Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Established 1879
VOL. 110-No. 1
THE
PIONEER
January, 1951
2,850th Issue
REVIEW
PUBLICATION
O F T H E MUSIC
I N D U S T R Y
Some Methods of Maintaining
Good Retail Public Relations
Delivered by CHARLES GROSJEAN, Lecturer
New York University School of Retailing
I
T is only within the past 15 or 20
years that the term "Public Rela-
tions" has come into general use,
and yet, hardly a week goes by that we
don't read or hear about another group
of consultants entering the field of pub-
lic relations or about another large
company appointing a public relations
executive. Does that mean that public
relations are something new, something
brought about by modern business or
by changing times? No. Not at all. By
one name or another, public relations
are very old.
A long, long time ago human beings
discovered that they were dependent
upon one another for many things and
that what they thought about one an-
other was important. It was at that
moment that the art of public relations
was born. .What we call public relations
are neither more nor less than the good,
old fashioned ability to get along with
people. That's all they are. The ability
to get along with people.
In the case of a business, public rela-
tions are the complete, the total of all
the feelings that people have for it;
the way they react when they see or
hear the name of that business or of its
product; the impression they have of it.
If those reactions or impressions are
favorable, the public relations are suc-
cessful. If not, the public relations are
a failure, and the business suffers ac-
cordingly. Therefore, good public rela-
tions can be said to consist of, first—
being a good citizen, and, second—get-
ting due credit for it. That's all. Being
a good "guy" and letting the public
know it.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, JANUARY, 1951
OHAKI.KS CROSJEAN
Easy in the Past
Not too long ago, when business was
still very young and we hadn't had a se-
ries of global wars, public relations pre-
sented no problems. People travelled
very little. They did almost all of their
shopping locally and there wasn't too
much competition. There was no need
to worry about high-powered advertis-
ing and extensive sales promotion cam-
paigns. Government wasn't asking for a
lot of reports and complicated forms,
so very little time had to be devoted to
bookkeeping. Labor relations were on a
purely personal basis and didn't take up
much time. The store owner ran the
business all by himself or with the help
of the members of his immediate fam-
ily. He, himself, did all the buying and
paid all the bills. He knew the local
tax collector personally. Sometimes the
business grew large enough to warrant
hiring one or two clerks, and in some
few cases even more. In any event,
whatever the size of the store, the impor-
tant point is that the owner knew his
customers, all of them, and they knew
him. He had the time to become ac-
quainted with them and with his vendors
and all others who had anything to do
with his store. On the basis of direct
personal contact he knew exactly what
they wanted from him and what were
their reactions to his method of doing
business. They, on the other hand, knew
what kind of a man he was, how he
did business, what they could expect
from him and from his merchandise.
Whatever impressions people had with
regard to his business, they were the
result of a direct appraisal based on
personal contact with the owner him-
self. Without thinking about it as a
separate activity, certainly without giv-
ing it any particular name, the old-time
merchants practiced the art of good
public relations, or at least, the success-
ful ones did.
Is it more difficult for the present-day
store owner to establish and maintain
good public relations? There is so much
more competition than there used to be
and people can move about so much
more easily, that either good or bad
impressions of a store are almost imme-
diately translated into increases or de-
creases in volume. At the same time
modern business has become so com-
plex and moves so fast that the owner
of even a very small store has but little
chance of having personal contact with