Public Relations

Many marketers see public relations as only handling rudimentary communication activities, such as issuing press releases and responding to questions from the news media. But in reality, in a time when customers are inundated with thousands of promotional messages everyday, public relations offers powerful methods for cutting through the clutter.

What is Public Relations?

Public relations involves the cultivation of favorable relations for organizations and products with its key publics through the use of a variety of communications channels and tools.

Traditionally, this meant public relations professionals would work with members of the news media to build a favorable image by publicizing the organization or product through stories in print and broadcast media. But today the role of public relations is much broader and includes:

• building awareness and a favorable image for a company or client within stories and articles found in relevant media outlets
• closely monitoring numerous media channels for public comment about a company and its products
• managing crises that threaten company or product image
• building goodwill among an organization’s target market through community, philanthropic and special programs and events.

Objectives of Public Relations

Like other aspects of marketing promotion, public relations is used to address several broad objectives including:

• Building Product Awareness. When introducing a new product or relaunching an existing product, marketers can use a PR element that generates consumer attention and awareness through media placements and special events.
• Creating Interest. Whether a PR placement is a short product article or is included with other products in “round up” article, stories in the media can help entice a targeted audience to try the product. For example, around the holiday season, a special holiday food may be promoted with PR through promotional releases sent to the food media or through special events that sample the product.
• Providing Information. PR can be used to provide customers with more in depth information about products and services. Through articles, collateral materials, newsletters and websites, PR delivers information to customers that can help them gain understanding of the product.
• Stimulating Demand. A positive article in a newspaper, on a TV news show or mentioned on the Internet, often results in a discernible increase in product sales.
• Reinforcing the Brand. In many companies the public relations function is also involved with brand reinforcement by maintaining positive relationships with key audiences, and thereby aiding in building a strong image. Today it is ever more important for companies and brands to build a good image. A strong image helps the company build its business and it can help the company in times of crises as well.

Key Public Relations Tools

Marketers have at their disposal several tools for carrying out public relations. The key tools available for PR include:

• Media Relations
• Media Tours
• Newsletters
• Special Events
• Speaking Engagements
• Sponsorships
• Employee Relations
• Community Relations and Philanthropy

Before choosing among the various tools marketers should begin by identifying their targeted audiences (e.g., target markets) and key messages they wish to send. These should align with the messages and audiences identified for the product being promoted or corporate goals for non-specific product promotions, such as corporate image promotions. The purpose of key messages is to provide a consistent point of view over time and across numerous PR methods that reinforce product positioning (i.e., customer’s perceptions) and reach the desired target audience.

Advantages of Public Relations

Public relations offers several advantages not found with other promotional options.

• Credibility. One of PR’s key points of power rests with helping to establish credibility for a product, company or person (e.g., CEO) in the minds of targeted customer groups by capitalizing on the influence of a third-party – the media. Audiences view many media outlets as independent-party sources that are unbiased in their coverage, meaning that the decision to include the name of the company and the views expressed about the company is not based on payment (i.e., advertisement) but on the media outlet’s judgment of what is important. For example, a positive story about a new product in the business section of a local newspaper may have greater impact on readers than a full-page advertisement for the product since readers perceive the news media as presenting an impartial perspective of the product.
• Exposure. A well-structured PR campaign can result in the target market being exposed to more detailed information than they receive with other forms of promotion. That is, media sources often provide more space and time for explanation of a product.
• Distribution. Depending on the media outlet, a story mentioning a company may be picked up by a large number of additional media, thus, spreading a single story to many locations.
• Cost Effective. In many cases public relations objectives can be achieved at very low cost when compared to other promotional efforts. This is not to suggest public relations is not costly, it may be, especially when a marketer hires PR professionals to handle the work. But when compared to the direct cost of other promotions, in particular advertising, the return on promotional expense can be quite high.

Disadvantages of Public Relations

While public relations holds many advantages for marketers, there are also concerns when using this promotional technique.

• Lack of Content Control. First, while public relations uses many of the same channels as advertising, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and Internet, it differs significantly from advertising in that marketers do not have direct control over whether a message is delivered and where it is placed for delivery. For instance, a marketer may spend many hours talking with a magazine writer, who is preparing an industry story, only to find that their company is never mentioned in the article.
• Risk of Off Message. While other promotional messages are carefully crafted and distributed as written through a pre-determined placement in a media vehicle, public relations generally conveys information to a member of the news media (e.g., reporter) who then recrafts the information as part of a news story or feature. Thus, the final message may not be precisely what the marketer planned.
• ROI Risk. While a PR campaign has the potential to yield a high return on promotional expense, it also has the potential to produce the opposite if the news media feels there is little value in running a story pitched (i.e., suggested via communication with the news outlet) by the marketer.
• Getting Bumped. There is always a chance that a well devised news event or release will get “bumped” from planned media coverage because of a more critical breaking news story, such as wars, severe weather or serious crime.

