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The purpose of public relations
is to build and create 'trust' between you, and the people
you wish to communicate with - your public! This, in a
nutshell, is where public relations differs from marketing,
sales and advertising. These three are about 'making
claims', whereas Public relations is about establishing in
the mind of your various 'publics' the credibility of those
claims.
Building Trust in Your Brand
If you are a company who uses sales, marketing or
advertising to sell your products or services, then public
relations should be a vital part of your communications
toolbox. Because PR helps establish trust in what you are
saying, good PR will often be the difference between making
a sale and not. Sadly, sometimes, so will bad PR!
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Enhance Your Profile
Public relations can
also be used to raise awareness of your company.
Many successful
companies use public relations as a means of
communicating with their target audience, as PR is
more subtle and more trustworthy than advertising
and marketing. PR is therefore a kind of a dialogue
between a customer and its clients. PR can for
example be used to establish or challenge
perceptions, paint mental pictures and communicate
company or brand values, rather than just
advertising a particular product.
Protect Your
Reputation
Naturally, having spent
a lot of time in building up a positive reputation,
it will be important to protect that reputation.
This is where good crisis management is essential
if, in the event of a bad news story about your
company breaking, the damage is limited and the
value of your reputation is preserved.
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