A pr company is a professional services organization, generally hired to conceive, produce and manage un-paid messages to the public through the media on behalf of a client, with the intention of changing the public’s actions by influencing their opinions. Messages are often in the form of news distributed in a non-personal form which may include newspaper, magazine, radio, television, Internet or other form of media for which the sponsoring organization does not pay a fee.
PR professionals usually target only certain segments of
the public, since similar opinions tend to be shared by a group of people
rather than an entire society. However, by targeting different audiences with
different messages to achieve an overall goal, PR professionals can
achieve widespread opinion and behavior change.
A public relations Company is
independent from the client and provides a third-party perspective on the
client’s business, goods or services. Typical pr company clients
include businesses (sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLC’s) and
corporations, non-profit organizations and government agencies.
A public relations firm can
be as small as one person (sole practitioner) or more than 1,000. In general,
those of 9 or fewer employees are considered to be small firms). If a pr company has 10 – 75 employees, that is considered a
medium-to-large firm. Above 75 is considered large and represents a minority.
A pr company with a large number of employees generally has
multiple offices. In some situations, the additional offices are “service
offices” located near a client facility and are there to provide nearby
“service.” In such cases, the essence of the pr company that includes creative services, production,
etc. are at the headquarters location. The “services offices” are meant to be
staffed with account personnel.
The continuing evolution of the
pr
company is such that a pr company can provide far more than conventional public
relations. A full service pr company is one that provides a comprehensive menu of services, including
analyst relations, crisis management, e-business strategies, investor relations,
labor relations, media relations, public affairs, PR,
traffic, branding, product placement, event planning, sports marketing,
tradeshow support and an ever-evolving list of attributes that contribute to
the marketing and sales of their client’s goods and/or services.
For economic reasons, and
because taking on a new client includes many initial internal expenses that are
generally meant to be amortized over time, pr company prefer to establish an Agency of Record (AOR)
relationship with their clients. An AOR relationship includes a contract for a
stipulated duration, encompassing details regarding fees, ownership and rights,
as well as termination clauses.
Work done by a pr company without the benefit of a contract (or
written agreement) is referred to as “project work.” In that case, each and
every “project” stands on its own and is priced and managed accordingly.
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