Saturday, May 4, 2013

Key Information To Know About PR

By John Osborne


PR, also commonly referred to as public relations, refers to an industry involved with management of information that flows between the general public and an organization. This field allows individuals and businesses to communicate with their targeted audience through public interest topics and news information. Usually this communication can be done at no cost. The ultimate goal here is to build and maintain relationships with the people who are influencers or the audience.

In general, the goal here is to convince stakeholders, the general public, investors and partners of certain truths. Often times this is done to maintain a high, positive perspective of a business, its decisions, goods or ethics. PR agencies are known to handle communication with media, employees and the general public, acting as a representative for special gatherings and events.

Pseudo events, publicity stunts, photo ops and publicity events are other tasks carried out in the field. Speeches may be given to a group or organization, and in some cases, there are personal appearances at receptions, seminars and other such gatherings. Talk shows are a circuit for reaching a target, or large, audience. Interviews may be done on radio or television by a client or spokesperson. Collateral literature, blogs, direct communication and social media are a few other methods used.

There are various disciplines in this industry. Financial relations are responsible for providing the information needed by business reporters. Consumer or lifestyle relations is, in contrast, another option to traditional advertising methods. It is primarily focused on gathering publicity for a service or product. Crisis management relates to the relations done in response to negative information or accusations toward an organization. Essentially, this is a type of damage control that requires spinning information. Industry relations involves the info passed on to trade bodies. In the government sphere, there are departments involved with changing policymaking.

Press releases and kits are used often in this industry. These packages, which are sent out on a daily basis at most firms, go to media outlets. They are meant to generate interest in a specific product, organization or service. Newsletters, brochures and annual reports may work in the same way.

Blogs, social media and the Internet are common resources in modern day PR firms. These social platforms are well-liked because they all for two-way interaction between parties. Likewise, this allows for feedback from stakeholders to come back promptly.

A strategy that is used often in this field is targeting a specific audience. Once this group has been identified, content is then tailored in a way that is supposed to attract the audience. This might be an audience that is national, international, or the general public. Stakeholders theory identifies the people who hold a major stake in the organization or issue. Basically, each audience is capable of being stakeholders but not all stakeholders are the audience.

Negative PR, or dark public relations, is also part of this field. Usually this involves doing work in order to sabotage the reputation or identity of a person or business. The focus is switched from building and keeping a good reputation and placed on discrediting another party. Typically this is done against an industry rival. Common strategies used for this purpose include the revealing of secrets or classified info about the rival, as a way to negatively change public perception.




About the Author:



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...