Public Relations

During difficult economic times, often one of the first items to get cut is the public relations budget. Or on worst case: eliminated completely. And nowhere have the effects of these cuts been felt more than on the Public Relations New York scene. Firms have cut staffs, cut salaries and instituted hiring freezes.

Are cuts in public relations budgets a good idea? This actually can do more harm than good and result in loss of brand position, market share, customer inquiries and so forth. Competitors — particularly those that have maintained spending on public relations — may actually gain position at your expense.

When the economy is on the downturn, it is prudent and perhaps even necessary to reorganize and cut various budgets and even staff. However, it is wise to take a good long look at what the company's priorities are before making potentially rash and harmful decisions.

PR is no longer a luxury and has become essential. Particularly as many industries, most notably the financial services industry, seek to restore trust with the American public. Public relations continues to be one of the most efficient ways of reaching customers, old and new. Far more so than advertising, which many people distrust.

What firms on the Public Relations New York scene have learned is how to do more with less for their clients. One way to stretch those budgets is through the use of social media. The world of social media is exploding at an exponential rate. Social media not only gives people the chance to air their opinions and share commentary with others, it also gives companies, politicians, celebrities, and others a way to communicate directly with the public.

Public Relations New York firms and others are advised to look at a recent Deloitte & Touche survey. The study reveals that 36 percent of Internet users read personal content created by other people. MySpace is widely held to be a haven for teenagers, but in reality, more than 67 percent of the people using MySpace are age 26 or older. The average blogger is about 37 years old, and 38 percent of Facebook users are older than 35. Clearly the phenomenon that is social media is never going to go away.

A trend for Public Relations New York firms and others is that the growing popularity of social media will most likely continue once the recession is over, perhaps reducing the importance of other elements in the marketing arsenal such as advertising. Redeploying portions of a reduced public relations budget to incorporate a solid social media strategy now is essential for companies who want to be able to leverage that strategy onward into the future as the global community continues to expand.

For more information visit to Public Relations New York,PR New York,New York city public relations and investor relations New York visit to http://www.makovsky.com

Kevin Waddel is a free lance writer. To get more information about Public relations, PR New York, New York city public relations, Investor relations New York, PR, Public Relations New York, Financial Services Public Relations in New York visit http://www.makovsky.com

Kevin Waddel is a free lance writer. To get more information about Public relations, PR New York, New York city public relations, Investor relations New York, PR, Health PR in New York, Financial Services Public Relations in New York visit http://www.makovsky.com

For those business, non-profit and association managers committed to PR tactics like radio and newspaper plugs, it can come as a surprise to discover where public relations value REALLY lies.

Truth is, your PR budget can deliver results far beyond such limited publicity placements.

For example by embracing the kind of PR plan that persuades those important outside audiences to your way of thinking, and moving them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed.

Then by using the high-impact, fundamental premise of public relations to deliver external stakeholder behavior change the kind that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives.

And finally by revving up the creative potential of your assigned PR team or agency and involving them in a way that positively impacts the behaviors of the very outside audiences that MOST affect your unit.

Perhaps then you will find yourself with a basketful of results such as prospects starting to do business with you; community leaders beginning to seek you out; newly arrived proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; customers starting to make repeat purchases; membership applications on the rise; politicians and legislators beginning to think of you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities; welcome bounces in show room visits; and even capital givers or specifying sources starting to look your way.

Spend a moment here and read that fundamental public relations blueprint referred to above: People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

This lets you broaden your public relations field of fire, putting its primary focus where it belongs, on your units key external stakeholder behaviors.

A caveat here: be sure that the public relations personnel assigned to your unit really believe deep down — why its SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Be certain they accept the reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Review with them your blueprint for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Questions like these: How much do you know about our services or products and employees? How much do you know about our chief executive? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

When you think of it, youre fortunate that your PR folks already are in the perception and behavior business so they can jump right on the perception monitoring assignment. If your budget can handle it, you can always use a professional survey firm, but they can be very expensive. Nevertheless, whether its your people or a survey firm asking the questions, your objective is to identify untruths if not outright lies, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, and misconceptions .

Now you must carefully select which of the above aberrations qualifies as your corrective public relations goal for example, clarify the misconception, spike that rumor, correct the false assumption or fix certain other inaccuracies.

