Finally, if the budget allows, consideration could be given to
hiring an advertising agency to develop advertising concepts and
design, as well as a strategy for ad placement. This should be an
agency well familiar with the association’s industry or profession,
as well as the meetings industry and the purpose of the type of
event being promoted. While agency references should always be
checked, an advertising agency with intimate knowledge of, and
space-buying influence within an industry—as well as creative
copy writers and graphic artists—can be a great asset to the ad-
vertising program.PUBLIC RELATIONS
The purpose of public relations is to inform audiences, mold atti-
tudes, and encourage participation. While it could be said that
brochures and advertising do the same, there are some striking
differences.
For example, while the results of advertising or direct mail are
easily measurable, the results of public relations are more difficult
to quantify. The reason? Advertising is what the event organiza-
tion says about itself. Public relations results in what others say
and feelabout the organization and its event, the attitudes of
which may be more diffuse and theoretical. Still, it remains an in-
tegral and critical part of the overall marketing strategy. Advertis-
ing is completely controlled by the marketer who buys it; he or
she mandates the design, timing, placement, and message. With
public relations, the buyer has no control.
Public relations campaigns run the gamut of building on suc-
cess or overcoming failure. The campaign may be designed to reaf-
firm past successes of a winning event to advance it even further
against the competition. Or a public relations effort may be de-
signed to turn around a failing event and “spin” its strengths to
gain an approving audience in the face of past adversities. This ef-
fort may include both internal and external public relations target
markets.
Regardless, a public relations success usually provides more
benefit for the investment than advertising or brochures, because
the message does not come from the sponsoring organization but
rather comes from a third party. The positive spoken word from a
third party carries more credibility than the word of the sponsor-116 Chapter 5 Marketing Association Meetings, Conferences, Events, and Expositions