When was the last time you reviewed your PR strategy? Monitoring your public relations plan to ensure you’re getting the most out of it can make all the difference in receiving the most effective coverage of your business in the media. Implementing powerful PR tactics can help you to avert a disaster, keep calm in a crisis and make the most from sharing positive messages. Below we share 6 Hot Tips for Powerful PR that you can add to your PR strategy today.
1. Have a Game Plan
First off, make sure you have a long term game plan when it comes to PR. Conceptualise ideas and create long, medium and short term goals, followed by branding which clearly conveys your core messages. Carry these messages through your social media, press releases and any other touchpoints between yourself, the media and your audience. Set objectives for what you hope to get from interacting with the press and make sure to monitor your results from them. Keep up to date with industry events and news, plus opportunities for publicity and marketing to get a fully comprehensive overview of connections available to your business.
2. Be Visual
When reaching out to the media, it can be easy to send over a bog-standard basic press release, with an image, in the hope the story gets picked up and featured. But to engage with PR teams you often need to be the most stand out brand in the room (or inbox in most cases).
Start by keeping an image gallery of your products or, if you’re a service provider, logos, media kit and behind the scenes snaps in one easy to access place such as Dropbox or OneDrive. Share updated links and your three best images – often a wide shot, a portrait and a close-up work best, making them fit with the message of your brand e.g. quirky or serious. Add interactive elements if you have them too, including AR and VR, plus videos and graphics to catch the eye.
3. Stay Agile
Sometimes situations happen which we can’t control or predict. The Covid-19 pandemic caused and continues to cause, a lot of disruption for many businesses. In most circumstances, it’s best to take a proactive stance and have a crisis strategy in place, but as Covid-19 has taught us, that’s not always possible. If your business is going through changes and you need to make any announcements or amendments, spend some time crafting a press release that identifies the facts. Make sure not to post a knee-jerk reaction that could be detrimental to your brand. Being agile and pivoting your business by remaining open to change will only have positive effects on your community and your reputation.
4. Use Data
When trying to get the attention of the media, use data to tell a story. Send over graphics, charts, infographics (static and animated) to capture their attention. This innovative way of marketing yourself works well as data and facts are both significant and powerful factors in promoting your business. Data can be used on a wider scale of what’s happening within your industry or unique to your brand.
5. Engage with Influencers
Influencer marketing and third-party content open up new and exciting avenues to be explored within your PR campaigns. Outreach to influencers who may be interested in our product or service can be easily undertaken and they may respond by highlighting your business on their social media channels. Curated content and influencer content is highly valuable as they show positive and legitimate reviews of your brand. Invest in and cultivate these relationships for the future.
6. Remain Relevant
Remaining relevant is a difficult thing to do as seasons and trends change. To stay relevant and increase your chances of press coverage it’s important to only approach journalists with relevant news as they are likely to only feature what’s hot, new and engaging. Also, you don’t want a reputation as the brand that always sends outdated or uninteresting stories as you’re more likely to get passed over in future without a second glance. Always pitch a relevant angle such as a story of positive impact, a solution to a problem or an innovative partnership.
Including the above tips within your PR strategy can help you to strengthen your brand and boost success.
