ARTIKEL KHAS:

HOW DO YOU PRACTISE PR IN YOUR ORGANIZATION? GOOD OR BAD PR?

By: Ishak ABR (MA. Comm.) Coventry University, UK

What is Public Relations?

Public relations involve 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

In this tutorial most of our focus is on how public relations supports marketing by building product and company image (sometimes referred to as publicity). Yet, it should be noted that there are other stakeholders companies reached via the public relations function, such as employees and non-target market groups. Favorable media coverage about a company or product often reaches these audiences as well and may offer potential benefit to the marketer.

Finally, in most large companies, investor relations (IR) or financial public relations is a specialty in itself guided by specific disclosure regulations. However, coverage of this type of PR will not be provided here.

Advantages of Public Relations

Public relations offers several advantages not found with other promotional options. First, PR is often considered a highly credible form of promotion. 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.
Second, 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.
Third, 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.
Finally, 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.

Advantages of Public Relations

Public relations offers several advantages not found with other promotional options. First, PR is often considered a highly credible form of promotion. 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.
Second, 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.
Third, 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.
Finally, 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 hold many advantages for marketers, there are also concerns when using this promotional technique. 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.
Second, 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.
Third, 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.
Fourth, with PR 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.
Finally, in some areas of the world the impact of traditional news outlets is fading forcing public relations professionals to scramble to find new ways to reach their target markets.

Objectives of Public Relations

Like other aspects of marketing promotion, public relations are 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 discernable 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 key messages are used in the development of public relations materials and supporting programs described below. 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.

Additional PR Activities

In addition to serving as means for helping to achieve marketing objectives, public relations professionals may undertake additional activities, aimed at maintaining a positive image for an organization. These activities include:

Market Monitoring

Monitoring public comment about a company and its products is becoming increasingly important especially with the explosion of information channels on the Internet. Today monitoring includes watching what is written and reported in traditional print and broadcast media and also keeping an eye on discussions occurring through various Internet outlets such as forums, chartrooms, blogs and other public messaging areas. Marketers must be prepared to respond quickly to erroneous information and negative opinions about products as it can spin out of control very quickly through the new technology channels. Failure to correct misinformation can be devastating to a product or company’s reputation. It should be noted that specialized monitoring services can be contracted to help companies keep track of “buzz” about the company and its products.

Crisis Management

Marketers need to be prepared to respond quickly to negative information about the company. When a problem with a product arises — in fact or substantiated only by rumor — a marketer’s investment in a product and brand can be in serious jeopardy. Today, with the prevalence of the Internet and wireless communications, negative information can spread rapidly. Through monitoring marketers can track the issues and respond in a timely fashion. To manage response effectively, many companies have crises management plans in place that outline steps to take and company spokespeople to speak on behalf of the company should an event occur.

The Benefits of the PR Professional

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. Skilled PR professionals offer many advantages for marketers with their two most important being:

1. their ability to understand and unearth good stories about a company and its product
2. their knowledge of the media market may place them in a better position to match stories to the news angles media reporters look for.

Trends in Public Relations

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.

• Blogs
• Discussion Forums
• RSS Feeds
• Podcasting
• Search Engine Optimization

PR Trends: Blogs

·        Blogs, short for weblogs, are a phenomenon that shows just how powerful and influential the Internet has become as a communication medium. Millions of blogs are now available and specialized search engines have been developed to search millions of postings.

·        Blogs may be most famous as a tool for political discussion, but they are also becoming an important communication tool for public relations. Many companies in both technical fields, such as eBay, Google, and Microsoft, and non-technical fields, such as General Motors, McDonalds and Well Fargo Bank, now produce in-house blogs that report on happenings at the company. These blogs allow company employees, including CEOs and marketers, to post messages updating company developments and, thus, serve as useful PR tool.

·        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.

PR Trends: 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.

PR Trends: 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

PR Trends: RSS Feeds

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.
While there are several flavors of RSS, 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.

PR Trends: Search Engine Optimization

Publicity is about getting media outlets to mention the name of a product, company or person. For several years Internet marketers have recognized the importance of getting their company and products listed in the top rankings in search engines. So called efforts at Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involve concerted efforts and specific techniques to attain higher rankings.
While at first glance SEO may not seem like a responsibility of public relations, it would appear to contain the main characteristics for making it so, namely getting a third-party media outlet (i.e., search engine) to mention the company (i.e., search rankings) at no direct cost the company (i.e., no payment for ranking). And, just as PR people can use methods to affect coverage within traditional media, optimizing a website can work to influence results in search engines by using techniques that allow a website to fit within ever-changing search engine ranking criteria. In this way SEO does what PR professionals do, namely obtain good placement in third-party media outlet. Consequently, SEO may soon become an important PR function.