Megan's Blog

When most people see the word Public Relations they immediately think of Press Releases. However, public relations includes so much more and can sometimes be the deciding point on whether your product, service or event is a success.

As a communications major, I have spent a lot of time learning to write press releases and media advisories. But one thing I have learned is anyone can write a press release or media advisory and email it to a news station or newspaper. It is what you do before, during and after you submit that release that really matters.

To begin, developing a relationship with the news editor at the news station or newspaper can give you a better chance of your press release making it to the news desk instead of the trash.

Another important aspect of public relations is developing community relations. Through my internship in the external communications department at Tyson Foods, Inc. I have the opportunity to work with the director of community relations and the director of media relations. It is interesting to see how these two directors work together to promote the image of Tyson Foods. After learning from my internship, I have taken the knowledge I have gained and applied it directly to marketing the Horse Festival. Not only have I submitted the news release and media advisory, but I also posted information on cities in Northwest Arkansas Chamber of Commerce websites, news station community calendars and other Northwest Arkansas event posting pages.

There are also several groups around Northwest Arkansas that we have developed a relationship with in exchange for advertisement reaching their audience. For example, the Macaroni Kids Newsletter of Northwest Arkansas requested 8 free tickets to give away in raffles in exchange for an feature story spot as well as multiple Facebook hits on their wall with Horse Festival tagged.

Public Relations is more than writing a press release and sending it to local news stations and newspapers and leaving it at that. It is developing a relationship with your media outlets and your target audience. The more your product, service or event is in the media and the more times your audience sees it the better it is. Public Relations is probably my favorite part of a marketing campaign. I enjoy developing relationships with people and communicating with them on an individual basis.