How To Spread Enthusiasm With PR In An Age Of Crises

In a world filled with global challenges—from hurricanes to war, mass layoffs to economic recession, it’s easy to fall into fear and pessimism. So how do you spread enthusiasm with PR in times of crisis without doing more harm to your brand than good? In this article, we explore different tips that can help.

Tips for Spreading Enthusiasm with PR

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by negative occurrences around us, and it takes a smart brand to spread positivity amid challenges. Here are four tips to spread enthusiasm during crises: 

1. Be Attentive to Your Customers

The best strategy is to talk less and listen more during crises. You can gather information about how the problem affects your target audience, possible solutions, and how you can help.  Start conversations with your target audience about the effect of the crisis on their daily life via your social media. Also, monitor platforms like blogs, social media pages, forums, and others that talk about the impact of the situations and identify critical issues your brand can solve. Remember, people just want to feel heard, seen, and understood; genuine listening goes a long way. 

2. Showcase Resilience through Storytelling

In times of crisis, people want positivity, inspiration, and affirmation that they can overcome any obstacle. They also want to feel understood, and the best way to connect with them is by showing your customers that you understand their pain. Creating a PR campaign highlighting stories of how your brand, an employee, or a client remained resilient in times of crisis and turned things around sets the stage for a conversation. Moreover, it inspires your customers to stay positive, triggering a ripple effect that can spread to larger circles. In turn, you might ask your customers to share their stories. This promotes user-generated content that helps build brand awareness as well. 

3. Encourage the Feeling of Togetherness

The most effective PR tactics leverage genuine human connection. Spreading enthusiasm with PR works if customers feel understood and know you stand with them. Identify a critical issue in your local area that affects customers. 

Once you have that figured out, you can create campaigns that trigger conversation around "this is the problem, how it affects us, and what we can do to fix it." From this, you can quickly get people to support whatever relief drive you initiate. It's easier to spread enthusiasm when your target audience is on board. People want to support a cause that helps relieve the stress of a crisis, and generating awareness and response is more seamless when we all work together.

4. Create Campaigns Around Brand Values to Show Positivity in the World

Beyond creating PR activities that showcase togetherness and help you listen or drive resilience, your campaign must align with your brand values. Every PR campaign must connect back to what your brand stands for and not just for the traffic or me too PR stunt. Initiating relief campaigns, online and print media content, or any other PR crisis strategy must showcase your brand values. 

Infusing your brand values helps consumers connect with you faster and build loyalty. It lets you show that you aren't an "on paper" brand; you match your values with action. In a world riddled with deceit and crises, upholding your brand values helps to spread optimism and enthusiasm for a better future.

Examples of Powerful PR Campaigns that Spread Enthusiasm During Crisis

Many brands have supported consumers and/or upheld their brand values in times of crisis. If you plan to spread enthusiasm with PR, here’s some inspiration for your next campaign.

1. Airbnb for Ukraine

To support victims of the Ukraine invasion, Airbnb started a campaign that offered short-term housing to refugees. This campaign triggered enormous support with individuals booking Airbnb and canceling at the last minute without requesting a refund. This method serves as a donation drive to provide shelter for refugees.

2. Apple, “Creativity Goes On” Campaign

In the heart of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, Apple created a PR campaign called "Creativity Goes On" to remind us to remain hopeful. The campaign inspired joy during the lockdown with Apple sharing tools and tips consumers need to stay connected with family. It also showcased creative projects and an educational learning series to help people who may be overwhelmed by the pandemic. The campaign was effective because it created a feeling of being heard and provided solutions to help consumers navigate the trying time.

3. Tescos #EveryLittleHelps

During the lockdown in 2020, many public businesses had to shut down completely, especially in the hospitality industry. So when bars, pubs, and restaurants began opening in mid-April, Tesco did something remarkable. They created a campaign that urged customers to shop from their local pubs instead of Tesco. This campaign showed Tesco's commitment to local communities, thus showcasing its brand values.

