Now more than ever consumers have environmental, political and ethical concerns and require reassurance that brands they purchase or services used, meet their own moral standards. Public Relations is perfect in educating and informing consumers in just that. It’s all about developing positive reputations, maintaining goodwill and creating awareness through any and all media. Whether generating editorial coverage, utilising sponsorship opportunities or organising the event of the year, PR is employed to influence opinion and behaviour for the better. Having a clear public relations strategy in place will not only help to promote your company when there is good things to say, but also could be a huge resource if things should turn sour. Sometimes the best publicity is when nothing is said at all, it has been known for some businesses to spend just as much money keeping things out of the press as getting them in it! Over recent years there have been various publicity stunts to achieve media coverage, for example FHM magazine projecting a nude image of Gail Porter onto the side of The Houses or Parliament or when the UK’s directory enquiry company 118 118 got their moustache runners to appear at Wimbledon sitting in the crowd and being seen on the non-ad-funded BBC. It is cheeky stunts such as these that are capturing the attention of the press and really demonstrating the power of PR.

A lot of people do not even know the difference between advertising and public relations, with most thinking they’re pretty much the same thing. Perhaps the biggest variant between them both is the control of content. A strong plus-point of advertising is that it comes with complete control of what is featured while with PR the control lies in the hands of the media you are targeting. Managing events, building relations, or sending press releases does not guarantee media coverage and if the information given to the media is poorly produced or relations are bad, the editorial you do end up getting may not portray the relevant company in the best possible light. This is where a good public relations agency comes into their own. An editorial feature is often considered to be worth at least five times that of an advert in regards to creating awareness and building brand loyalty. Consumers are saturated with advertisements that give a biased view of what they should do or buy, while in contrast editorial publicity is seen as trusted impartial content and gives credibility to the products or company featured.

Ultimately for the most effective and economic results, advertising and public relations need to work hand in hand. It would be unwise in today’s competitive market to rely solely on advertising to launch a new product/service or promote existing ones. Apart from being expensive advertising does not allow you to educate the market to the extent of PR and therefore would not lay the foundations for a successful campaign. It is always better to inform consumers in the area in which your company or product works and then provide them with further information on your USP (unique selling point). The same relates to PR, you could not undertake just a public relations campaign and expect to receive the same coverage or response – it is near on impossible to supply the media with a news worthy story to feature in every programme or issue!

Whatever your view towards to public relations it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore its benefits. Not only is it cheaper than other forms or marketing, but can be rewarding to almost any company, no matter what the size. If you have found this article informative then this has proved to be a positive piece of PR in itself and thus demonstrating that public relations is more than a press release!