Public Relations

So you've got a great product or service and you (and your satisfied customers) know it. Of course, the thing you need to do to further grow your business is find ever more customers.

There are many routes open to achieve this aim. You could advertise on the side of a bus... put a business card in the local chip shop or even make an amusing advert to slot into the tea break during Coronation Street (if you've got a spare million quid or so).

But where else are opinions formed? There are conversations between people who might recommend a product to a friend, of course, but these are extremely hard to manufacture or influence. But perhaps the biggest starting point for people's conversations, ideas and thoughts is The Media.

"The Media" encompasses published formats such as newspapers, magazines, radio shows - and increasingly online forums such as blogs, message boards and 'social media' sites such as Facebook.

The work of much modern PR can be considered to take the form of an attempt to place a product or service in these modes of discourse. If a company receives a favourable report in a high profile media outlet then it can help influence millions of people to try the product and help brand recall immeasurably.

A good PR company will be using its knowledge of what kind of stories make the news in particular fields to try and place your product or service in that context. If the story is compelling and relevant enough, there is a chance that it could make the news in one format or another and lift the profile of your company.

Of course, this also comes with a potential downside. If your company hits the headlines for the wrong reasons, then you need to be able to respond to those stories in a timely, accurate way that minimises the damage that might be caused to your reputation. A good PR agency will not only help you to this end, but can also pre-prepare your company for any such eventuality. It might be that prominent people in your business will need coaching to handle media enquiries - or that you can create a 'media pack' to give to journalists to help them place your company's story in context to help them frame a balanced piece.

At the frothy, trivial end of the market you can see this in much of the 'charity work' undertaken by celebrities who have been caught in unsavoury acts!

So those are some of the high level functions of a PR company. In more day-to-day terms, their activities are summed up below.

Every day, thousands of journalists wake up (often much earlier than you or I!) to the task of creating the stories and headlines that will dominate the day. That's no easy task - for where do you find "a story" that's interesting enough to make your publication?

There are time-honoured sources that are easily found. Stand around Parliament all day and at some point a politician will appear on some steps to dramatically announce some measure or other, or to heatedly deny an allegation. Or you might find that your newspaper office is getting lots of calls from members of the public to report a UFO/Robbie Williams drunk in their local/a car crash - all of which you can chase up.

But easier than all of this is news that comes to you. This normally takes the form of a press release.

Press releases are perhaps best thought of as 'pre-written news stories'. PR agencies will work for their clients to identify news-worthy stories. If you're hiring a large number of staff... announcing the opening of new stores.... taking part in a 'green' initiative and any one of a myriad different scenarios, these are potential candidates for inclusion in the news.

A PR company will take the bare bones of your story and flesh it out into a format that will chime with the needs of a journalist. A punchy or striking opening paragraph, some headline facts or figures and a well-phrased quote from a source at the company are the kind of things that they will be looking for so you'll need to work closely with them to make sure that what is said is accurate.

PR companies that excel don't just rely on great stories however. They will also have reliable contacts in the media who they know and trust to help them place their stories. A strong relationship with a particular journalist can be of far more use than merely good writing in getting the story taken up by a particular publication.

When the combination of a strong story and a good contact point comes together it can be a surefire way to achieve prominent mentions in enormously popular media formats like newspapers. And - a bonus - any story thought to be worth printing by one paper will be quickly followed up by others. It is a rare high-profile story that doesn't quickly migrate from the BBC to the pages of The Times or vice versa.

Press releases might be mundane in many cases, but the right one at the right time can have a stellar impact.

Even the best laid plans of mice and, erm, PR companies go wrong sometimes. Check out a few of these prime examples:

A promotion for Aqua Teen Hunger Force involved placing lighted circuit boards around town. The circuit boards were quickly mistaken for bombs and sparked a terror alert.

Hamley's the famous toy store gave out 20% vouchers one Christmas for customers to use on their website. Savvy buyers found they could use three voucher codes at once, getting a massive 60% discount! When Hamley's realised the problem they first agreed to honour the discount, then changed their minds and offered a single 25% discount instead. Hundreds of annoyed customers complained and Hamley's spent the whole Christmas season apologising.

