Public Relations is a highly specialized field, and yet it is one that is not quite understood by many growing companies and indeed, individuals. There are many who believe that PR is just an evolution of marketing, and at the smallest end, they are correct. However, there is a vast difference between general marketing and the specialization of Public Relations work.
Marketing is a simple combination of ad creation and implementation, while PR actually involves a broad field of things needed to make its chief goal: increasing influence and reputation, occur. A PR team must research the field first and find out the chief power players in this industry. It can be a few specific individuals or it could be major corporations that dominate an industry from its outset.
PR then works to make connections with these players so that they can reach out to them when the time comes. A PR company isn’t doing this to benefit itself per se, but so that it can connect the client with the powers that can project them to their desired market level. This behind-the-scenes work lets these connections grow and prosper while also getting the client on the industry’s radar. Thus when the connection between client and player takes place it is done so from an educated and prepared level.
When it is time to start reaching out to the media a PR company also starts pitching vast numbers of journalists and editors; work that a client may have the time or the means to do itself. Interviews, podcasts, and earned media articles, all of these come from the simple means of a pitch. This vital connection again earns interest in the client and catches the attention of those in the field that the client is trying to impress.
What about when the client already has a reputation that it is looking to fix or improve? Again that’s where PR comes into play. Sometimes a company has made a bad decision and lost the trust of its market, or a mistake was made that lost money. A PR company sees this sort of thing not as an issue, but as a challenge that can be conquered with the right approach.
Pitching, PR events, charitable donations, and collaborations with humanitarian causes. All of these approaches are set up via the legwork of the PR company with the goal of increasing the client’s footprint in the media. This showcases the desire to improve its reputation while also enabling a client to have a great impact on the market. This campaign can be done over the course of months or a couple of years and will often outshine issues that caused it to be necessary.
Above all else, PR is meant to be flexible. The needs of each client can be unique and oftentimes specific to an industry or market. PR teams do the legwork, make the connections and create all of the campaigns that a client may need without the client needing to dedicate the time or resources towards implementing them. PR is able to accomplish a lot because of its flexibility, and it is this that is the most appreciated of a PR outlet’s abilities.
