Public relations is everywhere, working behind the scenes, and most of the time we don’t even know that our thoughts and decisions are being manipulated by experts.
Have you ever noticed how some people are just famous for being famous? They’re never out of the news, yet they haven’t had a hit record, they haven’t written a book or starred in a Hollywood blockbuster movie, they haven’t really done anything, they are just famous! What do these people have that most of us don’t? A good PR team, that’s what. Public relations is all about getting noticed.
Tons of ordinary people appear on our television screens every year in the latest craze ‘reality TV shows’, (perhaps ‘ordinary’ isn’t a good choice of word here, would you do it?) and while the majority of these ‘stars’ disappear without a trace, some of them seem to pop up everywhere, at movie premieres, signing autographs, opening shopping malls. Why? It’s all down to public relations.
Public Relations in Business
Public relations is big business, but it’s not just celebrities who rely on good PR management to keep them in the spotlight, many companies are experts at it too (the one’s you’ve heard of probably). Public relations is all about branding your company, so that people recognize it without even knowing how or why. The power of branding is extremely strong. Recently a survey discovered that even colors have been ‘branded’, purple reminding people of chocolate (can you guess the brand?) and the color red reminded lots of people of a particular soft drink (yes, no prizes for knowing the answer to this one).
Of course, these examples of international companies have had decades of being in the public eye, and spent millions of dollars in the process, but public relations can also do a lot for the smaller business, in the local community. It’s simply about getting your company name out there, and getting your image right. You want people to associate your company name with quality, value, expertise, professionalism, and all the things which you constantly strive for.
A Change of Image with Public Relations
Public relations firms can also be used in times of crisis. Whenever a disaster happens to tarnish the image of a firm, it’s down to the public relations team to smooth over the waters and restore the customers’ faith in the product (or person).
Public Relations in Politics
Just think about the public image of the politicians when the pre-election circus hits the road. What do we think of our politicians? Well, that depends on how good their PR is, we see the image they want us to see, most of the time. Even in politics, unfortunately, image is everything and is way up there, maybe even above policies or integrity; it’s the way of the world.
