesperson succeed in their job. Besides training
available to crisis communication professionals, it is
extremely important that these people have good
communication skills. Thus, proper communication skills
are the most valuable skills a spokesperson can possess as
they have a significant impact on how to gain employees

215 Crisis Communication

attention, connect with employees, build trust in the
workplace and make employees work towards the same
goals.
All stakeholders, internal and external, are just as
capable of misunderstanding or misinterpreting
information about your organisation as the media. It is your
responsibility to minimise the chance of that happening.
Spokesperson training teaches you to be prepared, to be
ready to respond in a way that optimises the response of all
stakeholders.

iv. Bring the Board Members on Board: Board

members should be well aware of the company's crisis
management strategy and they should be aligned with the
rest of the leaders and crisis communicators. Who are the
internal and external stakeholders that matter to your
organisation? Employees are considered to be your most
important audience because every employee is a public
relations representative and crisis manager for your
organisation whether you want them to be or not! But,
ultimately, all stakeholders will be talking about you to
others not on your contact list, so it is up to you to ensure
that they receive the messages you would like them to
repeat elsewhere.

v. Close the Gap between “Feeling ready” vs.

“being ready: There is a significant gap between people
feeling and really being ready to cope with and handle
crisis situations. Thus, companies would respond
effectively if a crisis strikes tomorrow. Companies need to
engage in monitoring internal communications to detect
trouble ahead.

vi. Understand your Audiences: Workplace crisis

communicators need to have a very good understanding of
their audience. In most situations, there will be multiple

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 216

audiences a spokesperson would have to communicate and
connect to. Therefore, the ability to segment those
audiences properly and adjust the approach and messages
to them is crucial for successful crisis communication.
Also, depending on the type of crisis, not every employee
may be the right audience to communicate with. In any
situation, however, the message needs to be delivered on a
timely manner, it needs to be clear and easy to understand.
Timely communication is crucial because the worst thing
that can happen is for your employees to hear about the
crisis from a source different from their own employer.

vii. Develop Holding Statements and Deliver

Messages that Matter to your defined Audiences: While
full message development must await the outbreak of an
actual crisis, holding statements messages designed for use
immediately after a crisis breaks can be developed in
advance to be used for a wide variety of scenarios to which
the organisation is perceived to be vulnerable, based on the
assessment you conducted in the first step. Once you
manage to define your audiences, adjusting the internal
crisis communication content is the next important step.
Remember that not every employee should receive every
message during an emergency as this approach just slows
down employees' response time by overwhelming them
with irrelevant information. Ideally, your internal
communication solution should be able to target specific
individuals and departments to ensure the most pertinent
information gets to those who need it most.

viii. Implement a Two-way Crisis Communication: It

is very important to understand that during a crisis,
employees are a valuable asset because they are the voice
of the company and they can be your strongest advocates.
For that reason, crisis communication should not go one-

217 Crisis Communication

way. Crisis communication should enable employees to
join the two-way conversations, raise their concerns and
ask questions. However, many employers base their crisis
communication on employee newsletters and similar way
of communicating that do not enable employees to share
their voice and thoughts.

ix. Communicate in Real-Time using the Right

Communication Channels: In companies that
communicate mainly through emails, intranets or even
instant messaging apps, it is not uncommon for employees
to miss out on important company updates. During the
crisis, employers cannot afford this to happen. Therefore,
employers need to make sure to use the right internal
communication channels that will be considered as their
main source of information during the crisis times.

x. Give a Special Attention to your Non-Wired

Employees: Emails or intranets can be very inefficient in
providing crisis communications to non-wired employees,
remote employees or employees who may be away from
their desks. In addition, they are very ineffective during a
power failure. Therefore, the most effective way to
communicate during an emergency or crisis is via mobile
technology, which goes wherever your employees go.

xi. Make Sure Your Messages are Accurate and

Consistent: During crisis, companies are under a
microscope of the public and the media. When
communicating with employees, it is important to deliver
the right information even if that sometimes means
answering with “I do not know.” Giving wrong
information to the employees can cause the spread of
misinformation which can significantly hurt employees'
trust that they have in their employers. Messages delivered

