BREAKING DOWN PUBLIC RELATIONS
Why Is It Still So Hard To Understand What Public Relations Is All About?
Public Relations – a field that has been a staple part of my life for over seven years now. And yet after all these years, even the dearest and closest to me still have little or no clue what my job entails. So here’s my breaking-it-down version of Public Relations.
Public Relations simply means communicating. Public Relations is the mouthpiece of a brand or company, hence communicating the right and relevant ideas in a timely manner is of utmost importance.
Saying the right thing at the right time is important. Your subject matter must also be relevant to your target audience. We are no salesmen selling ice to Eskimos, putting it bluntly. We are informing you (the public) of the existence of a particular ice brand, why this particular type of ice is good or works for you and we are telling this story in the right media channels that you read. Here again, we analyse your reading habits – whether newspapers or magazines, be it the titles and segments so that you will receive the information promptly.
And we are only selling this ‘ice’ to you who need it. You could be in a tropical country, you could be in the food and beverage industry or you could someone that holds parties. In a nutshell, you are the target audience that we (PR people) have identified and selected based on the understanding/belief that you will want or need this ice.
Our work is to talk about the brand or the product, explaining the characteristics, building the brand name with no direct selling involved. Our role is basically the middle person between the brand and the media and indirectly you, our target audience.
To those who still are still confused, don’t mind me if I roll my eyes to the “So how much sales can we expect from this project?” question. ☺
Till the next breaking-it-down session in 2015!
Desiree Ann
December 2014