Why Public Relations is more than a press release: Part 1

As a Marketing and Public Relations professional, I am thrilled to see more individuals pursuing careers in Marketing and more businesses seeing the importance of this strategic function, so much so that there is an increase in Marketing job openings. However, the same cannot be said for the role of Public Relations (PR).

If there is something newsworthy happening within the establishment, sending out a press release is not the end all – PR is more than a press release! PR includes interacting and engaging with members of the public as well as working with organisations that are connected to the public such as the media or with influencers with large social followings. The end goal is to build positive and trusted relationships between the public and your charity, company, or organization.

Examples of PR include but are not limited to media relations, reputation management, crisis communications, social media, influencer PR, brand messaging, podcast PR, internal communication, and planning PR. In the interest of time, I am shedding some light on five types of PR and how you can make them work for your business or brand.

Reputation Management

-Have you considered this type of PR for your brand? Its purpose is to influence the way your brand is perceived both by people outside e.g., customers, investors as well as those within (employees). Cultivating and maintaining a good reputation requires diligence in both the digital space as well as in traditional media and amongst stakeholders.

Why should your brand pay attention to it?

An example would be best in this scenario. With reputation management, you can reduce reputational risks by addressing and managing negative feedback immediately whilst off-line (outside of the digital space), this is an effective strategy to build credibility and trust. Remember both trust and credibility have a significant impact on if the public chooses to do business with you.

What are the necessary skills?

To succeed at reputational management, your PR personnel must always be proactive and be able to find ways to cushion the organisation’s reputation using ‘good news’ strategies e.g., staff wellbeing objectives or charity partnerships. The ability to respond quickly to negative stories about the brand/organization is key as in being skilled in understanding and delivering the right message at the right time.

Planning PR, What is it?

Planning PR is a strategic approach to gaining approval for planning permission by engaging the local community and key influencers. The work involves identifying and connecting with local politicians, business leaders and community groups to make an economic, cultural or social case for gaining planning consent. It also involves gaining positive media coverage for planning to support the application process.

What is it good for?

It’s vital to get buy-in from influencers to gain support for the planning application, to be able to answer questions and concerns ahead of the decision-making and to cultivate a good relationship with the community from the beginning. It also helps avoid false information being spread and the chance to clarify and resolve objections quickly.

What skills do you need to be good at it?

You must be able to arrange and run public events, set up meetings with influencers, give CEOs, directors and other key stakeholders media training, and be able to demonstrate support for the planning permission.
Building a good relationship with key media and being ready to answer opposition and questions is also key.

Candice Sealey is the Founder & Principal Consultant at Ignite! a Full-service Marketing & PR Consultancy that helps businesses/brands to stand out and communicate the right message to the right people at the right time through Strategy, Marketing, Media services and Design solutions. She is also a freelance content writer, advertising copywriter, voice-over talent, media personality. Follow us on FB & IG @igniteresults Phone:784-432-2223. Email: igniteresults@gmail.com