Chances are you’re thinking, wait, there’s a difference? We don’t blame you. The PR world hasn’t done the greatest job in ‘PR-ing’ what PR actually is and you’d be forgiven for thinking PR is just front page news, celebrity endorsements and lavish launch parties. The truth is there’s far more that goes into PR strategy than being splashed all over the news – particularly if you want results that last. 

So, what is PR exactly?

In a nutshell PR refers the practice of creating and maintaining the positive perception of a brand. This means strategically building relationships between your brand and the groups of people you interact with to build trust and credibility. If you own a Cafe, Restaurant or Food Brand, you might be focusing on your customers, employees, suppliers, wholesalers and shareholders, and devising PR strategy to communicate with each group effectively. 

There are a range of tactics that fall under Public Relations that enable you to build trust and credibility including:

Social media
Cross-collaborations
Partnerships
Sponsorship
Publicity
Events + pop-ups
Social responsibility
Community relations
Newsletters
Content creation 

Okay, what is PR in terms of Publicity?

Publicity is just one of the tactics used in PR strategy, more specifically to generate media coverage and public attention. It involves using various media channels such as  digital, print and radio to promote your brand message or story. It does contribute to your brand’s reputation and perception, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle.

So how does Publicity fit into a PR Strategy?

PR practitioners are incredibly skilled at identifying whether a brand has a story that media will be interested in sharing, and if your brand is successful, widespread coverage over a period of time can lead to a range of positive outcomes for your reputation. But remember, you can’t be in the news every day and a PR agency can’t can’t control how the story is being shared – that’s completely up to the journalist.

When you work with an agency that specialises in PR (like us!) they’ll be able to help to identify what tactics are going to best work for your brand and it may not be publicity to begin with.

Final thoughts…

Publicity is incredibly valuable for brands that have something newsworthy to say, you can’t build a brand’s positive perception and reputation on publicity alone. Think of PR as the overarching tree and publicity as just one of many branches. It will get you awareness, but in order to maintain an ongoing relationship with your target audience and build trust, credibility and a positive reputation, you’re going to need the whole tree not just the branch.

Feel like you’re ready to take your business to the next level with PR? Get in touch.