Using PR effectively
Effective public relations (PR) builds your reputation with customers and other important stakeholders. Favourable comments by journalists about your product are more credible than the claims you make in your advertisements. Although a single mention may have an impact, good PR will create a cumulative effect as publicity about your business builds up.
On this page:
- Planning your PR
- Creating PR opportunities
- Handling the media
- Writing a press release
- Dealing with bad publicity
- Next steps
Planning your PR
Unless you are lucky and the media approach you for a story about your business, positive PR is unlikely to happen without you taking active steps to make it happen.
Plan in advance
Some publications have long lead times, so it's best to plan in advance, bearing the lead times of various publications in mind. Many monthly magazines operate on four-month lead times, while guides (such as tourism or hotel guides) are usually published annually and should be contacted up to six months in advance.
Target your efforts
Choose media that reach your target audience and are therefore most likely to give you coverage:
- Ask your customers what they read, hear, and watch, and then focus on these media.
- Identify details of publications in your area. It is always easier to get exposure in local newspapers and specialist magazines than in the national press, but don't be afraid to approach the nationals if your story is strong enough.
- Research publications and broadcasts to find out what kinds of stories they cover. Request an advance features schedule. For example, if you sell stationery, some publications have regular 'Back to School' features that you can target.
Budget for costs
Budget realistically for the time and costs involved in generating positive PR. The largest cost of PR is usually management time rather than cash. Using a PR agency can increase the effectiveness and reach of your PR and reduce the demands on your time, but it will increase the costs.
Social media networking
New opportunities for spreading your messages â often inexpensively â are always emerging. Blogs are popular, and recent successes include Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. It is possible to promote your business and direct positive conversations about your products and services using these media, but you need to understand the protocols to avoid possible damage.
Creating PR opportunities
Most companies generate natural opportunities for PR activity in the normal course of business. For example:
- Launching a new product or brand
- Opening new premises or refurbishing existing ones
- Appointing new staff
- Gaining large or unusual contracts or customers
- Passing milestone events, such as your 1000th customer or 25th year in business
You can maximise the publicity value of these opportunities by thinking of an angle that makes them more interesting. For example, invite a celebrity to open your new premises.
You can also create publicity opportunities. For example:
- Submit articles for publication in your local press or trade magazines, or to relevant websites that are looking for content.
- Commission a survey (serious or quirky) that can be written up as a news release.
- Promote yourself as an expert and offer your services for public speaking or comment on topical issues.
- Suggest a local newspaper competition with your products as prizes.
You can become involved with events and stories already in the public eye:
- Send 'letters to the editor' about local or industry issues.
- Sponsor or donate products to charity events.
- Sponsor a local sports team or exhibition.
You can become involved in organisations that are likely to attract future publicity. For example, team up with suppliers or customers to work on attracting joint publicity, or become a figurehead in an organisation, so that its publicity brings you publicity.
Finding the right angle
You can make a story more newsworthy by giving it the right angle or doing something to make the event more interesting. Your first priority is to provide a story that will be published, so discard any hard-sell. A press release that reads like an advertisement for your business is not likely to be used.
A little imagination can make all the difference when it comes to catching the eye of journalists or local radio producers, often without the need for great expense. For example:
- A restaurant researched the favourite dishes of famous people, and offered some of them on a special menu.
- A garage held a competition for sculptures made out of old car parts, followed by an exhibition at the local art college.
- A florist based a press release on all the medicinal uses of flowers in her shop.
If you are stuck for ideas, try using an agency or brainstorm ideas with your employees, with a prize for the best idea.
Handling the media
Unlike advertising, where you buy space to publish what you choose, with PR you have to sell yourself to the media to get good publicity.
Give the editors and journalists what they need. Send them interesting stories they will want to publish and make sure your press releases reach their publications before their deadlines. Some publications have very short lead times, so you may need to act immediately to utilise a PR opportunity.