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 218

to employees have to be consistent no matter which
communication channel you use and whether you are
communicating with internal or external stakeholders

xii. Monitor Communication and Employees'

Behaviours and React on a Timely Manner:
Unfortunately, many employers do not have insights into
their employee engagement with the crisis-related content
delivered to them. This causes high levels of uncertainty
and fear that employees have not even got or read the
critical updates.

xiii. Perform a Post-Crisis Analysis: When the crisis is

over, employers need to ask themselves what they learn
from this; even though these situations are not
comfortable to anyone, they should serve as a good
learning curve. The five questions every employer should
address after the crisis include: What did we do right? What
did we do wrong? How to improve crisis communication
next time? What are the critical crisis communication
elements that have a big and direct impact on how the crisis
was handled? And how can we better prepare our crisis
communication team? (Bernstein, 2020; Smarp, 2020).

Best Practices for Initial Crisis Response

Arthur (2020) identifies the following guiding principles

(best practices) for initial crisis response:

i. Be quick and try to have initial response within the

first hour.

ii. Be accurate by carefully checking all facts.

iii. Be consistent by keeping spokes people informed

of crisis events and key message points.

219 Crisis Communication

iv. Make public safety the number one priority.

v. Use all of the available communication channels,

including the internet, intranet and mass
notification systems.

vi. Provide some expression of concern/sympathy for

victims.

vii. Remember to include employees in the initial

response.

viii. Be ready to provide stress and trauma counselling to

victims of the crisis and their families, including
employees.

Some Theories of Crisis Communication

There are varied theories of crisis communication; but we

shall only examine a few of such theories here.

1. Situational Crisis Communication Theory

The situational crisis communication theory identifies

response strategies that organisations can use to handle a
crisis. It is based on who was responsible for causing the
crisis as well as how significant the threat is to the
business's reputation. The theory outlines a path for crisis
communication, but the business still determines what
actions they will take based on the situation. Not only is the
theory based on the organisation's understanding of the
crisis, but also on their pre-conceived notion of how
stakeholders will respond to each type of response. Thus,
to plan for stakeholder responses, there are four main crisis
response communication strategies:

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 220

i. Rebuilding Strategy: This strategy aims to rebuild
relationships with stakeholders by redeeming the
organisation's reputation. This is achieved by taking
responsibility for the crisis and offering apologies or
compensation to those affected by the outcome. Rebuild
crisis strategies should most frequently be used in response
to accident crises, especially when the organisation has had
a history of similar crises and/or has developed a negative
reputation in the past. Rebuilding strategies should also
always be considered for preventable crises where
stakeholder relationships may be permanently damaged.
While it may take more time to rekindle the relationship,
these actions will mark the first step towards that recovery.

ii. Diminish Strategy: This strategy works to

minimise the amount of responsibility placed on the
organisation. This is achieved by offering excuses for or
justifying the company's actions. Diminish crisis strategies
should most frequently be used in response to victim crises
where the company is not at fault for the issue. If used in
response to accident crises, diminish crisis strategies
should be used when the organisation has had no history of
crises and has a relatively positive industry reputation. For
smaller crises, this strategy can help businesses minimise
the negative effects of the situation while still avoiding
taking unnecessary fault.

iii. Deny Strategy: This strategy completely re-

assigns the blame away from the organisation. This is
achieved by confronting the accuser(s) for their invalid
accusations, claiming that there is no crisis, or blaming
another party for the crisis. Deny crisis strategies should be
used in victim crises when the organisation is faced with
rumours or accusations that harmful, but not true. Rather
than rebuilding the relationship, it's best to confront the

221 Crisis Communication

cause of the crisis immediately to avoid further escalation.
It's important to keep in mind that this strategy is only
effective if your business is truly at no fault for the
situation.

iv. Bolster Strategy: This strategy works to position

the organisation as an asset to its stakeholders. This is
achieved by reminding stakeholders of its former good
deeds and praising stakeholders for their dedication and
loyalty. Bolster crisis strategies can be used in conjunction
with other primary crisis strategies, especially when the
organisation is faced with victim crises. While each of
these strategies is predicted to be effective in the specific
crises laid out, it is impossible to know exactly how
stakeholders and the overall public will react to an
organisation's chosen response. So, it is important to
prepare not only for the public's response to the crisis, but
also for their response to your follow up actions. The
theory can help an organisation in the following ways:

i. It helps to practise and prepare for crises in advance.

ii. It makes it less likely that an organisation will panic

when an unexpected crisis arises.

iii. It helps to categorise each crisis, making it easier to

handle.

iv. It reminds you to prioritise the public opinion

(Amarasen, 2020).

