Three things you should know about PR
Public relations is more than just a means of managing clients’ reputations and dealing with crises. PR practitioners’ roles entail a great deal of things, with functions ranging from storytelling to brand reputation management. Here’s everything you should know about PR.
In some instances, people think of a PR practitioner as a defence lawyer, always looking to spin a situation around for their clients or the organisations they serve. But, PR pros are actually there to help organisations build industry rapports, promote brand ideas and liaise with stakeholders.
With that in mind, here are three things you should know about PR pros and the industry overall:
1. PR pros help build relationships
PR professionals can help establish and maintain relationships with stakeholders, clients, media and even with internal employees. A well-maintained relationship in any industry goes a long way to ensuring that things run smoothly, especially with the use of PR strategies.
For example, if your business is having an event that addresses associates, employees and audiences, it’s better to hire a PR pro to help you design an exclusive speech or presentation that is error free and is more likely to resonate and capture the attention of every person in the room.
The success of a brand can be improved using PR methods; these methods help brands maintain the relationships they have with audiences and stakeholders. Communication is important when it comes to building a business or brand trust, and this can be done through effective PR communication efforts.
2. PR is not advertising
PR and advertising could be assumed to play the same role, however, they work in different ways to achieve similar goals for brands.
PR helps brands communicate with their audiences, and create strategies that can attract new audiences for clients. What makes PR valuable is that it relies on
unpaid or earned media as opposed to advertising, which relies purely on paid.
If your brand’s messaging is sent out through earned media or third-party, it is deemed as more reliable and credible because it’s not perceived to be biased and reaches a variety of audiences.
PR helps to build brand awareness, reputation and develop a brand’s identity. The activation of PR campaigns are designed to help build trust with audiences and persuade other brands to do business with clients' brands or organisations.
3. PR pros have measures put in place to solve a crisis
Any business or organisation can be operating in a principled manner, but still find itself in disastrous situations, making it vital to have a crisis communication plan. Appointing a PR response team to assist in a crisis will ensure that you have hired the right people to speak and defend your brand. This is because they are able to respond
fast and
professionally without compromising your brand any further by distributing your press statement to reputable media houses and hosting pressers to address issues from your organisation’s perspective.
During a crisis, it is ideal to use someone internal who has vast knowledge about the crisis faced by the brand to team up with the PR so as to
leave no stones unturned. PR pros have the skills to create a press release that is water tight. One of the most important things during a crisis is
how you craft your message; it should be written in such a way that it covers
all the facts, because if it doesn't, journalist’s can find loopholes.