You’ve heard the term “public relations” or “PR” and you know it has nothing to do with buying ads or putting up billboards. So what exactly can it do for you? And why should your organization consider integrating PR into your business strategy?
To put it simply, public relations promotes goodwill and communication between the company and consumer. Good public relations builds relationships with your customers.
PR and advertising strategies share the same goals: promoting a product or service and making them seem as successful, honest, important, exciting or relevant as possible. But the paths to creating awareness are vastly different.
Public relations promotes companies via editorial coverage. This is known as "earned" or "free" media - stories appearing on websites, newspapers, magazines and TV programs. This is compared to "paid media" or advertisements. A strong PR strategy entails components such as media events, press releases and pitching your product or service to media in order to generate coverage for you. Often, this can increase brand credibility as the third source writing about your product or service has chosen to do so - the publication hasn’t been paid.
Another crucial element of public relations is brand reputation management. It’s important to ensure you are taking the right steps constantly to maintain your brand’s credibility and uphold your reputation. In the unfortunate event of a crisis, it’s vital that you are on the front foot, saying the right things and communicating the steps you are taking to rectify the issue. This ensures your brand does not become significantly tarnished.
Public relations is not always easy and does not always guarantee “earned” media, but should be considered as a component of your marketing strategy. A company will be more profitable through authentic communication and relationships with customers.
Inner Spark can help you deliver compelling, insightful and effective communications campaigns to form relationships and build credibility. We don’t view things through rose colored glasses. We approach from every angle, every perspective and every possible approach. Our role is to help you maintain your brands reputation.
We’ve got effective communication; we know our art, we know what to say and when to say it.
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