Now, if you pick the wrong strategy to show you how to reach your goal, it will feel like youre eating Roast Turkey without the stuffing. Fact is, you can only achieve your PR goal by picking the right strategy from the three choices available to you, change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. And take care that your new strategy is a natural fit with that new public relations goal.

Sooner or later you will have to address your key stakeholder audience in a way that will help persuade them to your way of thinking. So assign the task to your very best writer because s/he must put together some very special, corrective language. Words, by the way, that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if they are to shift perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you have targeted.

Here you take an easy step select the communications tactics needed to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. Checking, of course, that the tactics you select are known to reach folks like your audience members. Dozens are available from speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others.

Because HOW one communicates often affects the believability of the message, you may wish to deliver it in smaller meetings or presentations rather than high-profile media such as a news release..

Questions will arise as to indications of progress. That will be your signal to schedule a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. You will use many of the same questions as in the first benchmark session. But you will now be watching carefully for signs that the offending perception is actually moving in your direction.

A fortunate reality in the public relations business is that these matters usually can be accelerated by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

Yes, as a manager, it may surprise you that a workable public relations blueprint like this one will help you persuade your most important outside stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that leads to the success of your department, division or subsidiary.

But its no surprise that the people you deal with behave like everyone else they act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about you and your operation. Leaving you little choice but to deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions by doing what is necessary to reach and move those key external audiences to action.

end

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net. Word count is 1110 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly 2004.

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi- cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations. bobkelly@TNI.net. Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com

Leaders in the business world need public relations big time, and they show it every day.

How? By staying in touch with their most important external audiences and by carefully monitoring their perceptions about the company, audience member feelings about hot topics at issue, and the behaviors that inevitably follow.

Could there be an angle here for your business?

What I mean is, once you interact with, then learn what that key target audience of yours believes about you and your organization, a corrective public relations goal a specific behavior change — can be established.

Which then requires that you identify a strategy. There are just three choices here, create opinion where none exists, change existing opinion, or reinforce it.

Its a logical sequence. With your goal and strategy now set, you need persuasive messages with a good chance of moving perceptions (and thus behaviors) in your organizations direction. But you must make sure the messages talk not only to the current topic at issue, but to any misconceptions or inaccuracies encountered during your information gathering, and to any problems that might be brewing.

What will you do with your new message? You will carry it to the attention of your priority audience. Youll use communications tactics that are credible in the eyes of the receiver, and effective in reaching him or her. Youll also want tactics that stand a good chance of moving opinion in that target audience, on the topic at issue, in your direction.

Fortunately, there are many communications tactics to choose from: newsworthy announcements, letters-to-the-editor, news releases, radio and newspaper interviews, brochures, speeches and on and on.

Now, youre back to the monitoring mode as you interact once again with members of the key target audience. With your communications tactics hammering away, you keep one eye peeled for signs of target audience opinion shifts in your direction. The other eye, (and ears) stay alert for any references by print and broadcast media, or other local thoughtleaders to your carefully prepared message.

The bottom line is, are perceptions and behaviors within the target audience being modified? If not, adjustments to your communications tactics often a big increase in, and wider selection — must be made. Your message may also need to be sharpened and its factual basis strengthened.

Gradually, youll begin to notice changes in opinion starting to appear along with a growing receptiveness to those messages of yours. This is real progress.

Should you still need encouragement to hang in there with your brand new public relations program, consider this. A single issue for example, a potentially dangerous, unattended perception among a key audience — can spread like wildfire nudging any business closer to failure than success.

That statistic alone should make you feel pretty good about public relations.

end

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks about the fundamental premise of public relations. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net. Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net. Net word count is 565 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly 2003.

What is the true purpose of public relations and how can it really help impact the growth of your small business? In order for the media to succeed, they need information that is both useful and entertaining for their readers. This is where you, the business owner or marketing executive, come in.

When thinking of public relations, many things may come to mind, like: Sweaty palms as you pick up the phone to try and convince a reporter how great your business is; getting writers block while trying to write a press release about your company; countless hours of faxing your story to hundreds editors just to find out that your piece did not make it to print.

However, public relations does not have to be such a daunting effort. If done right, public relations can also bring rewarding thoughts to your mind, like: The constant ringing of phones in your office of people interested in your products or services; gaining credibility and becoming a leading expert in your industry; or thousands of people learning about your company in a matter of days without costing you a dime!

