Perhaps you were looking for top public relations companies in Kenya before you stumbled on this article. And now you’re wondering why other forms of communication should matter, when you’re looking for publicity and everything public relations encompasses. The truth is, a lot of organizations rush to hire public relations agencies when they are not ready for the attention that PR brings to their brand. In some cases, brands end up wasting public relations efforts by their agencies or in-house communication teams because they lack the internal structures to handle media interviews, events or other engagements with the public. In other cases, the audience you are targeting is not the general public but rather, a very specific stakeholder that does not require a complex messaging plan.
Goal-oriented communication
Let’s look at the main differences between strategic communication and public relations. PR, on one hand is a form of strategic communication. Common PR efforts include media relations and interviews, events and press conferences, appearing in prestigious lists or winning prestigious awards, running catchy social media campaigns, networking with policy-making government agencies or relevant international organizations and boosting engagements with the public. In reality, most organizations perceive media interviews as the crown jewel of public relations, however, all these efforts work in tandem to improve an organization’s standing in the public’s eye. Simply put, Public Relations is an arm of communication that entails boosting a brand’s relationship with a variety of stakeholders.
Strategic communication, on the other hand entails intentional messaging targeting a very specific audience with the hope of achieving a well defined goal. So how does PR become strategic communication. Well, public relations efforts target the public (audience) with the intention of improving a company’s image in the public’s eye (end goal). But a more refined and simpler example of strategic communication would be a non-governmental organization (NGO), producing or publishing a series of impact stories, either on their website, social media pages on in the media with the hope of impressing their existing donors or attracting more donations.
Impact storytelling is not necessarily a PR strategy, but more of a strategic communication effort. Strategic communication can be used to achieve all sorts of goals which might include- improving company culture, creating a sense of belonging among employees, strengthening an organization’s relations with its key stakeholders, attracting funding, demystifying beliefs about an organization or boosting sales and lead generation. It takes many forms depending on the exact audience and the intended goal.
What does your organization need-PR or Strategic Communication?
But how do you decide what your organization needs, especially if your preferred public relations agency offers a mix of services. First you have to be clear on your goals. Do you you want to gain visibility and improve your organization’s public image, build relations with stakeholders or perhaps you want to improve information flow both internally and externally? Identifying a goal helps you focus your energy on exactly what you need. You may evaluate problematic communication areas in your organization to determine the goal.
Perhaps your organization is struggling to connect with the general public. You don’t feel seen by your potential clients, you have no influence in the industry and your general brand image is not very clear. In this case you might need a PR agency or consultant to execute a number of tactics that will improve your standing and your relations with the public.
But let’s say you are very clear on the audience you want to focus on. It could be policy makers in your industry or perhaps you want to strengthen relations with existing clients. If the focus is one specific audience, then you should go for strategic communication.
Once you have the goal or the company needs locked down, look at the messaging efforts that will work. What is your preferred public relations company offering? Does their approach to messaging align with your needs? Will the message reach the intended audience and most importantly, will the impact achieve the end goal?
