Public relations in your company

Public relations was initially associated with the management of an organisation. Over time, PR activities became linked to communication as well. Today, the most common term for public relations is activities aimed at creating and maintaining positive relations within a company and its environment. This is linked to the image of the organisation. PR activities must be planned, carried out consciously and consistently. This will ensure that the company takes care of its image and how it will be perceived by customers, employees and other people associated with it.

PR is somewhat similar to marketing. However, it differs in its objective. In the case of marketing, it is to sell a product or service. Public relations is to help create a positive image and gain trust among customers - and potential customers.

What further distinguishes PR from marketing is the form of the message. In the case of public relations, it takes the form of a dialogue - it is conducted between a company and its environment. Marketing, on the other hand, is one-way advertising. It is based on the offer the company wants to present to the customer, but without receiving feedback. Is PR important? Absolutely. Although it is based on different assumptions than marketing, it supports it. It supports sales. In addition, proper attention to public relations makes a company more credible not only to customers, but also to potential sponsors and business partners.

Moreover, caring about the organisation's good relations with its surroundings will help it to integrate with the local community. It will be easier to gain their recognition and sympathy. In addition, regular contact with the media helps to promote the company and its services.

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Aims and objectives

What are the objectives of public relations activities? The general objectives focus on the organisation's image, as well as its relationships and issues. The person who deals with PR should care about how the company is perceived externally. Create a positive image of it. This makes it easier to establish relationships with the public. To gain their trust. A PR strategy should also include measures for mistakes. So it's about how to deal with crises - because they happen to everyone. The public relations person will also be responsible for creating measures for recovering from a crisis and rebuilding the image in the eyes of customers. In PR activities, there are also intermediate objectives. They contribute to the achievement of overall objectives. These include, among others, notifying the environment of what the company is doing. Familiarising potential customers with the offer. However, an organisation's objective must not only be to sell. Public relations activities should therefore focus on ensuring that the company meets customer expectations.

Another indirect goal is to convince customers of new products or services on offer. PR specialists should know how to persuade audiences to change. This, in turn, will maintain the company's positive image in the eyes of different groups. What are the current PR objectives? The specific objectives depend on the strategy a company adopts.

The most common activities are:

• showing the company as a whole, which operates without problems,
• establishing relationships with employees,
• raising customer awareness of the company's products and offerings,
• communicating the company's position on various issues,
• contact with local authorities.

Your face

Every company should have a department dedicated to public relations - or hire someone to work in this position. Who will do well as a PR specialist? Certainly a person who wants to face a sales position. However, he or she will not be selling a product, but an image and an opinion. It is important to be able to build relationships with people, to have empathy, to understand what customers want. Relevant studies are useful, but no course of study will fully prepare you to be a PR specialist. Knowledge of marketing or psychology will be useful.

Can anyone take on the task of taking care of a company's PR? Of course. However, it is important to remember that this is a rather delicate matter. One crisis can damage a brand's image for a long time. The future of the organisation depends on how skilfully the PR team ends the crisis and what action it takes to restore trust. So it is not worth hiring people for PR who are not familiar with the industry.

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Your image

A well-developed PR strategy is extremely important for a company's image. It is not just about what customers or potential customers think of it. Their opinion translates into profits for the organisation - the more positive the image, the more products and services will be sold. It is also easier to reach new customers. A company with a poor reputation will have poorer financial results than one that is careful about its reputation.

PR activities also include media relations. This in turn supports marketing and advertising activities. It increases publicity and spreads positive opinions about the brand. It is easier for a company to grow.

PR is not only about external activities, but also about internal activities. Employees who feel good about their workplace work more efficiently and effectively. They are more willing to come to the company and engage in new tasks. How do you ensure the wellbeing of your team? The PR department can also help with this. This is because public relations tools include employee mailings, company events or briefings. All of these help to forge bonds with employees and thus have a positive impact on the atmosphere in the company. The team's attachment to the brand will also increase.

Public relations is somewhat similar to marketing, but targeted differently. Public relations focuses on activities to create a positive image of a company and to ensure that it has a good reputation. Marketing, on the other hand, is geared towards selling a product or service and a one-sided message, advertising. In PR, dialogue is important. In the case of crises, a good PR specialist will help steer the company out of problems and ensure that confidence in the brand does not decline. All of this in turn translates into an organisation's financial performance and an influx of new customers - or the abandonment (or lack thereof) of existing ones.