product development public relations
product development public relations

Living in the current digital world means that companies are at constant risk of damaging their reputations when creating products or campaigns without working with a team of PR professionals.

This is because the current news cycle is highly driven by conversations that are happening on social media platforms, and if there’s even a single wrong step from the company, it can cause plenty of backlash from the public. 

Those reasons make it critical for companies to work with public relations teams that are experienced and equipped to be able to spot any missteps or potential mistakes during the process of product or campaign creation.

This is especially important for companies that have ethical values at their core operations. 

Nevertheless, it’s not always easy to find a great PR team to work with, and the pandemic has made that situation even more difficult.

There have been changes in various industries that have been scrutinized by the public, from political to social reasons, as well as the change between the office and home life because of the pandemic.

To be able to create products and campaigns with nuisance and care, companies have to implement extra caution and work with PR teams before they present the products or campaigns to the public.

These days, most of the work that PR professionals do is to mitigate an already evolving crisis situation, instead of preventing them from ever happening.

The best way to change this is for companies to start working with PR teams during the product and campaign creation processes.

This way, there will be fewer recalled products for companies, because there was a team of people that saw a red flag or a misstep and spoke up about it before the launch.

Instead of pulling hundreds of thousands of products from a market, and having to refocus all business efforts on mitigating a crisis while undergoing financial loss can easily be prevented.

There have been plenty of cases when things like this have happened, with one of the latest examples being Peloton having to recall thousands of its equipment machines due to a potential error that resulted in injuries and accidents.

Furthermore, companies also have to continuously review their products or services for any errors or misunderstandings, which should be done with a team of PR professionals.

That way, those businesses will be able to review and rebrand any product or service without receiving backlash from the public or damaging their reputation.

Instead of waiting for the public to react to a misstep, with this process, the company can create change unprompted, instead of being forced into a change.

Not only that, but this way, companies are also able to protect themselves from a potential PR crisis in the future.

As soon as businesses recognize the importance of working together with a PR team during the product or campaign development stages, they’ll have a much easier time navigating anything that could turn into a problem in the future.

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Ronn Torossian is the Founder & Chairman of 5W Public Relations, one of the largest independently owned PR firms in the United States. Since founding 5WPR in 2003, he has led the company's growth and vision, with the agency earning accolades including being named a Top 50 Global PR Agency by PRovoke Media, a top three NYC PR agency by O'Dwyers, one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces and being awarded multiple American Business Awards, including a Stevie Award for PR Agency of the Year. With over 25 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America's most prolific and well-respected public relations executives. Throughout his career he has advised leading and high-growth businesses, organizations, leaders and boards across corporate, technology and consumer industries. Torossian is known as one of the country's foremost experts on crisis communications. He has lectured on crisis PR at Harvard Business School, appears regularly in the media and has authored two editions of his book, "For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations," which is an industry best-seller. Torossian's strategic, resourceful approach has been recognized with numerous awards including being named the Stevie American Business Awards Entrepreneur of the Year, the American Business Awards PR Executive of the Year, twice over, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalist, a Top Crisis Communications Professional by Business Insider, Metropolitan Magazine's Most Influential New Yorker, and a recipient of Crain's New York Most Notable in Marketing & PR. Outside of 5W, Torossian serves as a business advisor to and investor in multiple early stage businesses across the media, B2B and B2C landscape. Torossian is the proud father of two daughters. He is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and a board member of multiple not for profit organizations.