Public Relations

What is Public Relations?
•Public Relations, then, can be thought of as the process that delivers your news to the people you want to reach through a broad, influential, and far-reaching news media community.
•On the other hand Public Relations is to shape and maintain the image of a company, organization or individual in the eyes of the client's various "publics." What is a "public" exactly? A public, in PR terms, is anyone who ever has or ever will form an opinion about the client.
•Public Relations is a form of communication that is primarily directed toward gaining public understanding and acceptance. It tends to deal with issues rather than specifically with products or services. Public relations uses publicity that does not necessitate payment in a wide variety of media and is often placed as news or items of public interest. Because public relations communications are placed in this manner, they offer a legitimacy that advertising does not have, since advertising is publicity that is paid for. The practice of PR is used to build rapport with the various publics a company, individual, or organization may have (i.e., employees, customers, stockholders, voters, competitors, or the general population). Publicity releases, employee-training seminars, and house organs are examples of instruments used in public relations. Financial public relations, a specialized branch of the profession, is concerned with corporate annual reports, stockholder communications, and the disclosure rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Depending on the nature of the client's work, these publics could include clients, potential clients, voters, members of the local community, members of the media, students, parents of students, online fans groups, foreign citizen
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
The main goal of a public relations department is to enhance a company’s reputation. Staff that work in public relations, or as it is commonly known, PR, are skilled publicists. They are able to present a company or individual to the world in the best light. The role of a public relations department can be seen as a reputation protector.
The business world of today is extremely competitive. Companies need to have an edge that makes them stand out from the crowd, something that makes them more appealing and interesting to both the public and the media. The public are the buyers of the product and the media are responsible for selling it.
Public relations provide a service for the company by helping to give the public and the media a better understanding of how the company works. Within a company, public relations can also come under the title of public information or customer relations. These departments assist customers if they have any problems with the company. They are usually the most helpful departments, as they exist to show the company at their best.
PR also helps the company to achieve its full potential. They provide feedback to the company from the public. This usually takes the form of research regarding what areas the public is most happy and unhappy with.
People often have the perception of public relations as a group of people who spin everything. Spin can mean to turn around a bad situation to the company’s advantage. It is true that part of the purpose of public relations is to show the company in a positive light no matter what. There are certain PR experts that a company can turn to for this particular skill.
The public often think of PR as a glamorous job. Public relations people seem to have been tarred with the image of constant partying and networking to find new contacts. The reality is usually long hours and hard work for anyone involved in public relations.
There are certain skills necessary to work in the world of PR. These include a very high level of communication skills, written and verbal. The PR person must also be very adept at multitasking and time management. He or she may also have some form of media background or training in order to understand how the media and advertising work. Organizational and planning skills are also important in public relations.
The PR worker must also be able to cope very well under pressure. He or she must have the ability to cope with a barrage of questions from the media and the public. If a company comes under critical attack, it is the PR department who must take control of the situation. They must effectively answer the criticism and turn it around in order to protect the company’s reputation.
A public relations worker usually has some form of relevant college qualification. Competition for jobs in PR is fierce. A talented public relations person has the opportunity to work up from a junior account executive to an account director in around five years. This is not a nine to five job; the hours are long and can be stressful. However, for successful PR workers, the pay is good and the perks may be even better

Steps in a Public Relations Campaign
Effective public relations require a knowledge, based on analysis and understanding, of all the factors that influence public attitudes toward the organization. While a specific public relations project or campaign may be undertaken proactively or reactively (to manage some sort of image crisis), the first basic step in either case involves analysis and research to identify all the relevant factors of the situation. In this first step, the organization gains an understanding of its various constituencies and the key factors that are influencing their perceptions of the organization.
In the second step, the organization establishes an overall policy with respect to the campaign. This involves defining goals and desired outcomes, as well as the constraints under which the campaign will operate. It is necessary to establish such policy guidelines in order to evaluate proposed strategies and tactics as well as the overall success of the campaign.
In step three, the organization outlines its strategies and tactics. Using its knowledge of the target audiences and its own established policies, the organization develops specific programs to achieve the desired objectives. Finally, step four involves actual communication with the targeted public. The organization then employs specific public relations techniques, such as press conferences or special events, to reach the intended audience.
In step five the organization receives feedback from its public. How have they reacted to the public relations campaign? Are there some unexpected developments? In the final step, the organization assesses the program and makes any necessary adjustments.

