Public relations serves as a means for communication and forming a good relationship between the brand and stakeholders like customers and partners. It helps companies build a positive image and goodwill. With many competitors in the market, it is crucial to create and maintain a strong brand image to keep customers bound to you.
A negative event that goes unaddressed will change customers’ perception of your business, and they will find alternatives to avoid using your products or services.
Public relations experts use PR strategies to manage a company’s reputation to maintain a positive image. Here Jim DePalma explains the types of public relations to understand better and use them accordingly.
Types of PR – As Per Jim DePalma
1. Media Relations
A positive working relationship with the media is necessary to convey important messages to the target audience. Therefore, media relations deals with the business building solid relationships with journalists and media outlets.
The business’s public relations department schedules interviews, releases content, and organizes press conferences. These activities help the business reach the target audience via media outlets and be in the media to generate positive coverage about itself.
According to Jim DePalma’s research, media outlets benefit from maintaining positive relationships with large corporations because they receive a steady stream of news to publish or broadcast.
2. Internal Relations
Businesses use internal relation to communicate the management’s vision and initiatives to internal customers, i.e., its employees. For managing internal relations, the public relations department communicates with and counsels employees about their role in the organization and gets them on board when a organization-wide strategic shift happens. The department also motivates them to stay with the company long-term.
Jim DePalma believes that an employee can be the most significant asset or a prominent critic. Public relation experts organize events for them, communicates with them, and helps managers build a good relationship with the employees.
3. Customer Relations
Customer relations deals with a business’s public affairs, including communicating with the target audience and monitoring their feedback on products and services.
Public relations professionals that look after customer relations manage the business’s interactions with its customers via platforms like customer helplines and social media channels. Their tasks involve answering client queries, intervening in situations involving customers where the business’s image is being hurt, and highlighting positive customer stories that build goodwill.
In a B2B context, PR experts build solid relationships with industry clients and partners via industry events and other initiatives. These activities emphasize mutual growth and recognize industry partners and clients contributing to the company’s growth.
4. Crisis Management
Crisis management is another type of public relations company needs when a crisis strikes them. For instance, an employee accuses the company of bad behavior, a higher-up from the company gets into a heated argument online, or a manager gets caught in an unethical act. The company always gets a crisis management public relation expert to get them out of such situations.
A company’s representative uses social media to clarify and maintain the company’s positive image. As per Jim DePalma, these crisis managers work to develop a recovery plan on short notice. They know how to turn a situation around and which steps to take to manage the disaster.
Final Thoughts From Jim DePalma
An excellent public relations team is essential for modern businesses to manage their reputation and ensure they keep operating. The subfields of public relations allow businesses to address different situations and audience. The types of public relations can also be combined for an ideal public relation plan that helps the business avoid unnecessary scandals and create a desirable image of itself.