Public Relations plays a huge role in the presidential election. Whether it is crafting the candidate’s image for the public eye. Releasing statements, creating scripts to present messages, and managing perceptions are crucial in the presidential election. Now, let’s get into all of the ways Public Relations is used in the 2024 presidential election.
Press Releases and Coverage:
Press releases are the key way candidates announce their proposals, policies, endorsements, or respond to backlash. All four of those are huge factors in every election. To have a successful presidential campaign, you need to be able to communicate with your voters. This has been shown to be the most effective in reaching mass audiences directly. In order to get the most coverage, they work with journalists, bloggers, and influencers—this way, the candidates can build trust and positive relationships with the voters.
Crisis management:
In every election, there will be backlash from the voters, and a rapid response will need to be put in place. Candidates will create rapid response teams whose job is to face scandals and controversies. They mitigate damages through controlled statements, interviews, and press releases. However, a lot of the time, backlash comes from misconstrued information, so the PR team has to work rapidly to fact-check and create narratives to take the blow off of the candidate.
Social Media Campaigns:
Social media platforms have been created for the target audience to follow along with on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This way, they can use data analytics to pinpoint voters’ concerns, needs, and values. This also provides a quick response time for messages and statements.
Digital Storytelling:
Ads are a big proponent of the US elections you know when elections are near from the commercials and ads that start to appear. Video content and commercials use an emotional response to get a reaction out of voters or target specific demographics. Now, this is a great way to make your candidates’ policies look less than and make you look like the superior option in an emotionally charged way.
Slogans and Branding:
Creating a slogan or a brand image is a way for candidates to get their message across because their voters will display this for them. It is a way to get earned media amongst all the paid media. It also builds a reputation for what your brand stands for.
Debates and Interviews:
There is a lot of media training that goes into the candidate’s debates. They have to present themselves to a large audience as being trustworthy leaders. This also goes along with interviews being well-spoken, having relevant, informative points to share, and confident body language. However, there is a lot of public speaking that goes into the election lead, and knowing how to respond and carry yourself no matter the question is a huge factor.
Overall public relations plays so many roles that carry the US elections. It is active at almost every point and time. PR specialists not only have to craft and maintain a candidate’s image but they are behind the scenes 100% of the time coaching, creating narratives, gaining the public’s opinions, and making sure their candidate is always seen in a positive light by redirecting negativity and crisis. Every message created well hits the point of being timely, effective, and impactful.
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Lauren Roby & Rylie Todd