Scope: Public relations means the suite of methods for identifying a company’s message to its target market for the purpose of generating sustainable brand value.
Technical Requirements: The first technical requirement for effective PR is a service provider (“agency”) that understands the relevant market, the product, the company and the customer profiles. Beyond understanding, the agency needs creative insights and product development for campaigns.
A second technical requirement involves information technology and telecommunications systems. As globalization, mobility, Internet-based instantaneous communications and social media expand the accessibility of marketing, the technical means for public relations have become more complex. As such complexity increases, specialists appear to explore and implement new tools for PR, including search engine optimization (“SEO”), webinar management, event management, virtual trade shows and other remotely accessible, individualized means of communicating the message.
A third technical requirement involves an understanding of the legal, regulatory, commercial, social and operational limitations on messages. Testing tools such as surveys need to respect the privacy of the test subjects. Meta-data analytics must respect the same restrictions. In crises that threaten a company’s brand value, PR agencies can “save the bacon” by implementing a pre-existing crisis management plan and tailoring it to the needs of the current crisis.
Benefits: Advertising and PR agencies have been in existence since the dawn of publishing and commercial promotions. In today’s complex technologically advanced society, outsourcing of PR makes sense where there are economies of scale (ad purchasing and global footprint) or for special insights that the customer organization lacks (or finds too cumbersome or slow to do for itself).