{"id":368,"date":"2013-02-05T12:36:30","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T20:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gordonbenzie.com\/blog\/?p=368"},"modified":"2023-05-22T22:03:48","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T05:03:48","slug":"why-do-public-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gordonbenzie.com\/blog\/why-do-public-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do Public Relations?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gordonbenzie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/why_do_public_relations.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"238\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gordonbenzie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/why_do_public_relations-300x238.png\" alt=\"Why do public relations?\" class=\"wp-image-369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gordonbenzie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/why_do_public_relations-300x238.png 300w, https:\/\/www.gordonbenzie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/why_do_public_relations.png 598w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>For this post, I thought I would challenge what the role of public relations is, with the objective to provide a thoughtful perspective on what value PR plays within an organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To start, the objective of public relations or PR is to raise awareness of a company, non-profit group or any other organization. Why does this matter? Well, to start, it is a lot easier to sell products or services if your audience has heard of you. Simply stated, no one wants to buy from a stranger. Public relations overcomes this sales hurdle by creating stories about the organization that will be viewed as interesting, or at least interesting enough to be read about by your target audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note that this methodology must be applied with the sole objective to engage <i>your<\/i> audience. If other people find out, that is fine. But, you must be careful to not waste limited resources reaching individuals that will never be part of your buyer\u2019s purchase lifecycle. This philosophy must be applied religiously to every opportunity for contributed articles, guest blog posts, speaking engagements and award opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>My Audience Already Knows Me<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have spoken to some business owners who state that their target audience already knows who they are, and they know all about their company\u2019s product or service. If this is the case, why spend the investment to reach out to them again? The reason why this investment makes sense is that it is going to help you to continue to best serving your market segment. Just because a customer has heard of you\u00a0doesn&#8217;t\u00a0mean they will continue to purchase or renew their existing services with you on a consistent, never-ending basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Risk of Complacency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine this scenario as a theoretical a case study. A new competitor enters your market. What do you think will be the first thing they do to introduce themselves to your customers? Odds are some sort of PR campaign, including announcements, special offers, grand opening day parties, etc. They must make this investment as they are coming into your market as a \u201cdisruptor,\u201d which must be announced in order to be effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now let\u2019s say that you haven\u2019t been investing your own PR campaign. Maybe funds have been tight as you have neglected this activity for the past year or so. Maybe your website and social media channels are a bit out of date too, falling into the category of something that could be deferred for a year or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, you are now a sitting duck for this new competitor to come in and eat your lunch. Once they begin making noise, you will be caught off guard. Assuming you move quickly and start to invest in getting your PR program back on track, it will still take time. Days, weeks or even months will pass before you are able to first get your routine changed to re-focus on this topic. You will be in \u201ccatchup\u201d mode for some time. Every month you are behind is a month where you are at risk of losing customers. Think about it \u2026 what is the opportunity cost that someone might come into your market and try to steal market share?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At minimum, it might make sense to at least keep a few programs running, even if funds are tight. This way you still have a \u201ctoe\u201d in the water, as a steady \u201cbeating of the drum,\u201d to remind the market and your audience of current customers and prospects. This activity states that you are still there, and are actively reaching out to them to continue to help better address their needs with your product or services. Seems like a good investment and an even better business strategy decision that can be easily incorporated into your marketing communications strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0<br><em><strong>Gordon Benzie<\/strong>\u00a0is a marketing adviser\u00a0and business plan writer that specializes in preparing and executing upon business plans and marketing strategies.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For this post, I thought I would challenge what the role of public relations is, with the objective to provide a thoughtful perspective on what value PR plays within an organization. To start, the objective of public relations or PR is to raise awareness of a company, non-profit group or any other organization. Why does &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gordonbenzie.com\/blog\/why-do-public-relations\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Why do Public Relations?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,21,4,32],"tags":[66,67,65,34,33],"class_list":["post-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brand-integrity","category-business-plan","category-marketing-communications","category-online-marketing","tag-brand-integrity","tag-business-communications","tag-marketing-communications","tag-website-content","tag-website-marketing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why do Public Relations? - Making Every Word Count<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gordonbenzie.com\/blog\/why-do-public-relations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why do Public Relations? - Making Every Word Count\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For this post, I thought I would challenge what the role of public relations is, with the objective to provide a thoughtful perspective on what value PR plays within an organization. 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