Who needs Public Relations? Everybody. If you’re in the public eye, you need to make sure that the image they see is the image you have chosen.
Need to Be Seen
According to The Institute of Public Relations, public relations is defined as “The deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.”
So who needs public relations? Everybody. That is, everybody who is in the public eye (or wants to be), from politics to show business to sports stars and commerce, all need good public relations.
In actual fact, if you look at it this way, public relations is really good manners. Making sure that the right information (information you want public) is available to the right people (your potential customers/voters/fans) in the right way, just at the right time to be most beneficial for you or your company.
Public Relations to the Rescue
Public relations has come to the rescue of many a company, celebrity, and sports star over the years, who has maybe come under scrutiny for the wrong reasons. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but I’m not sure that Tiger Woods would agree with that (to name just one, there are plenty more to choose from).
Re-branding with Public Relations
In corporate marketing, image is king. Very often companies who have traded successfully for years, feel the need to bring in a new PR firm to help with changing their image, or think up new ideas to make their products desirable. Many fashion chains have a reputation for being either ‘young and trendy’, ‘over priced’, ‘old fashioned’, ‘cheap rubbish’ (just a few examples – put your own name to the tags that fit) and need public relations firms to re-brand their image and attract a wider customer base in order to survive in a very competitive world.
Public Relations in Politics
These days, politicians are as much about image as they are about policy. No matter how hard we, the public, try to focus on qualities like policy, agenda, integrity, we just can’t bring ourselves to vote for somebody who we think looks a bit ‘shifty’, or somebody who we have decided is boring, or stupid, all because of one little comment made somewhere early on in their campaign trail. A good public relations firm can turn those negative feelings around and leave the voters feeling good about the person, and more importantly, wanting to vote for them.
Public Relations in Business
If you’re starting up a new business, or struggling to keep your old one afloat, then maybe it’s time to call in a public relations firm yourself. They are not only for the big boys, but can really make a difference into putting your business in the public eye locally, so whether you are opening a restaurant, opening a shop, run a construction company or are a landscaper, calling in a public relations professional can really help your business to grow.
