Using Public Relations

An article by admin    No Comments

“Public relations is the practice of managing the communication between an organization and its publics.  Public relations gains an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment,” (Wikipedia).

Through public relations, small business owners can raise awareness of their businesses, manage and react to crises and develop their business’s public image.  Small business owners can choose to work with a P.R. company or even hire in-house P.R. representatives.

Key Components of P.R.

Press Releases

Press releases are write-ups, announcing events, product launches, sales, promotions, etc.  They are typically used to inform the media of these happenings with the hopes that the story will be picked up and printed in a news publication (magazines, newspapers, blogs, etc.).  P.R. reps often develop relationships with journalists, inviting them to events in hopes of receiving free press.

Crisis Management

No small business owner wants his/her business to be involved in a crisis, but every small business owner should be prepared for one.

Take Tylenol for example.  In 1982, seven people died after taking Tylenol capsules that had been laced with cyanide.  The company distributed warnings to hospitals, stopped all Tylenol production and advertising, and issued a nationwide recall.  Eventually, it was determined that the products had not been poisoned during production and someone had tampered with the products after they’d already reached store shelves.  Still, the company offered to replace all Tylenol capsules already purchased by the public with solid tablets.

The way that the company reacted to this crisis helped to build consumer trust in the company.  Had they not had a public relations/crisis management team behind them, the company’s fate may have been completely different.

Business Image Development

Through public relations, small business owners can shape the publics’ image of their businesses.  The types of events that your business puts on and even the charities that your business supports can have a huge effect on how the public views your business.