2. Contingency Theory

Contingency theory is a set of behavioural theory which

postulates that there is no single way or the best method to

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 222

organise and lead an organisation in a management set up.
Instead, a leader should be appointed who can make
decisions based on the situation and relative conditions.
This theory was made popular by Fred Fiedler with his
famous Contingency model, which paved way for further
contingency theories and models with more details and
understanding (Huawei Connect, 2020).
During the 1950s, the Ohio State University carried
out a study of leadership behaviour via questionnaires.
They concluded that good leaders had two specific
behaviours. The first is consideration, where the leaders
took interest in building confidence and rapport with their
subordinates. The second is initiating structure where the
leaders took over the management of the unit and handed
out assignments and tasks to the subordinates. The
University of Michigan termed these as relation-oriented
and task-oriented respectively (Huawei Connect, 2020).
Contingency theory came into mainstream academia with
the introduction of Fred Fiedler's Contingency Model in
his article, 'A Contingency Model of Leadership
Effectiveness,' published in 1964. His research was based
mainly in the military. Just like the contingency theory, he
claims that there is no single way to organise and manage a
unit. The two things that are important are the leader's
personality and the situational context. Thus, a leader will
lead and manage his unit during a crisis by analysing and
evaluating the situation at hand and acting out accordingly
(Huawei Connect, 2020).
Contingency theory is a grand theory of public
relations which explains how organisations manage
conflict with stakeholders. Organisations take a stance in
the conflict. Stance refers to how the organisation responds
to conflict and it can be placed on a continuum that goes
from advocacy to accommodation. The stance will depend
on the factors affecting the conflict. The goal is to

223 Crisis Communication

understand how factors influence the communicative
strategies (stance). It is a complex theory because it tries to
explain the relationships between all the factors.
Contingency theory can be applied to crisis
communication because when there is a crisis, usually
there is conflict between an organisation and stakeholders.
Stances are in many ways similar to the strategies
described by the theory (Huawei Connect, 2020).
Contingency theory as noted by Kim & Cameron
(2020) aims to understand the dynamics of many factors
that influence an organisation's stance on a continuum with
advocacy at one end and accommodation at the other (as
cited in Cancel, 1999). The stance an organisation takes
toward a given public at any given time is dynamic and
constantly moving along a continuum (Cameron, Cropp &
Reber, 2001, cited in Kim & Cameron (2020).
Acknowledging these dynamics, contingency theory
elaborates and specifies the underlying factors involved
both inside and outside of the organisation that strengthen
an organisation's stance along the continuum to “offer a
structure for better understanding of the dynamics of
accommodation as well as the efficacy and ethical
implications of accommodation” (Yarbrough, Cameron,
Sallot, & Mc Williams, 1998, p. 41, cited).

3. Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) Theory

The theory focuses on the impact of emotion or affect

during crisis communication and management. It takes
into account how stakeholders cope with crises and how
organisations react. Research has shown that anxiety is the
most frequent emotion followed by anger (Huawei
Connect, 2020).

