EARTH

According to Oxford dictionary,a name is ‘a word or words by which someone or something is known,addressed,or referred to’.Names distinguish individuals,countries,companies,organisations,animals,towns,schools,cities etc from each other.Names are given to everything and without a name we can’t visualize something and if we can’t visualize,we can’t understand what it is all about.In the business context,company’s or organizations spend alot of resources to creat their product names.Good names are valuable while bad names are not valuable.Good names get instant recognition and sends a signal to consumers,investors,employees and other stakeholders about the credibility and reliability of a company and its products and services.A company’s product may be thesame with another from another company,sold at thesame price but one has increase sales than the other.A name and a good reputation influences customers decision on what product and service to buy. When a name is popular so do sales rise,so do consumers become loyal,so are employees motivated and committed to do a great job and enhance productivity.This helps a company to be profitable and helps it to survive competition.A name “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”(William Shakespeare)A name conveys the essence of a company,to observe its reputation,a sweet smell of a good reputation is what is associated with the name of a company or organization.

In our day to day life,we must be aware that whatever decisions we make affect our reading and viewing publics,employees,employers,clients,competitorrs,colleagues and virtually everyone.From childhood we were aware of what is good and what a right action is,this has to be consistent.We have to avoid actions that will lead in negative consequences to others and be able to explain why and how we have reached certain decisions because it makes it transparent.Whatever we do,say or write must be open,honest,accurate and any form of conflict of interest has to be made known.Many people depend on us and so do we depend on them,so we don’t have to do or say things that will mislead others because anything less than total honesty destroys credibility and our usefulness to the society.In this light,we have to perform our duties according to the norms of our respective professions and the norms of the society in which we live in .If we understand this and practice it then whatever we say or do will be regarded as trustworthy and trust is the key to success.This is the way of life,it should be part of us,it is possible.

Culture comes from the latin word “colere” meaning to build or to cultivate.It is a set of values and attributes of a nation,people or a group.PR pactitioners need to understand cross cultural differences when dealing with foreign publics.That is understanding the cultural profile of the host country,its effects on communication,how PR is practicsed in the country,how things are been done,how markets operate,business habits and the infrastructure of the host country.Understanding a culture also means understanding the languaage used by the various publics,as the language is a dominant sign of the culture.A word may mean something in one language or culture and something different in another language or culture.Meaning of words and proper translation has to be made before information is being dessiminated .Any case of poor translation will not only lead to PR failure but it will also hinder consumers loyalty to a product.PR writing has to be focused on cultural aspects for example,press releases have to be written in a way the readers of the society or culture understand.Some cultures prefer colourful and inspiration writing while others such as Western cultures prefer factual and objective writing.Some maybe motivated by language that incorporates a religious or moral tone and others money oriented or materialistic language.

In dessiminating information,PR practitioners use different communication channels for example exhibitions,tours,internet,TV,radio,press and public spaces.In some countries and particularly in the African continent,many people do not have access to these facilities especially people living in rural areas.With this,local authorities such as tribal chiefs and religious leaders have to be sorted out to convey information about a particular campaign.In other countries,celebrities and opinion leaders have to be sorted out too because information coming from these group of people will not only reach the audience but it will be seen as more credible than from an outsider.Publicity materials used in creating a corporate identity such as logos,slogans,pictures,colours and designs must also be culturally examined.Understanding these issues,PR practitioners would not only understand the views,opinions,behaviour and different cultural aspects of foreign publics but will be able to influence,control or change behaviour and attitudes of  infavour of the organisation

Reputation is the assessment stakeholders make about a companies ability to fulfil their expectation interms of attributed values such as authencity,honesty,responsibility,integrity and quality of products and services.I think that the route to a good reputation is by designing a desired image which is the set of beliefs and feelings people have about an organisation,institution,company or government.A good reputation is earned and not bought.It is a gradual process to cultivate and doesn’t happen suddenly.It reflects on what you do,what you say and what others say about you.It acts as a magnet and attracts people to those who have it.A company with a good reputation influences the decision that customers make to purchase a product or service for they have trust in what they are buying.If a company has high quality products or services,customers would always like to do business with the company and this however builds a long term relationship.Japanese companies for example Canon,Sharp,Mitshibushi,Suzuki,Toyota are seen as being innovative and this has an important value to customers and other stakeholders.A company or organisation must be honest with customers and other stakeholders,they have to offer best practices and understand what customers and other stakeholders are trying to achieve with their products or services.

