WHAT IS PR?

Public relations is the communication of corporate news to media outlets. The transfer of company news can be done through issuing a press release, holding a press conference, or through a media interview with a reporter.

Publicly traded companies are legally responsible to share corporate earning information with the public. Every quarter they issue a press release describing their earnings and make the information available to media outlets. Within a corporation, it is the public relations department that takes care of sharing this news information with the media.

Companies have long recognized the benefits that public relations has to offer and now routinely distribute other items of news to the media, such as news of partnerships, big wins, new product offerings and new hires, for example, in hopes of garnering coverage for their news in media outlets.

Many may be familiar with marketing as a method of communicating information to external audiences. Public relations is also another way to communicate information to external audiences through the media. When a corporate spokesperson gets an interview with a media outlet an article mention may appear. Our job as public relations professionals is to invite media to speak with a corporate spokesperson and thus get mention in an article the reporter is writing.

Corporate spokespeople need to have key messages to communicate to media in a clear and concise manner. They also need to be able to describe corporate news to media effectively. SmackDab PR & Marketing help clients identify their key messages and offers tips on how to deliver corporate news to journalists through our media training.

If you’ve often wondered how your competition gets mentioned in the news, it is probably because they have public relations professionals approaching media on their behalf with story ideas and news items. Articles that result from media interviews can be added to a company’s marketing mix and helps the sales effort because it is a third party endorsement.