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 224

4. Threat Appraisal Model

The model focuses on the impact that threat has on crisis

communication managers and how this affects the stance
of an organisation. Research has shown that long-term
threats were considered more severe, required more
organisational resources, created more negative emotions
and would be more likely to lead to accommodation
(Huawei Connect, 2020).
With a growing need for conceptualisation and
measurement of threat in crisis situations, threat
assessment was introduced into the contingency theory
framework. Internal or external threats, as identified in the
original contingency factor matrix, describe the state that a
nation, organisation or individual endures in a crisis. A
threat to an organisation requires an assessment of
situational demands and organisational resources to handle
(Kim & Cameron (2020). According to Jin & Cameron
(2007), cited in Kim & Cameron (2020), a public relations
practitioner perceives a threat when there are insufficient
resources or a high requirement of resources to meet
situational demands.
Based on previous theoretical development and
research findings, Jin & Cameron (2007) suggested three
consequences at the cognitive, affective and conative
levels: (a) The cognitive level involves an individual's
perception and analysis of the crisis situation in terms of
required demands and resource allocation; (b) the affective
level involves how an individual feels about the situation,
including how negative he or she feels about the crisis and
the arousal level or intensity of his or her being threatened
and (c) the conative level involves the stance taken by the
organisation to deal with the crisis, which is represented by
movement on the contingency continuum of
accommodation. According to Jin & Cameron (2007),

225 Crisis Communication

cited in Kim & Cameron (2020), the threat appraisal model
consists of two levels of appraisal: (a) a primary appraisal
of situational demands based on degrees of perceived
danger, uncertainty of the issue (lack of prediction and
control increase difficulty of threat), and required effort to
address the threat and (b) a secondary appraisal of
resources based on knowledge and skill, time, finance and
support from the dominant coalition. Jin & Cameron
(2007), cited in Kim & Cameron (2020) conducted a Web-
based experiment on the effects of threat type and threat
duration on public relations practitioners' cognitive
appraisal of threats, affective responses to threats and the
stances taken in threat-embedded crisis situations. The
results demonstrated the main effects of threat type and
threat duration on threat appraisal, emotional arousal, and
degree of accommodation. Interactions between these two
threat dimensions (threat type and threat duration)
indicated that external and long-term threat combinations
resulted in higher situational demands and more intensive
emotional arousal.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication 226

 CHAPTER TWELVE
PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORIES IN
CORPORATE COMMUNICATION SITUATIONS

APOLOGIATHEORY

This theory explains the way a company or an organisation

responds to allegations of wrong doings. Apologia theory
is a response to accusations on ethical misconducts in
which a company has a primary motive to the defence of its
reputation and to which the organisation offers discourse in
self-defence that denies, explains or apologises for its
actions. Apologia theory is not an apology; even though, it
may contain one. It is a justification for an action, not
necessarily an apology. Apologia is, therefore, a
justification that seeks to present a complete interpretation
of facts to correct and repair an organisation's damaged
reputation. Apologia is a rhetorical concept that explores
the use communication for self-defence (is to remove an
action from a negative context) (Cacombs, 2010).
Apologia is a response to questioning of a man's moral
nature, motives or reputation. Ryan (1982) sees apologia as
a response to allegations against not just character, but
policies of individuals and institutions. The steps in
apologia are:

1. Deny Strategy: This is the rejection to accusations

or charges by characterising them as false.

2. Bolstering Strategy: This strategy attempts to

enhance the image of the organisations or corporate

227
individual under attack. It focuses on the strength and
benefits of a past relationship; especially the jobs and
development brought into the community (corporate social
responsibility).

3. Re-Definition Strategy: This means to deal with or

manipulate the public perception of guilt. There are
different approaches to re-definition; they are:

a. Transcendence: This is to place the issues in a

different context. It introduces religious, racial,
ethnic and tribal sentiments to an issue.

b. Differentiation: Differentiation is to redefine a

narrow context into a broader context. This
simply means to take a small issue and blow it up
out of proportion and magnify it.

c. Provocation: This is where an organisation

claims that it simply reacted to the hostility of
others or another.

d. Defeasibility: This strategy involves corporate

officials or organisations claiming that forces
beyond their control were at work.

e. Good Intentions Strategy: In using good

intention strategy, an organisation claim that they
had good intentions in creating a specific policy
that is faced with criticism.

f. Minimisation: An organisation seeks to lessen

its responsibility by claiming the problem is
actually small and insignificant.

