Public Relations 101: Getting Your Message Out

Perhaps you'd like to promote your organization's event. Maybe you're trying to publicize your cause. Or maybe you're trying to get media attention for yourself or your product. Sometimes it's difficult to have your voice heard amidst the cacophony of competing messages.

The mainstream media often refers to today's information overload. After all, people get their information from more sources than ever before. There's broadcast news, cable news, newspapers, magazines, radio, online publications, bloggers, discussion boards, RSS streams, and more. It seems, however, that people aren't overwhelmed with information; they're simply customizing the way they receive information. As for the mainstream media's hype about overload, it may very well just be a case of sour grapes. When people turn to other sources for news and information, the market share of the mainstream media decreases.

When you're trying to get your message out to the masses, follow the lead of public relations professionals. Their approach to promotion is to use multiple channels, both in traditional media and in new media. By blanketing as many channels as possible, your efforts at public relations and promotion are bound to be successful.

When you want to get the word out, you first need to define your audience. Who is it that you're trying to reach? If you're trying to market your message to 18-34 year olds, you don't want to waste your time with media that draws an older crowd.

Once you define your audience, you need to craft your message. Indeed, if you are using multiple channels or trying to reach more than one audience, you may have to craft several messages. For each, it's important to try and see the world through the eyes of your intended audience, and the design a message that they will find appealing.

When you know your audience and have your message, it's time to distribute that message. Although that can seem like an obstacle for an amateur, there are actually many venues through which you can do public relations and promotion. There are even online marketing opportunities that allow you to post free press releases and offer free public relations services.

One such service is pr-inside.com. It's a free public relations service that helps you in promotion - whether you're promoting your online business, your organization, or yourself. You simply register and submit your free press releases. It takes about five minutes, after which the pr-inside.com team reviews your text and adds it to their public relations website.

There's no need to be intimidated by the competition from big public relations firms or the savvy mainstream media. With some forethought and a targeted message, you can publicize your message effectively using free online marketing tools.

Public Relations - What, How, Who?

Public Relations Definitions

"What is Public Relations?" This question gets asked dozens of times daily. A simple question it is, yet it has managed to acquire several definitions throughout the world. Essentially, Public Relations (PR) deals with publicizing the image, reputation, intentions or purposes of organizations, groups and individuals in the best possible way - regardless of the actuality of the situation. In other words, the primary objective of PR is this - the represented body or individual must "come up smelling like roses". There has been growing concerns that the purpose of public relations is merely to spin the truth of a matter. While this perception is understandable, it arises from the misunderstandings about the role of public relations. The fact that PR agents provide representation for an organization, does not mean they have the authorization to lie on that organization's behalf. It means however, that PR professionals have the full responsibility of highlighting the positive aspects and benefits of their respective organizations, in the context of that representation.

Other Definitions:

- Public Relations can also be defined as the management of understanding and communications between organizations/individuals and the wider society through various media platforms. It bridges the gap between the two thereby ensuring mutual adaptability and coexistence.

- Public Relations is a discipline in business that measures public perception of and attitude towards an organization or individual and thereby seeks ways to secure its trust and acceptance. It examines the programs and policies of the respective organization and highlights their benefits and goodwill that serves public interests.

As such, Public Relations has developed into diverse areas of specialization so as to focus on specific functions. There are Marketing and Advertising PR, Government PR, Financial PR, Consumer PR (not to be confused with marketing), Industry PR and others. They implement various information technologies (IT) and techniques such as Social Media and Networking; Press Releases; relating directly with journalist among others measures, in an effort to get their messages across. Marketing and Advertising PR, in particular, are even more likely to implement such media and techniques in their campaign strategy. With new forms of IT being introduced daily, they seize every opportunity to reach as many of their niche audience as possible.

With that said, PR professionals are expected to abide by certain Code of Ethics and Conduct that are set in place. This is for the purpose of regulating their activities and eliminating possibilities of misinformation to the general public. As alluded to before, the instances of spinning an issue is also reduced by these measures as Public Relations professionals are held accountable for their actions and any misleading information that they may issue.

Public Relations Jobs - How to Succeed in Public Relations

'Public relations' jobs are touted to be the most difficult jobs in the world partly because of the reason that life at the top is quite different and more because of the reason that you need to be a really good people manager. Yes, it is more about a people manager than anything else that will define your career in a public relations job.

