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THE VALUE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS - BY GUEST BLOGGER RONN TOROSSIAN
by RaiseCapital.com | Posted on July 24, 2008

As a CEO and an entrepreneur, I’m often dismayed at how many executives fail to realize the value and necessity of Public Relations.  There’s no debate that our cluttered media market bombards consumers and corporate decision makers with hundreds of advertising images and messages every day, causing information overload and diminishing brand credibility.  Yet many executives continue to market their brand the old fashioned way, hoping that advertising, or a hard-core sales operation will bring about success. More often than not, they are not utilizing 1 vital necessity – Public Relations. 

Many great brands utilize Public Relations. Whether first-to market or entrants into an already cluttered space, many brands grew from start-up to stand-alone because their executives understood the intrinsic value of an effective and efficient public relations campaign. In their early days, more than a few brands shunned advertising completely in favor of PR.  

Here are some great reasons to consider PR: 

Public relations is the cheapest way to build a brand: Think about it; you can pay a public relations agency a monthly retainer to get you free, earned media, or you can pay an ad agency to develop ads, a graphic designer or video producer to create the ads and a media buyer to broadcast or publish the ads as many times as humanly possible in the hopes that you reach your target audience at the right moment. Yes, we are in a troubled economy, companies are tightening their budgets, but the bottom line remains the same… awareness must be created for a product, service or idea to gain awareness and sell.  For about the same cost of that one-time advertising buy in a national publication, their company can have a team of PR pros building brand awareness for six months.  A PR budget of $50K over 6 months is a sizeable investment. Public relations is simply cost effective.

Public relations produces valuable third party endorsements: Advertising’s core message is essentially, “we’re telling you the product is great, buy it.” A skilled public relations team will communicate with influential reporters, producers and trendsetters and convince them to talk, write or broadcast the virtues of your product to a broad and receptive audience. The value of third party endorsements cannot be denied. In my years in PR, I’ve seen scores of products and services go from unknowns to must-haves; I’ve seen venture capital firms knock down small business doors; all due to effective PR campaigns. Whether a casual mention from an influential columnist, a feature in a major daily or business publication, a photo expose in a popular lifestyle publication, or a broadcast story, the value of PR – free, earned media – cannot be refuted.
 
If no one knows about your product or service, they won’t buy it: It may sound elementary, but I’m constantly surprised when executives decide to take their chances and either hope for the best or pour all of their money into a one-shot advertising strategy as opposed to a steady PR build-up.
Executives oftentimes believe that either PR is not “good for their product (or service)” or else they cannot afford PR.  In both cases, those executives are wrong.  A customized, strategic PR plan would benefit any product or services – a few years back, I knew of a PR agency here in NY who did great work for manufacturers of packing material.  

With regard to affording PR, there are enough good agencies out there to generate competition. A little research and good negotiating skills will help you land the right agency at the right price. 
I can’t speculate as to how many great business endeavors failed due to lack of positive and constructive media exposure, but I can say that many companies fell from my radar shortly after they decided to cut PR from their budgets – especially in a down economy where every sale counts. PR is the crucial ingredient in brand building, it establishes and maintains credibility and keeps your target market aware of your product or service.

Ronn Torossian is the CEO and president of 5W Public Relations (www.5wpr.com), based in New York.  Torossian was named to Advertising Age's 2006 "40 Under 40" list, PR Week's 2007 "40 Under 40" List.  At 5W he represents a slew of corporate and political clients.
 

 

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