Public Relations and What it Means to a Business
Every business no matter what industry, no matter how big or small needs a certain degree of good public relations. Public relations is not just an image, it is also a solid, cohesive plan that brings together, good business, and good business relationships. It means connecting with people, the people that will use your products and services. Public relations and marketing are so often confused or used interchangeably because they intertwine so often. Most large-scale businesses budget thousands of public relations (PR) dollars in their marketing plan, some hire outside public relations agencies. However, in most cases small and medium businesses and organizations can handle their own public relations needs and benefit their business. Public relations is presenting an image to the public, and making that image work for you in terms of sales, and growing your business. Public relations = free advertising.
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Paying for advertising is always an option, and a viable one in most cases. But when public relations is virtually free, it is the ideal option for smaller to medium sized businesses and organizations such as non-profits, and schools, etc. Virtually free refers to getting the media to pick up your stories, event notices and other company information as well as business networking opportunities. If you own a financial or brokerage firm, and you want to advertise your newest rate and top-notch customer service, you would ideally put together a basic press release that has a catchy headline and send it over to local media contacts that include newspaper, radio and local public television stations. After about two weeks you see a blurb in the newspapers about your new rates and customer service savvy, you have more foot traffic than ever and people are calling in who heard about your company on the radio. This is the power of public relations. It is somewhat like "Chinese telephone" but the message is clear and concise. It is like the grapevine of true information that is there to benefit consumers. Think about the all of the advertisements, and marketing promotions from local retailers that were based around Americans receiving their stimulus checks recently. Every retailer jumped on the bandwagon of telling consumers they could spend their stimulus check with them. The message was clear; the goal was to get Americans to go shopping again. |
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One clear example of how public relations comes into play is through promotions. We have all been exposed to some type of sweepstakes at some point in time, or a contest. "Write an essay and win a free trip to Hollywood," or Enter for a Chance to Win $1,000,000!" This is not just advertising and marketing at work, but public relations had a big role in these campaigns by getting the word out about the contests and sweepstakes in the first place. Upon entering the contest or sweepstakes you find out more information about the company behind the promotion, and those companies or organizations are hoping that consumers will learn more about them and possibly use their services.
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