What Is Good Public Relations?

Public relations (PR) can be a useful stand-alone, marketing tool for a small business with a limited budget or a part of the marketing or promotional mix in a large company. But always it is a tool to drive positive publicity and awareness to a company. What many companies don't realize is that public relations can also be many aspect of other day to day tasks that effect company image and reputation just as much as a marketing or PR campaign does.

Companies send out messages every day to the world in many different forms. Ways in which messages are delivered can vary from a billboard on a busy highway to an advertisement in a local publication to how an employee responds to a customer inquiry. The question is, what are your messages you have created for your company and where,  how and when, are they being conveyed? What is the public, especially the consumer, saying about your company’s product?

Great PR is your company’s message in the form and places your customer, client or stakeholder wants to see or hear it - not necessarily what you want them to see or hear. This is what I call ‘mutually beneficial communications’.  The communication is two way: a company presents a message that the audience (receiver of message) wants, and then the acts accordingly to the messages action items.

Public relations communications can take the form of an advertisement or a cleverly created news release, but more often it is how your receptionist answers the phone, how customer service or technical support handles a service problem, or how company sales staff returns calls. It’s about what they say and how they say it.

PR is also about management. How executives deal with staff and company change. How stakeholders are kept abreast of company changes and initiatives, not only good news, changes or initiatives, but also negative matters. Public relations is about all the messages a company send s out, both internal and external.

Delivering consistent messaging, both internal and external, in the correct manner has long-term impacts on reputation, marketing efforts, sales and ultimately revenues.

In short, great public relations relays your company's message in a manner that consistently has a positive impact on customers, investors, employees, journalist, and other stakeholders, such that they perceive your company positively and speak or write about it whenever your industry, product or service is the topic of conversation.

The challenge that companies face is knowing how to align all their communication points so that those interested or in contact with your company get the same consistent message that they want, time after time. This is what helps to build great public relations and ultimately a great brand. A company that has a great reputation and a brand with positive BUZZ!