by
Rabea Ataya , CEO, Chairman, CoFounder , Bayt.com
Just saw a great documentary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prTarrgvkjo) about the person who coined the term of Public Relations: Edward Bernays. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays). Public Relations originated as a technique of opinion molding which Bernays termed the ‘engineering of consent'. It is fundamentally about persuading people to accept an idea, product, or service. PR is successful to the extent that it has succeeded in convincing people of such an acceptance. How can that be measured? Some measures include increased sales, more engagement, and greater top of mind awareness. All of these measures can be relatively easily quantified. Column centimeters are a very poor measure of PR effectiveness.
It is about driving the PR agenda of an organization in the best favorable way and to the great benefit of the company and the brand. It is about understanding what the brand is all about and targeting key right PR channels and media at the right time with the adequate message in order to create the required impact. Last but not least it is about monitoring very closely PR comments/reviews and addressing those promptly and efficiently.
Rabea, the origins of PR as developed by Bernays are critical to understanding the sector, but it goes even beyond that now. Public Relations is not simply convincing others to accept an idea, product or service. It is also about reputation: What do others think of you or your organisation? Who are those "others" in the first place, and where are they? How do you speak to each one of them? Coverage is, sadly, still the measure of choice for many executives in the region, as well as advertising equivalent, but this is changing quickly now and the importance of expert advisors who can provide serious strategic advice is valued more and more.
by
Renae Richardson , Education Coordinator/Director , Oxford Learning Center
PR is about coverage but that's the vehicle. The crux of PR is about the outcome that the coverage produces.
I want consumers. I want my product out there and I want to increase my consuming base. This is the goal of the company. The goal of the PR department is to make that happen by building a good relationship with the public which will increase visibility and ultimately grow the consuming base.
While coverage in and of itself is nice if it does not result in growth of the bottom line in some way then it really has no relevance or founding.
PR is a creative way of painting an image that will draw profit. It is an art .
