While a lot of public relations activities rely on having great a relationship and rapport with the media, there is more to the PR professional’s job duties.

When thinking of the PR pro, many people tend to think of one thing: the press release. (That is all there is to PR, right?) Moreover, traditional use of the press release was to relay and pitch a story to the media (which it is still used for) and only the media. That can be referred to as media relations. While that is an important aspect and role of the PR professional, customer relations is maybe even more important. Many stories and news coverages start from WOM (word of mouth) that a media person hears about or finds interesting. Encourage that WOM, and help it to be positive. Your customers can generate the WOM for free and help to get your company recognized by the media.

The key to remember here is that while in the past, the PR team had a goal to get as many news clippings as possible, the present calls for PR teams who can handle the media and customers. With the ability to reach both (whereas old PR tactics only allowed you to contact the media), why not do both? Unless you are employed for a company stuck using old PR tactics, you ought to be implementing ways to connect and foster relations with both parties. Even if you are employed by a company stuck in the past, make an effort to advocate the use of new PR tactics. (Advocating is, after all, another role of the PR team; your audiences can also include stakeholders in the company.)

Some ways to move your company forward with PR:

• Implement social media. First, see where your customers are participating online, and see if it would make sense for you to go there too.
• Use that social media. Don’t just implement it, but use it to its full potential to really get a good idea of its relevance.
• Connect with your customers. (That means going beyond sending them a newsletter.) Encourage them to connect by making it easy.
• Evaluate your current and future strategies. What are you doing now? What out of those strategies and tactics are working? What are you going to implement now?
• Reevaluate them with time. After implementing future ideas, evaluate them to ensure they are relevant, effective, and most importantly fostering relations with customers and the media.
• Implement new strategies. If you find that some things aren’t working, make a new plan or revamp your current one to get the most reach.

Overall, knowing who to target is one of the best ways to success in a PR campaign, whether it be the media or your customers. As I’ve mentioned before, doing your homework is the surest way to finding that target market. Moreover, know who to hire for your PR needs if you are a company looking to add another team member or even a company looking to do your own PR. Really evaluate your needs to see if an outside PR firm would do the trick or if all you need is to roll up your sleeves; with more and more emphasis online, knowing media contacts isn’t as heavily depended upon for the success of your PR plans. Just remember that it really depends on the company and the objectives; a plan that was a success for one company may be a disaster for another.

What does public relations mean to you?