What is the role of Public Relations in a pandemic?
What is public relation?
We are living in the 21st century where everything revolves around our image. Be it at home, work or anywhere else, we have a certain image to maintain wherever we go. Just like us, brands also have an image to maintain for its audiences. That is where public relations (PR) come into picture. Brands use public relations as a means to promote and protect the image of their products and services. Public relations tend to divert people’s opinions in favor of the brand. It maintains a public image that its audience can trust. PR is a communication process that is the bridge between the brand and its audience.
What is a pandemic?
Pandemic in literal terms means that an epidemic that has spread to more than one continent. Today, we are in middle of a ghastly pandemic called the COVID-19. It has disrupted the lives of people around the globe from the past one year. Things are not as they used to be a year ago. The pandemic has brought in things that no one was expecting.
What role does PR have to play in a pandemic?
A pandemic has the tendency to create havoc in the lives of the brands. People generally swoon towards what is trending and not what they actually should buy. This creates a lot of difficulties for the brand to maintain themselves. This is where the role of public relations takes place. In a crisis-like situation where every brand is focusing on one common factor, PR breaks this chain and maintains the image of your brand. PR is an integral part of any brands promotional strategy. Today, when we are amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, brands are using PR as a weapon to break the monotony and keep themselves different rom the crowd.
For instance; even when we are fighting a pandemic, the electronic giant-Apple has not been promoting ideologies related to it. Instead they are focusing on their image-building and launching new products.