Partner with a Professional PR Agency

There will always be crises, but we can amplify the positive instead of the negative. Using PR, companies can create positive messages that build consumer connection and loyalty and showcase brand values. When implemented strategically, you will establish your brand as a reputable entity that listens, understands, and takes action to support its customers at every turn. At RPR, we help brands create effective public relations strategies that boost brand awareness and revenue growth and spread enthusiasm. Book a free consultation to explore our public relations services today.

by R Public Relations Firm

What to Consider if You Are Thinking of Starting a New Business: A PR Agency Perspective

Did you know that 30.6% of businesses fail in the first two years, 49.7% fail after five years, and only 65.5% stay active for up to 10 years? Investopedia identified poor internet presence and marketing as the top reasons for this failure. As a prospective business owner, investing in a solid promotional mix strategy that involves PR campaigns will help you gain public attention, build brand awareness and communicate product relevance effectively. However, consider a few things before setting up your business or investing in a PR campaign. These include target audience, messaging, when to start, strategies to implement, hiring in-house or agency PR services, and tools for successful PR campaigns. Being a professional PR agency, this article will answer these questions to help you get the best results.

Your Target Audience

The target audience is the first building block for a business considering PR strategy in its marketing mix. Every product or service is designed to solve a problem for a specific demographic, and knowing your target audience guides that direction regarding messaging. As such, effective PR for a new business relies heavily on clearly defined target audience personas. 

You should understand your target audience like you do a friend. Important information includes what they like, what content distribution channel they frequent, what relevant topics they interact with, and other demographic details. For example, if you have demographics that skew older in your target audience, newspaper, and TV PR campaigns might be more effective than social media platforms like TikTok or online news publications. Note that the who will guide the what, when, and how for a practical PR approach.

Your Messaging and Positioning

In PR, positioning, and messaging refer to how you describe your unique value. Humans are complex beings, and every business niche has at least one or two competitors. If you want to start a business that gets attention online, becomes the talk of the town, and appeals to customers' inner desires, then your messaging and positioning must be ironclad. You must consider all factors, including the customer's voice, prohibited phrases, how they want to be addressed, your brand tone, and, most importantly, your brand story. You will build lasting relationships or a loyal customer base with a story that emphasizes what the target audience wants, their inner desire, pain, and aspirations.

When to Start Running PR Campaigns

The question about when to run your first campaign has no specific answers. Why? Public relations is a tool for creating attention for your products, services, etc., and different businesses have varying business goals. However, as a new business, it's best to start running a campaign just before or immediately after you launch. You want to introduce your business to the market early, so your customers can follow your journey and develop an emotional connection to the brand. 

Your PR Strategy

A PR strategy defines the method you adopt to launch a successful campaign. A well-defined strategy is highly organized and highlights all campaign elements. As a new business owner, some of the tactics that make up your PR strategy may include the following: 

1. Press releases to build brand awareness and generate backlinks.
2. Interviews with local TV stations and media outlets to trigger brand conversation and visibility.
3. Engage in community and industry events as speakers, panelists, or participants to build PR relationships with important stakeholders and promote products.
4. Social media to create buzz and improve brand awareness and customer engagement.
5. Partner with influencers to boost brand trust rating and drive sales.
6. Publicity stunts to generate attention and get the conversation going about your upcoming product launch.

In-house Versus PR Agency

Hiring professionals matters when starting a new business that integrates PR strategy into your promotional mix. There are a few things to consider regarding in-house versus PR agencies, like budget, expertise, and goals.

A PR agency is usually less capital-intensive than an in-house PR person or team. Besides the cost, hiring an agency offers better results for new businesses as they have more experience in the industry and established relationships with media personnel. While in-house PR might take time to test different approaches, an agency can implement the best tactics immediately and get good results.

PR Management and Measurement Tools

Whether you create your PR campaign in-house or hire a PR agency, it's best to have real-time tools to track campaign performance. Here's a list of the best PR tools to consider.

