Commons Misconceptions About Public Relations

Commons Misconceptions About Public Relations

If you have completed your marketing plans for this year, then it is time to look at the implementation of those plans.

The full extend of how Public Relations (PR) can work for your company can be easily brushed aside at the planning stage because of the many myths that surround PR as a marketing arsenal.

Here are some common myths about the role of PR that you should re-consider.

Myth: PR is less certain than advertising. With advertising, we know what we get from the start.

Wrong. If you are viewing PR as solely media-related, that is partially true. With advertising you have guaranteed placement, you know how much it will cost and you know how many will see your message. But certainty of outputs doesn’t mean that your audience will absorb the message. If you were to use PR and it were to generate editorial coverage there is plenty of research to show it will be more believable than your advertising and have probably many times the impact with consumers. It will also come at much lower costs. Surely, these days it is more important to think about how many different ways you can reach your consumer. So can you afford not to look at whether PR might be able to create media publicity for you?

Myth: The opportunities to use PR in marketing are limited.

Wrong. PR is now used across the board. Internationally PR budgets for many companies have increased over the last years. Your competition is most probably using it. PR has evolved to be a key marketing tool in the B2B sector. It is now routine to include a PR agency along with your advertising agency – either as a permanent part of the marketing team for ongoing brand support or for special launches and new product and services introductions.

Myth: PR should be bought in when we have decided our launch strategy for 2005.

Wrong. PR is often The Launch Strategy. In fact, the most potent use of PR is before the advertising so that any news value is exploited prior to advertising. That is also the time to work with the influencers and opinion formers namely the media. There are plenty of examples showing the power of PR in launching products - including Microsoft Windows 2000 to Coca Cola’s new vanilla flavour.

Myth: PR is impossible to measure

Wrong. The measurement of PR results has been an issue for many companies over the years. PR is not like advertising and should not be measured in terms of the dollar value of the space/time gained. For most companies today, PR is far more strategic in its planning and its execution. PR therefore should be measured strategically against business or communication goals. If you’re only measuring PR for coverage, then maybe you need to think about ‘how’ and ‘why’ you are using it in the first place.

Each day, www.PrudentPressAgency.com and www.SkyNewswire.com transmits news releases directly into working newsroom computers and desktops of major media organizations. Click here to view a few of the general and specialist media we are able to reach with your release.

www.PrudentPressAgency.com and www.SkyNewswire.com also feeds the news to major news retrieval database services, online publications, developers of web sites and intranets.

From the media standpoint, Prudent Press Agency provides a unique, valuable channel filled with news from the organizations that shape today's news. News from www.PrudentPressAgency.com and www.SkyNewswire.com covers cutting-edge developments in science, medicine, the arts and humanities, law, public policy, higher education, social issues, environmental advocacy, and other important topics of public concern.

By accessing www.PrudentPressAgency.com and www.SkyNewswire.com, the media can broaden, expand and balance the voices, views and perspectives that its publications present to readers, viewers and users on a daily basis.

Tune-Up PR Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Be Promotional. If you can't get enough objective distance from your company to write a press release that's not filled with hype and puffery, hire someone to write it for you.. Joseph Reriani - PR Consultant

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This article is part of Joseph Reriani's "PR Tune-up Blog" newsletter posted to over 6,000 subscribers weekly. The newsletter was first published in 2002 at http://www.Reriani.com. For more articles and PR tune-up tips, please visit www.PrudentPressAgency.com and www.SkyNewswire.com. Joseph Reriani is a Media Consultant and Fellow with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations-  United Kingdom. He is the President/CEO of Prudent International Inc and Executive Editor of Prudent Press Agency. He is also an Assistant Editor of SkyNewswire.com directed by Jackie Mugambi . He is a trained journalist and specializes in helping businesses, organizations, and individuals improve their public image by effectively employing the power of public relations. Mr Reriani can be reached at admin @ Reriani.com. You may freely copy and re-publish this article without altering any part in the body.

Advertising Versus Public Relations - What's the Difference?

Advertising Versus Public Relations - What's the Difference?

Often, when the words "public" and "relations" are thrown together in a sentence, a light bulb goes off in the head shining, "Advertising". However, using advertising and public relations as synonyms is a long shot. So what is the big difference?

One of the most crucial differences between public relations and advertising is that PR is free. That is right; none of your hard-earned cash is going to be thrown down to promote your business.

For example, if you run an advertisement in your local newspaper, they charge you for the space you use as well as for the period that the ad is run. But if that same newspaper decides that your business or product is article worthy, you are getting great publicity with no out of pocket costs.

While it is great to get free recognition if someone writes an article about your product, the downfall is that you have no content control. In other words, the journalist that takes on the task is going to have all the say in the length, word choice, and format of what is being said about you and your business. Advertising, on the other hand, makes you the boss as long as you have the cash flow for it.

Along with the benefit of knowing exactly what your ad is going to say, you also have the option of running the ad campaign over and over again if you're getting good results. The media will most likely only run your story once, unless you give them new topics, or an interesting new way of looking at the old ones.

That is not to say that there aren't great benefits that come with public relations. How many times have you looked at an ad in a magazine or on a billboard and been beyond skeptical in terms of the product's reliability? When you read an article or blurb about it in a printed media source, though, you are usually more inclined to think that the product is trustworthy.

Sending off a great press release has many advantages that you might not have taken into consideration before. Let us say that your small business is sponsoring a local charity event. It would probably sound very snobbish of you to run an ad promoting your own selflessness, but if some other media source decided to talk you up, that would be okay, right?

One important thing to remember is that no one is going to cover your story if it is not interesting to the editor that goes over it. First you have to grab their attention, and hope that the editor or journalist will want to give your business some recognition. You also have to wonder if the audience that sees the coverage will be captivated enough to remember your name when looking for products in your specific market. When you pay for an advertisement, the only audience you have to target is your prospects.

There are great benefits in both the worlds of advertising and public relations. Depending on your budget and your needs, you can figure out a combination that will suit you best.

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This Article was written by By Ana Ventura Editor/Project Manager http://www.fullservicepr.com as a guest contributor to the PR Tune-Up newsletter. You can contact Ana Ventura by visiting http://www.fullservicepr.com. You may wish to read other articles on advertising verses Public Relations on the website www.Reriani.com or reriani.blogspot.com.

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Tune-Up: Your aim should be to become the journalist's pundit of choice. You want them to call or email you every time they need a comment in your are of specialty. Joseph Reriani - PR Consultant

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This article is part of Joseph Reriani's "PR Tune-up Blog" newsletter posted to over 6,000 subscribers weekly. The newsletter was first published in 2002 at http://www.Reriani.com. For more articles and PR tune-up tips, please visit www.PrudentPressAgency.com and www.SkyNewswire.com. Joseph Reriani is a Media Consultant and Fellow with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations-  United Kingdom. He is the President/CEO of Prudent International Inc and Executive Editor of Prudent Press Agency. He is also an Assistant Editor of SkyNewswire.com directed by Jackie Mugambi . He is a trained journalist and specializes in helping businesses, organizations, and individuals improve their public image by effectively employing the power of public relations. Mr Reriani can be reached at admin @ Reriani.com. You may freely copy and re-publish this article without altering any part in the body.