Using PR Professionals

While some marketers may prefer to handle their own PR tasks, many others will seek the assistance of outside PR professionals rather than attempt to handle these activities themselves. Keep in mind the following when hiring a PR firm or professional:

• Advantages. Skilled PR professionals offer many advantages for marketers with their two most important being:
  • their ability to understand and unearth good stories about a company and its product
  • their knowledge of the media market may place them in a better position to match stories to the news angles media reporters look for.
• Retainer. PR professionals usually require a retainer of a certain amount per month for a minimum number of months (e.g., $3,000 per month for 3 months). This will be the commitment you make.
• Set Goals. Set specific goals with your PR professional about what success means. It a certain number or type of placements? Is it placement in a certain medium? Be specific.
• Be Clear About Success. PR is hard in this day and age but that is not an excuse for results. Make it clear to your PR firm that while effort is appreciated, results is what matter.
• Manage Them. Like most resources, they perform better when they are managed. Hold a weekly checkin meeting in which they detail their pipeline of opportunities. You want to watch the pipeline grow and then turn into actual press and related opportunities.
• Have an Out. You need to protect yourself if things don’t work out. This means having a termination provision from either the initial retainer (which is harder to get) or at the end of the initial period. You should have the right to get out of the contract upon five days notice at any time after the initial commitment period.

Finding a good PR firm is hard so hopefully these techniques improve your chance of success.

Trends

Until recently most public relations activity involved person-to-person contact between PR professionals and members of the media, such as journalists and television news reporters. However, several trends are developing that alter the tasks performed by PR people. In most cases these changes are the result of new Internet technologies that are quickly gaining widespread acceptance among Internet users and are becoming new media outlets in their own right. These trends include:

• Updating Corporate News. Developing websites has long been a time-consuming and often overly technical undertaking for the vast majority of marketers. However, this changed with the evolution of easier to use website development applications, called content management systems (CMS), which allow for quick creation and convenient updating of site information. With CMS those with access, including public relations personnel, can add information on a regular basis.In addition, posting company news to websites can be tied to social media and RSS feeds, thereby allowing for automatic notification. Many journalists and other media members are finding social media and RSS feeds to be a more convenient way to acquire information, particularly if they follow certain industries and can monitor specific industry information websites. By subscribing to relevant social media and RSS feeds, members of the news media have information delivered to them, rather than spending time searching.
• Corporate Blogs. Blogs may be most famous as a tool for political discussion, but they are also becoming an important communication tool for public relations. Blogs may be most famous as a tool for political discussion and used as a personal journal for individuals, but these are also becoming powerful communication tools for public relations. Many companies in high-tech fields, such as eBay, Google, and Microsoft, and traditionally low-tech fields, such as General Motors, McDonalds, and Wells Fargo Bank, now produce in-house blogs that report on happenings at the company. These blogs enable company employees, including CEOs and marketers, to post messages updating company developments and, consequently, serve as a useful PR tool. As with corporate news, blog postings can also be quickly communicated to news media and others via social media and RSS feeds. While in the past developing such website applications was considered time-consuming and often overly technical undertaking for the vast majority of marketers, this has changed with the evolution of easier to use site development applications which allow for quick creation and convenient updating of site content such as blogs. In fact, several free blog services are available making the creation of a blog as easy has writing a word processing document.
• Social Media. By far the most significant trend to affect public relations in the last 25 years is the impact played by social media. In a matter of just a few years, social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin, have created opportunities for monitoring and communicating that are quickly raising these methods to the top of the list of PR tools. But while it offers tremendous PR advantages, social media also poses significant threats. One of the most pressing issues is that social media forces PR professionals to respond rapidly to negative or misleading information. In effect, social media is turning PR into a 24-hour job, particularly for global companies. Also, the time required to monitor and respond to the growing number of social media outlets is forcing some companies to place less emphasis on traditional public relations tasks, such as the creation of press kit materials. Since social media is still evolving as a PR tool, it is unclear if shifting workload to social media will carry the same return on investment as what is offered with traditional PR tools.
• Discussion Forums. Web forums are the child of the old Internet bulletin board services where people can post their opinion often anonymously. Forums pose both opportunities and threats for those involved in PR. A presence in an influential forum helps build credibility for an organization as forum members recognize a company’s effort to reach out to the public. On the other hand, forums can cause major problems as a breeding ground for rumor and accusation. Public relations personnel must continually monitor forums and respond to misguided comments posted on a web discussion board to help squelch rumors before they can catch fire.
• RSS Feeds. An important trend for delivering company information is through an Internet technology known by the acronym RSS (Really Simple Syndication). The basic concept has content providers, such as news sites, corporate websites, blogs, etc., creating RSS documents that provide basic details of new content, such as content title, authorship information, description and links to the full content. The nature of the technology allows anyone who links to the RSS feed to instantly receive details of the content. Many journalists and other media members are finding this to be a more convenient way to acquire information, particularly if they follow a specific industry and can identify specific information websites to monitor. By subscribing to relevant RSS feeds they have information delivered rather than spending time searching.
• Podcasting. The emergence of the Apple iPod and other digital audio players has significantly altered how people listen to music by allowing easy downloading of desired songs. But the use of audio players is not limited to music downloads; a fast growing application is to deliver other content including programming. Public relations may soon find podcasting to be a quick and easy way to send out audio news releases and other promotional material.
• Search Engine Optimization. An important trend for delivering company information is through an Internet technology known by the acronym RSS (what it stands for depends on who you ask but most accepted name is Really Simple Syndication). This technology makes it easy for people to know when new content is posted to a website.

Public relations is not a magic pill – it must be worked and managed like other marketing tools and tactics. But if done well, it can help us entrepreneurs break through the clutter and give us a presence far greater than we have.