Public Relation or PR is an integral part of a company to earn goodwill in the market. If business expansion needs capital then PR is needed to grow and sustain your success in this highly competitive market. Reputation of a brand or a company not just helps it to gain more market share but also helps it to survive in crisis. PR helps you to earn and sustain that reputation. If you own a company, no matter how small or big, strategic PR can take your business to better position.

Before planning your PR programme you must identify the target ‘Public’. That can be consumers, shareholders, employees or all of them. Though, it’s better if you do PR campaign for each of them separately and not target them all in one campaign.

Market research is the most important thing to do before and after PR activity. You need to identify and also to get feedback from your target audience. The market survey must be done in an honest way otherwise you will lose your goodwill in the market. Any claim must be backed with proper data. Market research helps you to understand what people think about your company. It helps you to understand your ‘image’ in the industry. ‘Brand recall’ is a very important thing for the company. Surf Excel’s “Daag Dhundte Reh Jaoge” campaign still has an instant recognition in customer’s mind.

There are various ways to influence people using the tools of PR. A successful PR professional can change the way people think and make decisions about your product or service. One of the most used ways to influence people is through publicity. For example, you want to influence the share holders of your company. How to do it? Send a press release to prominent newspapers regarding how much profit your company made last financial year. Once that is published, you will certainly gain attention and reputation in share market. Or say, you want to build your ‘socially responsible’ image. Make sure that the news of your donations to a charity gets published and noticed.

That’s not just all about publicity. Press release is just a medium of publicity. It takes a lot more than press releases. You have to know what is going on currently and how you can tie your message in with current news with how it relates to your business or product. For example, when swine flu was creating a panic among common people; LIFEBUOY started a PR campaign that their soap can protect you from swine flu virus.

The young generation is more tech savvy now than they used to be ten years ago. Facebook is the 3rd most populated ‘cyber’ nation after China and India! That’s why social networking sites play a crucial role in PR. You can easily penetrate and influence a huge market if you tactfully handle the PR exercise in social media. Timely and useful updates about your service/product can help you to get attention and boost your business. But before doing PR in social networking sites, choose the site that suits your business. Always keep in mind that different social networks have different audience. A proper strategy is needed; because what attracts the Orkut users may not amuse Facebook users.

Well planned Public Relation use different services to reach people of different social and economical strata. PR is not about selling a product. Instead, it’s used to offer useful advice to people to enhance their knowledge about the brand. PR establishes the credibility of a company in the market. Once you are successful to create a positive image, people will pay more attention to your marketing messages later and this is where a great PR activity can be beneficial to your success.

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