Patterson/Bach Communications, Inc.

Patterson/Bach’s public relations team believes in encouraging organizations to establish and maintain a comprehensive public relations program. Many times, our team receives only one request from an organization or business in regard to what it wants to achieve through a public relations campaign: proactive media relations.

While we understand the importance and value of media relations, it’s also our job to educate clients on other public relations disciplines, including, crisis communications, community relations, internal relations, and social media, among others.

As public relations counselors, we have a responsibility to inform clients of all available resources when we develop and implement a comprehensive public relations program tailored to help achieve an organization’s goals and objectives.

With so much emphasis on media relations, it’s easy to forget the positive impact of having (or the consequences of not having) a comprehensive public relations program in place, so we’ve decided to take this opportunity to remind you of a few key benefits:

• Research key publics’ (customers, members, employees, media, etc.) current perceptions using metric-based measurement tools to ensure overall objectives are met and strategies are supported
• Develop key messages and talking points to share with stakeholders to ensure consistent inbound/outbound communication touchpoints
• Engage and influence key publics to change misconceptions and build trust
• Position organization as a community and industry leader
• Provide ongoing environmental scanning for proactive issues management to uphold an organization’s reputation during a crisis

Now, more than ever, organizations should consider implementing a comprehensive public relations program that prioritizes key initiatives to consistently meet the needs of internal and external publics, ultimately strengthening the core business and producing long-lasting results.