Name, image and reputation these three words sound short and simple yet the survival of a business or celebrity in the market depends too much on these three abstract nouns. But, Public Relations (PR) is such an influencing marketing approach that transformed intangibles into tangibles and implicit into explicit. PR has redefined the approach of marketing and promotions. Now, name, image and reputation can be seen, observed and felt from the eyes of the media. PR is so convincing and powerful these days that it can easily change the perception of the people about a product and person too. Things which were just unrecognised products in the market few months back are big brands today, it is the PR which leveraged the name, created the image and build the reputation of the most successful brands in present age highly dynamic market sphere.
PR not only makes brands, but it protects, saves and prevents a brand from various kinds of threats. Whether it is a communication failure or image crisis, PR saves a brand in all types of market contingencies. It bridges the gap between media and the client, clear doubts, correct the delivered statements, pacify the target audience and polished the decaying image with positive and productive deliverables.
The role of PR increases to many folds after the advent of digital media, where a negative message may become viral within seconds on the highly interactive social media sites. In social media, negative news spread faster than fire in the forest and client alone cannot deal with such kind of emergencies. At the hour of prompt support, it is the PR which safeguards client's name, image and reputation using all the possible crisis management strategies it backfires on rivals and even converts the crisis into a positive campaign, which leads to enormous business opportunities.
Smart entrepreneurs and businesses do not hire PR agencies just for the sake of promotion and marketing. PR for them is a great enterprise investment which enhances image as well as creates massive business opportunities. People, especially investors pay less attention to advertisements as compare to articles and press releases in offline and online media. Effort worth more than money and that's why, majority of businesses in the modern era are switching to PR, which is more effective and more economical than the advertising. Here, I will once again say that 'Public Relations is a need NOT Publicity' for today's businesses, and it is the most effective way to leverage name, image and reputation.