How to Build a Killer Public Relations Strategy in 2024?
What is a PR Strategy?
Businesses of all shapes and sizes, from mega multi-nationals to one-person startups, need a Public relations strategy. This article will explore how PR strategies differ between start-ups and established companies, as well as the basics of what form a PR strategy should take.
What is a Public Relations Strategy- And What Does It Mean
A “public relations” (PR) strategy for your company does more than just put you in the news. It should help you to build relationships with customers and other stakeholders. The goal is to nurture those relationships over time — not just setting up one great story then dropping it like a hot potato.
What is a Good PR Strategy?
The basics of good PR are the same, no matter what size your company is. You need to get yourself in front of journalists, bloggers and industry influencers. You also need to make sure you’re telling stories that they’ll want to write about and that your customers will appreciate. If a customer feels you’re talking at them without listening, it won’t be long before they feel like you’re not worth their time, money, or support. The best PR strategies will show off who you are as a business, where you’re going, and what makes your company different.
The basics of a good PR strategy follow the concept of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA).
Plan:
Plan out your media outreach, announcements, events, and other storytelling. You want to know where you’re going and how to go about getting there.
Do: Put your plan into action.
Check:
Check back in with your audience to make sure they’re appreciating what you’re offering, as well as their feedback on how the campaign is going so far.
Do: Another round of planning and executing.
Act: Execute again and continue checking in with your audience until you’re satisfied that you’ve met your goal.
The good news: Start-ups don’t have to stick to the basics of good PR; they can do anything they like, as long as they’re consistent with their brand. A good PR strategy will always include these five steps:
Research:
Look back through your marketing campaigns and stories to see what worked well and why.
Define:
Determine if you’re going to need external or internal help, how much you’ll be able to spend, what metrics you’ll use to measure progress and how you’re going to allocate your resources.
Prepare:
Put together your plan based on your research and define the phase. Keep in mind that the key is a balance between the effort required for different tasks versus their effectiveness at reaching the goals of the campaign.
Public Relations Strategy and Tactics
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization and the public. It is a strategic communication process that seeks to influence public perception and shape public opinion about a person, product, brand, or event.
This article will be going over some of the most common strategic PR tactics used by companies today in order to get their products out there in front of consumers.
PR is more than a cold, calculated exercise of media relations. The silos of traditional forms of PR have been broken and it’s not uncommon to see PR tactics used in conjunction with social media campaigns, marketing plans, and public relations efforts.
17 Public Relations Strategy to Use for Maximum Coverage:
1. Develop a Clear Purpose
Start by making sure you understand your goal and why you want to put PR efforts into action. Next, develop a purpose statement that is clear and concise, but also thorough in its explanation of the reason for your efforts. Write your purpose statement in the first person, using “I,” “me,” or “we.” Avoid using passive voice and keep it clear of jargon.
2. Gain Reputation First
Public relations strategy is really about branding, which is all about reputation. If no one knows who you are or what your product does or stands for, you don’t stand much of a chance to build that brand or enhance that reputation through paid media such as broadcast advertising or new product launch promotions.
3. Craft Your Message
Craft your message in clear terms that are understandable by both the media and your target audience. Avoid using jargon and use simple language, using phrases such as “Clear concise message” or “tell me who you are.” Use short sentences or bullet points if possible and try to limit your message to one page. If you’re writing a formal PR release, make sure it includes a summary of the main points of your message.
4. Reach Out to the Media
Depending on the focus of your PR campaign and how much media coverage you’re looking for, reach out to different types of journalists with varying levels of access and publicity for their work.
5. Build Relationships
Develop relationships with media outlets through press releases and in-person meetings with journalists. Media relations specialists can help you decide on the right mix of how much you want to spend and who to reach out to. Don’t be afraid to contact multiple publications, both online and print, or a combination of both however you want, depending on your goals.
6. Gather Relevant Information About Your Business
Gathering information about your business is a key component in PR.
It allow for journalists to write about interesting things about you without repeating information that’s already been covered publicly on your website, in printed materials like brochures, or via social network sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook pages. Before contacting journalists, be sure you know what you can and cannot say about your organization.
7. Prepare Your Reputation for the Media
You should have an online PR plan document in place detailing how you plan to engage with media and how you expect them to cover your organization. Prepare a shortlist of press releases, both written and multimedia, that will get attention for your coverage goal. Be sure to preview your releases with a news editor or someone who’s already covered similar topics, in order to make sure they’re relevant and accurate to the content they’re covering.
