Every business needs a good reputation to succeed and thrive. As a business grows, it becomes increasingly important to stand out in the field in which it operates.
And although they depend on many factors, such as quality and reliability, Public Relations are one of the pillars for managing a company’s reputation.
This allows you to communicate your brand and the values associated with it in a broad manner, as well as create narratives about your products and services.
Good PR work allows the public to understand what your business can offer.
It sounds incredible, right? But do you know what public relations is?
Studies in Social Communication are divided into three main fields:
- Journalism,
- Advertising ,
- and Public Relations (affectionately abbreviated as PR).
And while most people know — or at least have an inkling — of what a journalist or publicist does, the question often arises: what exactly does a public relations professional do?
This is the topic we will address in this post!
We will cover the following topics:
- What are public relations?
- How did they come about?
- What does a public relations professional do?
- What is public relations in marketing?
- What is the job market?
- What is the public relations course like?
What are public relations?
Simply put, the Public Relations Society of America ( PRSA ) has established the definition of public relations as a strategic communication poland telegram data process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their respective publics .
Let’s break this down to better understand the elements that define PR.
What are the 5 elements of public relations?
Organizations
A group of people around a common cause. in addition to the new An organization can be a company, a government , an NGO, in other words, it can take many forms.
Publics
Like organizations, audiences are multiple and span diverse social backgrounds. We can think of them as groups of people who interact with a particular organization.
Communication processes
Like all forms of communication, public b2c phone list relations involve at least two parties (in practice, there are multiple parties). These parties, which are organizations and different audiences, interact in various ways to establish exchange processes.
Non-linear processes
Quite the contrary: they happen spontaneously and multilaterally. Public Relations emerge as a way of understanding them and optimising the links between the various actors involved .
Exchange relations
Organizations and the public are constantly interacting through various dynamics that add value to both parties.
In this sense, Public Relations emerge as a way of organizing links and exchange processes between organizations and audiences, generating benefits and value for both parties.
Organizations benefit by being able to convey their message and generate a positive perception of the brand and services.
The public, on the other hand, can have a more transparent view of the organizations and demand information about the services offered and the positioning carried out.
How did public relations come about?
One of the greatest scholars of public relations, James E. Grunig , points out that the Chinese aristocracy has cultivated this art for 5,000 years.
Public relations as a professional field, however, has been studied since the beginning of the 20th century, that is, about 100 years ago. As we can see, this field of study is relatively recent.
It emerged in the United States from the need for companies to communicate with their audiences in order to generate a positive image. At that time, an accelerated era of growth was underway, marked by the mechanization of processes and the exploitation of workers.
The workers’ movement became increasingly articulate and protested against large companies. This led to these companies realizing the need to communicate a better image of themselves to their public.
The first public relations professional that communication specialists consider is Ivy Lee . In fact, he is considered the father of public relations .
Ivy Lee founded her own PR firm and worked for large corporations to improve their image and increase their profits. She reinvented the way organizations positioned themselves in the world.
He preached the humanization of business models and advocated for transparency, preaching the maxim: “The public must be informed.”
This still shapes the way communication scholars view public relations: an activity to optimize the link between audiences and companies with the aim of improving the experience of these audiences.
What does a public relations professional do?
The PR manager is responsible for analyzing the organization in its various dimensions and possibilities to establish strategic plans that transmit the best message and image of the company. He is a communications manager and works in the most diverse fields of the company.
The professional who makes up this career is the key piece of a company: he centralizes the different communication demands that together affect the business environment .
All these demands form the agenda of a public relations professional, who is tasked with ensuring that they are resolved in the best possible way. This means protecting, maintaining and/or creating a good image through the media for the public.
You need to interact directly and clearly with your audience to strengthen the bond and avoid noise in the relationship.
Key activities of a PR include:
Developing an organization’s communication plan
This may seem like a very broad topic… And indeed, it is! Developing an organization’s communication plan is not easy and requires dynamism, critical thinking, responsibility and a lot of flexibility.
The PR professional has the great responsibility of designing a plan that covers both the internal and external communication of the company.
It is therefore essential that you have a holistic view of the company , its values , services and objectives and at the same time be able to convey this in your planning.
And this is achieved by aligning the company’s communications team ( advertising , marketing , design and journalists).
Of course, the public relations officer does not perform each of these functions and does not need to have in-depth knowledge of them, but he is the one who will make these teams work together in the same direction.
Ultimately, these efforts result in communication actions such as branding (which includes fixing the company’s logo and name in the audience’s mind), positioning on social media, creating internal communication vehicles (such as television and corporate newspapers) and how to communicate with the press.
All of this helps the organization position itself before the public and achieve its objectives.
Writing press releases
A press release , as the name suggests, is an announcement or communication to the media about a company’s activities. While it may seem simple, writing and publishing a press release is no easy task.
The press release can be something the company wants to communicate, such as a new service or brand positioning, but it can also be a reaction to some previous event (a controversy, for example).
In both cases, it is essential to carefully choose the words, the spokesperson for the message, the tone of voice and even the timing of the press release.
A bad press release can cause misunderstandings, backlash and even crises in the organization.
However, if done well, it results in great moments for the company combined with a good image and positive comments in the mass media and among the public.
Organize events
Internal and external company events have a variety of objectives and it is essential that they are well executed and enjoyable.
The public relations officer organizes all the logistics so that it works as well as possible and meets the event’s objectives for the company.
