A Beginner’s Guide to Effective PR

Practical advice for exhibitors (and visitors) at Kent 2020 Vision LIVE – from David Ing, Managing Director of CFA Group, PR partner & exhibitor at the show.

Public relations (PR) has always been one of the most efficient marketing tools – it’s cost effective, versatile and suitable for every company and organisation. However, for many organisations, PR is seen as a mystical and complex process and has a number of hurdles. In some instances PR can be complex, as a vital tool to change people’s perceptions, engage with influencers and address crisis issues, and this requires a detailed strategy, methodology and time. However, at a basic level PR is a simple process that virtually any organisations can employ.

What Is PR?

Every organisation, no matter how large or small, ultimately depends on its reputation and visability for survival and success.

Customers, suppliers, employees, investors, journalists and other stakeholders can have a powerful impact. They all have an opinion about the organisations they come into contact with – whether good or bad, right or wrong. These perceptions will drive their decisions about whether they want to work with, shop with and support these organisations.

Effective PR can help manage reputation by communicating and building good relationships with all organisation stakeholders.

The definition of PR according to the Chartered Institute of PR (CIPR) is as follows: –

” Public relations is about reputation – the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.

Public relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its public. “

PR in Practice

PR can take many different forms according to type of organisation – for example media relations, investor relations, public affairs, corporate communication, marketing or customer relations.

As an entry level, organisations should consider PR as a tool to talk to key audiences such as existing customers, former customers, target customers and staff. Often an audience that is overlooked – staff are ambassadors for your organisation and should be kept informed about company progress and developments as through contact with friends, family and work colleagues they naturally spread the word). With these audiences in mind, think about what you should be telling them – for many this is hurdle number one.

Identifying a Good PR Story

Often, organisations do use PR as they feel they don’t have anything newsworthy. WRONG! Everyone has a story to tell.   No matter what your business is, you are doing something that you should be telling other people about. ‘PR blindness’ is often associated to the fact that people are so close to what they are doing that they don’t see it as interesting and this is the case in organisations both large and small. In many cases people see their latest project completion, a new contract win, the opening of a new store or the development of a new product as ‘just what we do’ – yes it is what you do but it is also the basis for a great PR story.

Identifying the PR Opportunity

So where should organisations start? Look at what you do. Whether you provide a service or products, there is a story in what you do as a company. It may be a bit of ‘reinventing the wheel’ but for customers that have not heard of you, what you offer is new in their eyes.

As a result of the economy, any companies have enhanced or developed new products or services or diversified into new markets – this is newsworthy. Any service or product enhancements make a great story. The washing powder companies are great at making their products ‘even whiter’ and your story is just the same.  The best way to identify PR stories is to take a cross section of what your company does in terms of the products and services it offers, the work it has completed (case studies about successful project deliveries or long standing relations with clients make great case studies) and start writing down these opportunities.

In addition, people like views and opinions. If there is something happening within your industry that you have a strong view or opinion on, tell people about it – this will help position you and your company as experts within this field.   There are plenty of other PR opportunities lurking within every company – you just need to spot them.

The Media

The media is the next hurdle. Many people see the media as supreme beings that are unapproachable and not interested in what they or their organisation is doing. Wrong. The media are very approachable and need to hear from organisations – the media are interested in news worthy stories and as such they need you as much as you need them.

What needs to be understood is how to approach the media. Most journalists would appreciate a friendly informal conversation – if you think you have a good news worthy story, call up an appropriate journalist and have a talk to them about it. The other option is to write a press release and email it to them with a polite covering note. For many organisations, this is the most appropriate format as by writing a press release you get control over the copy (you may also need to get approval from customers or suppliers if you have mentioned them).

What can put the barriers up in terms of building a relationship with the media is expecting that they will publish what you send them. No one likes being told what to do so don’t try and force your story on to the media.

It would also be useful to build a media contact list. This will be relevant to the industry you operate in and could include trade publications relevant to your sector as well as local media.

Building relationships with the media can take time but it is time well spent as a good relationship with a journalist will open up many PR opportunities for you.

Making Your PR Go Further

It used to be a case of writing a press release and sending it to the media for publishing in a magazine or newspaper. Things have changed. Magazines and newspapers are still as strong as ever (despite the claim that print is dead by many people) but media opportunities, thanks to the internet, are now even wider.

When looking at distributing your PR, consider the online news forums. Remember to include your news on your website – visitors to your website will want to see what you have been up to. Also consider how your PR fits in with your social media activities – you can Tweet links to the news items that are on your website or that have been published. The copy would also make great contact for a printed or e-newsletter.

If you have taken the time and trouble to research and write a good PR piece, get the most out of it and put it through as many channels as possible.

Conclusion

There are good PR stories in every organisation, you just need to spot them. Once you have identified these PR opportunities, follow the simple steps of getting something drafted, approved and speak to some journalists. Build a media contact list and start to build relationships with these contacts. Make sure you get the most out of your PR – use every channel that is available to you.

If you follow these steps you will find that PR has a lot to offer and the hurdles aren’t quite as big as you think.

You can meet David & the CFA team at this year’s Kent 2020 Vision LIVE on Thursday 25th April 2013: www.kent2020.co.uk