Infrastructure (roads, rail, parks, amenities etc) provides extensive benefits for communities. But infrastructure development is not without its sensitivities. Local communities and businesses, politicians and government departments are chief amongst entities with a stake in them. So a great upside in working in a public relations role on infrastructure initiatives is that not only do they leave a valuable legacy with longevity, they also provide an opportunity to apply best practice communication, integrating stakeholder needs and wants and engaging, through communication, large numbers of people.

Five critical topics that public relations and marketing communicators need to know about and be adept at leveraging are content marketing, optimising online real estate for search, the value of 3RD party brand advocates, the subtleties of media relations and evaluation and measurement. This post touches on all five, referring you to some excellent PR and marketing bloggers who have recently explored these issues.

Over the 14 month existence of this blog I, and you the readers and participants, have been fortunate to be entertained and informed by a number of intelligent, insightful guest blogger posts, as well as by interviews with public relations, marketing and other business communication professionals that have covered topics as diverse as market research and setting KPIs, visual communication, getting the best out of annual reports and what it takes to be successful in a PR career. This post revisits some of these memorable posts that have each provided highly useful advice.

The excellent reasons for undertaking market research, and including it in any public relations strategic process, include that it generates information to create the best possible comms strategy, it helps determine appropriate benchmarks against which communication activity can be measured and it uncovers a range of issues that can be leveraged in PR programs.

Market research is a no-brainer for best practice communication, as it contributes to the production of the most informed and best possible communication strategy, enabling organisations to expend valuable resources in a manner deliver best possible ROI.

Market research is one of the most fundamental and important aspects of public relations and marketing. Without undertaking market research, it is impossible to know target audience: knowledge, perceptions, behaviour, issues of concern, influences on their behaviour and most relevant communication modes.

Evaluation is a critical and fundamental element of the public relations’ practice, as it helps in the process of enhancing the quality of relationships between an organisation and its stakeholders.

The strategic dimensions of public relations.

In a nutshell, public relations is about creating, enhancing and/or maintaining mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and its stakeholders. When operating at its optimum level it is less about control than facilitating dialogue and understanding.