Public Relations

Public relations communicates news, influences public response, helps meet marketing goals and contributes to increased sales and profits. You should not underestimate the role public relations can play in the promotion of sales in your business. Editorial coverage carries credibility, giving your business an implied endorsement. And you can build upon your publicity to maintain the kind of visibility that keeps a steady flow of business coming back to you.

Public relations is FREE media exposure. It can be a news or feature story in a local newspaper, a magazine article, a television report, a radio interview or any other kind of journalistic coverage of the products you sell and the services you offer.

Public relations and advertising deliver the same message as part of an overall marketing approach, but they differ in how they communicate it.

• Advertising communicates through paid media. You pay a publication for space or a radio or TV station for airtime and provide the message, which runs verbatim.
• Public relations, on the other hand, communicates through an unbiased, third party by providing information or a story idea to an editor, reporter or producer who decides if and how they will use it. This placement incurs no charge.

Both public relations and advertising should be incorporated into your marketing plan and used in conjunction, as there is a direct relationship between the two. For example, it is best to advertise with the media in which you'd like to be featured because the media is more apt to cover a story concerning an advertiser. This relationship should be strategically exploited for maximum exposure of your business to potential customers.


What Can Public Relations Achieve?

A lot. A well-conceived, well-executed public relations program can:

Increase public awareness for your new business. Consumers may skip over ads or not pay attention to commercials, but they will usually read or watch news stories or features that they feel can benefit them. This gives you the kind of visibility that is essential to success. As the public learns about your business, they will be inclined to consider shopping there for window treatments for their homes and offices.

Create and establish an image that distinguishes the brand from the competition.
Stimulate interest in your products and services and create desire for them. Media exposure is a teaching vehicle that can transmit information to the reader, viewer or listener. Moreover, it carries the implied endorsement of the media. This gives you an important edge over your competition and can motivate people to buy from you.
Help to position your products in the marketplace. Public relations does this with news and feature stories that stress the differences in your products, especially when they are accompanied by photographs.

People believe what they see and hear in the news. If the media features you and your business, the public will assume that you're providing quality products and services that warrant their consideration. When people constantly read and hear about you and your business, they get to know you and come to trust and respect your products.