• Muck Rack
• Anewstip
• HARO
• Brand24
• Google Alerts
• Brandwatch

Getting Started with PR for a New Business

Starting a business that integrates PR strategy into the promotional marketing mix without considering key factors is risky. You must arm yourself with information about significant PR elements, ready to hit the ground running from day one. Consider factors like target audience, brand messaging, positioning, when to start, and the best strategies and tools. Once you have these covered, you are one step closer to creating an effective PR campaign that creates buzz for your business and drives profitable actions. Need help with getting started? Schedule a call with our professional PR team to see how we can help your new business or product with strategic PR activities. 

by R Public Relations Firm

Top 6 Unconventional PR Opportunities and How To Use Them

If you're a business owner, you have likely come across the adage, "no publicity is bad publicity."  While the veracity of this statement is debatable, an opportunity to create a buzz around your business and brand is an ongoing effort. Many brands already know how impactful standard PR outreach can be in building brand awareness and establishing credibility, but only a few know how to leverage unorthodox PR tactics. In this post, we explore six top PR opportunities for business owners and how you can use them to build brand awareness. 

Top 6 PR Opportunities Business Owners Often Miss Out On

Here are the top six PR opportunities business owners usually miss out on. 

1. Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing generates publicity. It drives brand awareness using unconventional marketing tactics that grab public attention using creative means such as street art, pop-up installations, or flash mobs. Guerrilla marketing creates shock, curiosity, or surprise, and as a brand, you can leverage this to create awareness for your brand. Spotify and Bounty are examples of brands that use guerrilla marketing as a PR opportunity. 

In January 2019, Spotify partnered with Chani Nicholas, a U.S. astrologer, to create a Cosmic Playlist for its listener. Bounty's installation of life-sized "messes," such as melting popsicles and knocked-over coffee cups across New York, generated more attention than having the same message on billboards. 

2. Experiential Marketing

You can tell the public about your product, but a better way to create awareness is to show them instead. Allowing prospective and existing customers to experience your product first-hand creates an immersive and engaging experience. If executed well, many will be extra motivated to share the experience with their friends, family, and social media followers. However, you must be creative with your approach, conduct thorough planning, and execute it seamlessly, as experiential marketing for PR opportunities can be resource intensive. For experiential marketing to be a successful PR tactic, you must portray your audience as the characters in the story of your brand experience.

For instance, with the "The Queen's Ball: A Bridgerton Experience," Netflix commemorated the second season of Shonda Rhimes' popular TV series by launching theatrical pop-up events in various cities. Branded as "an exclusive night of music and dance," the event invited fans to dress up in 19th-century costumes, revel in a string quartet's rendition of contemporary music, and even get an audience with a queen seated on a plush sofa.

3. Employee Advocacy

If you have a positive relationship with your employees, they can serve as a natural voice for your brand. Many employees have massive following across various social media, and they can help build relationships with your current customers and reach prospective ones to drive organic visibility. Employee advocacy and PR are more intertwined today than before. According to Hootsuite, as a business owner, you can expand your organic reach by 200% and elevate profitability by 23% with a formal employee advocacy program. Unfortunately, many employers miss out on this PR opportunity because they feel they're controlling their staff by telling them to advocate for their brands. However, that is not true. If well motivated, your employees can be key in reaping PR benefits.

4. Cause-Related Marketing

Everybody likes to align with a cause, and finding one that puts your brand in the good book of the public is a smart PR opportunity many organizations underutilize. Whatever brand story you tell must evoke strong emotions that drive your target customers' engagement. An example of a company leveraging cause marketing as a PR opportunity is BoxLunch. For every $10 their customers spend, the company donates a meal to the needy through the Feeding America initiative. Knowing they are part of a cause they believe in can endear your brand more to your customers.

5. Podcast Appearance

Appearing on podcasts is one of the most underutilized PR opportunities. There are many popular podcasts out there in need of speakers. You can reach out to podcast show hosts and let them know your interest and availability. While you may not be attending the show to promote your brand directly. Your eloquence, credibility, and mode of delivery can attract listeners to look you and your brand up. Additionally, you can request the host to include your brand details in the podcast description, to drive visibility. However, you must conduct comprehensive customer research to identify which podcasts your target audiences enjoy.

6. Thought Leadership 

Have you ever changed your opinion about a particular brand after reading its thought leadership content? Usually, branding is all about perception, and public opinion of you can affect customer decisions. A B2B Thought Leadership Impact report showed 65% of respondents agreed that a piece of thought leadership massively influenced their perception of a company for the better. In addition, 64% said thought leadership is a more reliable means of assessing a vendor’s competencies and capabilities than marketing materials and product sheets. While thought leadership content is not new, especially in B2B marketing, only a few brands leverage it as a PR opportunity. You can share your knowledge, expertise, and perspectives (often controversial) to build credibility and establish brand authority. 

