What is PR and Why Do I Care?
Columnist - Sandra Fong YoungDefining Public Relations and Explaining its Benefits to Parents The public relations agency that I work for recently held an open house as part of South Park’s Walkabout (a wonderful family-friendly and free event, BTW), and the two most frequently questions were: So What is Public Relations? What Do You Do? Unfortunately, PR is a hard thing to define, but I tried to put together a quick one-sentence response: “We help various businesses and organizations get editorial coverage in the media, including in the newspaper, on TV morning shows and on the radio.” They usually nodded in understanding afterward, but I’m still not sure if they really understood. Let me try again: • Public Relations (PR) is a type of marketing. • It helps manage the flow of information from an organization/individual and its publics (which may include the news media, consumers, other businesses, potential employees or investors). • Unlike advertising, these businesses do not pay to be mentioned. • When you read an interview with a CEO of a company in the newspaper or see a chef demonstrating how to cook a dish on your local morning show, keep in mind that these opportunities were very likely coordinated by a PR person who worked as the go-between for the business and the media outlet. So that’s what PR is. And now the more important question: Why Do I Care? Most of PR goes on behind the scenes and helps get valuable information out to you about new company announcements, product recalls, events, major sales, community happenings and more. But if you’re the type of parent who likes to further research (and if you’re on SanDiegoBargainMama.com, I’m betting you are ...), you can learn more about your favorite companies and products through PR.The easiest way to do this is to go to a company/product Web page and look for the “Press Room,” “News” or “Media” section. Here, you will find “press releases” with the latest information – perhaps even before the media does and definitely more in-depth than the media has room to report. For instance, in Apple’s PR section, you can read the full official letter the company distributed regarding the iPhone 4 and its infamous reception issues. Online press rooms will also often include helpful fact sheets, sample images and videos, bios of key staff, investor information and product details. For example, Rady Children’s Hospital has a video up where a staff member was interviewed on KUSI about the dangers of heavy television sets for children. E-mail:
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