This is the type of public relations that every business owner should strive for. First of all, lets analyze the true meaning of public relations. The Webster dictionary defines public relations as "Communication with various sectors of the public to influence their attitudes and opinions in the interest of promoting a person, product, or idea." Sounds easy enough, right? Well, if thats the case then why do so many companies struggle with implementing effective PR campaigns?

Most small business owners think that public relations is too time consuming of an effort. This may be true in cases where small businesses have very limited resources (i.e. staff, budget), but this should not discourage you from doing it. It is just a matter of prioritizing your goals and leveraging the resources that you do have available to take advantage of what is an invaluable marketing tactic. Now that we have established the importance of PR for your business, here are a few tips to get you started in the right direction:

1. Create several creative story pitches. The way to get into the hearts and minds of the media is through a great story pitch. Shamelessly promoting your business or its products is not going to do you much good. Not only that, but editors may classify you as that annoying self-promoter that wont stop pitching their product line, and then refer you to the advertising department. When developing story pitches you should ask yourself the following questions:

What makes this story different from the hundreds of other stories being submitted? Will this benefit readers financially, professionally, emotionally, or even spiritually in any way? Is this really entertaining or fun to read? If the answer to any of these questions is "No", then it is time to adjust your story until the answer is "Yes".

2. Match your target audience with the right media channels. If your companys main customer base is women in their 30s, then you probably dont want to focus on media channels that target a demographic of men in their 50s. Really understanding your target audience will help you in the next step of your PR plan – targeting the right media channels.

Even if you were to get exposure in these "A List" publications, it doesnt necessarily mean that you will get the same results than if you had a write-up in a more targeted publication that focuses specifically on Human Resource issues.

After getting your initial list of potential media targets together, rate each one on how good it fits with your target markets, and go after the ones that fit best first, regardless of the circulation or popularity of the source.

3. Have a spokesperson or PR firm represent your company. So lets assume that you have executed your calling campaign and have sparked interest with an editor or reporter looking to secure an interview with someone at your firm. They contact your office but no one is available to take their call. One thing that journalists and editors lack is patience, and rightfully so – they have deadlines to fulfill! The last thing you want is to be unavailable when an editor or reporter wants more information about your company or products.

4. Take advantage of your opportunities when they present themselves. PR results do not happen overnight. You must be patient and persistent. However, when activity comes up, you must ensure that the company is rewarded for the hard work put in! So do not forget to include your company information including a 1-3 line sentence describing your company, author byline (if applicable), and a URL of your web site. Media professionals will sometimes forget to include this information so it is your job to include it in your press release, articles, or interview. If you have a welcoming relationship with your media contact, see if you can check the article before it goes to print. If you are doing a talk show, make sure they mention your company name and/or web site on the bottom of the television screen.

5. Follow up with your contacts. Now that you have received press, do not forget to thank the reporter or editor who wrote it. Maintaining solid relationships is essential to the success of your PR campaign. Taking a reporter out to lunch or dropping them a kind note every now and then doesnt hurt either.

In sum, PR is a wildcard marketing strategy that can yield tremendous results if implemented correctly. Companies need to have either an in-house or third party person dedicated to PR, at least on a part-time basis. This person needs to be the champion of the company, products or services, in a tireless fashion. Dont forget that your number one goal is to get in front of your target audience. In your next marketing plan review or initial development of one, make sure to give PR serious attention and the resources necessary to implement a long-term PR strategy.

Dali Singh is the Managing Director for Blueliner Marketing, a full-service marketing and communications firm based in New York City. Visit her website at www.bluelinermarketing.com or contact her dali@bluelinermarketing.com.

Shooting from the hip always creates anxiety.

Especially when managers order a communications tactic here, another there, but fail to base them on a realistic public relations goal and strategy. One that could increase the chances theyll get the results they want.

Why waste resources this way when a little more effort can bring public relations success?

I mean, firing off communications tactics without knowing precisely how that target audience perceives your organization, and who your tactics should be aimed at, then failing to decide what changes in perception, and thus behavior you need and want, is like pouring resources down the you-know-what.

How much better to do it this way.

Whos the real public relations target? Is it not that external audience whose behaviors have the most important impacts on your organization? Shouldnt you eagerly court such people and focus your public relations efforts directly on them because your enterprise may be at stake?

Of course.

One way to approach the challenge is to decide up front which groups of people which external audiences really DO affect you the most.

