Introduction

What is PR

There’s an old saying: “Advertising is what you pay for; publicity is what you pray for.”

Public relations (PR) is the way organisations, companies and individuals communicate with the public and media. A PR specialist communicates with the target audience directly or indirectly through media with an aim to create and maintain a positive image and create a strong relationship with the audience. Examples include press releases, newsletters, public appearances, etc. as well as utilization of the world wide web.The world of business is characterized by fierce competition and in order to win new customers and retain the existing ones, the firms have to distinguish themselves from the competition. But they also need to create and maintain a positive public image. A PR specialist or firm helps them both create and maintain a good reputation among both the media and the customers by communicating in their behalf and presenting their products, services and the overall operation in the best light possible. A positive public image helps create a strong relationship with the customers which in turn increases the sales.

Various Public involved

Public relations activities involve generating positive attitudes of people toward the company. To make them think about and act with the company positively, public relations activities are performed keeping in view different groups. The medium or mode of interactions should be selected according to the basic characteristics of various publics. Education, activities, language, religion, traditions, and other relevant aspects related to different types of groups must be kept in mind while deciding on public relations with them.

Public relations department needs the distinct public relations policies with each of the public’s. Each type of group can be effectively influenced by the suitable tool, medium, and manner of interaction. A company should work out the broad guidelines for successful public relations. Following part describes what a public relations officer should do to maintain public relations with each of the groups.

Differentiation

Differences

Pr and Branding

Understanding the differences between public relations and branding starts with untangling the end goals. In a nutshell, public relations is about managing relationships while branding is centered on creating an identity. According to the Public Relations Society of America, “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.” Put more simply, organizations employ public relations to manage relationships with their stakeholders such as employees, media, government officials and investors. On the other hand, branding is designed to create an identity for an organization or product. According to an article in “Bloomberg Business Week,” an organization’s or product’s identity is built through creating a personality, promise or lifestyle or a combination of the three

Pr and Advertising

Advertising alludes to a form of communication, which a firm uses to instigate prospective customers to choose the product offered by the company, over other products.On the other hand, public relations is about building and maintaining good relations, with company’s stakeholders, by gaining favourable publicity, having a good reputation and so on.

Pr and Propaganda

Public Relations takes the facts and frames them in a light that is positive for all parties involved; there is no twisting of words or information, and all of the information presented is valid and authentic.

Propaganda, on the other hand, is typically more negative in nature; it involves the twisting of information in order to better its own cause, with little regard for the audience involved. It concerned about its own personal betterment, oftentimes with little regard for accuracy.

Pr and Public opinion

Public opinion is an expression of a belief held in common by members of a group of public of controversial issue of general importance. The public opinion-formed process   emanates  from the expressed individual opinions of members of a group. The process starts with interaction of individual attitudes, mind-sets and beliefs concerning issue. Public opinion is usually expressed after controversy, dispute and debate over some controversial question which concern the welfare, doctrines and value system  of the group. Public opinion is aroused whenever a contemporary issue or some question arises about which the members of group are likely to have disagreement.

Public relations campaigns are put into place to help companies achieve their business objectives. But public relations is not advertising.  If advertising is telling people about your company, public relations is getting people to tell others about your company.Public relations efforts also target public opinion, but in a way that motivates the public to buy a certain product, hear a message more clearly, or learn about a new business in a creative and unusual way.

Pr creates an environment for Brand Activation

When a new product is produced it is virtually unknown to the general public, but consumer engagement marketing activities and channels, like doing a memorable ad campaign, experiential launch events, creative branding campaigns, PR and different consumer engagement strategies, brands gain the acceptance of their respective products among their target consumers. The process of making a brand well known and loved by consumers is called brand activation.PR plays an important role in creating a positive perception for new brands and new products. For a brand to come into the limelight and be successful in the much saturated marketplace, it must be able to generate positive publicity in the media amongst other things.

Powers of PR in Building Brands

* PR creates the environment for brand activation, brand exhibition, brand education and brand after sales-services.

* PR helps to create brand understanding & education and also build customer loyalty to the brand.

* PR shapes opinion, inspire action and change perspectives about brands.

* PR in a way strategically helps the company to hold on to its brand promise, credibility and consistency.

Examples

1.”One Night on iPhone 7″ – Apple

On November 5, 2016, photographers spanning 25 countries, all wielding iPhone 7’s, took to capturing life from sunset to sunrise. The worldwide photo activation, an extension of the “Shot on iPhone 6” campaign, intended to demonstrate the low-light capabilities of the camera on Apple’s iPhone 7 and did so in brilliant fashion. From the ice caves of Iceland to Indonesian volcanoes, and the clubs of Johannesburg to rooftops of Shanghai, “One Night on iPhone 7” successfully captures the lights in the night across a connected world and is certainly an effective brand activation for Apple and the iPhone 7.

2.”Rise & Slide” – Lipton Iced Tea

Part of their “Be A Daybreaker” morning events campaign, Lipton turned London’s Kings Cross Station into a giant slip-and-slide. The 100-meter inflatable water slide encouraged commuters and passerbys to take a break from their usual routines and refresh with Lipton. Of course, product samples were given out, and sliders could compete to win tickets to various different events throughout the city.