What is public relations?

Public Relations is very important business concept and is used in most businesses whether they realize it or not.  It is a lifeline to most businesses and is a lifeline to their marketing division and all the efforts that go into that part of the company.  Public relations permeates every part of the company and it is important on almost every level of organizations.  Here is more information about public relations and how it can help you and your business to thrive and gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. 

The main focus and purpose of Public Relations, often referred to as PR, is to gain public recognition and praise supporting and promoting the product or service offered.  It can take on many different aspects and is also very diverse and can sometimes be complicated.  Public relations is usually more concerned about issues and special topics than with products and services offered.  If an issue that a company is solving or has developed some sort of solution to is compelling enough, they will be seen as experts in the field and consumers, or whoever is in the target audience, will then do more research and discover the products and services that are offered.  The key to getting public relations to work is to develop relationships of value and then to use them to get the word out on a specific topic so that people who are most concerned with the content will get the info and make efforts to make transactions based off their information.  PR is used to build goodwill in the community and among the preferred audience and the public in general.  Sometimes PR is used to build relationships with employees (in the case of a union or similar organization), clients, competitors, news media and other entities.  Public Relations includes ongoing activities of many different kinds to ensure that the company or organization keeps a positive public image and can be relied upon by the audience as a source of pertinent and valuable information. 

Public Relations is itself a branch of marketing and is very important in this effort.  The goals and objectives of the marketing plan should also be the goals of the public relations plan.  It is important to establish goals within all of these areas and to make sure that they are kept in sight to keep the company congruent.  If you haven't already established a company mission statement and goals that fit into the same scope then this may be something you should consider doing.  It will help to maintain perspective and will also allow the entire company to focus on the things that are the most important for the long term welfare of the business as a whole. 

PR Activities

Public Relations is essentially all of the efforts to establish the company or organization as a reputable source of information in the public eye and to entice people to learn more and eventually do business with the company.  There are many different activities that can be considered part of Public Relations. 

Publicity

Publicity is a term that is often used interchangeably with PR although it is not really the same thing.  Publicity is merely a part of public relations and deals specifically with disseminating information through public channels to large audiences.  Using mass media as a resource and method to distribute information is perhaps the most common use of publicity.  Publicity is mostly concerned with the public image of the company.  Publicity seeks to improve it if it is suffering and make it more reliable and better known if the company is already known as a good source of information.  Publicity also includes many other categories of public relations and is very important for the success of a company and other organizations.  Government agencies and other similar organizations make very frequent use of publicity to keep themselves identified as a reliable source in the public eye. 

Press conferences

Press conferences are another way that companies can help bolster the opinion the public has of them.  Press conferences can be used for many different reasons and they can also be made available to the public in many different forms.  Before a press conference is held, it is assumed that members of the mass media are interested in the company and what they are offering information about.  It can be difficult and challenging work to gather and maintain a list of good media resources that will show up if a press conference is held.  A press conference obviously has little or no value if there is no one there to report on what was said and to whom.  Press conferences are often associated with bad events, like when the police or a politician has to announce that something bad has happened.  But they are frequently used by companies, both large and small, to simply get the word out that something new and interesting is happening.  Press releases for automobile manufacturers are very common and looked at by industry experts and people from the news media.  Press conferences are often attended by news and newspaper representatives so they can then take the information that was offered and publish it to draw interest to their particular publication or broadcast.  Because of the growing popularity of the internet and finding information there, many companies will have a press conference and then publish a transcript or the most pertinent information on their website as a summary of the event.  Press releases and press conferences can also be found online as reports and also as streaming video.  Press releases are one of the most valuable resources a public relations agent has in his promotion of a company or idea. 

Public events

Public events are also a great way to get out and develop a positive public opinion.  This type of effort is often associated with event marketing which is another form of public relations.  A company can host a dinner or other event with a specific theme that is normally related in some way to an effort they are making or directly to the product or service they offer.  Event marketing can be a very good way to promote the name and reputation of a company without necessarily promoting any of the services offered by it.  When such events are used as a sales tool, they may not be effective, but should rather be used exclusively as a way to elevate the public opinion of the company.  Getting media to a large gathering or event may be easier than getting them to come to some other sort of function and this is especially valuable when the event is in promotion of a "good cause" and the company's name is then tied to the cause. 

Professional articles/publications

Print media is also a very effective way to get information to specific people.  It can often be more specific and longer than with mass media sources where some people may lose interest quickly.  But if an article relative to a particular topic is found in a magazine or newspaper section about that topic, it will be likely that those most interested (and thus the target audience or market) in the topic will be the ones to read it.  The best way to make use of print publications is to become known as an expert on the topic that is most closely related to your company and to regularly submit professional articles or commentaries to publications associated with your field of business or industry.  You need to keep regular contact with people at these publications and always make sure that the information you offer is valuable and pertinent to their publication.  You have to be able to grab the attention of the person who is going to read your article to decide if it is worthy to be published and also to keep the attention of the reader if and when it is published.  All articles that are submitted should be well written and take a tasteful approach to the subject at hand.  It is better to submit nothing when an opportunity may be available than to make the mistake of submitting an article that may not be relevant or could be poorly written.  Not sending something is better than sending something that will hurt your reputation with the publisher and those in decision making positions with the publication. 

Or course these means and methods don't contain all of the possible ways that PR can be used in a business setting or to promote an organization.  There are many different ways that PR can be implemented in your business and it will take time and research to discover the ones that will work best for you.  Your decisions that you make have to be made in the best interest of your company or organization and obviously must lead to a net benefit, whatever the form may be.  Public Relations can often be a great way to supplement marketing campaigns and can save a lot of money in the long run if they are used properly.  PR can be very valuable and can even help the business find new people interested in their offerings and expand their market share.