Sometimes PR is timely, relevant and quite simply, genius...

When asked why she didn't thank the tv show that made her famous, American Idol star Jennifer Hudson asked if she should thank Burger King too just because she used to work there. Burger King released a statement saying they were proud Jennifer had become such a success, and would send her a special gift card entitling her to free Burger King food for life.

Corporate social responsibility is an important-sounding phrase, but what exactly is it? Well, increasingly nowadays corporations have to be seen to act in a social, ethical and responsible manner. This arose because of the changing perception of the environment, the developing world and all the other issues of our time. Corporations have a huge influence over all these things - often a negative influence, for example in cutting down rainforests and employing children to make shoes for westerners. Social responsibility is the effort to give something back and improve, not exploit, conditions in poorer areas of the world.

Social responsibility isn't just an ethical concern - it makes good business sense too. Every time a consumer doesn't buy a brand of clothing because they've heard it's made by children it hurts the business they've shunned. Consumers vote with their wallets and it's important to present a good company image, otherwise you risk people choosing someone else.

So how can corporations embrace social responsibility? After all, there's probably some kind of outlay involved and no-one likes spending money where they don't have to. Well, cultural change within the institution is normally the first port of call. It's imperative to change the attitudes of management so that they understand being socially responsible can actually benefit the business further down the line. The perception of your company within the target market can make or break your business in the long-term.

It's important that if your company does take a stance on a social issue, it's an issue that your customers care about or something that you have a direct impact upon. Beware of taking on debates with already strong pressure groups as you run the risk of getting a lot of bad press. It's even more important that whatever issue you take on, you're thoroughly prepared. You need to understand that you're in this for the long run so if you make any bold claims be sure to follow them through. You should also be able to counter any bad publicity, not to mention answering all the questions you receive when you talk about what you're doing.

Public Relations could be critical to your marketing, but isn't entirely consanginous with marketing, which usually focuses on market share and consumer relations. might be used to build awareness and guiding consumer opinion, but is mainly focussed on creating good press coverage and creating coverage with positive press reviews.

Public Relations comes either be product focussed or corporate led. Product led PR creates awareness of a product or service, with corporate PR being concerned with the overall impression of a company.

With the current obsession over the perception of brand, Corporate PR is seen as increasingly important. For maximum effect, both types of PR should be run in tandem with advertising and other marketing methods; this gives maximum exposure across all channels.

Good PR means creating credibility for your product or company.Although exposure is all-important generating business, if people don't think your brand is particularly good or you have a bad reputation, you won't get any custom either way. Trust is the key watchword to generating and keeping new business. Advertising, although it may build awareness of your brand, does not do much for credibility. People are smart enough to know that anyone can buy advertising. Public Relations is more cost-effective, winning column inches because of its worth, and a positive editorial is far more believable than the same amount of advertising.

Editorial coverage in the press is one of PR's strongest weapons. You simply can't buy the credibility that a positive review can give. Thought-leaders, or those with big readerships can sway public opinion with what they say. And of course for most business cost is critical; whereas advertisements have to be paid for, editorials are completely free. The costs come in creating and distributing the press releases.

possible pitfall of editorials is that the PR company has has no influence over what's said or what the editorial content is. Regardless of the efforts you place in your PR, there is no guarantee you'll get favourable coverage. Planning for both positive and negative outcomes is critical for a well-run campaign.

Once a PR campaign has been set in motion, it's incredibly important to maintain good relations with the press. Follow-up reports, handling enquiries and prompt responses can all ensure that reporters have a good opinion of a company. Public relations experts, like those at this Leeds PR company, have worked in journalism, giving them an understanding of the needs of journalists. Working closely with reporters' needs means that they're more likely to run stories about you in future; companies that give poor or late responses get bad reputations in media circles.

Good PR generates a good return, enhancing your reputation. PR companies have the intangible job of swaying opinion and [spin]the results can unmistakeably make or break a business|the results can be business critical|can make a massive difference to a company's future.