Q: Why is public relations important for my company?
A: According to Public Relations News,
"Public relations is the management function which evaluates public
attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an
organization with the public interest, and plans and executes a program of
action to earn public understanding and acceptance."
While the public part implies inclusion of
things like public affairs, community relations, investor relations, public
press conferences, media events, internal communications and crisis
communications, it also involves a lot of behind-the-scenes, non-public
activity. It could involve simply the writing of a press release, but it could
also involve coordinating media contacts for an event or conference, securing
credentials, lobbying for article placement and the like.
Sometimes public relations is an effort to
influence the public. This is especially true for political action groups,
associations and other groups. Sometimes public relations is community
relations. Just look around your own community to see how many companies and
organizations have a community affairs initiative or a person in charge with a
related title. In larger, publicly held firms, this person is sometimes the
director of investor relations. Investors are a public entity, so in this case
public relations is appropriate.
What the public wants to hear is a good story.
Good PR is the telling of a good story. The better the story, the better the
acceptance by the public and the better the public relations. Of course if the
story is especially appealing to those that could be your clients, then you
could have a PR homerun. In this case, it is communication with your target
market that may or may not be very public.
PR's importance is changing, according to The
Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR (HarperBusiness). American marketing
strategists Al and Laura Ries argue that public relations has become the most
effective way to build a brand. Well-known brands like The Body Shop,
PlayStation and Harry Potter spend little on brand-name advertising. The same
is true for many entrepreneurial companies like yours. Business owners become
known in their respective fields of concentration many times through public
relations and the associated media generated.
PR is communication in many ways with your
target market. Maybe instead of public relations we ought to call it target
market relations or TMR. You may be communicating about a new product,
spreading news about your company or making a major announcement. You want to
communicate publicly, but the only people you care about are potential
prospects, customers or investors, in the case of a partnership or a public
company. One exception may be communication to a group that you are trying to
influence for the best interest of your company and target market. An example
of this is lobbying government.
Define what your public or target is in your
public relations effort. This is best done by defining your target market and
then any sub-segment. Lining up publications and broadcasts with the market and
the segments will define what the public is for your public relations.
The bottom line is to get word out about you,
your company, your products and services to those who could potentially buy
from you. Public relations is just one part of marketing, as marketing is made
up of many things. The good news about PR is the cost and the effectiveness
when it's in front of your target market.
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