Internal public relations action plan at Burt’s Bees Inc Essay Example for Free

Internal public relations action plan at Burt’s Bees Inc Essay The objective of the Burt’s Bees Inc is quite simple â€Å"Practicing what we preach. † Concerning the philosophy, I recall what Koran, Moslem’ Holy Qur’an, says about the countless benefits of honey, which is also created by bees. Since the company aims at manufacturing products from natural ingredients, the company decides to put the idea of earth-friendly on the company’s packaging. Natural also underlies the company business philosophy, saying that sustainable business practices are keys to successful business since it promotes best practices. The company says that this philosophy is reflected in its ingredients and packaging designs that carefully take pay attention to environmental preservation including all living things on the planet Earth. In terms of industry leadership Burt’s Bees is still a small player in personal product sector. In 2003, the company generated revenue $50 million. Although this number was considerably huge for the 20-year old company, I see that the revenue achievement of Burt’s Bees was not noteworthy if we compare it to the company’s three main competitors; they are Nature’s Sunshine Products Inc, Procter Gamble, and Wyeth. Unlike communication to customers or other external entities, internal public relations do not use television as communication media. This is because television target wide level of audience except in the company there is restricted internal television station that only broadcast within the company’s facilities. This condition suggests that in developing internal public relation action plan, a company needs to assess what communication media is appropriate to communicate an event or a program and at what time the company should deliver the information. Therefore, a company will provide careful plan so that their message in internal magazine/newspaper, web site, and internal television will convey similar message. Table 1 Internal Communication Action Plan at Burt’s Bees Inc in 2007 Issues Action Accountability Delivery Date Measurement Comm. Medium 1. Distribute Information Regarding New Products/Offerings Compile documents regarding new program/products and distribute them to all employees Vice President of Marketing Once every one week and every time new programs are commercialized ? The number of employees response (read the distributed message) reaches minimum of 100% of total employees ? Vast Participants/Audiences Feedbacks ? E-mail ? Corporate Website ? Internal Magazine 2. Employees are unsure the benefits of beeswax and other natural ingredients 1. Invite health scientists regarding the benefits of natural products for our health 2. conduct product demo showing the benefits of natural products 1. Vice President of Marketing 2. Vice President of Research and Development December 2006 and June 2007 Participants understand the benefits of natural ingredients for health care industry and become marketing spokespeople to customers (family, neighbours etc) ? Employee Gathering ? Seminars ? E-mail ? Corporate Website †¢ Internal Magazine 3. Corporate e-mail is full of viruses attack Create regulation regarding the use of Internet for business purpose only Vice President of Information Technology Every employee logs into corporate network ? The number of viruses attack decreased ? Network resources are used efficiently ? E-mail ? Corporate Website? Internal Magazine 4. Employees do not known Burt’s Bees strategic position Informing the comparison with competitors of Burt’s Bees Vice President of Marketing Every Quarter ? Compare products from competitors (Nature’s Sunshine Products Inc, Procter Gamble, and Wyeth) ? E-mail ? Corporate Website ? Internal Magazine 5. Salespeople do not know the approach to customers Setting sales session that teach the strategy to market Burt’s Bees products Vice President of Sales Every Month ? Salespeople understand the strategy to approach customer in selling natural-ingredient products ? Training session (role play) The action plan shows that Burt’s Bees may employ different type of communication media and events in order to inform internal entities (employees) regarding current products, program, and offerings. The brief explanation of each communication medium highlighting the benefits and its audiences is as following: ? Web Si te The key points when conducting promotion via online media is that the message should clearly describe and inform about what Burt’s Bees is offering and had better to provide some links to close the deal (e-commerce ready) for employees who want to but products at a special prize. In Burt’s Bees web site (http://www. burtsbees. com) there should not be overwhelming applications such as Flash Media or pop up. Since not all employees are equipped with have high-speed computers that can access the flash media quickly. In my experience, opening a web site that are equipped with flash media like www. habitat. net can provide guests with dullness since it takes much time to see the animation appear in my screen. ? Print Media. It includes internal magazine/newspaper, poster, and brochures. Since Burt’s Bees are associated with natural ingredients that are safe for human beings, therefore, in the communication message, the company must clearly convey message that employees understand the benefits of natural ingredients like beeswax compared to chemical products. ? Seminars or discussion. In this communication media, Burt’s Bees invite health physicians, celebrities that use natural ingredients products so that employees are confident to communicate the benefits of Burt’s Bees natural products to their families, neighbours, and friends, to name a few. Bibliography Burt’s Bees Inc. (2005). Company Profile. Retrieved November 6, 2006 at: http://biz. yahoo. com/ic/104/104522. html Douglas, Susan P. and Craig, C. Samuel. (1995). Global Marketing Strategy. McGraw Hill, New York. INTERNAL COMMUNICATION ACTION PLAN. Retrieved November 5, 2006 from www. campus. manchester. ac. uk/medialibrary/internal-comms/comms-audit-action-plan. pdf RD Marketing. (2006). Creating an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan. Retrieved November 5, 2006 from http://www. rd-marketing. com/communications-plans. htm.