What is Public Relations
Public Relations is a key strategy that should be utilized by all businesses, large or small, to help achieve its goals and solidify its image within the public eye.
PR professionals are responsible for building the relationships their client’s have with their audience or followers, as well cultivating the relationship businesses have with the media. Oftentimes you’ll see PR firms used to build, maintain, and at times, repair the reputations of a business or brand. It’s all about managing how others see and feel about a person, business, or brand. Through a specific set of techniques and strategies, PR firms work to create and maintain a positive image for their clients while strategizing how information will be distributed to the public and especially the media.
The primary goal of a PR executive is to share important information, whether that be news or events, maintain the client’s image, and create a positive spin when necessary. Some of the forms of PR include press releases, news conferences, media interviews, and social media posting. When most people hear terms like PR or advertising, they assume the two are generally the same, but in reality there is a big difference. Public Relations is meant to be organic while advertising is controlled media. Advertising companies create a campaign and the materials for it before paying the media to share it with their audience. PR is much less controlled with the goal of helping companies grow organically over the long-term by way of sharing information with the media. In doing so, the journalists, bloggers, and influencers are the ones who decide what to do with the information that’s been passed along.
Public relations can be organized into three main categories - owned, paid and earned, with each type working towards the same goal of building a positive brand reputation using different strategies to get there. Once you understand what PR is, then it’s time to break down the various components or different functions of the industry. Understanding the various functions of PR will help those entering into the field to decide which area of the business to pursue.
In taking a closer look, the different functions of public relations include:
● Media Relations - Just as it sounds, this area of PR is all about dealing with the media. The goal here is to generate positive coverage of a person, business, or brand. When outreaching the media to share news, what you essentially want is for them to do your advertising for you, at no cost. This can be done through the use of press releases, interviews (both on-air and print), press conferences, and through social media. It’s all about generating the right “hook” which will draw in your audience. When it comes to doing media relations, you need to have an eye for compelling stories that the media will want to cover.
● Community Relations - Working within this area of PR requires interactions with the community. Developing a relationship with the local community makes it possible to enlist their support for projects along with getting people interested in your clients products or services. In order to be a community engagement officer, you need to understand how the people in the community think and act, and how best to engage with them.
● Public Affairs - Also known as lobbying, public affairs is all about getting the government on your side. Public affairs professionals work to establish contacts within government as well as other organizations and assist clients to promote and protect their interests. Working in this sector includes media relations, campaign management and policy advice. Within this role it’s necessary to be versed in all political developments in order to be able to advise clients on possible responses.
● Crisis Communications - This is the PR you need when disaster strikes (think Kerry’s Washington character, Olivia Pope in “Scandal”). When situations arise that could possibly ruin a reputation, they need to be dealt with immediately.
In this role, crisis managers need to be fast thinkers who know how to spin an issue and spin it fast. Understanding different media outlets is needed to be able to decipher which problems need to be handled with a press conference and others with something as simple as a social media post.
● Internal Public Relations - Also known as employee relations, this area is a special PR discipline which focuses on improving a company’s relationship with their employees. Through open communication between management and employee, the goal is to not only facilitate the flow of information, but boost morale.
You need to not only be aware of what employees are saying, but also in-tune with what they’re feeling. Whether that means delving into their fears or frustrations with certain aspects of the organization, or even the aspirations they have for their career within the company, being able to pick up on all of this and share with management is what ensures a happy work environment. It also requires sharing company policies, achievements, and other pertinent information with employees first-hand rather than having them learn about company related information from an outside party. A strong internal PR team becomes a trusted resource within the company thus making it easier when dealing with the media and building the external image of the company.
● Strategic Communications - Communication overall is an important part of our everyday lives and the staple behind how we do business. Large or small, it is the backbone to every business as they need to know how to communicate effectively with people at all different levels both internally and outside of their organization.
Every business has an image they want to convey to the public and the way in which that’s done may vary. Whether it’s through a press release, a statement, or even an interview, good communication is what helps to both promote a business as well as prevent crises. As PR firms work to help businesses establish their brand while growing awareness, they do so by taking full advantage of the multiple forms of communication resources that are available when it comes to driving branded messaging across the numerous channels. By understanding how strategic brand communication works, you’ll be able to improve upon any aspect of branded communications which includes PR, digital media, marketing, advertising, and more.