Public Relations Theories In Corporate

Communication Situations 228
 g.Disassociation: In dealing with guilt, the
organisation claims that the criticism is, but an
appearance and does not actually reflect the true
facts of the case.
This approach takes 3 forms:
i. Accusing the Media of Working with Opinions
and not Facts: When the facts that precipitate an
allegation of wrong doing are in doubt, this usually
involves opinion knowledge. This simply means to
accuse the media of working with opinions and not
facts.

ii. Scapegoating: This is to isolate a group or

organisation from a crime or issue, but putting or
blaming the guilt on an individual; that is, using an
individual as a scapegoat.

iii. Accident Essence: To claim that the criticised act

was an accident and as such, it does not represent
the essence of the organisation which is made up of
dedicated employees who should not be judged on
the basis of an accident.

4. Conciliation Strategy: This is to accept

mortification in which guilt is accepted and forgiveness is
sought. It involves the following steps/options:

i. Correction Act: Correction is the step taken to fix a

problem or resolve an issue and ensure that it does
not happen again.

ii. Compensation: This occurs when an organisation

takes responsibility for an incident and appeal to the
victims in form of monetary value (settlement).

iii. Mortification: This is to admit guilt, express regret

and ask for forgiveness.

229 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

Image Restoration Theory

Image restoration theory is a theory that explains the

communication options open to those who face threats to
their reputation in the face of accusation. Thus, image
repair messages are needed. The following questions will
better help appreciate the situation better:What accusation
or suspicion threaten the image of the organisation? Who
are the most important audience? Accusation according to
Pomerant (1978), has two components; namely: an
offensive act must occur and the accused must be
considered to be blamed for the act. There are five (5)
options available for image repairer:

1. Denial: There are 2 ways to denial:

a. Simple Denial: This is to out rightly denial that an

action occurred; to say it did not happen.

b. Shift Denial: This is to shift the blame to another

person or laying the blame at the door step of
another.

2. Evasion of Responsibility: It means to avoid

responsibility. There are 4 options under evasion:

a. Provocation: When an organisation blames an

incident on the provocation of others.

b. Defeasibility: Attributing the situation to forces

beyond your control.

c. Accident: Attributing the situation to a mistake.

d. Good Intention: To lay emphasis on the good.

Public Relations Theories In Corporate
Communication Situations 230
3. Reducing the Offensiveness of Event: There are 3
options under reducing the offensiveness of the
event:

a. Bolstering: Bolstering reminds people of the

good things that the accused person or
organisation has done (Caoombs, 2010).

b. Minimisation: To reduce the gravity of a crisis.

c. Differentiation: It is to remove an action from a

negative context (Caoombs, 2010).

d. Transcendence: To place an action in a newer and

broader context that is more favourable.

4. Attacking the Accusers: This is to assail those

who accuse organisations or individuals of wrong
doing. It is done to reduce the credibility and
image of the accusers.

5. Compensation: Compensation is to take

responsibly for an action and give reparation.

Impression Management Theory

Impression management describes the steps and actions
taken by an organisation to present a good image before the
public. It is the steps taken to shape how the public sees an
organisation or individual and why they do so. The theory
is based on three (3) other theories; namely:

a. Symbolic Interaction Theory: This is based on

the assumption that individual and group identity is
socially constructed. People are motivated to act
based on meanings and interpretation they assign to
people, things and events.

231 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

b. Social Cognition: This theory assumes that
individuals are actors consciously and
unconsciously working to shape the behaviour that
others see and try to shape the personality they
construct.
c. Dramatism: This theory posits that individuals are
actors who attempt to control situations, scenes and
the context of interactions in which they participate.

Situational Theory of Publics

This theory seeks to establish the notion of why people

communicate and when they are mostly likely to
communicate. The theory is situational because problems
come and goes. This theory is relevant to those who
experience problematic situation relating to organisational
behaviour. This theory is a tool for strategically managing
public relations programmes. To manage public relations
programmes, it is paramount to identify the publics, choose
realistic objectives for communication programmes and
evaluate programme outcome. Situational theory plays the
following roles in crisis management:

a. Predict the differential responses most important

for public relations professionals.

b. Responsiveness to issues and problems.

c. Amount of and nature of communication behaviour.

d. Effects of communication on cognitions, attitude

and behaviour.

e. The likelihood that the publics will pressure the

organisations.

f. Measure the quality of organisational relationships.

