Public Relations & Publicity

Public relations is the process of creating awareness & positive impressions of a person, company, brand or product.

Public relations professionals offer counsel about communication strategies that can improve public opinion about a client.

Crisis management is also a particularly important function of public relations, since it can help shape public perception at a time of high visibility.

Examples:

• When do we hear about mining companies?

• How did your perception of Toyota change in 2010?

• What perceptions of banks, investment banks, GSE's, mortgage lenders, insurers like AIG, and auto companies were fostered from October 2008-March 2009?

Publicity management consists of placing and/or helping to shape coverage of the client in the media.

Unlike advertising, publicity is often free, but it can also be inadvertent or negative.

The lack of publicity can be a problem for a client, even on occasion worse than negative publicity.

In their daily work, publicists cultivate relationships with journalists and editors.

Public relations and publicity must take into account the combined the combined impact and interaction of:

• news and informational coverage including crisis response;
• brand recognition and identification;
• associated celebrity personalities
• "free media" publicity;
• paid promotion and advertising;
• cycles of inclusion or exclusion of the client from the public media;
• general impressions vs. targeted market impressions;
• key target audiencess, including consumers and investors/analysts
  

Book publicity–

• overall strategy;
• publisher’s cash commitment;
• promotional copies, reviews;
• radio, TV, press interviews: booking with producers;
• live author tour events
• author’s publicity resources.

Television publicity and promotion–

• media cycles timed prior to airdate;
• on-air promotion;
• news/talk programs;
• other media placements e.g. magazine articles
• series "stunts";  
• star profiles;
• critics/reviewsand ads based on these;
• "press tour";
• network websites;
• social media presence, and other internet buzz.

Motion picture publicity–

• media cycle timing: pre-release, release, video;
• news/talk shows;
• star and director profiles: interviews, photojournalism, magazine covers, appearances;
• awards;
• screenings for critics, etc.;
• ads based on critics/reviews, box office;
• cultivating "buzz"; web promotion; social media; press releases; staged events; merchandising.