Public relations is an excellent personal marketing tool. No matter the size or success of an organization, having a public relations team is necessary to build trust with your customers. By definition, the practice establishes mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between a company and its audience. Any effective public relations team aims to be responsive, honest and transparent to the organization and its targeted public.
Public Relations Builds A Company's Reputation
Trusted reputations are difficult to build and easy to destroy. The overall quality and character of a brand depends on public relations. Those who handle marketing create an image of a company through commercials and online advertisements. These forms of communication promote the organization but don’t tell consumers anything about the values of the company. How an organization handles its business over time is watched continuously by the media, and nothing goes forgotten. Since public relations professionals are in touch with news organizations, they can generate content that makes the general public aware of the company in a way that makes them feel less forcibly persuaded and more comfortably familiar with its brand.
The Social Media Age Requires Public Relations
There once was a time where your knowledge about a company and its products was solely through the company’s advertising or through word-of-mouth from those close to the customer. In the digital era, businesses are no longer so lucky. In cases where customer service is lacking, all it takes is one unhappy customer to use social media as a tool to rebrand the organization in a negative light. A dramatic YouTube video or an angry tweet can attract a large audience. Ignoring the problem can make your company look worse than it already does. When social media attacks strike, it is imperative to have fast, proactive responses. A successful public relations team, listens to the social media community and creates a strategy to fix the bad publicity.
Public Relations Makes A Business Proactive
Beyond social media attacks, a public relations group handles all types of crises. When something goes wrong, there should already be a plan in place to handle the damage. It’s important to have a team that knows how to accept responsibility for a problem, even if it wasn’t the company’s fault. There should be trained public relations professionals at hand who know the company well and can guide a CEO writing a proper release. Having a public relations team by your side is like having a protective shield around your company at all times. Bad news travels fast, so you will want someone who knows your organization and consumers better than any employee to weaken the blow from a public issue and help move your company forward.