Public Relations Theories In Corporate

Communication Situations 232
Network Theory

This theory explains the structural complexity and

d yn a mi c s of i n d i v i d u a l and o r g a n i s a t i o n a l
communication. Network theory is a graphical
representation of connecting, inter-connecting and
disconnecting nodes. Borgatti & Halgin (2011) explain
that networks are not always connected; some can be
disconnected. A disconnected network is one in which
some nodes cannot reach certain others by any path;
meaning that the network is divided into fragments called
components (Borgatti & Halgin, 2011). Contextually,
nodes of a network represent lines, links and ties of actors,
individuals, groups, entities and organisation. Nodes are
created by communication and interaction actors or
entities in a social sphere. This theory helps in the
understanding of communication patterns of both
individuals and organisations. Adkins (2010), citing
Littlejohn & Foss (2005) explains that networks are social
structures created by communication among individuals
and groups. They observed that as organisations interact
and relate with their publics and stakeholders, connecting
links and ties are formed which overtime assembles to a
network of social structures. Nodes are social links and ties
which serve building blocks of social structures.
Network theory are mechanisms and process that
interact with network structures to yield certain outcomes
for individual or groups (Borgatti & Halgin, 2011).
Network theory is framed on 3 mechanisms; the first is the
measures of ties, second is the measures assigned to
nodes/entities in the network and third is the measures used
to describe networks. Corporate organisations have formal
and informal communication networks. Formal
communication networks are the communication networks
established by the organisation while the Informal
communications are the grapevine networks. The
grapevine communication networks are commonly known
as rumours and gossips.

233 Perspectives on Corporate Communication

GLOSSARY

Advertising: Advertising is one of the most effective ways

of brand promotion. Advertising helps organisations reach
a wider audience within the shortest possible time frame.
Advertisements in newspaper, television, Radio,
billboards help end-users to believe in your brand and also
motivate them to buy the same and remain loyal towards
the brand. Advertisements not only increase the
consumption of a particular product/service, but also
create brand awareness among customers. Marketers need
to ensure that the right message reaches the right customers
at the right time. Be careful about the content of the
advertisement, after all you are paying for every second.
Brand Identity: Much the same as your own personality
as a human being makes you particularly, the identity of
your brand is the soul of your business that separates you
from everyone else. Brand identity is the gathering of all
brand components that a business makes to depict the
correct picture of itself to the shopper.
Branded Merchandise: Branded merchandise is any
product that contains a logo or a brand on it. It is mostly
used as promotional material at conventions, but the likes
of Google, YouTube and other large brands sell their
branded merchandise in their offices and online.
Companies use this activity as a branding exercise and as a
way to make more money for the business.
Convenience Merchandise: This merchandise is
anything that a customer cannot live without. Convenience
merchandise or goods can be bought with relative ease
anywhere and mainly includes food and hygiene products.

234
Direct Marketing: Direct marketing enables
organisations to communicate directly with the end-users.
Various tools for direct marketing are emails, text
messages, catalogues, brochures, promotional letters and
so on. Through direct marketing, messages reach end-users
directly.

Direct Selling: With direct selling, distributors avoid

intermediaries in the supply chain and sell products
directly to consumers. In traditional retail settings,
products are sold online or at a physical store, but direct
selling relies heavily on salespeople getting in front of
customers in non-traditional settings. Direct selling
eliminates several intermediaries involved in product
distribution, such as the regional distribution centre and
wholesaler. Instead, products go from the manufacturer to
the direct sales company, then to the distributor or rep, and
finally to the consumer.

Household and Electronic Merchandise: This

merchandise is a high intent, high price product that needs
more thought and research before buying. Because of this,
retailers sell less stock so they must mark up these products
price-wise to make a profit. These items include furniture,
smart phones, and electrical equipment.

Impulse Merchandise: On the other side of convenience

merchandise is impulse merchandise which is the add-on
products customers may buy in a supermarket, also known
as luxury items. These include sweets, magazines and
newspapers.

