BY Samantha Pounds:
After recently consulting with a new client one thing came to my mind: what makes public relations so great? Yes it’s true that PR is what can potentially make or break a company, person or product. But why is PR so great?
When I left the consultation meeting with my client, I was convinced that PR must be part of a business if that business wants to be successful..there is no way around it.
Just as words make the story, so does Public Relations. The great thing about PR is that it’s an activity that can’t be rushed or done spare of the moment. Great Public Relations take time, effort and patience.
When I was a Public Relations intern for the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, I learned that by having a great PR team, the company is backed up for sure. PR is a great investment because Public Relations practitioners are trained to make a plan A-Z.
In addition, PR practitioners are also trained to make proper crisis communication plans. All of my PR pros no exactly what this is, but for those not familiar, a crisis communications plan is literally an agenda of what your organization or client will do is chaos ruptures in the midst of a campaign.
When looking at a situation such as the oil spills that occurred a few years ago, PR pros for BP undoubtedly had a crisis communication plan in hand and ready to execute.
Working in the PR field takes time. You will mostly spend your time researching target markets, what can work, what won’t work, what has been done already, what hasn’t been done already and most importantly, what’s your plan.
The next time your at your favorite restaurant think about the steps that business took to promote and market itself..then ask yourself another question: what can they do better?
Keep in mind Public Relations is also about continuously growing your clients image, revenue and public relations. So again I ask: what makes public relations so great? PR is great because it’s a career that will constantly keep you on your feet and ready to do more day after day!