PR about relationships, not publicity

by Aimee Fitzgerald

My column today will not be written in the usual format of Questions and Answers. In responding to Aimee Fitzgerald APR of Fagan Business Communications of Englewood, I asked her to use my column to set the story straight after she commented on my January article regarding public relations. The following are her thoughts on why public relations isn’t about publicity. (Yes, you read it correctly!)PR. It’s not publicity, free advertising or a sales promotion tool. When business managers think of public relations, they often think the term is synonymous with publicity, or that “PR” stands for “press releases.” Understanding what public relations is ? and isn’t ? can help a business of any size use the discipline most efficiently for maximum results. The following thoughts address what public relations really is about.

* Developing relationships. The real job of professionals in the communications profession is to assist clients in developing relationships with the public ? hence the name, public relations. At its core, public relations, when done well, is strategic and forms the base of developing a company’s brand, image and reputation. Because it works with the company messaging at the highest level ? not just marketing or other functional messaging ? public relations is the heart of how a company presents itself to and communicates with investors, customers, employees, the business community, vendors, government entities, the news media and any other group.

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* Using messages. Public relations can be taken to its max when messages are used effectively. You’ll know you’ve found a top-level professional when he/she will help your company develop its key messaging at a basic, concise level. That means taking a firm stance, playing devil’s advocate and pushing to get to the core of what your business does without using adjectives or other promotional language.

Your public relations or corporate communications professional will then work with you to implement that basic messaging about what your company does throughout every communications vehicle you use, from e-mail and fax, to proposals and your Web site. When your company, however small, presents a simple, consistent message in everything it does, the impact on market awareness can be phenomenal.

Businesses will derive the greatest value from the communications function by focusing on integrated messaging throughout their organizations. From outside the organization, even the smallest firm looks pulled together and buttoned down when it presents a simple, consistent message.

* Media relations vs. publicity. On a tactical level, news media relations is only one of many functional areas of public relations. It is the long-term process of developing working relationships between members of the news media and company spokespersons. It is also only one part of a successful public relations program. Only a miniscule portion of the work consists of writing and issuing news releases.

Publicity, another of the functional areas, is typically celebrity or event-driven, bringing attention to a particular person or event for something unusual happening at the moment. For most businesses, publicity has limited opportunity and value.

* News releases vs. press releases. The origination of the term press release is from its long-time reference to print journalism only (press runs, pressrooms, etc.). Whether an issued news item is called a press release or news release has nothing to do with the originator of the release.

* News release content. It is, however, critical to insure that your news release actually contains news, not promotion. Finding out what reporters and editors consider news necessitates a significant amount of research. Before you ever write the news release or select media recipients, determine what each editor considers newsworthy. Most stories result not from any single news release, but from development of ongoing working relationships between a member of the news media and a company spokesperson that is a news source ? not a promotional vehicle.

It is of interest to know that news releases are rarely ? if ever ? printed as is. News releases are intended to serve as short items that convey essential information, not to tell the whole story or to serve as articles. If a reporter or editor sees something of interest, he/she can then follow up for more information as they see fit. Not every piece of news is worthy of a news release, and not every news release will be picked up by the media.

Unfortunately, most news releases that go out today do not contain news. Business managers, investors and others who do not understand the news process well often think that a quantity of promotional vehicles disguised as news releases will raise the company’s awareness and build brand.

The reality is that public relations has gained an often-justified reputation for unprofessionalism among the news media. Web sites such as buzzkiller.net offer a cynical, but helpful and true, view of public relations practices from journalists’ perspectives. Aimee Fitzgerald APR of Fagan Business Communications in Englewood can be reached via e-mail at aimeecolo@aol.com or by calling (303) 843-9840.