Could it be those residents in a certain geography? Or those folks you know regularly use your services or those of your competitors? Or those who are members of trade unions? Or those between the ages of 21 and 35.

Doesnt really matter which, as long as you have solid reasons for targeting that #1 target audience. Namely, that their behaviors, good or bad, really DO have the most serious impacts on your organization.

What now? Take nothing for granted. Get out there as soon as possible and interact with members of that key audience. Monitor their perceptions by asking questions. What do you think of our organization? How about our products and services or, if you are an association or non-profit, our programs? Do you sense an undercurrent of negativity? Probe deeper to see if some basic misconceptions are at work. Or inaccurate perceptions or damaging rumors that may be at fault.

The answers to such questions should be studied carefully and a public relations goal created that, when achieved, corrects the problem you uncovered. It might be as simple as knocking down that trouble-making rumor once and for all. Or, you may want a goal that clarifies an unfortunate misconception, or an inaccurate belief about your organization. Even a confused feeling about your people will need attention.

Your brand new public relations goal leads directly to your next step a strategy that shows clearly how to reach that goal. Will you attempt to create opinion (perceptions) where none may exist? Or will you strive to change existing opinion? Occasionally, youll even decide to reinforce a slightly positive perception so that it grows to a strongly positive belief about your organization.

Thats right! Theres just three strategic choices create, change or reinforce perceptions. That simplifies things.

Now, with your chosen strategy in hand, what will the corrective message you wish to convey look like? It must be persuasive, and that requires candor, clarity and directness, if there is such a word. Be brief, to the point and, of course, completely straightforward so that further misunderstanding is just not possible.

At last in their proper role, we come to the beasts of burden, the communications tactics that will carry your crystal-clear message to the attention of members of your key target audience.

The list of such tactics is, literally, endless. You could start with letters-to-the-editor, press releases and broadcast interviews, then proceed to making speeches as well as arranging community briefings and open houses. You might even decide to ratchet up the tactics effort with special events, a series of targeted emails or face-to- face meetings with a thoughtleader segment of that key target audience.

Now up to this point, after two or three months of vigorous communications, what do you really know? Not much, until you determine whether youve actually impacted those target audience perceptions.

Sorry, but that means monitoring opinion all over again. So fan out again among key audience members and ask lots of questions one more time.

What are you hearing? Playback or feedback suggesting that a misconception has been clarified? That a damaging inaccuracy no longer dominates? That a rumor has been disarmed?

Remember, your public relations goal implies that perceptions and, thus, behaviors among your #1 external audience must be altered before you can declare victory.

So, when your remonitoring activity clearly reflects perceptual and behavioral movement in your direction, you have achieved your public relations goal.

If remonitoring reflects otherwise, you must consider increasing the mix and frequency of your communications tactics. And your message must be reanalyzed again for believability and impact.

Either way, you are no longer wasting your public relations resources because you have a proper plan with a proper strategy, message and communications tactics.

And that suggests you will not fail because you are no longer shooting from the hip. So last step? Bag the anxiety!

end

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks about the fundamental premise of public relations. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com

Leaders in the business world need public relations big time, and they show it every day.

How? By staying in touch with their most important external audiences and by carefully monitoring their perceptions about the company, audience member feelings about hot topics at issue, and the behaviors that inevitably follow.

Could there be an angle here for your business?

What I mean is, once you interact with, then learn what that key target audience of yours believes about you and your organization, a corrective public relations goal a specific behavior change — can be established.

Which then requires that you identify a strategy. There are just three choices here, create opinion where none exists, change existing opinion, or reinforce it.

Its a logical sequence. With your goal and strategy now set, you need persuasive messages with a good chance of moving perceptions (and thus behaviors) in your organizations direction. But you must make sure the messages talk not only to the current topic at issue, but to any misconceptions or inaccuracies encountered during your information gathering, and to any problems that might be brewing.

What will you do with your new message? You will carry it to the attention of your priority audience. Youll use communications tactics that are credible in the eyes of the receiver, and effective in reaching him or her. Youll also want tactics that stand a good chance of moving opinion in that target audience, on the topic at issue, in your direction.

Fortunately, there are many communications tactics to choose from: newsworthy announcements, letters-to-the-editor, news releases, radio and newspaper interviews, brochures, speeches and on and on.