Public Relations for Small Businesses
Like other types of organizations, small businesses can benefit from public relations in terms of their relationships with customers, employees, investors, suppliers, or other interested members of the community. Since small business owners are the most visible representatives of their own companies, they frequently handle many of the public relations functions themselves. But experts caution small business owners against taking on this responsibility if they are unqualified, or if they are unable to give public relations the attention it deserves. In these cases, entrepreneurs may choose to hire a public relations specialist or contract with an outside agency.
In his book Public Relations for the Entrepreneur and the Growing Business, Norman R. Soderberg outlines the main qualifications for public relations professionals. An ideal candidate would be creative and enterprising, possess good communication skills and solid news judgment, have a thorough knowledge of the business, be sincere and considerate in dealing with people, and make a good impression as a representative for the company. Some of the skills required in public relations work include writing and editing, public speaking, graphic arts, public opinion polling, and advertising. The responsibilities of a public relations executive include interpreting public opinion, advising management, generating opportunities to increase public awareness and acceptance, disseminating good publicity, and evaluating the results of campaigns. In order to perform these duties effectively, the public relations professional must know what is going on in the business, which means that he or she requires access to management.
"Most companies need to seek outside help from a public relations agency at some point," Chad Kaydo wrote in Sales and Marketing Management. "Even if staff members handle most of your PR efforts, an independent firm can assist with a special project, or give occasional advice." There are a variety of reasons why a small business owner might decide to contract public relations work out to an external agency. For example, company personnel may be inexperienced in handling public relations; the company may be geographically distant from its main audiences; the company may not be able to afford to hire a full-time public relations executive with the needed skills; or the company may want the objective judgment of an outsider. A small business owner can locate reputable public relations firms through the Small Business Administration, the Public Relations Society of America, the trade press for their industry, or the recommendations of fellow business people or local news people. When choosing between several potential agencies, a small business owner should consider those that have experience in the industry, clients in similar industries, financial stability, and a compatible overall philosophy. Contracting with an outside firm can be costly—some charge their clients a monthly retainer, while others charge straight hourly rates for limited services.
While communication is the essence of public relations, an effective public relations campaign is based on action as well as words. Whether it is practiced formally or informally, public relations is an essential function for the survival of any organization. Small business owners cannot afford to neglect public relations. But lavish parties and gifts are not necessary—it is possible to vastly improve a small business's image within its community while also controlling public relations expenditures. Sponsoring a local softball team, speaking at a chamber of commerce meeting, and volunteering at a neighborhood clean-up are among the wide variety of public relations activities readily available to small businesses.

Undercover Marketing

Undercover Marketing is a subset of guerrilla marketing where consumers do not realize they are being marketed to. For example, a marketing company might pay an actor or socially adept person to use a certain product visibly and convincingly in locations where target consumers congregate. While there, the actor will also talk up their product to people they befriend in that location, even handing out samples if it is economically feasible. The actor will often be able to sell consumers on their product without those consumers even noticing it.
The goal of any undercover campaign is to generate buzz. Spontaneous word of mouth, or buzz, is free, can reach consumers isolated from all other media, and unlike conventional media, consumers tend to trust it. Marketers find it very hard to predict buzz let alone generate it on demand. However when it works, undercover marketing does exactly that: an ideal consumer from the example above will not only begin using that product themselves, but will also tell their friends about it, inciting a planned viral marketing campaign that looks spontaneous.
It is the consumer's sense that this recommendation was spontaneous and unsolicited, and the resulting feeling that "one good turn deserves another", that drives the buzz. So, the "bought and paid for" aspect of the transaction must remain hidden. Overall, the person doing the marketing must look and sound like peer of their target audience without any ulterior motive for endorsing the product—employees of the company cannot do undercover marketing, nor can celebrities (except possibly to other celebrities).
If marketers fail to hide their vested interest in selling a product, they run considerable risk of backlash. Cases where consumers have found out they have been manipulated into liking the product, they generally become angry at the marketer (and by association that product) over being misled. This indignation has led some to apply more derogatory names to undercover marketing, such as roach baiting, likening the products marketed this way to poison. In some cases, the amount of buzz generated by a failed campaign can exceed that of a successful one, only with the opposite of the desired result.
When targeting consumers known to be consistent Internet users, undercover marketers have taken a significant interest in leveraging Internet chat rooms and forums. In these settings, people tend to perceive everyone as peers, the semi-anonymity reduces the risk of being found out, and one marketer can personally influence a large number of people. During the dot com boom at the turn of the century, stock promoters frequently used chat rooms to create a buzz and drive up the price of a stock.
Whatever the risks, undercover marketing only requires a small investment for a large potential payoff. It remains a cheap and effective way of generating buzz, especially in markets such as Tobacco and alcohol where media-savvy target consumers have become increasingly resistant or inaccessible to other forms of advertising.