PR-branschen. Branschen som inte kan marknadsföra sig själv? : En studie om hur PR-byråer marknadsför sig genom relationsmarknadsföring

Title: PR-industry: The industry that cannot promote themselves? – A thesis of how PR-agencies use relationship marketing to promote themselves. Authors: Julia Edvardsson & Jennie Jonasson Advisor: Navid Ghannad Level: Bachelor thesis in Marketing, (15 ECTS), Spring 2012 Keywords: Public Relations, Relationship Marketing, Relation, Interaction and Network Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to bring a better understanding for Public Relations and for how the PR-agencies promote themselves. The thesis will explore the following questions: How do the PR-agencies uses relationship marketing to reach out with their knowledge to their potential customers? Are the any differences between their promotions when it comes to the agencies orientation? Theoretical framework: The chapter begins with a definition of Public Relations. After that a framework of Relationship Marketing theory is made with headlines as relations, interaction and networking. Method: A qualitative research method, with a deductive approach, has been implemented. Four PR-agencies - Gullers Grupp, Halvarsson & Halvarson, JKL, Prime and a consultant have all been interviewed on the subject. Empirical: The empirical framework presents the outcome of the interviews framework: with the four agencies and the consultant. The respondents give their agencies version on how they use marketing to reach out to the right customers. This is presented in the same way as in the theoretical framework Conclusion: Developed empirical shows that relationship marketing is the primary foundation in a successful PR work. It is the PR-agencies well-adapt network that generates qualified co-workers and which, in turn, contributes to the right customers for the PR-agency. We can establish that there is no general description of Public Relations and we dare to assert that this is based on the complexity in the PR-activities. With the findings of that relationship marketing permeates the entire PR-industry, we can see that the activities that agencies use varies to their orientation, values and amount of trust. The empirical framework also highlights that the PR-industry does not use their full potential to acquire the right customers and especially to clarify the complex and different orientations. PR-agencies also tend to exclude traditional advertising and solely focus on Public Relation for its own marketing purposes