Public relations is an essential part of your overall marketing strategy. While most think that PR deals with communication activities, it actually fulfills a larger role. Nowadays, customers are flooded with promotional messages, hence Public Relations offers effective methods to stand out among advertisements. So what are the goals of PR?
What is Public Relations?
Public Relations are activities consisting in shaping relations with consumers using various channels and communication tools. In the past, these were just messages in the media or during events to build brand image and companies. Today, the role of PR is much wider:
- image building and its awareness through articles published in the relevant media
- monitoring media channels in terms of opinions, reviews and comments
- effective communication in a crisis situation
- organizing social, philanthropic and special events as part of building good will on the target market.
Such a wide range of activities allows you to set various PR goals. Their definition is extremely important as it organizes all activities and allows the effects to be measured. Experienced people will certainly help you set your goals in the right way public relations agency, who knows how to adjust them to your organization. Effective PR strategy it will allow you to achieve them faster than you think!
Public Relations functions include:
- analysis and interpretation of public opinion, society's attitudes towards the brand,
- writing press releases,
- planning and implementation of events,
- writing content for websites,
- implementation of anti-crisis measures,
- brand service in social media,
- reacting to opinions on social media,
- consulting in the field of policy, directions of activities,
- contacts with government agencies on behalf of the organization.
General PR goals
PR strategies contain both general and specific objectives. When defining them, first of all, attention should be paid to arousing interest. Every form of action is to help encourage target audience to try out a product or use a service by providing information through public relations. PR goals also include strengthening the brand and building a strong and positive image. Public Relations is designed to maintain a sufficiently high brand reputation and maintain strategic relationships with the public, consumers, potential customers, partners, investors, employees and other stakeholders. Thanks to this, the brand appears credible, honest, important, effective and relevant.
The general objectives also include creating a favorable attitude of public opinion towards a given company, as well as reducing conflicts and dealing with emerging crises. It is also worth distinguishing intermediate goals that are the result of these general ones: informing the environment about the organization's activities, presenting the company's position on socially important issues, improving relations with opinion leaders, or familiarizing the environment with the company's offer and adapting it to the needs of buyers.
Current PR goals
The current PR goals depend on the strategy implemented by the company and they can be, for example:
- supplementing the knowledge about the organization among consumers,
- drawing attention to the existence of the company among potential customers,
- instilling trust in services, products and brands,
- constant presentation of the company among the public,
- gaining approval from the authorities.
The objectives of PR can also be divided into: strategic (setting the general direction of activities), operational (defining the orientation) and tactical (used in complex action strategies).
What can PR goals cover?
Strategic PR goals include what exactly you want to achieve. They are not particularly precise, because they convey the concept or idea of public relations in a general way. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- improving the opinion about the organization in the industry,
- strengthen customer relationships,
- increase public support,
- improve the brand image,
- inspire social changes in a specific case.
On the other hand, the operational goals of PR are much narrower than the strategic ones. They are accurate, measurable and specific. They are formulated in such a way as to indicate the specific effects of public relations activities that are to be achieved. An example is: to conduct more media training by 20% than last year, increase the number of positive opinions about the brand by 15%, increase consumer understanding of the benefits of our company's program by 10%.
Tactical PR goals are, in turn, an operational goal that requires a division into smaller tactics due to the various tools used and addressing to other target groups.
Public relations activities must be supported by appropriately set goals
Take advantage of the knowledge of our employees who know how to define them!
Objectives set by the SMART method
Strategy company PR requires commitment at every stage. All of the above PR goals will not be achieved if they are chaotic and without a specific implementation plan. A good goal is one set with the SMART method, i.e. through an analysis indicating how goals should be set to increase the chance of their achievement. This analysis will also allow you to check whether your goals are relevant and how to achieve them. Without a clear and specific plan, PR goals can quickly become a cause of failure. SMART goals must meet the following criteria:
- detailed - the goal must be specific and precisely defined, without any inaccuracies and omissions,
- measurable - define the criteria by which you will measure your goal. Thanks to this, you can constantly evaluate the progress in its implementation,
- attainable - the goal must be attainable. You cannot draw plans from your fingertips without any support from research or generally rationality of its implementation,
- important - consider whether your goal is of particular importance to your organization?
- timed - time dimensions help you achieve your goal and increase your motivation to achieve it.
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Worth knowing:
What is a PR strategy?
PR strategy is not only an action plan, but also the art of attracting attention. Without a PR strategy, it is difficult to build a positive image of a company or organization. This strategy includes several important elements, such as defining goals, audiences and communication channels. There is no unambiguous recipe for the perfect PR strategy, but the possibilities of creating an image are unlimited nowadays. It is therefore worth starting with defining your mission and message, and then choosing the right tools and activities to achieve success in communication with the environment.
Examples of PR strategies include...?
It turns out that PR strategy is a very complicated issue. Many companies think that it is enough to send a few news to journalists and mark the task as done. Nothing more wrong! Good PR is primarily a concept, idea and vision. It's actually an intricate and precise play with the environment. That is why it is so important to implement an effective PR strategy that will help us achieve our business goals. Examples of such strategies? These can be e.g. activities related to brand management, influencer campaigns, organization of events, but also interesting content marketing solutions.
How to build a PR strategy?
How to build a PR strategy? This is a question that many entrepreneurs ask themselves at the beginning of starting a business and not only. After all, a good PR strategy can be crucial to its success. It is worth starting with defining the goals we want to achieve through public relations activities. Then you need to choose the right tools and channels that will allow you to effectively reach your target group of customers. It is also extremely important to identify your audience and define the values that can be conveyed with the help of PR. Building a PR strategy requires not only creativity, but also diligence and knowledge of the market and users' needs.