When creating long-term PR plans, the goal is to achieve sustainable business growth. It’s an organic process that allows businesses to evolve naturally without the need for additional money or debt to be incurred just so they can continue to grow. Leveraging certain tools in our PR toolbox allows for this type of natural growth. Taking the resources and relationships that have been cultivated over time and using them to help set up a business for long-term success is key. Social media is one of those important tools and these days has become an integral part of the overall PR process when it comes to promoting your business and connecting with others within your field.
Most companies view their social media efforts as another form of public relations and while there are social media agencies dedicated to analyzing and boosting your online presence, you’ll find many PR firm’s have their own in-house social media team dedicated to creating long and short-term strategies to help grow your online footprint as well as establishing you (or someone from within) as a thought-leader.
At JMG PR, in addition to our PR efforts, we offer clients a thought-leadership option because we know the effect social media has for businesses. Leveraging the various platforms that are right for your business allows for the opportunity to get in front of a wider audience at a precise moment. All of the content generated through PR efforts becomes usable content for social media. It’s another reason why having your PR and social team work hand in hand is a smart idea. Sharing of information is seamless and can be turned out in a timely manner.
Additional efforts to achieve sustainable growth through the use of PR include:
● Increasing SEO - This is the single most effective organic online growth strategy. With SEO there are two main goals - one, to help you understand what users are searching for in relation to your product or service so that you can create quality content to meet their needs, and two, to help you create a website that search engines can find, index, and understand its content. When online users search for something related to your business, what you want is to be top of their search. In simple terms, you want your website to achieve higher rankings in search engines’ organic results.
● Develop Engaging Content - If you want to stand out, the content you put out has to be of high-value, memorable, and different from all of the others within your space.
How do you do that? By ensuring your content includes at least one of the following:
Elicits an emotional response
Helps solve problems or offers useful information
Inspires or uplifts the reader
Resonates or is relatable to the reader
Includes an element of surprise
Remember, the content you share should always serve your audience. Even if it’s a new product you’re about to bring to market, keep in mind your consumers will want to know how this new product will be beneficial for them.
● Positioning Your Company as an Industry Leader - PR can provide a unique touch and add value to your content that will help separate your company from competitors. With PR, there is a dialogue, an explanation of why someone should buy or use your product and why they should trust your company and / or your opinion. This in turn helps build you or your company as an expert in your field as you’ll be able to demonstrate your knowledge, skills, and experience. As a trusted source, followers will look to see what you have to say.
With all of these various tools available to increase visibility and engage with an audience, the question on many business owners minds is, how do we measure success? The impact of a PR campaign can be difficult to track because unlike other forms of promotion (such as advertising), public relations efforts have no specific analytic metric that can be used to measure their success. While the impact is not directly quantifiable, there are a few ways you can measure the influence of PR strategies.
● Press Articles - One way is by looking at the number of press articles that have been shared about your business or brand. Securing coverage in highly visible media publications can easily widen your reach to a much larger audience. Publications and media outlets with a substantial following will also bring about more awareness amongst its readers/viewers.
● Social Media Engagement - Another way to look at your growth is to look at your social media reach and engagement. Social media is growing by the day and can provide an easy measure to the impact of a PR campaign. Start by looking at the number of new followers along with the average monthly post reach in the social media channels utilized on a consistent basis. The number of likes, retweets and shares can help measure engagement.
● Website Traffic - Another way to measure the success of a PR campaign is to measure the website traffic from before and after the campaign.
● Brand Mentions - The number of times your company’s name or product has been mentioned on social media, in online forums, and other blogs within a certain period of time is another way to gauge success. An increase in mentions after the beginning of a campaign ultimately leads to more awareness which is what we hope for. But it's equally important to pay attention to what’s being said in the event not all sentiments are positive ones. When any type of negativity is shared it then becomes the job of the PR professional to turn the spin around.
● Sales Figures - Take a look at the sales figures as numbers don’t lie. They are an essential metric to consider for a business that sells products or services. Substantial growth may not take place overnight but you should see indicators of growth over a period of time.
The field of PR is quite vast with a wide range of components that make up the industry. The reach and impact public relations has for businesses and brands is key when it comes to achieving their goals.