Public relations is usually associated with the protection or promotion of your company’s image. This can be protection from a crisis, or positive promotion though press releases and interaction with the media. Some PR is proactive, meaning you are promoting something, and some is reactive, i.e. something has happened and you want to contribute or gain control of the situation. Types of PR include:
- Customer relations
- Media relations
- Investor and internal communications
- Crisis management
- Product launches
Benefits
The benefits of PR can be enormous. It is usually more subtle and considered more reputable than simply advertising. This is because an editor or an influencer will have decided your cause is worthy and so they are adding their reputation and clout to yours.
PR can also be a lot of fun, as you need to be innovative and creative to get a return. Few things are better than sitting down with a PR person or a marketing company and coming up with some great ideas for your business around a table.
Challenges
Depending on your objective, PR can be very expensive. It’s possible to manage your own PR, although it requires an awful lot of industry expertise and contacts.
When you should use it
PR is great when you have something specific to promote or something interesting to say. If you have decided that your target customers respect innovative and market-leading companies, then PR is a great way to deliver that impression. But you should not use PR if your company is not ready to launch or promote. PR is all about confidence and if you don’t quite have it yet, then it will have little impact.
