9 Ways Public Relations can serve or rescue your organisation

So you own your own business and you are desperate for some publicity. You hear that you can create your own Facebook or MySpace page or you can join the twitter world and twit away about your business. However, the internet confuses and intimidates you so you want to find someone who can do a bit of communication on your behalf. But you remain unsure about what Public Relations can really do for your organisation. Here are 9 functions that public relations serves within an organisation:

1.Awareness and Information – Public Relations provides publicity and use promotional tools to raise awareness about your product; It can aid sales and boost fundraising efforts.

2.Organisational Motivation – Public Relations builds internal relationships. This means through different staff based activities, it helps staff to get along by fostering positive morale, teamwork, productivity, and corporate culture.

3.Issue Anticipation – Public Relations does not only publicise things. PR can also identify any issues which may affect your organisation negaitively and aid you to act on them before they become crisies. For example, through environmental monitoring, research and continuous connections with its publics. PR can provide what you may call 'an early warning system' of potential problems.

4.Opportunity Identification - Inthe same way Public Relations can monitor issues which may affect the organisation negatively, it can also identify potential oppotunities which can benefit the organisation and help the organisation to act on and/or maximise these opportunities. Indeed, through environmental monitoring, research and connections with its various publics/markets, PR can identify new markets, products, methods, allies and positive issues.

5.Crisis Management – Public Relations can manage an appropriate response to crisis situations that will minimise the harm to an organisation’s reputation and allow it to continue functioning.

6.Overcoming Executive Isolation – Public Relations through research and counselling keeps management in touch with what is happening so that appropriate decisions are made. Indeed without the PR person, management can be so out of touch with the happenings within the organisation that may affect it.

7.Change Agentry – Public Relations can assist with organisational changes through communication and other activities to ease resistance to change and promote a smooth transition for those affected by the changes. Ok what I mean here is if you are about to get fired or to fire someone, then the Public Relations effort is designed to smooth this process and minimise the fall out to the organisation.

8.Social Responsibility – Public Relations can take the lead in helping organisations act responsibly in such areas as the environment, workplace issues, and philanthropy. These actions can lead to greater public trust an positive feelings for the organisation, which can increase mutual understanding, and translate into increased sales and use of services.

9.Influencing Public Policy – Public Relations can use its connections to government officials and other influential individuals and groups to gain acceptance for its activities, products or services and also remove political barriers.