BEST PR STRATEGIES

Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) and the public.[1] Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment.[2] This differentiates it from advertising as a form of marketing communications. Public relations is the idea of creating coverage for clients for free, rather than marketing[3] or advertising.[4] An example of good public relations would be generating an article featuring a client, rather than paying for the client to be advertised next to the article.[5] The aim of public relations is to inform the public, prospective customers, investors, partners, employees and other stakeholders and ultimately persuade them to maintain a certain view about the organization, its leadership, products, or political decisions. Public relations professionals typically work for PRand marketing firms, businesses and companies, government, government agencies and public officials as PIOs and nongovernmental organizations and nonprofit organizations. Jobs central to Public Relations include account coordinator, account executive, account supervisor and media relations manager.

Having an excellent and well-developed PR strategy is the most important thing (well, definitely one of) you can do for your business! There are many ways to go, but to choose one, you need to know where you are at the moment and where it is that you want to go. Here, we are singlinig out a couple of PR strategies that can help you get in touch with your tartget audience and reach your business’ goals. Take a look.

Clearly identify your audience & speak to them
You should already have developed online customer profiles as part of a wider internet marketing strategy. If not then visit our See our guide to online market research guide. This digital profile should have identified things like the keyword research relating to your audience, sites they visit, where the spend time online, preferred communication channels etc as well as demographic information such as age, sex, geography etc.

Collaborate with influencers.
Word of mouth, press coverage and endorsements, have long relied on one effective marketing tactic: third–party credibility. No matter who your target market is, the best way to earn credibility is to have people of influence tell others why they appreciate your product orservice.With the rise of self-publishing platforms and social-media networks, brands can collaborate with connected individuals whose published content carries great clout amongst niche audiences. Forget press releases and prized interview slots, influencers are usually prided content creators who want to collaborate with impactful images on Instagram, well thought-out prose on Twitter or a series of compelling videos on YouTube. When an influencer’s content style, audience and aesthetic is well aligned and respected by a brand, content collaborations can become a very powerful PR and marketing tool for your company.

Communicate your ‘why.’
In today’s world of watchdog technologies, brands are scrutinized with every consumer touch point. From YouTube videos that expose poor customer service to Twitter comments that belittle brands for not living up to their promise, companies can no longer mask inefficiencies. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for brands to establish and implement core values that humanize them and make them more relatable to the public. The Millenial Consumer studypublished in January of 2015, showed 58 percent of Gen Y consumers expect brands to publish content online before they make a purchase and 43 percent rank authenticity as more important than the content itself. Take the time to establish the “why behind” your company and imbed it into your culture. If your purpose goes beyond profit, you are more likely to appeal to the public.

Source: Terry Hopkins