Public Relations are incredibly important in just about every kind of organization – from fortune 500 companies to charitable nonprofits. Public Relations has evolved a great deal in recent years, with many distinct sub fields evolving. Here are some of the most important kinds of Public Relations specialty practiced in business today.
Brand Communications
Brand communication is not necessarily a distinct kind of PR. Instead, it is a broad term used to describe any activity a company engages in that communicates brand identity. Experts in consumer PR & Brand communications typically help a company to create a uniform branding policy across all of its communicative channels.
Internal Communications
Believe it or not, internal communications can have a big impact on overall branded PR. If all staff and affiliates are communicated with properly then uniform brand communication can be achieved easily. If people are in the dark, the Public Relations image of a company will likely devolve into a bit of a mess. Internal communications teams should have a role in the overall PR strategy of a business. If you trust an internal communications team to come up with good content for within a business, why not include them in the creation of externally focused material?
Media Relations
Media relations is an immensely important area within PR. The media can be your greatest friend or your most challenging foe. Media relations teams develop beneficial relationships with professionals within the media. They feed information to media professionals, organize press releases and put pressure on media companies that may be prepared to drag a brand through the mud.
Community Relations
Community relationship strategies focus on ways in which a business can give back to the community in which it is settled. This not only fosters better communities, but also enables a company to develop a better reputation. Businesses with facilities in impoverished areas can often have poor reputations with local people that fear the creeping hand of gentrification. Giving back to a community is important.
Strategic Communications
Strategic communication is the conveyance of ideas surrounding the long term aims and ethos’ of a business both internally and externally. Strategic communications are important in the development of a solid brand identity.
Social Media
Social media is a complex and ever shifting PR environment that requires special skills and active data analysis to master. PR executives with social media campaign experience are increasingly valuable to businesses. Companies need to be willing to embrace new social media trends and analyze massive datasets.
Disaster Management
There have been some absolutely devastating PR disasters in the last few years. Betterhelp selling user data. BP trying to shrug off responsibility after a huge oil spill. Volkswagen claiming to be an environmentally friendly company after lying about the emission statistics of its vehicles. Disasters do happen and they can be extremely detrimental to a company’s standing with consumers. Disaster management is a field within Public Relations that is designed to cool things down and rehabilitate a brand’s reputation after a blunder.
