PR isn’t about ‘fluff’ and getting some ’nice’ bits of media coverage, it’s all about boosting business growth, or it should be!
Here’s how effective public relations can help you and your business:
- Media coverage can raise or enhance your profile and grow awareness of your products and services among your target markets.
- Endorsement by a third party ie: journalists or Editors can give immediate credibility to a business, with the potential to influence your key audiences.
- Public relations can ultimately drive inquiries and sales, footfall, and traffic to your website, it’s all about boosting your bottom-line.
- PR can go a long way to ensuring that businesses stand out from their competitors in increasingly crowded marketplaces.
- Compared to advertising and other marketing, PR is the ultimate cost-effective, awareness-raising machine, and a well-run public relations campaign can deliver media coverage worth many tens and even hundreds of thousands of pounds in the advertising equivalent, at just a fraction of the price.
PR Disaster for BP
PR Week today reports that beleaguered BP is spending millions of dollars to minimise the PR damage caused by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which has been named the worst oil spill in US history.
With no end in sight to the ongoing saga, BP chief executive Tony Hayward has said: ‘I think this is clearly a major reputational issue for BP.’
As £12billion was wiped off the value of its shares earlier today, it seems that BP’s reputation – and its future - is at risk every bit as much as the Gulf ecosystem.
The results mean the company’s stock has fallen £42billion – more than a third of its value – since the fatal oilrig explosion six weeks ago.
Some analysts are predicting that BP may not survive.
Greenpeace, who are masters of effective PR, summed up the feelings of many around the world when they hung a large flag with their own design on BP’s West London HQ, rebranding the company “British Polluters.”
Tags: Bad PR, BP, Effective Uses of Public Relations, Ethical Reputation, Greenpeace, Oil Spill, PR, PR Disaster, PR Week, Public Relations, Reputation | Posted in PR Comment June 1st, 2010