8. Create a Good First Impression
Remember that PR is more than just communicating information; it’s also a way to create lasting impressions on potential customers. Everything from the tone of your messages to the design of company brochures can affect how customers perceive your organization.
9. Outline Your Launch Goals
Before your product launch, begin outlining goals for your PR campaign. Make sure you know the size of the market for your product and how many you want to sell. Define a realistic goal for how much media attention you would like to garner and what actionable goals you need to achieve in order to get there. Marketing is an integrated team effort and PR is no different, which is why it’s important for marketing team members to be on board with public relations efforts right from the start, not just when it’s time to launch a new campaign.
10. Promote Your Story
When you have your PR goals outlined, create a public relations plan that details how and when you will reach out to different types of media. Make sure to include contact lists, deadlines, press release drafts, and other important information in the plan. You’ll also need a message calendar that includes pitches for press releases and scheduled media interviews.
11. Evaluate Your Results
Evaluate your effectiveness by measuring the results of your efforts and keeping track of which PR tactics work best for which audiences, or even by counting the number of times you’re mentioned online or in print publications. Keep close track of metrics such as impressions and mentions per publication so that you can apply best practices when launching future campaigns.
12. Track Media Coverage
In order to keep track of your progress, you’ll need a simple spreadsheet-based PR tracking system. You can use tools like the FreePress release tracking system for this. Another great resource for tracking your campaign is your business’s Google Analytics account. Once you have these tools in place, review every piece of credited media coverage to determine whether or not you reached your goals and track exactly which media outlets covered your product.
13. Avoid Common PR Pitfalls
Many common public relations strategies can make a bad reputation for your organization, but if you are smart about how you target your media interactions, it’s possible to “wash out” these common mistakes and keep the good press coming in. If you’re using digital media to reach out to journalists and don’t want them tracking your PR efforts by accident, you should make sure that no one other than members of your public relations strategy team receives emails or posts regarding the campaign. Because social media platforms are public-facing, many people could be reading what you write on those sites.
14. Protect Your Brand
Some PR tactics that promote a positive image of your organization can have the opposite effect if it’s done improperly or in an insensitive or inappropriate way. Avoiding these pitfalls will keep your company looking professional, credible, and competitive.
15. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Media Help
No matter how large your organization is, it can still benefit from pro-bono media coverage by journalists covering unique stories about small businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations. While this type of coverage may not generate as much business, it does help keep your company in the news and helps you learn about various ways to market yourself further and reach new customers in a cost-effective way.
16. Invite Reviewers to Meet Your Staff
If your company is like most, a trip to the local eatery or coffee shop is never too far off. A great way to get free PR buzz around social media sites and local media is to go out of your way to invite bloggers, editors, and reviewers who might be writing about your product or industry to meet some of the members of your team. This kind of outreach can be surprisingly effective: You’ll not only get free public relations strategy, but you’ll also help establish yourself as a company that cares about the community and the future success of their business.
17. Standardize Data Collection
Some PR people would suggest that one of the most important things. They do is to keep an eye on social media and solicit their followers. But a more effective method of tracking your success is to collect key pieces of information during press calls, meetings, and other events. These types of data points should include the number of times you were mentioned by name.
Is Research Important for Public Relations Strategy?
Primary research, or analytics, is the data-gathering work of conducting quantitative and qualitative research to further the development of personal brands. Primary Research is done by gathering quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (textual) evidence including user profiles. Statistics such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral data are also collected during primary research for public relations strategy.
Many marketers use analytics to track who their best customers are and what their behaviors are for various marketing channels such as search engine marketing, email marketing, direct mail campaigns, contextual advertising, etc. Analytics can be used in order to figure out which channels are most effective in driving online sales and/or loyalty programs or to see where consumers are coming from in a certain segment or geographic location.
Can you get the same value from a different kind of PR?
With the right type of PR, the value is far greater than if you only use broadcast or online media. With online marketing, your customers are essentially given a small snippet of your message, and that’s all they know about you and your company. Online media is great for spreading awareness and building brand equity, but it won’t have as much impact as if you were to get news coverage in top publications.
Conclusion
It is important to note that it is not just a single approach. However, all the various forms of PR will play their part in building your brand and attracting new customers.
PR, like other disciplines, is highly dependent on the marketing discipline and how analytics are employed. At present, there are five main ways to utilize public relations strategy.
With the people behind the product or service, so they can communicate effectively with them. What is amazing about this form of advertising is you get a direct response from your customer base, rather than just receiving TV adverts that the majority may ignore.
