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Public relations encompasses all the information that the company conveys to the media, through the press, radio, and television about itself, (its practices, activities, personnel) or its products, and which it does not pay for.

Press relations

Press relations consist of broadcasting interesting and sufficiently neutral information on the company, to selected, impartial people - journalists, leaders of opinion, experts, specialist commentators, decision-makers ...- its activities, knowledge, products, and personnel. This information will be made known to journalists during telephone conversations, press conferences and releases, open days, cocktail parties, ...in the course of which, the company provides concrete information in the form of a press dossier. The journalists then write their articles based on this information. The company has no control over the use of the information that it presents and which is passed on in the press.

Press relations allow information on your company to be broadcast cost-free and indirectly, therefore, credibility is established by the signature of specialist and impartial journalists. This can easily build, or opposingly destroy the reputation of your business. In this way the image of the company is promoted at the level of consumers, but also at the level of internal company personnel. The latter can find a source of motivation in the fact they belong to a company with a good reputation.

This method of promotion has numerous advantages :

Press relations are not just for large companies. A SME can exploit a whole range of information, to try and obtain press coverage by the device of public relations. Launching a new product, a new venture, winning new contracts abroad, signing a partner are all events which can be echoed on this track by the press.

Pay attention when using this technique. Do not control journalists as you could face negative criticism.

Occasion communication

Consumers are enticed more and more by advertisements of all kinds. The saturation resulting from this overexposure risks reducing the effectiveness of advertisements in the long term. Furthermore, consumers appear to be more and more demanding regarding the social role of companies in general. Bearing these constraints in mind, to a greater extent, companies resort to communication events techniques in order to reinforce their profile in foreign markets. Occasion communication comprises developing communication by the intermediary via an event, an activity or an individual who will be supported practically or financially.

Occasion communication includes :

1. Sponsorship or sponsoring

Sponsorship or sponsoring is a form of communication by which a company, on the basis of a contract, contributes support, most often financial, to an event, an activity an organisation or a person as a promotional aim. With this device, it attempts to create or develop a positive image for itself, its brand, its products or services. Sponsoring an event is most often accompanied by a public relations campaign in close relation with journalists. For this reason, public relations and sponsorship are indiscernible. Sponsorship itself can be considered as a public relations operation aiming at a larger group.

Before integrating sponsorship in international communication, it is necessary to check that current legislation in the market is able to authorise it.

2. Backing

Backing is support in the form of material aid, donations either in kind, or financial, brought about by a company to a community, association, or event where the purpose is often not lucrative. The objective is to make your presence known and the role of the company, as a participant in local social life, to create for itself a national and civic recognition and also to make itself considered to be a good citizen by the authorities.

3. Patronage

Patronage is financial support, a grant donated without compensation directly to a charity or a charitable person for a general, interest task such as spreading culture, protecting the environment, support for humanitarian actions, ... Patronage highlights the social conscience of the company and supplies it with a kind of citizenship which eases its establishment into foreign markets.

The difference between patronage and sponsorship is the fact that sponsorship is not a philanthropic activity. At present the distinction is often purely theoretical and is based notably on differences in tax orders.

4. Remarks

Some are of the opinion that occasion communication is the preserve of large businesses which can devote substantial budgets to it. Others believe that a well led operation can be effective and that SMEs can therefore have recourse to a very precise public relations policy. If you decide to invest in this kind of communication, it is necessary to that you target your objectives precisely. In any case, there cannot be discrepancies between the inherent image in your trade, and the choice of event or body that you will sponsor.

It is absolutely vital to use a specialised and professional agency.

For smooth running, it is useful to devote half the budget to activity, and the other half to "making yourself known” . The company must promote its operations as much as backers or patrons in order to reap the benefits. This will be done by the advertising intermediary, company brochure, public relations with the press.

Sponsoring, backing and patronage are long term means of communication and complementary to other forms of communication. If the results are in general important on the level of image and recognition, it is however difficult to measure direct effects on company sales in the mid-term.

Publishing

The company can edit written material, for example :

Additional remarks

To be effective, public relations must be planned in the long term. Immediate yield cannot be expected. Additionally, the impact of such measures is difficult to quantify. With time, the positive image and the reputation of the company exporting improves and the establishment of a favourable climate for the company and its products, contributes, in an indirect way to the results. In truth, there is less resistance to purchasing by local consumers if the company is perceived to be a "good” company.

Foreign companies are often very easy political targets. By developing their public relations, they can attempt to reduce the risk of political attack and create political alliances. This can prove to be essential, for example if the company has to negotiate with local authorities, or when it has a crisis, and becomes the object of counter-advertising. Public relations allows the company to anticipate and avoid criticism which could result in different circumstances (presence in a non democratic country, criticism of its products, ...) If critics do not react speedily and effectively to the company, they can increase problems, such as the boycott of these products on an international level. Such events have weighty consequences on the level of income, but above all on the level of image, which is already difficult to create.

The major advantage of public relations is the credibility with which it is associated. An identical message presented by a neutral press journalist has more chance of being accepted and believed by the audience than presented by the intermediary of an advertisement. However, and it is a particularity of public relations in regard to other methods of communication, the company has no control over the use which will be made of the information it supplies, nor on the decision to publish this information.

Public relations practices can be influenced in certain markets by cultural standards, social, political and economic contexts of the market. In most industrialised countries, public relations undertakings generally rest on mass media such as press and television, (which will be local, regional or national, ...) Furthermore, in an information society, marked by technological advances regarding communication (fax, satellites, high speed modems, internet), public relations can only become more and more global. Professionals in the sector can actually be in contact at any given moment with any given media in the world.

You should contact competent professionals who understand the background and influential media to prepare and set up your public relations programme. Their assignment will notably consist of outlining a programme, establishing a press dossier, analysing the reaction (in terms of articles written) and managing advertising for your public relations.