What exactly is it that you do?
In the dim, distant past when I was working as a journalist I remember eye-balling a public relations consultant and asking them, “What exactly is it that you do?”
I don’t remember the answer being particularly illuminating and I remained perplexed for a number of years, until I became a PR (as they say in the trade) myself.
For an industry that helps others communicate effectively, the public relations profession seems to do a remarkably poor job of explaining itself.
Imagine you open a new business that offers a service or product. You know it’s a great concept and you’ve virtually invested your life savings into it. D-Day approaches - you open the doors but no one comes.
What do you do? How do you reach people to tell them about your new venture? You call in a communications professional. Our job is to build a bridge between your shop, product, business or service and the people that would be interested in using it. Even better, you call us in well before you open the doors.
It might be through publicity (which is one of the better known aspects of PR), an event, social media, stakeholder engagement, a product launch or any number of tools that we employ to raise awareness of your brand and/or product.
Public relations is everything that influences what people think about you and your brand. It’s telling your story so that people understand what you’re offering and how it might benefit them.
We are also there when things go wrong – or looking like going wrong. If you aren’t communicating clearly when a crisis hits – both internally and externally - then your business or organisation is likely to suffer.
Surprisingly, staff are often overlooked when it comes to communications, yet they can be your most important ambassadors. Do you want to be an employer of choice? Do you need to communicate some major changes? Are you keeping your people engaged and motivated? Communication is the key.
In fact, it is the key to everything – personally and professionally. If the communication is consistent and clear, everything else falls into place. When it’s muddled and erratic you can lose staff, customers, family and friends.
PR has the proven ability to significantly help individuals and organisations in many ways. The challenge is that most people don’t realise it. It is ironic, we are expert communicators - it’s just a shame we don’t spend more time educating folk on what it is exactly that we do!
The material on this web page comprises the personal views of the author and does not represent the view or opinion of communikate et al. communikate et al accepts no liability for the content of this web page.
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