Words are highly emotive. We use them for survival, gaining friends, making sales, helping others, showing-off and a host of other reasons.
I’ve always been interested in how language is used, by people, brands and businesses, print and broadcast, online and social media. Knowing how to use the right words in the right place at the right time is pretty integral to any PR consultant’s abilities.
A ‘public relations’ professional is someone who is good at getting to the heart of the issue, understanding the different channels and how to use the right words to communicate well in each environment, on or offline. Of course print and broadcast media have historically played an important part in that, but it’s not the whole story. Creating a dialogue that ultimately helps drive sales is what PR is and always has been all about. And any PR person worth their salt makes it their business to fully understand and communicate well in any relevant channel.
So whether it’s Twitter or a women’s weekly, a blog post, an exhibition or event, a regional newspaper or Facebook, what matters is that we’ve said something that motivates the right people. What matters even more is that businesses consider the opportunities ‘in the round’ and are not encouraged to develop one area of communications in isolation to another.
Here’s to public relations in all its many forms.