Posted on 20 July 2010. Tags: difference between public relations media relations, Editors and Producers, getting publicity, public relations, what is media relations, What is PR?, What is public relations, Working With Reporters
I recently had a conversation with a young lady, let’s call her PR Ingenue, who wanted to hear my PR Basic Principles because as she said, PR is so broad. We had an interesting discussion about the difference between public relations and media relations so I thought it would be interesting to share my thoughts with you guys, and get some of your basic principles. Here’s the conversation:
Mopwater: A lot of people equate PR to media relations, but that’s just one part.
PR Ingenue: Could you explain the difference?
Mopwater: Media Relations refers to the act of working with members of the media to get media coverage. PR includes media relations but it also encompasses how you safeguard image perception of your brand, or what do people think about you. What is your reputation? PR people shape that. So if your client is Starbucks and their problem is that people think its too expensive PR people would figure out the messaging that would appeal to cost-conscious consumers or decide “hey we are expensive and that’s how we want to be perceived, and we want to appeal to people who want a more expensive product. Let’s just leave it like that”
PR people watch what people are saying about you in a crisis and tell you how to respond carefully to minimize damage to your reputation (think celebrities like Chris Brown and Mel Gibson or corporations like BP).
PR people advise you on the steps you need to take in order to be more visible and to get to the next level, so we find platforms for clients to showcase their skills because we’re in the business of positioning experts.
Mopwater: People so often say “get me on CNN” or “get me in the New York Times” without thinking it through…it’s like why? Why do you need to be on CNN? How does that fit into your strategy? How is that helping you meet your goal? It’s just an empty wish you think you should have because everyone says you should have it. UNLESS you think CNN is the key to showcase all the work you’ve done up to this point and you’re ready to move to the next place.
PR Ingenue: Okay so PR asks underlining questions you need to know the reasoning to help create strategy, right? Correct me if I’m wrong.
Mopwater: You need to know the goals to create strategy. Always ask what is your goal? What do you want more of? Customers? Attention? Website hits? Facebook fans? Marketshare? Money? Repeat customers/brand loyalty?
PR Ingenue Got it!
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What are your thoughts?
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Posted in Publicity
Posted on 20 July 2010. Tags: community relations, dc pr, DC social media firm, definition public relations, different types of PR, Editors and Producers, investor relations, PR definitions, PR disciplines, PR sub-sets, What is PR?, What is public relations, Working With Reporters
I hear this question more often than I would like to admit. What, exactly is public relations or PR? I even hear this question from people who are in the industry or trying to get into the industry.
Public relations is an overarching discipline. A definition from The Public Relations Handbook:
Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communications, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between an organization and its publics; involve the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.
So many people equate public relations with publicity (media relations) but there are many other activities. Here is a rough list:
- Internal communications (communicating with employees through in-house newsletters, intranet sites and suggestion boxes, etc.)
- Corporate PR (Communicating on behalf of whole organization with annual reports, ethical statements, conferences, etc.)
- Media Relations (Communicating with journalists with press releases, press events, briefings, and increasingly social media)
- Business to Business (Communicating with other organizations like suppliers and retailers at trade events, exhibitions and through newsletters and e-mail campaigns)
- Public Affairs (Communicating with opinion formers and politicians, monitoring the political environment)
- Community relations and Corporate Social Responsibility (Communicating with local community, elected representatives, creating exhibitions, presentations, letters, meetings, sports activities and other sponsorships)
- Investor Relations (Communicating with financial organizations through newsletters, briefings and events)
- Strategic Communication + Reputation Management (Identification and analysis of situation, problem and solutions through research, planning and executing a campaign to improve the ethical reputation of the organization)
- Issues Management (Monitoring Political, social, economic and tech environment )
- Crisis Management (Communicating clear messages in an emergency as the PR people at Toyota or BP needed to do to deal with the media in light of recent crises)
- Copywriting (Writing for different audiences to high standards of literacy, writing press releases, newsletters, web pages, annual reports, crafting copy for tweets)
- Publications Management (Overseeing print and media processes like leaflets, internal magazines, and websites)
- Events Management (Organizing conferences, press launches, trade shows)
Was that overwhelming? It shouldn’t be. It should help you focus in on what you want to do, what you do best or a potential focus area. Most firms and/or solo practitioners pick 2-3 focus areas to specialize. Larger agencies can afford to pick more. If you’re just starting out, try a few things and see what you like. You can probably tell whether or not you’re interested in, for example, investor relations or public affairs which require an interest and deep subject matter expertise in finance and politics respectively.
Thoughts?
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Posted in Publicity
I recently had a conversation with a young lady, let’s call her PR Ingenue, who wanted to hear my PR Basic Principles because as she said, PR is so broad. We had an interesting discussion about the difference between public relations and media relations so I thought it would be interesting to share my thoughts with you guys, and get some of your basic principles. Here’s the conversation:
