Throughout out my years of study it has always been interesting to gauge people’s reaction when I say I’m studying public relations. A lot of people don’t understand what public relations is and respond with ‘’so you study marketing?’’. Public relations efforts are very hard to be quantified and I believe this adds to the public opinion on the practice. When people cannot quantify the effect of the practice they believe it is unnecessary and a waste of money.
It is very hard to quantify the value of PR efforts. At the consultancy I interned with, staff used ‘’add value sheets’’ which equates the media publicity to the cost it would have been if we paid to advertise in the strip. However this method is still inadequate as positive public relations efforts far exceed the value of a normal advertisement as it comes from an un-biased source; one that has appears to have credibility. A great PR campaign can certainly have the ability to increase profitability in an organization but again proving this can be a little difficult. Companies may look at the linear relationship between PR efforts and sales but this still is not definite evidence. Various other factors in the market place all affect the sales amount and it is hard for PR practitioners to identify the exact impact of their PR efforts.
As companies grow, the need for PR department’s increase as the market places get cluttered with old, new and emerging companies. PR is vital for organizations to reach out to key stakeholders and build longstanding relationships to advance, promote and benefit the reputation of the company. If a firm does not use public relations in their strategies they cannot effectively portray a desired image to their audiences. Especially with all the new media communication forms, having PR professionals execute a business strategy is vital to create a successful corporation.
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