PR is a lot of what appears in the news


Much of what appears in the news is PR. Frequently main businesses expend an excellent deal of money and effort to get their stories into print, and to alert the news media to what they're doing. For the astute PR person, this can offer an opportunity to hijack the publicity and piggyback a PR campaign on the strength of it.

A big American cellphone business arranged a main PR campaign to publicize its launch of what was then the world's smallest cellphone. A chain of restaurants cashed in on this by announcing a ban on all cellphones in its establishments, on the grounds that they annoy other customers.

The press picked up both stories, and asked the cellphone business to comment on the ban: stupidly, they refused to complete so, and the press therefore ran with the story of the ban without mentioning the new telephone at all.

This was a PR disaster for the cellphone company, but a triumph for the restaurateurs-the lesson being twofold: first, grabbing an chance can often pay off beyond expectations, and, second, if you have a PR campaign you have to Always be ready to talk to the press!

Most news stories come and go within a day-what is hot news these days is old hat by tomorrow. There are some exceptions, though, and these can offer excellent opportunities for businesses. General elections, the Budget announcement, and annual events like Guy Fawkes Night or Christmas can provide useful points for ongoing stories.

Or ideas, rather. One clothing business utilized a general election to publish a list of well-dressed (and badly dressed) MPs. This was a fun, human-interest story that offered a light-hearted look at what is a serious topic.

Every Budget, a firm of accountants in the West Country publishes a list of ten predictions, and pays £500 each for any that are not in the Chancellor's speech. Other businesses organise fundraising events for Kids in Need or other regular charity appeals, or piggyback on events like the London Marathon.

Regular events provide endless opportunities for PR activities: nearly any normal event can be turned towards the advantage of almost any business, having a bit of creative thought.

Legal Disclaimer

Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Articleinput.com is a free articles resource thus practically any visitor can submit an article. However if you notice any copyrighted material, please contact us and we will remove the article(s) in discussion right away.

Note: This article was sent to us by: Jeff Brown at 01242011

Related Articles

1. Building a corporate brand means much PR work
The corporate brand is the general impression the business gives to its publics, as opposed to the individual brands given to the firm's products. Building a corporate bran...

2. Involve your stakeholders in your PR efforts
Your stakeholders need not just be passive recipients of your PR efforts. They can join in and be part of what's happening. In reality, the greater the involvement of stake...

3. PR newsletter and interview control
Internal publics can occasionally be forgotten in the drive to create a top-class external reputation. But employees are very important-apart from the need to motivate them...

4. Releasing the story of your product to the press is good PR
Frequently firms will issue a press release about an exciting new product, but, unless there is really something very interesting concerning the product, the journals will ...

5. PR should help you develop local marketing strategies
Many firms try to segment their markets by age, or income, or attitudes. Yet the most telling thing about someone is none of these-it is where they live. Where we choose to...

6. Running surveys and involving employees is successful PR
News media exist to disseminate details, and also to entertain their readers and viewers. While it's often challenging to access news media (particularly television) with a...

7. How good PR can help you with business enemies
Any big company, and most smaller companies, develop enemies one way or another-dissatisfied customers, disgruntled pressure groups, unpaid creditors, revenge-seeking ex-em...

8. PR can hire freelance journalists when dealing with press releases
Occasionally sending press releases out seems like a real hit-and-miss affair. Editors may or might not use the story, it may or may not be used "as is," it might or may no...

9. A successful PR campaign can sometimes be out of the ordinary
During the dot.com boom there had been many businesses starting up on the internet, and most of them trumpeted their cutting-edge technology. Most of their clients found th...