Now, youre back to the monitoring mode as you interact once again with members of the key target audience. With your communications tactics hammering away, you keep one eye peeled for signs of target audience opinion shifts in your direction. The other eye, (and ears) stay alert for any references by print and broadcast media, or other local thoughtleaders to your carefully prepared message.

The bottom line is, are perceptions and behaviors within the target audience being modified? If not, adjustments to your communications tactics often a big increase in, and wider selection — must be made. Your message may also need to be sharpened and its factual basis strengthened.

Gradually, youll begin to notice changes in opinion starting to appear along with a growing receptiveness to those messages of yours. This is real progress.

Should you still need encouragement to hang in there with your brand new public relations program, consider this. A single issue for example, a potentially dangerous, unattended perception among a key audience — can spread like wildfire nudging any business closer to failure than success.

That statistic alone should make you feel pretty good about public relations.

end

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks about the fundamental premise of public relations. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net. Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net. Net word count is 565 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly 2003.

By Mac H McIntosh

Help your potential clients realize how you can help with great marketing; the best public relations events end up giving you a new lead. What's public relations? A wide range of activities can be considered PR, from business marketing to personal luncheons. Outreach in magazine is the most common form of lead-generating PR. The object is to get a mention for your business, service, or staff members to appear in a publication.

Alternatively, one of your management staff can have something published which they write or have ghost written. This sort of press can have a big effect on the number and quality of leads you generate. However, although this kind of PR is cheap compared to advertisements, getting covered in magazines requires sustained effort and a time commitment, in order to nurture relationships with magazine people in your business field. An organized campaign is usually more successful than scattered attempts at getting press. The best campaigns utilize the following elements:

1) A press release

2) A press kit with bios, product photos, and reprinted content

3) Good relationship with the press

4) Features supplied by managers and other staff

5) Media coverage featuring your employees as industry experts

6) Testimonials

Complete the following actions in forming your program:

Research, compile and read the publications. What's the audience? Think about the info that gets published – is it news? Make your contributions appropriate. Talk with the writers and go to the web site. Who's the right person to talk to? Call the editors and ask for submission guidelines and what they like to publish. Try to find the editorial calendar and see what stories they're running month by month. You can usually find this on the last page of the magazine or at the site. Then decide what you'll submit, and what publication month to target your efforts toward. Don't give up – keep at it to gain rapport with editors. It gets better with time. By becoming a source of relevant info, you may supply the publication with information which is vital to their readership, and become an important contributor. Your pitch should explain how it is relevant to the editorial calendar – offer to provide an outline upon request. It can be a good idea to use a ghost writer, as these professionals have experience working for magazines and can form the article to the format of the publication with relative ease. These deadline-driven contractors will take the initiative to get the work in on time, freeing your technical or management employees to work within their fields of expertise.

Be sure your press release provides newsworthy content. It should answer some of the following questions:

1) What's the problem you help solve?

2) What is accomplished?

2) What's the take-home benefit?

4) Is it a product or service?

5) How can it do this?

6) Why will the readers be interested?

7) How much does it cost?

What are the main features?

9) When's it available?

Don't brag about yourself or your company. Steer clear of words like “best,” “revolutionary,” and “unique.” These are overused. Editors prefer testimonials instead. Avoid language that is inaccessible to a lay person. Really, even the writers won't have an expert understanding of your offerings. Keep it simple. Always include contact info in two places on the page, and photos if accepted by the publication. Most prefer digital images. Name these files with relevant terms that one can search on to find them. In short, do the prep work and make it easy for them to run your piece.

PR can help improve Search Engine Optimization efforts as well. For example, wire services are excellent – after sending these out, your release will be discoverable by search engines and news wires. By including links in your online release, you can raise your info in the search engine rankings. A recent survey showed that most journalists use the Internet daily. About 75% of them make searches for press release info. For a free news wire to get you started, try: http://google.com/alerts and create a free subscription.

