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PR is Not Media Relations

Public relations, contrary to what I suspect many people believe, is not a synonym for media relations, or placing stories in the media.

Public relations is, in fact, about helping create positive, mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their stakeholders. Media relations is one way of doing this.

On the upside, placing positive stories about an organisation in the media has been proven in many cases to be an excellent way of enhancing an organisation’s reputation, or that of its products and/or services. It has also helped increase sales and profits for an organisation and its products and/or services.

On the downside, however, media relations is still not (despite the advancements of Web 2.0) a dialogic platform. It does not facilitate mutual understanding between an organisation and its stakeholders.

What is Public Relations and Why Do You Need It?

Many business people think the primary objective of public relations is to generate free advertising. That's why they pump out lots of press releases and hope the local newspapers print them.

However, any good public relations professional will tell you this concept of PR is false and wrongheaded for two main reasons:

Public relations is not and never was the same thing as advertising.

Public relations is not free and it never was free.

Perhaps creating a press release and having the media pick it up can be misconstrued as free advertising -- especially if you score a few column inches in a reputable newspaper or trade publication.

What a thrill! You received a mention about the size of a small advertisement in your local paper.

And it's important to point out, when it comes to strategic public relations, generating press releases and having them picked up by the media is a low-rent element of any effective public relations program.

The Rationale for Hiring a Public Relations Firm (Especially Now)

tough times At the beginning of the year, Advertising Age(1) predicted that public relations would be among the bright spots in 2009. B2B Magazine similarly claimed that business-to-business marketers were increasingly turning to public relations even as overall budgets are being reduced.

So, why would these two venerable trade publications tout the relative strength of public relations versus the other marketing disciplines they cover? While its star has been ascending for some time, this moment in time has created perhaps public relations' greatest opportunity to shine. "For business, public relations is an increasingly vital marketing tool—especially as traditional forms of advertising struggle to catch consumers' attention." The Economist (2)

That observation from The Economist was supported in part by a landmark study conducted by marketing giant Procter & Gamble in 2005. When P&G employed a marketing mix model for six brands over a one to three year period, it found:

PR drives sales, often on a par with advertising;
PR delivers stellar ROI (275%), much greater than advertising;
PR Provides a halo effect over other marketing tactics.

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Main Menu

The Spin

PR is Not Media Relations

What is Public Relations and Why Do You Need It?

The Rationale for Hiring a Public Relations Firm (Especially Now)

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