PR in a Week

Brilliant PR just got easier
You are about to discover everything you need to know about Public Relations. PR is the practice of conveying messages to the public with the intention of changing the public's actions by influencing their opinions. By targeting different audiences with different messages to achieve an overall goal, PR practitioners can achieve widespread opinion and behavioural change.

Communications is seen as being a key element in business, with PR experts increasingly called on to advise senior management on appropriate communications strategies, before decisions are made, rather than being called on to defend them after they have been made. But PR is not just for self-conscious organizations. If you are looking for a job or an in-house promotion; or if you are trying to publicize a fundraiser for your local charity; if you're trying to advance a cause, or you want others to appreciate your point of view, you need your voice to be heard.

Nowadays there is a veritable plethora of communication channels available, ranging from traditional newspapers and magazines to online outlets including ezines, social networking sites and blogs. Some of these are good in some situations, but hopeless in others. Throughout this book we will be concentrating on how we can effect the flow of information and how we can achieve the desired mindset change in our target audiences.

- Sunday: Who needs PR
- Monday: External audiences
- Tuesday: Dealing with the media
- Wednesday: Social Media
- Thursday: Practical pointers for powerful press releases
- Friday: Marketing communications
- Saturday: Internal PR

Brian Salter began his career in the BBC where he produced and presented features, business and current affairs programmes before leaving to join Heathrow Airport as Media Relations Manager immediately following the bombing of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie. There he was responsible for improving relations with the resident press and for crisis communications at the airport.

Following a variety of communication roles, he started his own consultancy in the 1990s advising companies and giving training in PR, marketing and presentation techniques, as well as internet technology for business use, when it was still in its infancy.

In 1999 he moved to the Middle East, working in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, before moving to China in 2011, where he has been working in Beijing for a variety of media companies.