M. H. “Mac” McIntosh is described by many as one of America's leading B2B sales and marketing consultants and an expert on public relations .
Source: www.isnare.com

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.” Those words, spoken by historian Daniel Boorstin, have never been truer than in today's corporate climate. Those who are dedicated to their public relations careers find themselves always “on”; always working to promote their company. They miss no opportunities to ensure the message is heard at every turn. Gone are the days of public relations being solely for the celebrities.
PR, or public relations, is a must for large companies, however, many feel their PR departments are the “cure all” and fix any public scandal or problem that emerges. This simply is not true. A good PR person can certainly affect the public's view on the company announcements. From being accused of hiring illegal immigrants to a very public and scandalous affair among company leaders, the public relations department can often determine how it plays out in the media and ultimately how quickly it becomes yesterday's news. It's not surprising that experienced PR personnel usually do quite well when negotiating salaries and bonuses.
The better the relationship between your company's PR department and the media, the more advantageous it is for the corporation. If you cannot depend on your public relations representative to successfully pull off a media release regarding labor relations or any other uncomfortable event, then it is time to reconsider your choice for your company's media contact. To say this person must be likeable, convincing, authoritative and even physically attractive is an understatement. It is an unwritten and unspoken rule, personal appearance including being healthy, “camera friendly,” and physically attractive counts.
PR specialists have many titles, including public affairs representatives, communications agents, company points of contact and many others; but it still comes down to the one person who acts as the liaison between a company and the general public. He or she must be well versed, objective, convincing, remain cool under pressure and must, at all times, provide thorough information. It is a fine line between revealing too much about any particular subject while providing enough not to appear as though anything is being hidden from the public. Often, the PR representative is the bearer of bad news, but there are many times your company PR agent provides good news from a company standpoint. New contract awards, which translate into new jobs; expansion announcements and other information that is of the public's interest offset the times when bad news is broken.
Other responsibilities of a public relations specialist include research, providing input for company manuals, including employee guidelines, remaining current with global issues to ensure company representatives aren't traveling to unstable international areas, coordinate company films for new employees, schedule conventions and tradeshows and many write bid proposals for their companies. Many PR reps find themselves providing statistics and other confidential information during shareholders meetings and staff meetings.
/>Public relations is an exciting field, albeit a bit overwhelming at times. Most PR reps have assistants and sometimes entire departments for their support. With so many media reports, proposals, event coordination and other events, an assistant is vital, especially in larger companies. As with most executives, the assistant is the one who makes sure meetings are attended, flights are caught and engagements are kept.
For those who choose Public Relations, most thrive on the fast pace and even the stress that is involved with walking the fine line of responsibilities to the public as well to their employers. They must be organized, able to speak with authority and clarity and a healthy knowledge of psychology is always a bonus. Human nature plays a big part in these positions. Hours are long, but rewarding, and deadlines are always looming.
Educational requirements vary by company, but most who have degrees are usually in communications and business areas, or sometimes journalism. Even then, most employers are more interested in their skills and experience as much as the education of their candidates. For those who are wondering if jobs will be available or not, the answer is an absolute yes. In fact, the job outlook is considered excellent for all fields related to public relations.
For those who do not mind unpredictable events, long hours, travel, and can work well under stress, public relations is often a first choice. The pay is excellent but determined by many factors, mostly the size of the company and its budget. It is both rewarding and exciting. One final note, in a survey done in late 2006, 87% of all companies surveyed indicated a growing need for a solid public relations specialist and/or department. Of those, more than two-thirds anticipated adding to their staffs within twelve months. The trends from 2008 reflect those anticipated changes as more companies, even as they were undergoing lay-offs due to current economic times, found themselves adding to their staffs those who could improve the company's public image.

By Mac H McIntosh

Help your potential clients realize how you can help with great marketing; the best public relations events end up giving you a new lead. What's public relations? A wide range of activities can be considered PR, from business marketing to personal luncheons. Outreach in magazine is the most common form of lead-generating PR. The object is to get a mention for your business, service, or staff members to appear in a publication.

Alternatively, one of your management staff can have something published which they write or have ghost written. This sort of press can have a big effect on the number and quality of leads you generate. However, although this kind of PR is cheap compared to advertisements, getting covered in magazines requires sustained effort and a time commitment, in order to nurture relationships with magazine people in your business field. An organized campaign is usually more successful than scattered attempts at getting press. The best campaigns utilize the following elements:

1) A press release

2) A press kit with bios, product photos, and reprinted content

3) Good relationship with the press

4) Features supplied by managers and other staff

5) Media coverage featuring your employees as industry experts

6) Testimonials

Complete the following actions in forming your program:

