Why PR is an essential service in rebuilding your business

9 Jul 2020

With the lockdown regulations being eased, many businesses are reopening their doors after weeks of closure. With businesses slowly going back to their routine, and restructuring. As a public relations professional, I that most businesses will neglect their need for PR and the significant role it will play on growing their business.

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I have come across a lot of business owners who do not acknowledge the importance of my profession. Not understanding that integrating such business functions into their business will take their business places. I’m speaking from a PR professional point of view so believe me when I say that such services are advantageous for a business to have.

Privilege rather than an essential service

Part of getting your business back to its normal performance means creating awareness for it and its services. Without clients, there is no business and to get new clients you need to create awareness for your services/product, which is basically what PR does.

One of the mistakes that I have noted that businesses make with regards to PR, is that they view it as a privilege rather than an essential service that will enable their businesses to succeed. As I am writing this, I know that due to lockdown. Some of these businesses are planning to cut their PR budget as their way of restructuring financial, which is bad business move in my opinion.

If businesses stopped for a minute and not overlook the PR profession, they would understand that my colleagues in the PR field are not given enough credit for their work. Our objective as PR professionals is to convey messages and make public statements that businesses fail to do.

PR professionals help crises management

This is where we (PR professionals) come in, we aid them in gaining third-party endorsements while we manage crises and restore compromised reputations for our clients. Take into mind that apart from direct consumer interaction, PR professionals, compared to other marketing professionals help crises management.

Also, from a financial point of view. Having a PR professional in your corner will prove to be a cost-effective move for your business. Especially post lockdown, South African businesses will need even more effective ways to market their products and services to regain their clientele and attract new ones.

Bill Gates believes that if he had his last dollar he would spend it on PR. Does that not tell you how important the PR profession is? The reopening of the economy requires cost-effective marketing ways to create brand awareness, PR is the most effective one.