How To Get Started With Unconventional PR Opportunities

It often takes thinking outside the box to deliver an effective PR campaign. If you’re struggling to decide the best PR opportunities for your brand or unsure how to execute your PR campaign to generate the right result, know that we are always here to help. Contact us to schedule a free discovery call. 

by R Public Relations Firm

9 Tips for Successful PR Campaign in 2023

Achieving a successful PR campaign can be challenging, even for the most experienced brands. The online space changes fast, and getting your audience's attention has never been so difficult. This article reviews nine tested and trusted tips for a successful PR campaign.

What is a PR Campaign? 

A PR campaign is a series of perfectly planned and well-executed activities organized to give a brand or company publicity to reach the right audiences. A PR campaign is primarily designed to boost a brand’s or an organization’s reputation online and offline. 

Tips for an Effective PR campaign

Achieving a successful PR campaign goes beyond just writing and distributing a press release through media platforms. It requires thoughtfully planned and well-executed PR strategies. Here are nine tips to make your PR campaign successful: 

1. Be SMART In Defining Campaign Goals and Objectives

Telling you to set a goal is not necessarily helpful. However, how SMART is your goal? Is it Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound? Once you have chosen a big goal, you need to narrow it down to be as specific as possible. For example, “we want to drive massive traffic” is not smart enough. How many weekly or monthly visitors would you like to add after your campaign? What CTR and sales conversions do you want to achieve?  Some examples of successful real-life campaigns in 2022 include LEGO's MRI PR Campaign, AirbnB.org for Ukraine Campaign, and Coinbase Super Bowl QR Code. 

2. Segment your Target Audience 

Simply knowing your target audience is insufficient; you must break them into different customer segments. This can be based on demographics, psychographics, and buyer’s personas. For instance, if you have innovative products with each appealing to different age groups, you might want your campaign to focus on Gen Z if they have the largest share of your target market rather than targeting everyone at a time. 

3. Identify your Ideal PR Campaign Company

Hundreds of PR companies are available to choose from, but not all fit your campaign objectives. You need to review the company's processes, check its portfolio, and vet their team to ensure it can deliver a successful PR campaign. PR Companies with a long history of delivering quality with happy customer testimonials to back it up are your best bet. For instance, we have over 12 years of executing successful PR campaigns with over 100 happy brands. 

4. Determine your PR Campaign Budget and Allocate Resources

How much does a digital PR cost in 2023? Well, the budget varies depending on your preferred type of campaign—outreach versus full service, your audience size, and the scope of service. A digital PR campaign with a monthly retainer can range between $5000 to $50,000. 

5. Craft Strong and Tailored Messages

The success of your campaign largely depends on the uniqueness of your message and the angle through which you execute it. Most successful PR campaigns are those with creative angles and unique storytelling. You must put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. Why should they spend their busy time reading about your brand-new product launch? Why should they care? Does your message resonate with them? Can your story grab their attention? If your answer is no, you might have to rethink.  

6. Use the Most Effective PR Tactics

PR tactics are specific methods and techniques to support your PR campaign's messages and goals. You have many options available to you, but the ones we have tested and proven to be highly effective are media relations, content marketing, social media campaigns, and events. Also, don’t rely on a single campaign tactic to generate the best result. All these work in synergy to attract your audience's attention and build a brand reputation. 

7. Set Measurable Goals and KPIs to Track Campaigns Success

You can’t have a successful PR campaign if you don’t have key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your goals. However, you must focus on KPIs that align with your goals and are quantifiable. For instance, if your goal is to boost your brand’s visibility, you might want to track the number of website visits, page views, bounces, and retention rate, and social media mentions. 

8. Evaluate your PR Campaign

After generating the KPI report; you must evaluate your PR campaign to identify what worked and what you can improve. According to Buffer, 82% of PR professionals are clueless about evaluating their PR campaigns' ROI. You need to assign a monetary value to each tactic deployed and use data to evaluate its performance. 

