Public relations can affect a business in many ways. Good public relations can mean the difference between fighting an uphill battle with your business and gliding your way to the top of your industry.
Unfortunately many small businesses don’t understand the basic definition of public relations or how to begin to leverage it by building PR objectives, strategies or tactics. Properly defining what public relations means to your business is the first step in developing strategies and tactics that will produce positive PR results.
With a basic understanding of the definition of public relations, businesses can begin to create PR marketing plans and strategies aimed at influencing public perception, creating media exposure and ultimately advancing their business goals.
Basic Definitions of Public Relations
Public relations can mean many things to business. Simple definitions that often come to mind for when asked how to define PR include:
- Proactively influencing public perception of a company
- Generating public exposure or publicity for a company
- Garnering media or press coverage of company news, products or events
- Effectively handling negative company news or incidents publicly
Here are some basic definitions of public relations according to authoritative resources on the subject of public relations.
According to a classic textbook on marketing, Marketing by Peter D. Bennett, “public relations” is an intentional effort to produce favorable un-paid communication (as opposed to paid publicity or advertising) with an organization’s stakeholders (such as employees, customers, clients, stockholders or the public at large).
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the world’s largest and foremost organization of public relations professionals, has created an even simpler definition of public relations that is widely accepted among PR professionals. Their official definition states: “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”
PRSA also recognizes that modern day public relations activity has evolved with changing roles and technological advances (such as social media and the Internet) to emphasize concepts of “engagement” and “relationship building”.
Public relations also involves effectively managing the overall image of an organization with proactive outreach and quick action to mitigate any actions that may harm the public’s perception of an organization. By positively influencing public perception, public relations can be a very effective marketing tool.
Defining Public Relations Objectives for a Business
When building marketing goals and objectives for a business, public relations objectives are often intertwined with many strategies and tactics within a marketing plan.
Examples of public relations objectives for a business may include:
- Improving public perception and recognition of a company
- Securing print or online media coverage of company news, products or events
- Reducing or eliminating negative company press
Most small businesses with limited budgets will focus their public relations efforts on generating industry exposure and positive reactions by customers and media/press representatives. A major priority for many small businesses is to build their brand and reputation within a local market or industry niche with the assistance of a public relations strategies and tactics. In addition to standard press releases and media outreach, the adoption of social media in public relations has now become a mainstream strategy for PR professionals to meet their business objectives.
Sources:
- Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
- Marketing by Peter D. Bennett
Diane Seltzer - Diane is a branding, pr and social media marketer with experience ranging from advertising to corporate marketing and consulting.
