Many people KNOW they need to promote their business and that they need to hire external help to do it for them. If you are an expert on the product or service you are selling, you may not always be the expert on getting it into the hands of your target demographic. This is where Public Relations and Marketing Experts come in. Way too often, business owners come to 3rd party promotional consultants and do not even know what it is they are going to do, so before hiring a publicist or marketing expert, do research on what each industry entails and how can it benefit your brand. Once you have determined that it is a PR firm you need be it in New York or anywhere in the U.S., you can determine which agency to hire.

So What is Public Relations?

Public Relations (PR) is the communication of a brand's (can be an individual, a business, or a product) messages with their target demographic via numerous media streams. A publicist's basically serves as the middle man between the brand, the media and thus the consumer. A publicist's primary job is to identify a distinguishing factor in their clients that helps them stand out from their competition. PR experts work with the brand to create a cohesive and consistent identity or image that they can create newsworthy stories around which in turn journalists will want to write write about or broadcast and the public WANTS to hear.

A truly talented publicist knows exactly what demographic each journalist is creating content and news stories for, and can work with them to create a perfect story featuring their client, which their readers or viewers (aka client's target demographic) are excited to hear.

What you need to know before choosing your publicist: What makes a good publicist?

Good publicists are essentially "image doctors," who create the image of their client customized for their demographic. Once the image and messaging are established, a publicist then broadcasts this image to the public through mass media. PR starts at the core, and what many business owners don't initially see is that a publicist not only talks to the media on their behalf, but also provides great insight into overall image branding so that they are instantly more appealing to their desired demographic. Publicists work with the branding experts to ensure the logo and collateral materials all reflect the image that the public would be most reactive to (this is especially true for new businesses).

When hiring a publicist there are 4 key qualities a business needs to look for to ensure the person or firm is qualified for the job:

* Highly creative - journalists get 100's of emails a everyday, so mass mailing of a press release in order to get their attention simply won't do
* Excellent writing skills - when communicating brand messaging with journalists, who write for a living those press releases and pitches better ALWAYS be spic and span
* Extremely organized - with 1000's of journalist contacts to keep track of, a publicist needs to know exactly who they are communicating with and when
* Impeccable taste - in order to create the perfect image for a client, a publicist needs to have great taste and visual talents to make sure the physical image reflects the whole concept of the campaign

If you keep these tips in mind when hiring a publicist and all the qualities are there- you are guaranteed to get great results in mass promotion of your business that can truly take your business to the next level!l

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Jane Lerman is the CEO & Founder of L.E.R. Public Relations (LER PR) a PR firm in Manhattan, New York (NYC), which specializes in luxury, fashion, beauty, travel, hospitality & entertainment clients. Services include media relations, event production, marketing, social media & branding.