Public relations isn’t about hosting events or publishing press releases. These are just some tools used by a PR company in Delhi. Public relations is about building a relationship between a brand and its target audience.
It’s a vast field that includes many tools, techniques, platforms. Experts classify the marketing field based on the audience it tries to build a relationship with. After all, consumers are not the only public a company has to build relations with. Experts also categorize the field based on tools involved.
Knowing these categories can help you identify which one suits your needs the best and what resources you need. Here’s how a PR executive generally categorizes it:
Employee Relations
Also called internal PR, is about building positive feelings about the company in the minds of the workforce. The idea is that your employees can convince others that your company is great only if they believe it.
It’s the most sensitive form of PR because it relies more on action than image. Organisations take various actions to keep their staff satisfied, motivated and loyal. These activities may include resolving disputes, negotiating with unions, helping managers connect with staff, building internal communication and more.
The ability to understand different perspectives and negotiate accordingly is extremely important for this job.
Media Relations
As the name suggests, it’s all about building relations with the media. Media coverage is an important means of building a positive brand image.
Media relations experts rely more on earned media rather than owned or paid media. That is, they create stories that the media wants to cover rather than paying or ordering them to do it. The media covers them for free if they find it newsworthy.
Publishing press releases, hosting press conferences and scheduling interviews are some ways to do it. The stories can be planned for months or written on short notice. It may be about an event, organizational change, etc.
Community Relations
It’s about building strong relations between an organisation and the local community affected by its business. Community engagement officers need to understand how the community thinks and acts to plan how to engage with them.
Companies invest in it for the following reasons:
- To gain local approval for a project.
- To give back to the community.
- To gain their interest in the products or services.
- To change their minds about an issue.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to a company’s ethical responsibility towards society and the environment. It’s often clubbed together with community relations due to their similarities. What makes CSR different is its impact on the way the organisation functions.
Conducting philanthropic activities is just one of its aspects. A CSR officer may convince the company leaders to follow ethical business practices to benefit the community as a whole. The officer needs to convince the management that the society’s benefit ties in with the company’s. So persuasiveness and networking are the key skills required here.
Public Affairs
It’s all about lobbying or getting the government to make decisions favorable to the company. It’s often considered the sneakiest form of PR as corporates use various means to lobby. Though it doesn’t always need to be that way. Public affairs executives build connections with various members and bodies of the government to promote corporate interests.
Crisis Management
It’s about protecting the company’s image and repairing damaged public relations in case of a crisis. Crisis managers deal with crises caused due to natural disasters, human error or malicious intent. They create plans for different events and act quickly to prevent damage. Crisis managers also create plans to avoid crises from taking place in the first place.
Social Media PR
Social media has emerged as an important tool for businesses to build relations with the public. It’s why a typical digital marketing agency in Delhi also offers online PR. Agencies use social media to protect and promote a brand’s reputation. A single blunder here can damage a company’s reputation. So a lot of thought and planning goes into every post.
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