What Is A Public Relations Specialist?

What Is A Public Relations Specialist?

Every business is - or should be - centered on its target audience. Knowing how to communicate with them is the key to success. Likewise, if you do it wrong, you will definitely fail.

For this good communication to happen, three areas are normally involved: journalism, advertising and public relations. There is no doubt about what a journalist or publicist does, but what is a public relations specialist?

It is always good to keep in mind that the internet is a powerful information tool. And with great power comes great responsibility. The internet also brings with it high exposure to the image of people and companies.

And it is with care for this image that the PR professional works. They are the ones who will take care of the company's reputation and ensure that the public understands what you want to convey in a positive and strategic way. 

The first thing is to address brand management. Let's dive right in.

Brand Management

One thing needs to be made very clear: a brand is not built overnight. And having a consolidated brand passes through the different eyes of society, which is why it is important to manage it with care and respect.

It's about building a good brand reputation. This is a big one. Being able to ensure that the values that the company idealizes are truly understood and passed on clearly to the consumer. That's where the public relations professional comes in.

Within brand management, public relations works with three important pillars of business communication: 

• identity
• image
• reputation

In the day-to-day, they are often confused, but each one has a very specific function.

Identity

Talking about the company's identity is to unite the mission, vision, values, symbols and everything that makes it unique. It is the very essence of the company. It is the identity that makes the brand have a sense of truth.

But for the whole identity to make sense, it is necessary to take care of the company's image. It is time to understand this other important concept of branding.

Image

Have you looked in the mirror today? If not, do it now. What do you see? your reflection, right? Identity is what you are and the reflection is your image.

The difference here is that whoever is seeing your image is the consumer and it may very well not be what you think you are building. This way the company is seen is the result of hard work by a team of specialists.

The way in which the company communicates, positions itself and presents itself to the public will directly influence its image and the fruits that the brand will reap. As Philip Kotler, one of the world’s greatest marketing experts once said, “we do not consume products , but rather the image we have of them.”

Reputation

After a well-built identity and image, it's time to talk about reputation. Firstly, it is important to say that you cannot build a reputation overnight either.

It is built gradually, through consistency in communication and quality of the product or service.

A company's reputation is the result of a very well-built image and it is very difficult to change. Therefore, be careful not to get a negative reputation, because the investment in rebuilding reputation is very high. Instead, invest in building a positive image.

What is Public Relations?

Now that you already have an idea of the pillars of brand management, it is important to understand what public relations is. With PR, everyone wins. The customer wins and the company wins.

This works as follows:

• the company wins by being able to transmit its message and generate a positive image of its brand
• the public is able to see the company in a transparent way, being able to demand results, given the established proximity.

But, what does a public relations specialist do? We’ll look at this in more detail below. 

What does a public relations specialist do?

Taking care of how people see institutions is an essential part of a public relations professional's duties. 

The public relations specialist can work in several areas of communication:

• Institutional communication
• Customer service
• Events
• Opinion polls
• Strategic planning
• Institutional projects
• Social media
• Crisis management
• Develop a company’s communication plan
• Write press releases
• Relationship with the press and influencers
• Content production
• Government relations

Despite this series of possibilities, one thing does not change regarding PR: it has a broad vision of promoting, building, preserving or realigning the image of people or institutions. PR professionals do a true X-ray of the organization in order to establish plans to better convey the company's message and image.

As excellent storytellers, they are able to engage and involve the public to build the desired image, reducing the noise of communication.

These professionals have fundamental characteristics, such as planning skills, storytelling know-how, good use of data, managing digital reputation and the ability to innovate.

Now, you know what is a public relations specialist. So, what are you waiting for? Invest in this area and take your company to the next level!

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