Integrated Marketing Community: Integrated

marketing is an approach to creating a unified and seamless
experience for consumers to interact with the
brand/enterprise; it attempts to meld all aspects of
marketing communication such as advertising, sales

235 Glossary
promotion, public relations, direct marketing and social
media, through their respective mix of tactics, methods,
channels, media, and activities, so that all work together as
a unified force. It is a process designed to ensure that all
messaging and communications strategies are consistent
across all channels and are centred on the customer.
Merchandise: is a product that can be bought or sold to
another. It is a simple concept that runs our economy today.
Merchandising: It is the promotion of a product to
influence a customer to buy it. This could include creating
an enticing display, promoting a special offer or hosting a
giveaway.
Merchandising: Merchandising is the practice and
process of displaying and selling products to customers.
Whether digital or in-store, retailers use merchandising to
influence customer intent and reach their sales goals.
Omnichannel Merchandising: Refers to creating a
unified customer experience across all possible
touchpoints of the customer journey. For retailers with
physical and digital stores, omnichannel merchandising
involves creating a seamless customer experience, even if
the customer moves from one to the other. Omnichannel
merchandising also referred to as omnichannel retailing, is
a topic of increasing interest and research, especially
because physical stores are increasingly embracing digital.
Personal Selling: Personal selling is also one of the most
effective tools for integrated marketing communication.
Personal selling takes place when marketer or sales
representative sells products or services to clients.
Personal selling goes a long way in strengthening the
relationship between the organisation and the end-users.

Product Merchandising: It involves all promotional

activities used to sell a product. Product merchandising can
Perspectives on Corporate Communication
236
refer both to in-store or online products. Although often
incorrectly used as a synonym for service merchandising
(the promotional activities used to sell services), product
merchandising can also refer to either physical or digital
products. For example, the definition of product
merchandising applies whether you are merchandising
shoes in-person or online, and even if you are
merchandising a product that is not physical, such as an
Book.

Retail Merchandising: It refers to all promotional and

marketing activities that in some way contribute to selling
products to customers in a physical retail store. The
definition here is limited to the physical, but it can be
applied to a variety of merchandising venues—from
traditional brick-and-mortar malls to annual pop-up
events. However, with the continued rise of digital
merchandising, the term retail merchandising is
increasingly being used to describe digital merchandising
as well.

Sales Promotion: Brands can also be promoted through

discount coupons, loyalty clubs, membership coupons,
incentives, lucrative schemes, attractive packages for loyal
customers, specially designed deals and so on. Brands can
also be promoted effectively through newspaper inserts,
danglers, banners at the right place, glorifiers, wobblers,
etc.

Specialised Merchandise: Specialised merchandise

refers to niche products that people buy less often but
spend more money on. These would include holidays or
rare cars.

Visual Merchandising: In the retail industry, it refers to

all of the display techniques used to highlight the
appearance and benefits of the products and services being

237 Glossary
sold. Visual merchandising can include elements of
spacing, lighting and design and is a term that can be
applied both to in-store merchandising and online
merchandising.

Wholesale Merchandise: Wholesale merchandise is the

sale of products to a retailer and not to an end-user or
customer. Wholesale merchandise is sold by a supplier or
distributor and never by a retailer as it refers to the sale of
goods to anyone but the intended end-user.

Perspectives on Corporate Communication

238
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252
 Collaborative Approach,
110
Commitment Phase, 94
INDEX Communication Tool, 148
Consumer Experience, 148
A Contacts and Media List,
Absenteeism, 27 213
Accidental Crisis, 202 Contingency Theory, 222
Active and Passive Convenience Mechandise,
Stakeholders, 119 234
Core-Self Evaluation, 34
Advertising, 163
Corporate Culture, 148
Advocate Customers, 102
Corporate Identity
Aggressiveness, 21
Materials, 11
Ambush Marketing, 173
Crisis Communication Plan,
Analytical Approach, 109
211
Awareness Phase, 93
Crisis Communication
Team, 212
B
Customer Acquisition, 110
Behaviour Modelling, 22
Customer Extension, 111
Benefit Positioning, 196
Customer Loyalty, 111
Bolster Strategy, 221 Customer Relations, 99
Bolstering Strategy, 227 Customer Relationship
Brand Focus, 148 Management, 107
Brand Identity, 234 Customer Retention, 111
Brand Mechandising, 153, Customer Satisfaction, 112
234
Brand Positioning D
Statement, 196 Deny Strategy, 221, 227
Brand Promise, 197 Deviant Workplace
Behaviour, 28
C Diminish Strategy, 221
Causes and Charity Homes, Direct Mailing, 169
71 Direct Marketing, 167
Celebrity-Driven Direct Response
Positioning, 196

