CHAPTER FIVESUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION5.1SummaryPublic relations activities play a unique role in the communications process of any organisation. It is a form of communication that serve a role in building awareness, public relations appear to have greater efficacy in two critical areas: building a relationship with the consumer and providing knowledge about the product under consideration. The increased effectiveness in each of these areas is, at best, incremental. Issues on the role public relations plays in building and sustaining good image and reputation of an organization has been an area of importance in public relations research.
The study investigated public relations in image and reputation building, a case study of Skye bank now Polaris bank, the desire for carrying out this study was borne out the near indelibility that preserve the existence of public relations, also highlighting the relevance of public relations and hoe its negligence can lead to the collapse of an organisation. Chapter one consists of the introduction to the study; This consists the introduction , background of the study and operational definitions.
As explained in the first chapter, public relations play a key role that is crucial to success of an organisation. It is a platform which an organisation uses to communicate its key messages effectively. Its role is to improve goodwill , improve public opinion and establish and maintain a satisfactory reputation for the organisation . However, organisation make use of public relations ensure and maintain good relationship with their publics and Polaris bank is not different. With this in mind , Polaris bank as an organisation has to continually gain support and loyalty of itscustomers and as to work towards creating a corporate image for itself. Theoretically, PR is seen as a strategic function by corporate management, this is because public relations is a communicative strategy for any organisation and it is very essential in ensuring that the image of the organisation is protected and for it to be effective PR activities must be involved early in the process when developing strategies for building and maintaining the corporate image and reputation. For an image to be built and established in the minds of its customers or clients then it is important to note that the effectiveness of the PR activities relies more on establishing a relationship between source (the bank in this case) and intended customer.The chapters two explained the concept public relations and different communication schoolars have explained it.The second chapter explains better public relations because it is a concept that is greatly confused with other communication concepts such as advertising and even marketing . The chapter explains the differences between these concept and sheds more light on the important aspects of the definition of public relations is and is not. Chapter three; This consists of the research design, population of study , the sampling design , the sampling techniques and size instrument for data collections , validity and reliability of the research instruments used, method of data analysis.Chapter four; ensures data analysis , presentation and discussion and interview conducted.Chapter five presents the summary of the findings , conclusion and recommendation. 5.2ConclusionConsumers’ expectations and behaviour push for sound public relations to ensure that their needs are met as and when due, however, it is the right strategies that would allow a customer to revisit the use of the bank’s services. In addition, the call for good service and utility maximisation of society ” customers, clients ” induces radical changes in service rendered and strategies of public relations employed. Polaris bank has utilized several strategies ” advertisement, bank marketers, and good product offerings ” to ensure the continuity of the bank’s operations by bringing in new customers and ensuring that old customers are not forced out of their customer base because of poor service. Due to these huge drivers for customer satisfaction, it is seen that Polaris bank strategies has been affected by many factors. The increased use of the internet in doing business and the call for comfortable transactions over the phone is increasing and it was identified that Polaris bank has a low online presence which is affecting the image of the bank. Similarly, the need to have easy access to the bank’s office has been another factor that has affected the bank’s image. It was identified that the number of branches by the bank is few and this has hindered the number of customers of the bank as it was also noted that current customers would not refer friends to the bank. This is a big concern as it indicates that the public relations strategy is not totally effective enough to get the bank more customers on a less expensive public relation strategy ” the word of mouth of customers. The extent to which the word of mouth ca spread news around is on a geometric landscape. The bank has not done enough to prove to its customers that the bank is worthy to handle the transactions of the customers.Despite the low referral percentage, it was seen that the bank had done enough to allow customers that had been with them over a period of time to begin to enjoy their services. There was a correlation between the length of time that the customers had been using the bank and the level of satisfaction the customers derives from the bank’s activities. This suggests that the bank uses it good product offerings and internal customer service to win over the heart of its customers. However, this needs to be changed as there is need for the customer to begin enjoying the service from the inception which might lead to a drastic increase in the customer base of the bank.In the bid for the bank to increase its operations it employed several public relations strategies which are centered on the outside ” advertisements, bank marketers etc. ” the bank however needs to ensure that they improve on their internal public relations and expand the access base to their customers.5.3RecommendationsBased on the conclusions of the study, the following recommendations have been mad e for this study:Polaris bank needs to improve on their internal public relations strategies. They need to study their customers and identify where they are not satisfying their needs internally and ensure that they develop strategies to meet those needs.Polaris bank needs to provide its customers with complete customer service that would ensure that they enjoy the services of the bank from the beginning of their entry into the bank. This is because not everyone can stay long in a bank that they are not deriving the necessary satisfaction they need.Polaris bank, in terms of image building, needs to improve on their digital presence, since the world is going towards a system where the internet is been used to do various things. It is also eminent that if the bank wants to expand its base there is need for it to use the internet as a solid ground to win new customers.Polaris bank need to improve on their customer satisfaction and in turn utilize the massive effect that the word of mouth referrals can go. Because the customers of a business are the biggest advertisers of any business and they can also bringing down any business. Thus, it is important for the bank to bank on providing sound practices that would improve on the trust the customers have in the bank’s image.