Public relations 101: What is it?

The acronym PR is bandied around a lot.

It has been used everywhere; from describing Sydney celebrity Roxy Jacenko’s profession to being strategically placed next to a hashtag on an influencer’s Instagram story.

But how many of us know exactly what it means?

The Public Relations Institute of Australia describes PR as “the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics”.

In layman’s terms, PR is all about generating favourable exposure for free.

That’s right, for free.

Why is it important?

You’ve poured your life savings into your business.

You’ve dotted your i’s and crossed all your t’s, and now it’s time to open the (metaphorical or real) doors.

But where do you get your customers?

Let’s say your business is a restaurant in one of Brisbane’s inner suburbs.

The locals have been watching the venue come together on their daily walks, and they’re eager to be one of your first customers.

They may be your target audience, their once or twice-weekly meals aren’t going to keep the lights on.

You need to expand your reach.

So, how are you going to effectively get word out there?

There’s advertising. 

But that’s costly and requires an ongoing investment.

There’s also social media.

But unless you’re already a household name, it’s going to take time to grow your following.

Enter, PR.

We should make it known here that the most effective way to start and maintain a successful business is to develop a multi-pronged approach, including everything from advertising to social media, marketing, sales and PR.

But if you only had the budget to pick one…

What’s involved?

A skilled PR professional will work with you to understand your business.

They’ll use that knowledge to share your stories in a way that generates maximum exposure among your target audience.

What makes Wine Glass Media is different to most PR agencies because we’re journalists.

We’ve worked in some of Australia’s biggest newsrooms and we understand time pressures, news cycles and why a story may get published by one media outlet, but not another.

We have relationships with journalists across the country and are trusted to provide them with quality stories that will resonate with their audiences.

There’s nothing worse than sharing a great story only for it to be ignored because it wasn’t pitched correctly, or for it to rapidly turn into a negative one because you didn’t understand what, when and how to share it with the media.

Any publicity is not always good publicity.

Want to know more? Contact us to arrange a free consultation to discuss your PR needs.