subject: Selecting a Public Relations Firm to Work With in a Political Campaign [print this page] Selecting a Public Relations Firm to Work With in a Political Campaign
Our discussion starts at the point where you have ended up being part of the inner circle' organizing a given political campaign. The campaign could be about anything: from getting a given person into power,' to ensuring that a given incumbent retains power, and onto changing the public's perception about a given party and anything else along these lines.
As one of the political campaign's organizers, you are very well aware of the fact that the campaign won't be successful, unless you can get members of the public to buy into its core message. You are also aware of the fact that in order to get the members of the public to buy into the political campaign's message, you need to get good (traditional) media coverage for it. Most people still get their news from traditional media channels especially the TV and the newspapers. In any event, it is only when something gets into public TV and into the papers that it gains the credibility it needs for people to start taking it seriously. And of course, not being nave about how the media works, you know that you need the help of a good public relations firm to get the coverage you need
So you are now at the point where you are selecting the public relations firm to wok with in a political campaign.
As you will come to realize, not just any public relations firm will be ideal for this sort of (political campaign related) work. Different public relations firms specialize in different things. A public relationship firm with whose help you previously managed to get more people to buy a given product may not necessarily be very helpful when it comes to getting people to buy into a given (political) idea. It takes familiarity with different media contacts to get coverage for different types of stories.
All that leads into a situation where an ideal public relations firm to work with in a political campaign would be one which has a track record of success in that sort of work. Talking to the people who were behind previous political campaigns that were successful may offer you hints with respect to which public relations firms they worked with, how the said public relations firms helped them and so on.
Three considerations will, ultimately, be useful when selecting a PR firm to work with in a political campaign.
Firstly, the PR firm has to be one that has a track record of success in this type of work.
Secondly, the PR firm should be one whose ideals merge with the ideals you are trying to promote. It is possible to ascertain this by having a peek at the profiles of the people behind the firm. One has to be fully convinced about a message, to market it successfully.
Thirdly, the PR firm should be one whose cost of services is manageable, and one which has not been previously implicated in acts of impropriety. It should be a firm which enjoys a good standing in the media circles because when all is said and done, the main things you will be getting from the firm is access to its media contacts.'
