A common misconception in the area of business marketing is that only large firms need or use public relations. While it is true that most items in the business section of the newspaper are generated from news releases, it is not true that these releases were all sent by sizeable firms.

The fact is that every business can benefit from a well-thought-out program of public relations. Public relations is defined by the Institute of Public Relations as “the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.”

Public relations is more than working with media or promoting products. Companies use public relations to share information with the public and address issues that might concern the public.

Every company, regardless of its size, has information to share – items like news about employees, business milestones, community service projects, new products or services, or affiliations with organizations. To be sure this type of information has the maximum effect, companies that don’t employ a public relations person or staff can benefit from the help of a public relations firm or integrated marketing company.

Sending out press releases is just one aspect of public relations. While they certainly play a large role in promoting your business, an integrated marketing company can do much more to help your company establish a relationship with its various publics.

An integrated marketing company can make public relations tactics like event planning, crisis management, media training and internal communications part of an overall marketing plan that has been devised to help your company reach its business goals.

Keeping in mind that the goal of public relations is for an organization to establish and maintain goodwill and understanding, these other tactics provide valuable links between a company and its publics. Hosting an event, for instance, gives the public a chance to get a more personal look at your company. Crisis management training empowers you to deal with the public and the media should the need arise. Internal communications ensures that your company establishes and maintains communications with one of its most important audiences: its employees.

Determining how your company benefits from public relations tactics can be tricky. It’s not easy to measure goodwill and understanding. You can, however, measure what is called “earned media.” Every time an article or news item runs, the value of that space (or air time) can be calculated as if it had been purchased.

For instance, if an article measuring six column inches runs in the newspaper, the size of a six-inch ad is calculated. This dollar amount is considered “earned media.” That’s what you would have spent for the same amount of ad space. The same is true for airtime on radio or television.

To the dollar value of earned media you can add the intangible fact that news items are better read and have higher credibility than ads do. Thus, the value of earned media can be higher than advertising.

Earned media also takes into account the number of people who see (or hear) an item. Sending out news releases to five media outlets means that at least five people will read the company news item. However, once published, the item will be seen (or heard) by the media outlets’ entire audiences. A public relations firm or integrated marketing company can leverage its connections with the media to increase the chance your article will be published.

This leads to an important component of public relations: following up with media outlets to provide such extras as additional information, incentives to publish news items, interviews with company representatives, and notice of photo opportunities. Public relations firms or integrated marketing companies have the personnel and time to make these contacts, relieving you of the burden of doing so. A public relations or integrated marketing company can provide this assistance on a per-project basis or at a cost-per-hour charge for monthly maintenance.

Regardless of how it’s implemented, companies of all sizes can and should use public relations to establish and maintain goodwill between them and their audiences.

<< back to "mwfusion"