Known to be one of the fastest-growing and most competitive fields, Public Relations (PR) is a highly sought after occupation. There is rapid growth for the industry, projected in the next 3-5 years, meaning more PR practitioners will be in demand. However, very few people can explain what PR practitioners really do. Similarly, if you are a business owner and are looking to expand your business’ reach, here’s everything you need to know about PR.
What is Public Relations?
Public relations is a strategic process of communication used by individuals, businesses, and organizations to create a positive relationship with the public. It is the practice of leveraging media channels to promote an organization and cultivate a positive public perception. Nowadays, customers want to trust the brands they do business with — and nothing builds and fosters trust like public relations.
Types of Public Relations
There are many types of PR. Ranging from business events, community relations, corporate and social responsibility, crisis management, media relations to social media.
Business events are opportunities to market products or services and gain exposure for your brand. Over here at Saltine, we regularly host virtual events such as webinars alongside our partnering brands to help boost brand awareness and share unique thought leadership or data-driven information.
Community relations refers to establishing positive relationships with the local community around your business. Examples are charity work, donations, special discounts and anything that builds a strong relationship with the community as well as strengthens customer loyalty.
Corporate and social responsibility is similar to community relations, but it places a greater emphasis on ethical business practices, environmental responsibility, and philanthropy — locally, regionally, and globally.
Our client Union Power, an arm of Union Energy Group (UEG), aims to build a business of sustainable energy and lead the push into green energy generation. Riding on the vision of the world and also of Singapore, their organisation launched Union Solar in late 2019. We. at Saltine, are believers of a greener Singapore for the future and we have echoed Union Power's green missions to the media with features in MoneyFM 89.3, CNA 938 - Singapore Today, The Homeground and more.
Crisis management is the practice of acknowledging, managing and mitigating negative communication and perception surrounding a business crisis. Professional PR practitioners are trained to help businesses handle anything that could jeopardize or ruin the brand’s reputation.
Media relations refers to building positive relationships with journalists, publications, and other news outlets. Typically, this is done through the writing and organizing of press releases and scheduling interviews.
Being a local startup in Singapore, Saltine has successfully fostered good media relations with several publications locally and globally. We are the only PR agency in Singapore that guarantees results. Over the years, our diverse profile of clients, such as Motorist, Zenyum, Archisen has been featured on The Straits Times, CNBC, The Business Times, Yahoo! and many more.
Social media relations is considered both an earned and paid PR tactic. For most companies, social media can be a helpful PR (and marketing) tool — it is an effective way to amass followers, convert customers, share content, and resolve crises.
One of the common job scopes of a PR practitioner involves building strong relationships with influencers, bloggers and working with them on a regular basis in order to share content. Under our care, meeth, a luxury Japanese skincare brand has worked with a total of more than 170 influencers.
Though these various strategies of PR help to echo the different brand messages to the media and public, the industry is ever-growing with newer methods and ways to raise brand awareness and mindshare about each brand's target audience. Saltine Communications continue to stays afloat with the new trends to provide brands with the most suitable PR efforts for their needs.
Read more about our clients' PR successes here.