Throughout the internet there have been endless queries about how to succeed in jobs to out things in a general perspective. There have been queries related to the article which is being discussed here too. When most of the articles have generalized and trivialized the matter, this article seeks to go in-depth of the problem and give the best solution to it. Here are some key points of succeeding in a public relations job:

• Building, Rebuilding, Evaluation and Management: These points basically sum up all of what is expected of a good PR professional. When you're working in the lower rungs of the management level, especially in a PR job - you have to learn as much as you can and that too within a very short span of time. A PR individual is a person who can build and nurture relationships that a client develops with their company. As mentioned earlier, PR jobs are more of management stuff than just being technical agendas. True, that businesses tend to look at people objectively but it is your job to manipulate that view of the company and present that as a more humane face of the company.

Evaluation is again a key to success. When in a PR job, you need to constantly review and upgrade your skills, mainly - management and soft skills; skills that will well-define you and secure your place in the job that you're at. These are the precursors to building an indispensable bond with the company you're working for.

• Constructive Criticism: There's a famous saying - 'Listen to all, do what you like.' When you're in a corporate setup, you need to be a little manipulative with the 'do what you like' part. You should do what you feel is in the best interest of the company you're working for. Public relation jobs are quite capable of getting on your nerves - and the moment you feel that something happens like that, it would be wise for you to take some time off the work you're into. That will help you let out your built-up steam. Then comes the criticism part - be critical of your work but let the criticism flow in a constructive manner.

At times you might feel that it is important to acknowledge the work you're into. Do not waver in case the acknowledgment does not come from your peers and/or seniors congratulate yourself on the work you've done and become a role model for growth and self-inspiration amongst your colleagues.

Public relation managers are supposed to be the most cool-headed people around. Never lose your cool and there's no reason as why you should succeed in your PR job!

Exploring Public Relations

Since the dawn of civilization, the children of Adam and Eve have had the art of developing relations. Right from individuals to the nations, the significance of being interlinked and connected has been deeply understood. We, the human beings, are truly 'the social animals'. No doubt, change is inevitable. From tribal men to Cyber Souls, a lot of things including cultures, religions, choices of dresses and foods, ways of living and the communication skills have been changed so far. Nothing in the world remains constant, but only the change itself. Individuals as well as nations have their own needs and interests. From a consumer to producer, the world of needs and interests need to be well protected and well promoted. The best way to be more civilized is to be more advanced in public relations.

Public Relations (PR) is a kind of ''promotion intended to create goodwill for a person or institution.'' (Word Net Web) Like all other fields, the World Wide Web has also digitalized Public Relations. Just with some electronic clicks, the relations are getting worst on one hand; and the best on the other. In present era when the scenarios are changing so rapidly, the field of Public Relations has also become very fast. In such speedy competitive environment, it has become challenging both for the persons and the organizations to maintain their goodwill the way it is meant to be. No matter what it takes to build the image, efforts are being made; policies are being drafted. Gone are the days when we had plenty of time to build our image. Now, it is happening in micro seconds and beyond. The process of image building is being painted on the canvass of tiny bits and megabytes.

The inhabitants of 'Global Village' are sharing their views and news online. The impact of being online for a purpose remains afresh at offline mode. The relations are being created and destroyed with a furious speed. It becomes hard, sometimes, to slow down the ongoing process of public relations. It is worth mentioning that speed, for some persons and institutions, is exploring new vistas both in productive and non-productive way. It depends upon the 'Men behind the Gun' i.e. the Public Relation Officers to combat the speed with a big hope to cope it professionally. Those persons, institutions and organizations, who have planned their public relation programs well, shall proudly survive in the years to come. On the other hand, those who are unaware of the 'Need for Speed, to tailor their relations' shall be left behind helpless and miserable.

Having learnt a few precious lessons from World War I and II, the advanced countries have become teachers and preachers for having public relations among all governments. Without having defined the boundaries and limits of future relations, the persons as well as nations suffer a lot. Surely, we cannot afford another war of such a terrible volume of destructions. Any single clash might lead the nations into a catastrophic situation once again. The Global Image Building of Mankind is all that we need.

