KEY AUDIENCES KEY TO PUBLIC RELATIONS

Unlike Bridget Jones, PR people don’t “just fanny around with the press releases". Dealing with the media is only one element of public relations and being single-minded about this will be a big mistake for your business.

As a public relations consultant, I know that PR can be a bit of a minefield, and media relations is the most common area of misunderstanding. In order to operate and grow your business even more successfully and for you to have a great image and reputation, I’m happy to share with you some simple things to remember.

WHAT PUBLIC RELATIONS IS NOT!

§ free advertising
§ pretty women giving out samples
§ lunches and cocktail parties
§ editorial coverage that can be bought with advertising bookings
§ being good at dealing with people
§ a solution to a problem
§ the same as advertising
§ publicity that can be measured in column inches

PUBLIC RELATIONS IS –

§ what every business needs
§ qualified and professional communications
§ an opportunity to inform, influence & change attitudes
§ one of the most powerful tactics in your marketing strategy

PUBLIC RELATIONS IS HOW YOU ‘RELATE’ TO YOUR ‘PUBLICS’.

Every business has ‘key audiences’ to whom they must relate and interact – these are your ‘publics’. Who are yours? Make a list from the headings below because your key audiences are the people you need to be impressing. They will include –

· Staff
· Ex-employees
· Contractors
· Suppliers
· Customers
· Past customers
· Government departments
· State and county authorities
· Board members and other stakeholders
· Regulatory bodies
· Unions and Industry Associations
· Sponsors
· Special interest groups (ie: the disabled)
· People in your building or immediate area
· Visitors to your website
· Anyone to whom you gave your business card
· Anyone to whom you sent a letter
· Anyone who has anything to do with your business EVER!

Note that I didn’t include the media?

Many people think public relations is only about column inches and media attention. The media relations component of public relations is the most high profile, but it’s only one element. Public relations is how you project your image to anyone – and how your staff and colleagues project the company image - and how your key audiences view your reputation.

Therefore, when you give out a business card, answer the phone, write a letter, respond to a complaint or issue a media release, you are engaging in a form of public relations. When it all goes pear-shaped, that’s when you need crisis communication – an under-utilized form of image and reputation saving.

(On the Crisis Communciation point, for a simple, on-line checklist to assess your crisis vulnerability go to http://www.underdogmarketingchallenge.com/ and undertake a simple, tick-box survey. Click on Crisis Management. It's confidential, we don't record the information, and you will receive an instant crisis assessment rating - and it's totally FREE).

So it pays to recognize who are your primary and secondary ‘publics’ and develop a strategy around communicating with them. Further, public relations is not about ‘telling’ people something, it’s about developing their awareness, influencing and helping others to form opinions.

The late Frank Jenkins, a well known British PR teacher and author, said this; “Public relations consists of all forms of communication outwards and inwards between an organization and its publics for the purpose of achieving specific objectives concerning mutual understanding”.

Public Relations professionals have a two-way attitude to communication whereby they issue information but also feed it back. PR people often are required to counsel business on public attitudes, needs, expectations and concerns. Unlike advertising, which primarily is communication one way, usually designed to sell a product or service, public relations seeks to inform and, in turn, be informed.

For example, apart from being good public relations, customer satisfaction surveys are an ideal way to show consideration and caring and receive valuable information. However, the information must be acted upon otherwise the ‘public relations’ element could get tarnished.

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If you want more free advise on public relations visit http://www.pronlinetools.com/. If you want to increase your market share and are looking for cool tools and unique information on marketing, internet marketing, brand awareness and public relations, visit

http://www.underdogmarketingchallenge.com/ and sign up for FREE up-dates. Or, to REALLY skyrocket your business, sign up as a member of the Underdog Marketing Challenge.

Have a great week. Cheers, Penelope