A repeated shot in the arm.

I have observed first-hand over the past several years how a sustained advertising and public relations campaign can affect an organization.

Pashupati, Arpan, & Nikolaev (2002) note, regarding advertising and the inoculation theory, that it is in the best interest of organizations “to invest in a sustained, long-term advertising campaign in order to cultivate a strong positive image that will be resistant to deterioration.” This is a point I have attempted to repeatedly drive home in my current job.

When my company began operating as a new entity in Ohio in 2004, we worked with a public relations agency to create a brand and develop a plan for market introduction. This included a “corporate image (Pashupati, Arpan, & Nikolaev, 2002)” advertising campaign using tactics including direct mail, newspaper and broadcast ads, and outdoor billboards to reach prospective members. The strategy worked well, and we enjoyed fairly moderate success. Within a year, however, management pulled most of the funding for the campaign and assumed that our momentum would successfully carry us forward. This strategy failed and we began to see a reduction in membership throughout the next year.

We had designed our advertising and public relations campaign to persuade people to select our organization as their healthcare benefits provider. The campaign, on a secondary level, also enhanced the company’s overall image with industry and community leaders by generating positive awareness. We were visible and we actively shared information and participated in community events, which built trust. When we abruptly stopped the campaign and pulled back on our outreach, membership numbers decreased and, more importantly, our overall image took a hit. People began to question our credibility because of our noticeable absence. The company’s failure to build on the progress of our initial campaign resulted in deterioration.

This situation is similar to the inoculation theory, which states that companies can lessen the effects of negative news by exposing audiences to prior mild negatives attacks (Pashupati, Arpan, & Nikolaev, 2002). We did not expose any negative news, but our advertising and public relations effort did indeed inoculate the company against undesirable outcomes by creating a positive image. Ending the effort produced the opposite.

The lesson in this is that we not only must build a sound public relations foundation, but we also should shape our subsequent efforts accordingly to ensure that we are sending the appropriate messages to our various audience. In doing so, we will influence and persuade existing and potential members while swaying the opinions of industry leaders. We can use traditional media methods, but we must also focus more on social media techniques to reach the various target audiences, including legislators, prospective and existing members, media, communities, industry leaders, etc. And, with such a wide array of audiences, it is critical that we remain aware of the vast cultural differences that exist among those audiences so we can shape our messages appropriately.

Ongoing inoculation (preventive care) is the key to keeping our audiences happy and healthy!


References

Pashupati, K., Arpan, L., Nikolaev, A. (2002). Corporate advertising as inoculation against negative news: An experimental investigation of efficacy and presentation order effects. Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 24(2), 1-16.