Whatever the nature of relationship is, one thing remains common i.e. seeking attention. It is a must in the relations that our status be set as 'available' all the time. Any sort of sheer carelessness would spoil the beauty and pollute the ponds of mutual understanding. As a result, the devastating elements would crush the innocence of constructive thoughts. This is the lesson that we learnt from World War II.

Individuals depart and nations fight when certain issues remain un-attended when they were demanding 'Intensive Care'. A product loses its image if not advertised attentively. A driver may crash the car being unaware of the intensity of attention that is needed on the road. Likewise, public relations professionals need to know the ingredients required to cook the food of marvelous taste. In terms of professionalism, there are three things obligatory in hitting the target accurately:

- First, we need to point the gun in a right direction;

- Secondly, we need to control the rate of breaths; and

- Finally we need to hit the target with a confidence of hitting it accurately.

Same is the case in public relations. In public relations, the story starts from a mission statement; it becomes a mission; the mission is accomplished. More expert the professionals, better the public relations. All we need to do is to value the values of all without any criminal intention but a gesture of friendly attention. Products or producers, consumptions or consumers and above all; living souls or life itself demand for the advocacy and propagation of Global Public Relations all around the world so that the human civilization could be made exemplary for all other creatures, seen or un-seen.

Public Relations: Ten Trends

Is all publicity good? In the new free world, it takes a single employee having a bad day to bruise your business badly.

1. As social and traditional media merge, control over information in the marketplace has weakened considerably. Is all publicity good? Ask those brands that have suffered when tweets and Facebook criticisms have destroyed their campaigns or brands. In the new free world, it takes a single employee having a bad day to bruise your business badly.

2. The difference between PR professionals and journalists used to be clear. It no longer is. In many publications, press releases are quoted verbatim without verification. Journalists write advertorial content on the side, which surely undermines their professional credibility? If the content is fresh and relevant, we all assume it is ethical. If it isn't, it could damage the brand once it's too late to back off.

3. When DTP was first introduced, writing and publishing standards dropped considerably. They have never really recovered because we are all able to DIY. The same goes for user-generated content, websites and blogging: more content, less quality. Using only the web for research purposes produces sometimes suspect information because most is unchecked and much is PR-related. Facts should be checked properly.

4. Consumers are no longer alone. Because communication is so easy, an unsatisfied customer can find thousands of others in record time and become part of a mob. Because consumers are better informed, their expectations are higher. Promises not kept or expectations not met can make for disastrous public relations and be used against their source by competitors.

5. Businesses often fail to research their buying markets adequately. They set about defining target markets rather like buying a new suit: 'I like this one, I'll have it'. Ego should not come into it. Your markets critically define strategy and more media options require in-depth knowledge of now more fragmented markets.

6. The only real way to guard brand reputation, which has become more fragile than ever before, is to be prepared for any crisis, be able to mobilise your team at a moment's notice and be strategically extremely smart. Customer service, particularly, is an area where many companies are caught out, which means employee training in all outlets should be better than ever before.

7. Analytics and measurement tools have become essential tools to PR professionals in the process of justifying budgets and collaborating with marketers. SEO experts will play a huge part in every campaign, to ensure that knowledge goes beyond basic automated metrics to include sentiment analysis that captures additional nuances that could be easily overlooked.

8. Measuring any promotion is complex. From counting smiley faces to the number of tweets, blogs and articles; from hits to conversions and calls to purchase. The more points of sale, the more figures to collect, analyse and report on. Content is no longer only where it's been placed or sent. Affiliates take it wherever they choose.

9. PR is becoming increasingly mobile worldwide. This totally changes the length and quality of what we put out, but also explains why defining target markets correctly is so essential. What grabs a teen could irritate her father and disgust her grandfather; your mobile market is highly fragmented (and not only by location), although event marketing and graduated PR promotions have become easier to target.

10. As more online communities and social networks seek exclusivity we have to be able to find every influencer and what makes each tick. Influencer marketing is in a growth phase.

What makes all of these items more interesting and challenging is that defined groups have changed incredibly since the worldwide recession began in 2008. Many have changed groups. Some mindsets and spending habits have changed irrevocably. We are all thrust into a new learning curve and every client is as new.