9. Adjust and Relaunch Based On Feedback and Available Data

You must be flexible when it comes to achieving a successful PR campaign. There are instances when you might need to redefine your goal and change your PR tactics or strategies based on the feedback you receive. Things change pretty fast in the digital world, so you must keep monitoring your campaigns (it’s not just a one-time effort!) to see if you need to modify your strategies. Also, document your learning and use the new knowledge to craft better campaigns going forward.

Hire a PR Campaign Expert

It’s much easier to run a successful PR campaign with the input of PR professionals with experienced teams and proven portfolios. At RPR Firm, we eliminate guesswork from public relations through result-driven campaign development strategies and tactics.

Our team boasts professional relationships with leading media, influencers, and marketing professionals. With over 11 years of helping brands boost their reputation and maximizing revenue through PR, rest assured you are in safe hands with us. Schedule a free consultation, and let's help build your brand reputation today! 

by R Public Relations Firm

Role of New Technologies in PR in 2023

Public relations (PR) is an incredibly fast-transforming industry heavily influenced by new technologies and trends. Over the last several years, we’ve seen the industry change drastically thanks to the emergence of increased social media opportunities, new artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and improved communication platforms.

In 2023, we expect to see even more changes in the PR technological space. Read on to learn more about the technologies in PR that we think will make the biggest impact in the coming year.

1. Affiliate Links & Online Shopping

Online shopping provides a wide range of growth options for businesses large, and small—and the sector is only getting bigger. PR teams would be wise to hop on new online shopping platforms, like Shopify, as soon as possible.

Shopify is just one example of how the new “click-through-to-purchase” features allow users to shop at the click of literally one button, making it easier than ever to capture new customers. Amazon storefronts are another great way to take advantage of more advanced online shopping technology. PR teams should spend time curating their pages on each online shopping app and make sure it is easy to use, features high-quality images, is highly descriptive, and is optimized for whatever product marketing campaigns are currently running.

Affiliate marketing will also continue to grow in 2023. Brands and influencers can refer audiences to products or services by sharing links on blogs, social media platforms, podcasts, or on their websites. Then, the brand or influencer receives a small commission when a sale is made using their affiliate link. This is a highly scalable technology that can be used to bring in passive income for all types of brands and creators in the coming year.

2. Technology for Creators

It’s time to rethink the “influencer.” Ultra-popular creators like Alix Earle are taking over the social media landscape with their relatable content and personas. PR teams can expect astronomical collaboration prices and more authentic branded content from the highest tier of influencers. Of course, this type of polished, professional content is dependent on cutting-edge social media and video editing technology. Expect to see more video editing and photo editing apps, improved photography and videography technology, and more sophisticated content creation in the coming year.

3. Enhanced Customization

Targeting technology continues to become more and more sophisticated, and this trend will likely continue in 2023. Audiences expect high levels of customization from all sorts of digital marketing and PR, from the social media posts that are suggested to them to the ads they view. Public relations campaigns are no exception to this rule.

PR professionals can use new and improved media targeting technologies to build stronger, more authentic connections with publications and writers. This will be a more effective strategy than mass pitching, and it will also lead to better coverage for clients; quality over quantity is key in the PR landscape. PR teams should also expect to employ AI and other new technologies to do better media and pitching research on the front end of campaigns.

4. Artificial Intelligence

You might be sick of hearing about AI, and who could blame you? AI seems to be everywhere these days, and it doesn’t look like it’s going away any time soon. PR professionals would be smart to adopt this technology for as many clients as they can, as soon as possible.

AI technologies in PR have become fairly commonplace, but industry professionals can expect to see them expand more in 2023. For example, automated emails using triggers from actions taken on a website already help with nurturing customers down the marketing funnel. Chatbots are also an oft-used form of AI that makes PR teams’ lives easier. 

But professionals can expect to see these same technologies in PR applied to other areas of the industry, like in feet-on-the-street campaigns and at in-person events and trade shows. Pay close attention to Fortune 500 corporations who will likely be on the cutting edge of investing more AI technology into their PR campaigns this year.

What is the best way to stay on top of new technologies in PR?

