Public Relations in Political Campaigns

Public Relations has a lot to offer, and political campaigning has a lot to learn. Campaigning, especially when it comes to politics, can often be misleading and discouraging. I would like to refer to the PR professional Richard Edelman, who brought up the key issues concerning campaigning in his blog article «Is Public Relations Ready for Discontinuous Change?» He states that creating two-way conversations with the community is vital to the practice of public relations, and without this flow of communication one fails to realize the importance of knowing and understanding the public’s perception.
While on the subject of PR, it won’t be odd to speak about Barry Epstein president and CEO (chief executive officer) of Barry R. Epstein Associates, Inc. It is a public relations firm, which provides professional PR and marketing services (the winner of Bernays Award for best public relations campaign). Mr. Epstein has experience with many successful political campaigns, including State Senator Ted Deutsch and State Reps. Irv Slosberg, Curt Levine and Suzanne Jacobs. He never underestimates the power of excellent PR, making his personal motto: “Public Relations is the enemy of anonymity!”
The Internet has forever changed the way candidates campaign. Now millions of people can voice their opinions in blogs, watch instant replays of speeches on YouTube and follow paparazzi-style coverage for further scrutiny.
The public expects more from potential candidates. Simple and standard procedures are being replaced with interactive online sites, which open the arena for necessary feedback and personal opinion’s of the potential voters. However with the positives always come setbacks, and the Internet is no exception, the massive array of resources also can create many negative feelings toward a candidate, and this is where public relations can come to the rescue by tracking coverage and feedback, evaluating their position with the public and arranging their next move carefully.