253
Advertising, 172 Formal Communication
Discount or Bargain Channels, 130
Hunters, 101
Dissolution Phase, 94 G
Gender, 25
E Graphic Design Expense, 48
Economic Responsibilities,
80
Educational, 69 H
Emotional Stability, 33 Habitual Customers, 102
Employee Communication,
129 I
Employee Health and Impression Management
Wellness, 78 Theory, 231
Employee Relations, 128 Impulsive Customers, 101
Environmental Integrity, Index
78
Infomercials, 170
Ethical Responsibilities,
Informal Communication
122
Channels, 131
Ethnicity, 26
Evasion of Responsibility, In-kind Sponsors, 162
230 Integrated Crisis Mapping
Events Manager, 47 (ICM) Theory, 224
Events Sponsorship, 160 Integration Tool, 149
Exhibitions/Trade Fairs, 69 Internal and External
Expansion Phase, 94 Stakeholders, 118
Experience-Based Internal Communications
Positioning, 195 Procedures, 213
External Corporate Internal Corporate
Communication, 7 Communication, 7

F J
Facility Tours, 137 Job Satisfaction, 29
Features-Based Juridical/Legal
Positioning, 194 Responsibilities, 122

Index 254
K No-Comments or Silence,
Kiosk Marketing, 172 141

L O
Lectures, Seminars and Off-the Record, 141
Symposiums, 139 Openness to Experience, 33
Legal Responsibilities, 79 Operational Approach, 109
Legitimate and Illegitimate Organisational
Stakeholders, 120 Communication, 19
Letters to the Editors, 139 Organisational
Lifestyle Positioning, 195 Communication, 8
Local and Cultural Events, Organisational/Corporate
71 Events, 45
Loyal Customers, 102 Outcome Orientation, 21
Overhead cost Budget, 48
M
Management P
Communication, 8 Parent-Brand-Driven
Market Definition, 197 Positioning, 195
Marketing Communication, People Orientation, 21
8 Personal Selling, 173
Marketing, 19 Persuasion, 167
Media Relations Budget, Philanthropic
144 Responsibilities, 79
Media Relations, 132 Preparation Stage, 42
Media Sponsors, 161 Presentation and
Demonstration, 187
N Presentation and
Narrow and Wide Demonstration, 189
Stakeholders, 118 Press Conference, 136
Need-based Customers, Press Luncheon, 137
101 Press Release, 135
Network Theory, 233 Prevention / Mitigation
News, 11 Stage, 42

255
 Primary and Secondary Strategic Approach, 109
Stakeholders, 119 Symbolic Interaction
Proactive Personality, 35 Theory, 231
Problem and Solution-
Based Positioning, 195 T
Professional Awards, 70 Target Customer, 197
Promotional Partners, 162 Team Orientation, 21
Prospecting and Telemarketing, 170
Qualifying, 186 Television and Radio

Prospective Customers, 100 Programmes, 70

Public Relations, 158 The Myers-Briggs Type
Public Service, 71 Indicator, 32

R U
Race, 26 Use of Press Releases, 178
Relationship Marketing, 98
Responds Stage, 42 V
Risk Takers, 34 Value-Based Positioning,
194
S Victim Crisis, 202
Scapegoating, 229 Voluntary and Involuntary
Seasonal Customers, 101 Stakeholders, 119
Seminars, 69
Situational Crisis W
Communication Theory, Wandering Customers, 101
220
Situational Theory of
Publics, 232
Special Events, 11
Speeches, 12
Sponsorship of Press Event,
138
Staff Turnover, 28
Stakeholders Relations, 115

Index 256

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