Main > Marketing Tutorials > Public Relations >
 

Advantages of Public Relations

Public relations offers several advantages not found with other promotional options. First, PR is often considered a highly credible form of promotion. One of PR’s key points of power rests with helping to establish credibility for a product, company or person (e.g., CEO) in the minds of targeted customer groups by capitalizing on the influence of a third-party -- the media. Audiences view many media outlets as independent-party sources that are unbiased in their coverage, meaning that the decision to include the name of the company and the views expressed about the company is not based on payment (i.e., advertisement) but on the media outlet’s judgment of what is important. For example, a positive story about a new product in the business section of a local newspaper may have greater impact on readers than a full-page advertisement for the product since readers perceive the news media as presenting an impartial perspective of the product.

Second, a well-structured PR campaign can result in the target market being exposed to more detailed information than they receive with other forms of promotion. That is, media sources often provide more space and time for explanation of a product.

Third, depending on the media outlet, a story mentioning a company may be picked up by a large number of additional media, thus, spreading a single story to many locations.

Finally, in many cases public relations objectives can be achieved at very low cost when compared to other promotional efforts. This is not to suggest public relations is not costly, it may be, especially when a marketer hires PR professionals to handle the work. But when compared to the direct cost of other promotions, in particular advertising, the return on promotional expense can be quite high.

< Prev   Next >

5 Comments

  1. Anjali makes this comment

    January 22, 2011

    I think there are some more advantages of public relations. this include: avoidance of clutter, lead generation, selectivity and last but not least image building.

  2. brian makes this comment

    October 20, 2010

    Public relations is a management tool for establishing and maintaining mutual understanding between an organization and its publics. PR must be viewed as a planned effort to understand customers or non customers' stance towards an organisation, such that the response makes a correction or improvement to the part of the organisation.

  3. Para makes this comment

    August 20, 2010

    I think the fact that PR is geared towards developing a strong connection between the organization and public, it automatically leads to PR campaigns addressing public needs and welfare. That is the whole point of PR. So to Yesu's comment: I realise what you are saying. Unfortunately, the first motivation for humans tends to be materialistic, I still feel that PR brings the element of catering to public needs, social responsibility regardless of what motivation is guiding the action. A good PR campaign that works always has to be backed up by action and maintaining the value system that the company is choosing to portray, otherwise the PR aspect falls flat anyway.

  4. tari makes this comment

    September 05, 2009

    Hi,I just got admission to study PR as a course in my country. People here really don't value the course and that almost discouraged me but going through this tutorial I was properly reoriented on PR.

  5. yesu makes this comment

    August 18, 2009

    Is public relations for public or for the organisation? Most public relation officials really work for their own organisation not for the public welfare. They should have at least little concern towards the public.

Add Comment

 

KnowThis: Marketing Basics Book

420 pages - Only $30

KnowThis MB 2nd EditionKnowThis: Marketing Basics, 2nd Edition offers in-depth coverage of marketing and is ideal for the marketing novice, the marketing educator, the marketing professional and anyone else who needs to know about marketing. This book includes more than 60% new material not found on KnowThis.com. For more information including taking a look inside, Click Here.