Our team recommends reading newsletters like Raisin Bread from Marketerhire, Sprout Social’s newsletter, or Marketing Brew to stay on top of trends and new technologies in the larger PR and marketing landscape. You can also follow trend and tech accounts on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Later does a great job of showcasing trends in social media and digital marketing. You can also read blogs like Really Good Emails. These, of course, are just a few places you can get your PR and marketing technology news—find the platforms you like the most and stick with them!

If you are too busy to keep up with the trends yourself, consider hiring a PR firm. PR teams specialize in keeping up with new technologies and trends, and your team will be able to make recommendations to you about which technologies to adopt and which to hold off on for the time being. Contact our team today to chat all things PR and explore what a partnership might look like for you!

by R Public Relations Firm

Is a Public Relations Specialist Different From a Journalist?

Is a public relations (PR) specialist different from a journalist? The short answer is yes! Although there are many similarities between the two professions, they have distinct functions in both the marketing sphere as well as in their relationships with brands and the community.

Keep reading for our full breakdown of the differences between the two career paths—and why you might choose one over the other.

1. Amount of Responsibilities

At publications, journalists on staff typically focus on one main role. Editors will work with journalists to improve the strength of their writing, while journalists will focus on writing compelling stories for their beat. There is very little overlap between the two. The newsroom functions smoothly because each person within it has a defined job function that complements the others’ work perfectly.

Meanwhile, in the world of public relations, Public relation specialist will often wear multiple hats for each of their clients. They might write, edit, host in-person events, manage social media communities, and send marketing emails—sometimes all within the same day! There’s less of an opportunity to focus on one task or become an expert in any area, but the fast pace and daily variations for PR pros can be thrilling.

2. Different Audiences

When journalists write stories, they are always addressing the general public. Even journalists who cover niche beats, like car racing or local politics, write to address general audiences.

In PR writing, however, specialists write to address specific audiences that care about the brand’s messages. This can mean people who’ve selected to “follow” a brand on social media, employees, company stakeholders, or email subscribers. No matter who they are, at some point they opted into hearing from the brand, and they have invested in the brand’s story in some way. Because of this, PR writing tends to be a bit more targeted in content and tone, and it can also be a little more creative and whimsical in nature. PR writers might adjust for a variety of demographics, including age, region, gender, or relationship to the brand. 

3. Differences in Tone

As mentioned above, journalists need to write stories that address large swaths of audiences and that approach news in an unbiased, factual manner. That means journalists typically need to follow a strict code of ethics in their writing. They also need to take a wholly objective approach to their stories. Tweaking a quote or message to fit better with the story is not acceptable and can destroy the public’s trust in that journalist and publication.

Meanwhile, public relations specialists get to let their creative flags fly when it comes to writing. PR teams select messaging, verbiage, tone, and mediums that best represent their clients and the stories they want to share—even if their claims are a bit biased or out there. PR specialists also don’t have to worry about including all the facts as a journalist does—they can pick and choose the messaging that fits the campaign best, whatever it may be. Molding a favorable narrative around a client, especially a company with a bad reputation, is hard work that requires lots of creative thinking and problem-solving in the writing space.

4. Main Goals

The ultimate goal of journalism is to share messages, information, and stories that the journalist believes would be interesting or helpful for their communities. Those messages might be positive (i.e., “Dog Saves Man From Burning Building”) or negative (i.e., “Company X Declares Bankruptcy”). But no matter what they cover, the journalist believes the details included within are important for the general public to know. 

Public relations goals are more widespread and varied. Of course, public relations specialists want to share important information and messaging, but they also aim to create goodwill in the community, build consumer confidence, and craft a positive public perception of clients. That requires a level of bias that journalists simply can’t adopt. Because PR teams have a stake in a business’s health and revenue, harmonious relationships are at the forefront of every PR pro’s mind at all times.

How should I choose whether to become a journalist or a public relations specialist?

Recent graduates and others looking to make career changes should consider both options carefully and consider each role's pros and cons. Do you prefer to tell unbiased stories or craft careful messaging? Do you like learning about many different topics or specialize in just a few? And do you like to build lots of relationships or focus on a few important ones? Journalism careers allow individuals to share important stories with the community, build a vast network, and write about many topics each week. Meanwhile, public relations specialists have the opportunity to control their own narratives, and they pride themselves on specializing in certain topics and curating strong relationships with fewer people. Ultimately, you should make your choice based on which sounds more appealing and which role matches best with your current skill set.

