Public Relations gets outsourced for increased Brand Awareness

It has long been understood that the objective of a PR (Public Relations) firm was to represent a business in their brand creation, target audience engagement, and brand awareness/ distribution. The digital age has brought an increased investment to public relations & campaign management, and more and more businesses are looking to create strategy that has a strong ROI.

The foremost of these changes for PR firms is in the utilization of BPO/ Business Process outsourcing. Already, the trend of outsourcing has found its way into major media outlets including Reuters, The Boston Globe, The Financial Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, and the Associated Press. Brand Consultant & BPO specialist, Rohit Barman, president of DPS America suggests that American businesses must "look to implement campaign design & distribution off-shore, while keeping the Art Direction in-house". The additional capital saved can also be allocated for hiring strong Art Directors, engaging in paid press releases, organizing live marketing events, & other face to face interactions that must occur on-shore.

One possible site to take a cue from would be PitchEngine. The concept of this site is user generated Social Media Releases. These SMR's take advantage of the popularity of Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter and allow the client to put together a pitch that reaches these sites. A BPO team is a strong solution for the distribution of such campaigns, as they can cost-effectively take ONE campaign & submit it to various internet feeds, social networks, media outlets, and other online distribution resources. Rohit Barman adds that, "the race to the top of the search engines requires a strong emphasis on distribution, and this equation can only be done with increased manpower"

By Kevin Haggerty