Understanding the power of public relations in business

As with so many other business sectors, marketing and communication has found itself having to cope with the dramatic development of technology over recent years.

Going back twenty years, the main way for public relations agencies to convey information about their clients was through the post, sending out hardcopy press releases and printed photographs.

What brought about the major change was the advent of email. Suddenly, it did not take a press release two days to reach a media outlet, it took two seconds, and all done at the press of a button.

The effect has been dramatic; suddenly a PR agency sending out a release can see it hitting the web within minutes, particularly as many media outlets now consider themselves as much Internet providers as conveying news through their more traditional formats.

That in itself has created new outlets and PR agencies are aware of the growth in independent websites or those run by organisations which focus on their particular field of speciality. They also increasingly look to social media to spread the message with the likes of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube more and more powerful.

That does not mean that more traditional outlets are being ignored. Far from it. The newspapers, radio and television remain important, it is just that for many PR specialists, hits on the web is where their successes are increasingly being recorded.

However, there is more to promoting a business than the good old press release and marketing companies know that, which is why they are becoming increasingly inventive.

Their ideas go way beyond PR, seeing great opportunities offered by the Internet as well as the proliferation of independent television and radio stations, many of which offer great opportunities to get the message out there.

Good marketing experts realise that the companies who fare best in this hothouse of creativity are those who think - to use a modern, but very appropriate, cliché - outside the box.

That has resulted, for instance, in companies sponsoring television and radio programmes in return for a mention in the advertising breaks.

Other companies experiment with the likes of podcasts and flash banner advertising on websites or taking advantage of the exciting revolution in hand-held technology and the opportunities it offers for downloads.

For other companies, producing their own publications is the key and those who succeed are the ones who value creativity above everything else, who dedicate time and effort to getting the look and the text right so that they make for attractive and informative reads.

For all marketing experts, it is about making the client stand out. Whether it be attractive adverts in magazines and newspapers or inventive use of downloads and websites, creativity holds the key to success.