Public Relations in Bahrain

Many companies in this region are waking up to the fact that you must always use the most sophisticated communication methods possible of portraying the image you want for your company, or product, to reach the required target audience.

The business economy in Bahrain has flourished, encouraging incoming investment and offering a potential lucrative market for international investors looking to extend their wealth in new and growing economies. With this constant influx of businesses, the service industry has had to expand at an alarming pace in keeping with its competitors. Among this development process was the evolvement of top-quality advertising, public relations and event management companies.

For many years public relations in this part of the world was misunderstood, with many people thinking that it was either the department which provided customer clearance of documents at immigration, or the role of the person who answered customer queries and complaints in a smiling manner.

Today public relations in Bahrain, as anywhere else in the world, is viewed as a vital part of the marketing mix for many local companies and is known as a far more complex and sophisticated science understood by only the those who have studied or worked in the profession.

This has developed a new trend of Bahraini national youngsters studying PR as a career emerging within Bahrain's population as they recognize the exciting opportunities and career this field could lead to. This has been welcomed by most PR agencies and businesses who see the necessity to have culturally aware PR people working on their account.

For any company launching a product, hoping to develop its image, wishing to create awareness or address certain issues within a specific target market, the use of professional PR is a very cost-effective medium.

The British Institute of Public Relations defines PR as follows:

"Public Relations practice is the discipline which looks after reputation - with the aim of earning understanding and support, and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics."

British Institute of Public Relations (IPR)

In a nutshell public relations can be a very cost-effective medium in reaching a specific target audience and can deliver key messages about a company or its products to a specific target audience. These messages, because they are written as stories in the general body of the paper, are then seen as a third party endorsement of your company's message.

Therefore new businesses entering the Middle East market for the first time, or any existing company who wishes to create greater awareness can feel at ease knowing that there are professional PR consultancies available in Bahrain to work with them to build an image for a company product, which has an immediate impact in the media.


Carol Melrose is Chairman and Managing Director and owning partner of MICE Management WLL, Bahrain. She has lived for over 10 years in the Gulf and has a background in sales, marketing and PR consultancy. For more information log onto www.mice-management.com