Companies earn a good reputation as a result of the satisfaction gained by consumers who transmit this information to others simply because they have been impressed with the quality of products or services and reliability.A good reputation attracts recruits as most people prefer to work in a company or organisation which is known to be the best.It makes employees loyal,motivated,committed and always willing to promote the company or organisation.Through this the company becomes successful and alot of income is generated.Whereas when employees and other stakeholders hold their company in poor regards,it demoralises them to deliver good services.Not only companies or organisations struggle to build a good reputation but also nations and governments.Nations try to build a good reputation inorder to secure trust, attract investors,boast tourism and define foreign policy goals for a countries image and reputation is the most valuable issue that governments compete for credibility 

PR is about establishing and maintaining mutual beneficial relationship between and organisation and its publics.PR practitioners  play the role of communicators and try to understand the views,opinions and attitudes of  the public.They act as boundary scanners,scanning the environment and identifying  how different stakeholders groups are related and how they interact with each other.The communicator serves as the eyes,ears and voice of the organization by making useful contacts,observing and hearing what is good and bad about the organisation,advicing management on how policies might impact consumers and other stakeholder groups.The communicator  acts as the corporate antenna detecting and picking up issues which are directly concerned with the organisation and its future.The communicator carries out effective communication inorder to circulate information regarding his/her organisation through persuasion and an employs different channels such as internet,Tv,press,public spaces,exhibitions and sometimes opinion leaders and celebrities.The tranmission of the message isn’t all that important to the communicator,what is important is how the various publics react to the message.

The communicator asissts management to interpret and respond to communication needs,to control and change the views,opinions and behaviour of the public in a way that is advantageous to the organisation.In the company or organisation,the communicator informs employees about the objectives and goals of the organisation,the task ahead of them,benefits,working conditions,training and development.All this is geared towards encouraging  employees to be motivated and committed to work for the well being of the organisation or company .

Gone are the days when companies or organisations were aimed at making profits .Today they need to satisfy their customers as they rely on them for their success.If a customer feels bad about how he or she is treated by a company or an organisation or if a company or an  organisation does not deliver value,they might lose this customer and many others.A disatisfied customer is capable of informing many people about how he or she was treated.This would damage the company’s reputation and before the company realises itself,they would have lose many customers and would be out of business.

When customers are well treated,they talk about the services rendered to them and this category of people can be converted into a marketing force to grow your universe of customers.All companies or organisations need to understand their customers by satisfying and being responsible to their needs,interpreting information about them to improve on their products and services and thus business growth.

Formally when events happened,people had to listen to the radio,watch television analysis and wait for the next day to buy and read newspapers inorder to get records and read comments.Today with new media,communication has been made easy.Events that happen today and covered today.News is reported as it happens.The internet and the world wide web provide new communication systems.People can keep,share and discover content from anywhere on the web.One just needs his/her computer or any other device to be connected to the web inorder to keep in touch with daily happenings at anytime,from anywhere.Content and access is easy and free on these sites on the web such as Wikipedia.Users can visit sites,edit information and add information.This is however a good advancement in knowledge management.With new media,people can keep links with their favourite articles,blogs,music and reviews.People can share information with other groups and discover other peoples favourite,post data allowing other people to comment about a given topic.Organizations can post whatever materials they choose on their own website and creat direct links with key audiences.Not only sharing of information has been made easy but people can now share digital photos online with others.

Word of mouth known as viral advertising is highly valued due to the personal nature of communication between people.The receiver of word of mouth tends to believe that the communicator is speaking honestly and is unlikely to have another motive.  Word of mouth is face to face spoken communication,conversation through the phone in form of calls or text messages and through web dialogue.In this process,people recommend,people speak and people blog.Word of mouth  is a high influencer of purchase as majority of people buy a product or service recommended by a friend,family member and the web.These recommendations make an individual to develop trust and have a high zeal in making decisions about what product or service to buy.For example if a friend tells you he bought his shoes from Flannels,you develop a  good image about Flannels and you have the tendency of shopping in Flannels.

Word of mouth acts as a catalyst for personal recommendations.When these recommendations are negative,it becomes  disastrous because mouths can give a bad reputation about a product or service.Mouths can stop talking about a product or service in a heart beat especially when something with a good reputation comes along to talk about.The higher  the use of mouth,the higher business growth.The lower the use of mouth,the lower business growth.