Consumer public relations is too often erroneously regarded as a series of stunts decided to attract the attention of the media and get "coverage" Some agencies specialise in this very short-term and risky expenditure of money believing that this is what clients - particularly brands, want. In fact, this is only one small sensationalist aspect of consumer PR and to be effective, it must be strictly on message otherwise the sensational appearance will communicate nothing of value to the audience.

Any serious marketing or communication director (or for that matter brand manager) must allow for an in depth analysis of where the brand stands in reputation, usage and buying patterns and how advertising expenditure (always the greatest spend), can be leveraged through media coverage, advertorials, extra research, events, seminars, educational materials and a whole range of coordinated consumer PR activities, which will produce a proper and worthwhile results. Good in depth understanding, creative interpretation and assiduous application in making the whole programme works produces the best results - not cheapskate stunts.

And nowadays, it is essential to target the media which is read by the key target market groups in exactly the same way as advertising weights its media selection to reach the most with the greatest economy . Using TGI and other research, Consumer PR can be tightly targeted to ensure that the primary media give maximum exposure of the messages .