What role does the message play in the development of an MPR effort? How does this role differ from traditional promotional strategies?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

In MPR, messages play a pivotal function because they are the basis for all marketing activities under MPR. Therefore the control and dissemination of messages is vital to the success of any MPR effort. While MPR professionals may not be able to totally control all communication outcomes of a marketing campaign, they can potentially affect the communication process in two critical ways: generating word-of-mouth and stimulating media coverage by reaching and influencing intended audiences via precisely targeted messages delivered to those audiences through well-chosen intermediaries or connectors.

MPR offers a number of advantages over traditional promotional strategies. Well-executed MPR efforts tend to be credible and newsworthy. As a result, they generate high levels of word-of-mouth communication and create the perception of endorsement by the media, often allowing a message to break through other types of promotional clutter. Furthermore, MPR messages can circumvent consumer resistance to and hesitancy about responding to marketing efforts that are unadulterated sales pitches.

The fact that MPR messages are not paid placements, as in advertising, for example, carries with it the disadvantage that MPR lacks control over the message and cannot guarantee it will be picked up in the media at all. However, MPR professionals can effectively employ marketing strategies that obviate these shortcomings. MPR practitioners realize that their activities can, indeed, have a doubly beneficial advantage: a direct effect on sales while earning public trust and acceptance.