The phrase ‘public-relations’ has two words namely, ‘public’ and ‘relations’. A ‘public’ is a group of individuals having similar or common interests; an association of persons having the same interests, problems, circumstances, expectations and goals. In advertising, PR is an obvious term and there are many professional agencies in India who could maintain the PR and thus repute by means of several PR tools. It would be a traditional approach or it could be online or it could be the mix of 2s. In this highly cluttered and noisy advertising world, a mix-bound approach is highly suggested.

So how would you define the public for an organisation: The public (you can call the right target audience) could be: Customers, employees, suppliers, lenders, shareholders, special interest groups, government, middlemen and so on.

What is the purpose of successful public relations: Product launch, reputation building, image makeover, sales/lead generation (short and long term both), branding, and advocacy.

Where our target public is found: They found in events, meet ups (by means of invitation), newspapers, journals, web media, social media, on the go (banners)…they are everywhere.

What channels you would choose for successful public relation and reputation: Events, press release, online reputation management, social media, radio, television, magazines, emails, transit posters, booklets, content/knowledge (and then user generated content), CSR, speaking engagement and word of mouth etc.

The role of digital advertising team: First they can suggest what activities the company could take to build its brand image. At the same time, the team could help them to promote the good words in online media. On-ground activities improve the word of mouth in traditional media and promotion of those content would provide you great online brand value. Since all content are original.

But you need to hire creative people too: Since visual communication is a great tool for public relation, creativity and graphic design will help you to meet the expectation.

The purpose of this write up is to tell the agencies to plan better for PR since it is no more one sided game. Also, for digital marketers, it is time to read books, articles of PR, allied strategies and to learn how you can incorporate PR in your digital promotion plans.

Keep sharing your thoughts.