A first-class public relations advisor will fight the trend of many insecure companies to retreat from the press. In doing so the public relations specialist improves the position of the client and the client's product. It is absolutely necessary to keep lines of communication between a client and the press open at all times.
Public relations experts must convince clients that sometimes the press must report bad news, even if, temporarily, it may not present the client in the most favorable light. After all, the relationship between public relations experts and the press functions as a two-way street so that both positive and negative information is shared openly and candidly.
It is the public relations advisor’s job to serve as a bridge--a liaison--between the client and the press in an attempt to persuade the client to change their mind to more fully recognize how the news cycle functions and can be used to their specific advantage.
Even the best public relations firm in the world cannot help keep a company out of the newspapers. If it has a public profile at all, the firm must realize that it has certain accountability to the public, including the media. A public relations firm can help the difficulties associated in maintaining that relationship to effectively counterbalance and soften negative public images, which may occur from time to time.
Many corporations have well-trained, sophisticated, and competent public relations departments within their own boundaries, however, they still tend to seek the expertise of other outside firms. Why? There are as many valid answers as there are companies—and each has its own reason. On many occasions, the client seeks external help without really knowing exactly why it may be needed. If there is a problem for their public image, the client may not even realize the full extent of it.
Public relations firms represent corporations that want to examine themselves more closely to see if they want to present different images of themselves to their publics-- to be seen in a better or more positive light than that in which they believe they are currently being viewed.
Once problem areas are discussed upfront between the public relations specialist and the client, the task is then to persuade the media to cast the client in the desired perspective. Given the overwhelming abundance of news-- international, national, state, and local-- that bombard communications media every day, there is an extremely limited amount of material that makes the evening television show or the morning papers. Selectivity has become the byword of the people who decide what makes news and what doesn't. Consequently, any corporation that wants to get its specific message across using the airwaves or newspapers and magazines must learn to mold its messages in such a way that the decision makers choose it to be publicized.
