RADU IOANA

Universitatea Titu Maiorescu

Facultatea de Stiinte Sociale, Politice si Umaniste Specializarea Comunicare si Relatii Publice AN II

LIVING IN A PR WORLD

In the world of 2015, a world of media and image, Public Relations plays a very important role not
only for companies, products or for celebrity stars, but also for us, common people. To develop or even to
exist in nowadays as individual or as a commercial product you will need a good PR to reinvent yourself
according customers or world demands.
The first step for understanding the importance of PR is to figure out exactly what is involved, and
sadly, there is never going to be an exact answer. Every PR strategy is going to be custom-tailored to the
individual business, as any well-executed marketing plan should be. The following include some of the more
commonly used techniques and its a must to be used today as a guideline for the things involved:
Press Releases - Press releases are an excellent way of updating the public about recent changes regarding
your business and its products. They are often distributed online. Websites such as PR Web allow you to
distribute your press releases throughout major news sites and search engines extremely quickly.

Media Alerts - Media alerts are similar to a press release. Instead of providing information about your
company changes or products, you would inform the media about a conference or event you are holding. The
idea behind this is to encourage photographers or reporters to attend, providing exposure for your company.
Press Tours - Identify the important and influential journalists or bloggers within your industry. Then provide
a reason to get them to meet with you, or simply have a conversation. Create an interesting and newsworthy
topic to do with your business for them to write about, aiming to make it
interesting enough to the readers of the journalist or blogger. Hopefully, your company will then be put in
front of readers that are directly interested in your niche.

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RADU IOANA
Universitatea Titu Maiorescu
Facultatea de Stiinte Sociale, Politice si Umaniste Specializarea Comunicare si Relatii Publice AN II
Trade Shows - Attending trade shows specific to your industry are an excellent method for networking with
influential people. It allows you to build up connections, develop your brand, and generate interest in your
company.
Email Marketing - Whilst this technique is often heavily associated with internet marketing, it often plays a
key role within a PR experts toolkit. The idea is to create a database of potential and existing customers. You
will then use it to email them with information regarding your industry, or present them with your new
products.
Social Networking - With the recent rise in active social media users, the purpose of social media from a
business perspective has risen dramatically. The idea is to build and maintain relationships with your potential
and

existing

customers.

Understanding these techniques and how they work is one thing, but actually implementing them
effectively requires an expert; or at least someone that has some type of experience. This is why most
businesses are choosing to hire agencies or freelancers to carry out their PR. When you combine the above
techniques with a clear plan, and you have the right resources to carry it out, the end result is hugely
beneficial for businesses.

Using PR as a marketing tool also allows you to gain credibility for your business. Reason being, PR
presents people with information from a third party. We are much more likely to trust positive coverage about
companies that we read in a newspaper, magazine, or on an online press release. Compare that to the only
alternative that will reach the same volume of audience, such as using television, billboards, radio or other
advertising methods. When you compare the two, you can see why more and more businesses are starting to
develop PR strategies.

Advantages of Public Relations

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RADU IOANA
Universitatea Titu Maiorescu
Facultatea de Stiinte Sociale, Politice si Umaniste Specializarea Comunicare si Relatii Publice AN II
Public relations offers several advantages not found with other promotional options. First, PR is often
considered a highly credible form of promotion. One of PRs key points of power rests with helping to
establish credibility for a product, company or person (e.g., CEO) in the minds of targeted customer groups by
capitalizing on the influence of a third-party -- the media. Audiences view many media outlets as independentparty sources that are unbiased in their coverage, meaning that the decision to include the name of the
company and the views expressed about the company is not based on payment but on the media outlets
judgment of what is important. For example, a positive story about a new product in the business section of a
local newspaper may have greater impact on readers than a full-page advertisement for the product since
readers perceive the news media as presenting an impartial perspective of the product.
Second, a well-structured PR campaign can result in the target market being exposed to more detailed
information than they receive with other forms of promotion. That is, media sources often provide more space
and time for explanation of a product.
Third, depending on the media outlet, a story mentioning a company may be picked up by a large
number of additional media, thus, spreading a single story to many locations.
Future trends in Public Relations
Until recently most public relations activity involved person-to-person contact between PR
professionals and members of the media, such as journalists and television news reporters. However, several
trends are developing that alter the tasks performed by PR people. In most cases these changes are the result
of new Internet technologies that are quickly gaining widespread acceptance among Internet users and are
becoming new media outlets in their own right.
Trends include:
o updating corporate news
o corporate blogs
o social media
o podcasting
o search engine optimization.
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RADU IOANA
Universitatea Titu Maiorescu
Facultatea de Stiinte Sociale, Politice si Umaniste Specializarea Comunicare si Relatii Publice AN II

Overall, developing a successful PR strategy is fundamental in taking businesses to the next level. Like
a summary, we can admit that it provides the following benefits:
o it provides a vital role in promoting businesses to their customers.
o when done correctly, it can often provide a greater result than advertising, whilst costing less.
o it allows you to quickly respond to opportunities within publicity.
o if you ever experience bad press, having a solid PR strategy in place will reduce the damage caused.
o it can improve the overall image of a company within the community.

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