Is PR Important?

Part of EPR's Public Relations coverage. Canonical pillar by Ronn Torossian: What Is Public Relations? · Master hub: Public Relations: The Definitive Guide.

Edited on Jun 23, 2026.

Yes. After more than two decades running a public relations firm, I can name the difference between the companies that treat PR as core business strategy and the companies that treat it as a line item. The first group compounds. The second group disappears.

Brand recognition matters. So does message control, narrative continuity, the ability to enter and exit a news cycle without bleeding equity, and the standing relationships with reporters, analysts, and platforms that decide what gets said about a company in public. None of those build themselves. Each is a discipline. A few principles travel from the firms that get it right.

The brand needs a defined audience

PR can capture new leads. Those leads mean little if the brand audience has not been defined. The audience is the inheritance the firm builds on every quarter — the people who already understand the brand, who will defend it when it gets attacked, and who will spread it without being asked.

The companies that use PR purely as a customer acquisition channel underperform the companies that use PR to deepen the relationship with the audience they already have. Both matter. Define the audience first.

Diversify the content

A reporter at a trade publication does not want the same pitch as a national business editor. A podcaster does not want the same pitch as a wire reporter. Each outlet has its own beat, its own audience, its own format. The PR program that pitches one message to every outlet is the program editors notice for the wrong reasons.

The discipline is to know the outlet, know the reporter, and shape the story for the audience that outlet serves. The companies that respect the outlet get covered. The ones that do not get filtered.

Build a steady cadence of positive content

Critical coverage is part of the business. The answer is not silence. The answer is volume.

Every company that has been through a sustained reputation issue has experienced the moment when search results return a few negative pieces near the top. The fix is not to argue with the negative pieces. The fix is to build enough original, factual, useful content that a balanced picture of the company is what a buyer encounters when they search.

This is not about silencing criticism. It is about building a sufficient body of legitimate content that the company's actual story is part of the record.

Treat PR as an investment, not an expense

PR does not produce a line on the P&L the way ad spend does. That is the most common reason it gets underfunded — and the most common reason companies lose the narrative when something goes wrong.

Companies that fund PR as an investment compound brand recognition, talent acquisition, customer trust, and crisis resilience over years. Companies that fund PR as a discretionary expense run sharp campaigns when they have budget, lose continuity when they don't, and discover during a crisis that the relationships needed to manage it were never built.

The companies that get this right do not have to scramble. The ones that do not get it right never realize what compounded against them until the gap shows up in valuation, recruiting, or a news cycle they cannot bend.

PR is one of the cheapest forms of long-term equity a company can build. The cost of doing it well is small. The cost of not doing it at all is large, deferred, and almost always invisible until the moment it shows up.

FAQ

Is PR a marketing function or a business function?
PR is a business function delivered through marketing channels. Companies that treat PR as a marketing tactic optimize for the next campaign. Companies that treat PR as a business function build narrative, reputation, and crisis resilience across years.

Why do most companies underinvest in PR?
Because PR does not produce a clear, immediate line on the P&L the way ad spend does. The compounding effects show up in brand recognition, talent quality, crisis resilience, and valuation — all real, all lagging.

What is the single biggest PR mistake a growing company makes?
Treating every outlet the same. The pitch that lands at a trade publication does not land at a national business desk. The companies that respect each outlet's beat get covered. The ones that pitch one message to every outlet get filtered.

What is the right way to respond to negative coverage online?
Volume. Build a steady cadence of original, factual, useful content so a balanced picture of the company is what a buyer encounters when they search. Silence cedes the search result. Argument extends the cycle.

How much should a company budget for PR?
Enough to maintain continuity — the relationships, the cadence, the editorial calendar — through a full year, not just the quarters when budget is loose. Continuity is the asset. Episodic spend produces episodic results.