Want to chat with a team of PR professionals about their careers and lives in the fast-paced industry? Contact us to schedule an informational interview today!

by R Public Relations Firm

5 Roles of a PR Firm that Will Improve Your Business Functions

You’ve probably heard of public relations (PR) firms, but what do PR pros actually spend their time doing? PR results can be challenging to quantify, but over time, comprehensive and strategic campaigns can improve many business functions and can even boost revenue. Read on to learn more about the five major roles of a PR firm and how each of these can improve business operations.

1.  Develop and Implement Communications Campaigns

It’s a great idea to get an outside perspective on your business from time to time, and PR firms can do just that. As unbiased outsiders, PR firms can craft objective communications campaigns that truly highlight the business’s differentiators and key messages effectively. 

Communications campaigns take a lot of work to plan, execute, and report on. Outsourcing this type of work ensures corners are not cut and ample time is spent on each task. PR firms can also decrease the overall workload that goes into campaigns because they can leverage tactics that worked in the past for other campaigns and their widespread connections with media personnel. 

Finally, PR teams are equipped to monitor media coverage and opportunities around the clock. When your internal team is busy with other projects or traveling for work, your PR firm can keep campaigns moving without disturbing other workflows.

2. Monitor Media Coverage

The media cycle runs 24 hours a day, and it seems like a new media outlet is announced every week. It can be nearly impossible to keep up with all the chatter.

Media coverage is a significant task PR firms can take off your team’s list. Most PR firms are equipped with technology that can round up all media mentions of your business and other specific keywords. Ask your PR firm to provide an end-of-month report of your business’s media coverage, so you have a record to share with leadership and refer back to in the future.

You might also employ your PR firm to run competitor analyses using the same monitoring processes. Keep an eye on the types of coverage your main competitors are securing, and don’t be afraid to borrow good ideas. You might also use this research to inform the reporters and publications your business reaches out to in the future!

3. Manage Crisis Communications

Maintaining a favorable brand reputation is of the utmost importance, but proactive pitching techniques can fall by the wayside when your team has tons of other work. PR firms can keep up with your social listening.

When a crisis does arise, however, it will be all hands on deck. It’s smart to hire a PR firm with ample experience in crisis communications because, in the worst of times, things move fast. A slow response can often be interpreted by media members as a refusal to comment. Even if that’s not the case. In order to control the narrative of the crisis, you’ll need people in your corner who understand your business and can craft a thoughtful, empathetic statement in a matter of hours, not days.

Crisis communications also require a lot of time for coverage monitoring, responding to media requests, managing social media communities, and communicating with internal staff. If you don’t have an outside PR firm to help shoulder this burden, your internal team will likely have to table other work until the crisis is over. PR firms usually have multiple people on staff. They can shift assignments to deal with your crisis while your team continues pushing forward.

4. Develop Content and Key Messages

There are dozens of platforms to keep up with these days. Large companies will likely want to participate on all platforms to capture the widest audience possible.

PR firms are staffed with excellent writers and creative thinkers, which makes them well-suited for content creation. You can bounce ideas off your PR team or work with them to create and refine content buckets for any platform, from email marketing to your company blog to social media videos. 

Staff members at PR firms also tend to be on top of content trends, whether it’s the latest TikTok audio or the current suggested length of LinkedIn posts.

5. Social Media Platform and Community Management

Speaking of social media, managing communities across so many platforms can be very time-consuming. PR firms can help your business ideate and draft content, schedule and publish content, respond to comments and DMs and comment on other brands’ posts. The best social media strategies include tactics for tackling all of these tasks and more—sometimes on a daily basis. This often is not realistic for internal team members. But PR firms have specialists on staff who can make quick, well-informed decisions on social media. So you don’t have to worry about getting accidentally canceled.

Social media community management, in particular, can be a time suck. Some brands select to respond to every comment and DM, while others respond to only a few. Either way, you’ll need to show your audience that you’re engaged and listening to them. Or you’ll lose followers and fewer people will see and interact with your posts. PR firms can dedicate a team member to manage your social media channels daily.

