PR stands for public relations. Anyone who markets themselves, like book authors, actors or radio show personalities can make use of a PR firm or agent to help them reach more people, which will hopefully result in more sales of their product. Businesses also make use of PR firms.
Often, a PR firm will write an article about you or your business and submit it to local newspapers or magazines. When these companies are having a slow news day, they may publish the article to fill space. This results in free publicity for you, and is a great opportunity to attempt to take advantage of. Also, having been written by PR professionals, you know the article is of good quality.
Similar articles, if they can be landed in more national papers or magazines can increase your profile and help you compete in a wider market. PR people are responsible for pushing these articles and seeing if they can get someone to publish them. Because they have more experience, more time and more established relationships with these newspaper and magazine companies, they might succeed where you might not be able to yourself.
Marketing your business is incredibly important — without advertising yourself somehow you won’t get any business. The most minimal advertising are signs on your business’ window, websites, and word of mouth, but can be up to and including television spots and billboards. A good PR firm can be responsible for performing or commissioning surveys that will inform you where your advertising will be the most effective.
Analyzing the surveys is important to understanding where the best places are to put your advertising so that they target the people who are most likely to buy your products. You can wash your hands of this tedious task if you employ a PR firm to do it for you, and yet still reap the benefits.
Because they are established in the business of promoting people and businesses, PR firms are invaluable assets in networking. By matching businesses and people together and talking up your business or skills, they can help you make connections in the your market that will lead to more connections over time. This is one of the best reasons to employ a PR person.
A few considerations need to be taken into account when choosing a PR firm. One of the first is whether you should hire a firm or a single person, a question which often relies on your budget. Others include finding out if the firm or agent is near enough to you, though this might not be relevant if you plan to communicate solely through electronic means, and deciding whether you need an agent with experience in your particular industry.
Remember that the PR relationship isn’t one way. You’ll need to do your part in keeping the PR agent up to date with your company. It’s hard to market something that you don’t know enough about. You should also spend plenty of time with your agent, because the more personal your relationship with him or her is, the more they will care about what happens to you.