The document discusses the importance of proactive public relations (PR) in strengthening an organization's image and credibility at low costs, contrasting it with reactive PR, which serves as damage control during crises. Proactive PR leverages free media coverage to communicate messages perceived as more credible than paid advertisements. It emphasizes the challenges and benefits of both strategies, highlighting the need for effective communication in managing public perceptions.

2. Proactive Public Relations
• Many organizations today incorporate
proactive public relations as part of their
advertising strategies. Before we take a look at
an example of an organization using proactive
public relations, let's take a look at some of
the characteristics of proactive public relations
to get a clearer understanding of why it is so
important as an advertising tool:

3. Strengthen the Image of the
Organization
• A proactive public relations strategy helps to
strengthen the image and brand of an
organization through the use of communicating
through the media at no additional cost. This
gives an organization the opportunity to spread
their intended message and not reach into their
own budgets to do so. Being proactive allows an
organization to control the conversation instead
of allowing the conversation to control the
organization. In the eyes of the public, this will
only help to strengthen the brand and image of
the organization.

4. Low Costs
• As previously mentioned, public relations
differs from other types of advertising due to
the fact that it does not set out to purchase or
buy advertising space. The advertising for
proactive public relations is done for free by
the media. Although the message is better
controlled when purchasing an ad or
commercial, most organizations enjoy the
benefit of any free public relations that they
can receive.

5. Credibility
• The general public typically perceives proactive public relations
messages as more credible than any advertisements that are paid
for. For example, when there is an ad placed in a newspaper, many
individuals feel as if the newspaper is simply advertising the
message because they have been paid to do so by an organization.
A message that is delivered by a news reporter or journalist is
perceived as more credible because there was no money paid for it
to be delivered.
• For an example of proactive public relations, let's look at a fast-food
chain that prepares healthy meals to go. The establishment can be
proactive by describing their fresh and healthy ingredients in
commercials as well as listing a nutritional guide to their meals
upon entering the establishment. Any customer that enters the
fast-food establishment is able to look on the wall or over the
counter to see the nutritional information of the meal that they are
choosing.

6. Reactive Public Relations
• Essentially, a reactive strategy is damage control public
relations. Should a company receive any
negative publicity, or if it is involved in a crisis that
impacts the public at large, reactive public
relations can help to manage the situation.
• For example, if a company is slammed with a lawsuit
for misconduct, or if a company head is caught in a
lewd act, reactive PR would be used to repair any
damage. The challenge with reactive PR, however, is
that it is usually difficult to predict. That’s because it
can be hard to determine when or why a company
would receive negative attention. As such, it can be
difficult to plan a reactive PR strategy.

7. Benefits of Reactive PR
• The primary benefit of reactive PR is that it
can help to repair any damage that comes
along with negative publicity. If done right,
meaning that PR professionals act quickly and
deliver effective messages, reactive PR can
save the reputation of a brand.