An Insight into PR for Businesses

VP of Phenomenal PR and Events, Heba Zahid, explains the importance of public relations.

Public Relations (PR) has become an essential method of business promotion and growth. Vice president of Phenomenal PR and Events, Heba Zahid even said, “The secret formula of success is working with a PR agency,” when accepting her award at the 12^th annual Women in Business Stevie Award in New York.

According to Zahid, PR is critical to attain success in our time because markets are more competitive and information is readily available, forcing businesses to work harder to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

PR objectives should include but are not limited to:

• To position the company as the leading company in the country.
• To build/enhance the company’s position as the partner of choice within the region.
• Establish the company as a socially responsible organization.
• Strengthen relations with the target audience.
• Improve public trust.
• Increase employee loyalty.

A successful PR strategy does the following:

• Develops key messages and focuses on delivering them to the audience.
• Streamlines and creates synergy between communication tools.
• Builds a long-term relationship with stakeholders.
• Is pro-active and consolidates events, sponsorships and activities to create positive media coverage.

Zahid agrees that even social media plays a key role in today’s PR strategies as it has the ability to engage and receive feedback in real time.

“Organizations can take advantage of this and use the interaction with their customers to better build their brand image and loyalty,” said Zahid. She believes that setbacks with social media can be avoided if the strategy is well developed and executed, but organizations need to keep in mind that social media does magnify mistakes.

This should not, however, demotivate people from using PR. “There are several misconceptions due to lack of knowledge about PR. The most common misconception that I would single out is that PR is only about the media, when it clearly isn’t. It’s about relationships.”

TIPS

• Invite: It’s the hook and the point of attraction that grabs the target audience’s attention by using the right channels.
• Excite: After we get our target attention, we maintain their interest by presenting the right material at the right time as well as keeping the excitement known as “Content Creation.”
• Amplify: Add more value and get more exposure out of the event by increasing awareness in media.

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