If you want to promote your business, but don’t know where to start, here is my beginners’ guide to PR.
There is more to public relations than sending out a press release, it is a strategic communications process that helps manage, protect and enhance an organisation. Do it right and you could boost your business’s profile for a fraction of the cost of advertising.
There are many reasons for starting a PR campaign, including launching a business or product, celebrating a milestone, holding an event and announcing good news. Ideally, a plan should be drawn up weeks or months before any PR activity.
Start by defining your audience, who are you targeting? Popular audiences include clients, the public, partners/members, industry figures, Government/leaders or staff/bosses.
Next, sit down and produce some ideas, either by yourself or with friends and colleagues. Make sure your campaign has: a key message, one voice, a story and a snappy headline or slogan.
If you want to get something in the news, remember that the media are interested in the new, unique or unusual. Here are a few areas to focus on:
Press release (local, trade and national outlets)
• Meetings/influencing (reporters/editors)
• Events (launches or anniversaries)
• Articles (letters to the editor, industry opinion)
• Speeches (local clubs, visit by local MP, MP in parliament)
• Photos/video (cheque presentation, celebrity visit, YouTube)
• Newsletters (email or printed)
• Website content (new page/section on website)
• Surveys (‘new statistics show that…’)
• Internal communications (intranet, staff newsletters, staff meetings)
Finally, remember that PR has two main advantages: high credibility and low cost. Advertising will give you more control of the coverage, but this will come at a price and in the eyes of the consumer it has low credibility.
