Firstly, there are only certain things that journalists find interesting and a public relations officer has to understand this.
Secondly, in order to be a successful PR practitioner, establishing good ties with journalists and editors is essential.
Public relations practice is evident in today's media society. In order to gain exposure for a client or organization, some aspects of media will have to be used. Media relations is in fact a two-way relationship that public relations practitioners have to adopt with the media.
The main objective of a PR person is to make their product or organization interesting to the readers or viewers. So, using different approaches and interpretations with the materials presented is a practice we must become familiar with. It is often the case that the client would want their product showcased to different classes of people. There would be more than one set of target audience. PR practitioners must be able to work with their materials and make them attractive to all these different people.
In essence, we must be creative and flexible.
The approaches PR practitioners use must also aim to interest journalists as well as the audience. Journalists will only use your information if it relates to their column. Because you can never be sure your product will be featured the way you want it (if at all), your best bet would be to be on good terms with these journalists to ensure that your ideas will see some headlines in the papers/magazines.
These ideas have made me understand that if I aspire to become a PR professional, I must understand the needs of the journalists and respond accordingly. Flexibility with my clients products is essential if I want to see a sales increase.
To ensure my organization or client gets the attention they want, I need to work with the people who can provide that. Trust between the media and the PR office is necessary. These two ideas, the approach and the relationship building are indeed public relationship strategies that have to be adopted.
I thought the way you approached the reading was helpful to other students, especially the 'make the products and organizations interesting to the readers or viewers.'
ReplyDeleteYou really have a much deeper insight of this issue, I truly inspired by your 'to be creative and flexible' as a public relation officer.
Think a brand new way of doing the PR jobs, to 'shock' the readers or viewers, make them say 'I never think it could have done in this way' and your products or services have gained the attention.
The objective is to increase the exposure rate. For example, having celebrities standing in front of a board which has your organization's logo on it to take photo.