As a Public Relations (PR )specialist, I often get puzzled looks when I introduce my profession. It seems by all account that PR is something every business has heard of, seen it in action and yet aren’t able to quite put their finger on what one of the most powerful tools in a business’s marketing arsenal actually is, and therefore missing out on its potential benefits.
Today, we are going to break down what PR is in easy digestible chunks and also explain why if it’s not already, PR should be central to your marketing efforts. Public Relations is about reputation – the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.
Public Relations Defined
Public Relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.
If you managed to get your head around that, all the better. Now for some from experts in the field.
Charlie de Mierre, Creative Director at Porter Novelli London
“PR is the art of convincing others (consumers, media, influencers, etc.) of a company, brand, or product’s relevance, rather than simply telling them. PR agencies have always worked to provide their clients with reasons to be talked about and to help them identify and communicate a purpose in people’s lives. It’s been the only way to grab the audience’s attention without paying for it.”
Vlad Shvets, CMO & Growth Marketer, former CMO at Vectr
“PR isn’t just about the relations with the outside world. Ask yourself: why do you need to have those relationships? Why and how will you nurture them? What are your goals? And for every product there’s just one ultimate goal: delivering value and making revenue.”
“PR is about identifying the right people/organisations with whom you want to establish those relationships, and developing the right communication and cooperation models on how to achieve your business goals via them.”
Why Your Business Needs PR
Businesses build success on their reputation, so if you’re producing a great product or giving excellent service then why not spread the word about it? This where PR comes in. The more people know about you or your product the more there more likely to buy right?
PR is more than just well crafted press releases or an amazing press event, although these are important. It’s about having a strategy and understanding your audience so you can deliver the right message to them at the right time.
We shall go into the many benefits of PR for your business in greater depth in another blog, but for now we’ll leave you with one important benefit.
PR can help you generate leads. Through a well-produced press release your business can feature in targeted media relevant to your customers. This means you become more noticeable to you current and potential customers. The more they see your business in the news, the more informed they’ll be and the more likely they are to seek you out and make that purchase.
Whatever PR means to you and whatever expectations you have in this respect, when done well, good PR can be much more effective and less expensive than advertising for any type of business or organisation.
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