Research, compile and read the publications. What's the audience? Think about the info that gets published – is it news? Make your contributions appropriate. Talk with the writers and go to the web site. Who's the right person to talk to? Call the editors and ask for submission guidelines and what they like to publish. Try to find the editorial calendar and see what stories they're running month by month. You can usually find this on the last page of the magazine or at the site. Then decide what you'll submit, and what publication month to target your efforts toward. Don't give up – keep at it to gain rapport with editors. It gets better with time. By becoming a source of relevant info, you may supply the publication with information which is vital to their readership, and become an important contributor. Your pitch should explain how it is relevant to the editorial calendar – offer to provide an outline upon request. It can be a good idea to use a ghost writer, as these professionals have experience working for magazines and can form the article to the format of the publication with relative ease. These deadline-driven contractors will take the initiative to get the work in on time, freeing your technical or management employees to work within their fields of expertise.

Be sure your press release provides newsworthy content. It should answer some of the following questions:

1) What's the problem you help solve?

2) What is accomplished?

2) What's the take-home benefit?

4) Is it a product or service?

5) How can it do this?

6) Why will the readers be interested?

7) How much does it cost?

What are the main features?

9) When's it available?

Don't brag about yourself or your company. Steer clear of words like “best,” “revolutionary,” and “unique.” These are overused. Editors prefer testimonials instead. Avoid language that is inaccessible to a lay person. Really, even the writers won't have an expert understanding of your offerings. Keep it simple. Always include contact info in two places on the page, and photos if accepted by the publication. Most prefer digital images. Name these files with relevant terms that one can search on to find them. In short, do the prep work and make it easy for them to run your piece.

PR can help improve Search Engine Optimization efforts as well. For example, wire services are excellent – after sending these out, your release will be discoverable by search engines and news wires. By including links in your online release, you can raise your info in the search engine rankings. A recent survey showed that most journalists use the Internet daily. About 75% of them make searches for press release info. For a free news wire to get you started, try: http://google.com/alerts and create a free subscription.

M. H. “Mac” McIntosh is described by many as one of America's leading B2B sales and marketing consultants and an expert on public relations .
Source: www.isnare.com

Recently, a colleague of mine told a story about how management at his organization had arbitrarily decided to change the title of his department from “Public Relations Department” to “Marketing Communications Department.” Surprised? You should be, but not just because they changed the department title on a whim.

What’s surprising here is that management failed to realize that marketing and public relations are really two very distinct management functions, each ultimately having a significant effect on the organization as a whole. It’s an all-too common mistake in today’s business environment, and an easy one to make. Both are very similar in structure: they work to identify audiences, segment those audiences and set objectives. The purpose of public relations is not, however, to promote goods or services to increase sales, as marketing does.

This isn’t to say that public relations and marketing don’t work together. In fact, to achieve organizational goals, organizations should make use of both functions. Each makes its own special, but complimentary, contributions to building and maintaining the relationships necessary for an organization to thrive.

The Differentiating Factor Marketing always aims at an exchange, usually one that involves money. It is the management function that identifies needs and wants (consumer demand), offers products and services to satisfy those demands and causes some kind of transaction that delivers those products and services in exchange for something of value. It’s the exchange between two parties bit that distinguishes this function from PR.

It’s All Relative. Of course, public relations may, and should, assist in this process, but does so in a different way. Effective PR assists the overall marketing effort by maintaining relationships through gauging awareness, attitude, mitigating crises, controlling damage, enhancing opinions or through other specific objectives not directly linked to sales.

The Whole Picture. Organizationally, marketing is usually a line management function, the first level of management, with supervisory or team responsibility for individuals and tasks. Line management operates in real-time and works closely with the workforce to contribute to the goals of the organization. Public Relations, on the other hand, is a staff management function and one that provides counsel and other services to support line functions.

Not All PR Practitioners Are Spin Doctors. I know that when I said “enhancing opinions” you thought “Ah-ha! They really are only letting us hear what they want us to hear.” The fact is that most PR professionals subscribe to a code of ethics, one that truly values and promotes honesty. What true PR professionals do is work at establishing and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its audiences, those folks on which the success or failure of the organization depends.

In the end, it’s easiest to say that while marketing focuses on exchange relationships with one public (customers), public relations covers a broad range of relationships and goals with numerous audiences, such as employees, investors, governments and special interest groups.

The point is, whether you think you need some really good marketing or a great public relations campaign, you can’t get away without using both.

Article Source: http://www.ezinearticles.com/?Marketing-Versus-Public-Relations—Yes,-There-is-a-Difference&id=1923807