Build relationships
Build relationships with individual journalists and make personal contact. Invite them to your events, or to lunch to meet interesting people. For example, you could tip them off on breaking industry news or become a useful source of comment on prevailing issues.
Be persistent: don't be put off. Keep sending press releases whenever you have a worthwhile story, even if your last release received no coverage. There are many reasons why a story may be rejected or held over, and these reasons may have nothing to do with your release.
Include journalists on your mailing list for background information they may find interesting (for example, your company newsletter).
Writing a press release
Find out the name of the editor or journalist responsible for the publication section you are targeting (such as the business section, the food section or the travel section) and aim your press release at this person.
Like an advertisement, your press release will need a compelling headline to encourage the journalist to read the whole release. Include all the key points of the story in the opening paragraph, but keep it tight.
Read other stories in the publication you're targeting to find out how they are structured. Most news stories use the pyramid approach: the 'guts' of the story are outlined in the headline and first paragraph, followed by a broader body of detail that elaborates on the first paragraph.
Make it easy to read and use
Adopt a simple press release format to make it easier for the journalist. Title the subject of your email or letter PRESS RELEASE. Keep the text short and to the point, put any detailed or background information in a separate note to editors, and always include your full contact details for follow-up information. Read through the release and check spelling and all facts.
Use the publication style
Write in the style of the publication. If the style and tone are informal then be informal but avoid inappropriate jargon. If it's a more formal publication such as a science journal, then write more formally.
Include direct quotations to spice up the piece and give it some third-party validation, for example:
'This is the most promising technology to convert algae into bio-fuels I've seen in my travels through 10 countries,' said Jim Brown, a visiting professor of Alternative Energy from California.
Be aware that your press release may get hacked around to fit a space or serve the needs of the publication. You should aim to write a release that could be printed with no editing, or could be cut at the end of any paragraph and printed with no further editing.
Photographs
We live in a visual age. An interesting and relevant picture or graphic will always increase your chances of coverage. If the picture is published, it will help to draw readers' attention as well.
Check what format the image should be sent in. Digital photographs such as JPEGs can be easily attached to an emailed press release. You could send a low-resolution image first for faster delivery that ties up less bandwidth, but indicate that you can send a higher resolution image if required.
Using PR agencies
If you can afford an annual budget of more than $30,000 for PR, then consider using an agency, especially if PR will be an important tactic to raise the value and profile of your business prior. You can try out an agency or agent on smaller projects to assess their effectiveness.
The advantage of PR agencies is that they often employ former journalists with good media contacts. A quick phone call to one of their former colleagues can often open an opportunity that you may have spent fruitless months trying to achieve.
It's always important to provide a clear brief covering what you hope to achieve and what exactly makes your company and your products or services different. The agency's contact person should spend enough time with you to gain a good grasp of your competitive advantage.
Dealing with bad publicity
Disgruntled employees, complaints from customers, crises and accidents all make strong news stories that can have a serious impact on the value of your business. Here are some tips on telling your side of the story:
- If a journalist contacts you, check what the deadline is, carefully construct a written statement, and respond in time. An article saying that you refused to comment always looks bad.
- Don't agree to a live interview unless you are trained to deal with this. It's relatively easy for an aggressive interviewer to make an inexperienced person look incompetent, evasive, indecisive or uncaring on camera.
- Don't let journalists speak directly to your employees. Let all employees know who to refer media enquiries to.
- Take action. The most effective way of dealing with bad publicity is to show you have taken reasonable steps to avoid or correct any problems.
- Follow up an interview with the critical facts in writing or in an email. Journalists can also make mistakes and this reduces the changes of it happening.
Next steps
- Plan your PR well in advance and commit to a long-term, persistent approach to build the value of your business.
- Meet with staff to develop or create PR opportunities and stories.
- Investigate the PR opportunities offered by social networking media.
- Build a list of media contacts and start developing relationships.
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Using PR effectively - BNZ
