Balancing Transactions and Relationships : Insights from customer interactions in PR and advertising

Sammanfattning: Departing from a theoretical problem, reinforced by a practical dilemma, this study set out to explore the dialectics between the transactional and relationship perspective that PR and advertising marketers must handle in their customer relations. Formulating the study from established transaction and relationship marketing theories and using qualitative interviews with PR and advertising practitioners, we have explored how two contradicting perspectives surface in the customer interactions. The results show that there is a need for both perspectives to coexist and that the balance in between them is constantly shifting.