Overview:

Strategic and targeted PR can help you build your business, by raising awareness of your company, developing your brand and helping you to manage your corporate reputation. It can drive sales, trigger enquiries and increase visits to your website. Staff retention improves with engagement and improved morale, and recruitment costs reduce. With a little time and effort PR can make money for your business.

1. Making PR part of your corporate, marketing and communications strategy

There may be times when you want to tell your customers about your success… a new apprentice scheme, a green energy initiative, an award, a major contract, or business growth.

2. Understanding when a good news story can help your bottom line

The best PR is strategic, is aligned with your objectives, and helps you to drive your business. It can help increase profits, improve your SEO, boost your brand, and corporate reputation. A good news story helps engage employees, and suppliers, boosts staff retention and improves recruitment (at a lower cost).

3. It’s free publicity!

Except for your time and energy, PR is free. NB you may prefer to use a freelance or agency. One news release can be used for print, online, and broadcast media (radio, television). A summary version is content for your annual review, newsletter, website and blog, and extracts can be used for social media e.g. your company’s or employees’ Facebook and Twitter.

4. Leveraging the power of the media, photography and social media

Ideally you’ll share your successes online on your website, digitally through an e-shot, on social media and as a news release to your target media (specialist, bloggers, local and regional). Quality images, which help tell your story, improve take-up, engagement, response rates, shares and likes.

5. Influencing stakeholders

These range from external stakeholders (customers and clients, funders, councilors and council officers, and industry opinion leaders and influencers, including bloggers) to internal stakeholders (shareholders, partners, employees and prospective employees). Editorial content produced by a third party journalist commands greater credibility than an advert.

6. Gaining new customers and generating leads

If targeting at the right media, consumed by your customers, coverage will lead to orders and enquiries. To generate most interest, align all marketing and communications and ensure the sales team is briefed so they can plan for and capture response. Use the coverage and links, as a reason to communicate with customers and staff and add cuttings to the noticeboard!

7. And finally… impressing your Mum!

However old you are, mums and dads love to tell friends about news coverage of their children’s successes! Great (and free) word of mouth marketing!

By Dagmars Smeed