Marketing and media relations have become part of a public managers portfolio even for agencies with a technical bent. In an age when messages about marketing and media multiply, an agency depends on support from a range of constituencies to fulfill its mission successfully. To gain and retain that support, an agency must communicate message(s) through multiple media.
Although Seattle Public Utilitiess component parts have existed for decades, it is a relatively new entity in its present form. If it is to succeed fully, particularly in securing adequate resources, it requires a strategic marketing plan. Your job, as a public management marketing specialist, is to prepare one.
Your plan (maximum length is five double-spaced pages —DO NOT EXCEED) should contain the following:
- Develop a message map for Seattle Public Utilities.
- Which message(s) should be delivered to what audience(s) through which media? Your message delivery plan should cover the next two years. Your maximum budget for direct costs (i.e., producing materials, purchasing advertising space/time) us $500,000 annually. In the Seattle market, a 30-second television spot on the best watched local nightly news is $3,000 per airing, a 60-second radio drive time spot on the top-rated radio station costs $300 per play, and a full-page ad in the Seattle Post-Intelligencers Sunday edition costs $5,000. Direct mail costs $400 to $500 per 1,000 households. You also have access to moderate amounts of staff time (e.g., appearances by top officers, staff time to plan events, staff time to develop presentation materials).
