PR Tips
Public Relations or PR is often an overlooked part of the
marketing mix. Many organisations feel it is too expensive, and
doesn’t really deliver results. In most cases the opposite is true
and cost effective, well managed PR campaigns can generate
awareness and in many instances deliver business leads. So
here are just a few tips to ensure you make the most out of
your PR approach.
Tip 1
DIY or Consultant— whether or not you use a PR consultant or
agency is up to you. However unless you have the contacts,
time and imagination to generate PR for your company, then
work with a PR professional. They have the contacts with the
journalists, understand how the PR process works and can
have a real impact on the success of your PR campaigns.
Tip 2
Choosing a consultant— see at least three PR consultants
and ensure you give them a brief for the type of PR services
you require. The brief should include your PR objectives for the
next year, your target audience, key messages and any
measurable objectives. Once you have met with them to see
how they would address your objective, you will be in a better
position to decide who can deliver the services you need. Also
take up references from their current customers, call them to
find out how well they have performed.
Tip 3
Press releases - they are the most traditional way of letting
journalists know about any news that you may have. They
can work, but should not be the only part of an effective
approach to PR. Journalists and editors get hundreds of
press releases a day and you have to be pretty imaginative
to get your press release noticed. Sending out endless
press releases does not equate to an effective approach to
PR. Think before you send out your next press release, is it
really newsworthy?
Tip 4
Relationships - ensure that either you or your consultant has
good relationships with relevant journalists. These types of
contacts are invaluable as the journalists and editors are more
likely to take a call from someone they know. Keeping in
regular contact with them ensures that you or your consultant
know about the articles they are currently working on and you
can introduce them to your key spokesperson who is able to
give them quotes when they need them.
Tip 5
The Story - whatever your PR approach make sure you have
good stories to tell that create publicity and are interesting. Try
and create an angle, something that makes your organisation
stand out.
Tip 6
Target - targeting the right media is vitally important, pick a
range of publications and online media which are relevant to
your organisation and target them. It is much easier to build a
rapport with journalists and get included in articles in 10 key
publications than a 100 that you send press releases to. This
also means that the readers will become familiar with your
organisation if they are regular readers.
Tip 7
Key Spokesperson(s) - no matter how large or small your
organisation is, you must have one or two key spokespersons
for the company who have been trained to talk to the media, it
also gives journalists a better chance of remembering who to
ask for if they want a quote from you. This ensures that you
communicate the information you want, and stops wrong
or inconsistent information being issued. This is vitally important
if you ever have to handle any bad publicity and you need to
ensure that all comments come from a verified source.
Tip 8
Forward features - all publications publish a list of the features
and articles they are intending to run in the future. It is important
that you know what they are, and which journalists are writing
them so that either you or you PR consultant can keep in touch
to see if you can contribute with quotes and relevant stories.
Tip 9
E-media - remember it’s not just the printed page where you
can gain coverage, there are a range of e-publications that are
either a web version of the printed version or are specifically
web based. Many of them send out regular newsletters to
subscribers on a daily or weekly basis, with a click through to
main news stories on their web site. They turn around
information very quickly and it pays to have good contacts
within these types of e-publications.
Tip 10
Measurement - Measure your PR effectiveness, it’s important
you do it for direct mail, so why not for PR. There are various
measurement schemes you can use and they are especially
useful for ensuring that a PR agency is delivering the objectives
you have set them and you are getting a good ROI. One
measurement scheme you could use is simple and provides a
benchmark for the coverage you are getting month on month.
It is a point based system and works like this;
* 1 point—headline contains your company name
* 1 point— a key message was communicated in the article
* 1 point— an image or picture was used
* 1 point— there was a quote from a key spokesperson
* 1 point— prominent position in the publication
* 5 points—A whole 5 points is awarded if the whole article was
just about your company
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