What is the best method to ensure I choose a PR firm that meshes well with my business and existing team?

First, vet your potential firm thoroughly. A great thing to do is to read case studies from past projects. You might also elect to meet your account manager to get a feel for their personality and communication preferences. At the end of the day, you’re looking for a team that fits seamlessly into your internal framework and makes your life easier, so you can continue regular daily business functions.

If you are currently looking for a full-service firm, contact us to schedule a call today!

by R Public Relations Firm

7 Key Benefits of PR to Society

Public relations (PR) is so much more than making a sale. The industry’s work helps build connections between brands and consumers, place important stories into the media cycle, and allows brands to give back through cause marketing campaigns. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Here, we’ve outlined seven benefits of PR to society at large.

1.  Bring Private and Public Policies Into Harmony

It’s easy to just think of PR as press releases and social media posts for B2C brands, but PR is a wide-spanning industry that touches government work, B2B, non-profits, and beyond. Ultimately, the work done by PR professionals helps bring private and public policies into the same sphere and allows individuals on both sides to align. Mutual understanding between various groups and companies leads to greater societal efficiency and less friction, and well-executed PR campaigns can be key to unlocking this level of harmony.

2. Relationship Building

As PR professionals help businesses and individuals tell their unique stories, they leverage their extensive networks. This ultimately leads to building valuable connections between brands and other entities. Whether it’s bringing together a large corporation with a local non-profit or two individuals with similar missions, PR professionals' work often leads to fruitful, impactful connections. 

3. Connecting Customers with Businesses

When PR pros manage platforms like Facebook and Instagram for a business, they simultaneously open up another reliable pathway for consumers to connect with the businesses they support. Especially, customers that have issues with their product or service can reliably get in touch with a member of the brand’s PR team through DMs or email, as their contact information will be readily available on press releases and across other channels. This, in turn, helps consumers feel heard, while brands can keep purchasers happier.

4. Ethically Shape Beliefs and Ideas

Another societal benefit of PR is the industry’s ability to shape minds and change lives. PR pros are often the masterminds behind the news you read or watch, which means they have an outsized influence in ensuring certain stories get the publicity they deserve. They can use their connections and influence to gain coverage for feel-good stories about local non-profits who give back or a local hero who did great things for the community. They can also ensure media outlets are sharing wholly accurate information and that no information is misrepresented by reporters. PR professionals, when doing their jobs well, can minimize false news stories and accurately reflect actual happenings.

5. Improve Media Literacy

With so many media platforms out there—and more launching every day—it has become increasingly difficult to navigate journalistic biases in the news. PR professionals can ensure stories that are published about their clients are fairly represented and can ask for the removal of false information. If a story is especially inaccurate, PR team members can even ask the editor to take it down or issue an apology statement. Indeed, one of the benefits of PR to society is its ability to help the general public navigate the cluttered media landscape and more easily determine which news is real and which is fake.

6. Increase Corporate Social Responsibility

Have you noticed a recent rise in cause marketing? Besides, PR teams are always looking to tell the most positive stories about their clients, and they often push for increased and improved corporate social responsibility to push narratives about their clients in a positive direction. Not only is this good for large companies because they can spotlight their contributions to society, but their dollars actually help society in the process! Moreover, PR teams can and do assist corporations in putting together 401(c)(3) organizations, developing charitable partnerships, planning and executing corporate volunteering days, and more. All of these actions contribute to positive PR and improve society as a whole.

7. Improved Internal Relations

Just as PR professionals act as a bridge between companies and the public, they can also act as a bridge between companies and their employees. They can help executives connect with the people who work for them and ensure that values, key messaging, and employee happiness are aligned from the top to bottom of an organization. PR professionals can assist executives in crafting messages that accurately represent employee sentiment and funnel feedback upward for leadership’s consideration. Happy employees who feel heard will bring greater contributions to their company.

How can I ensure my PR strategy is benefitting society?

Every good PR strategy should include a few important pillars: positive proactive pitching, social listening, cause marketing, and crisis communications. Cause marketing is the most approachable, and perhaps the most widely replicated, benefit of PR. Use your cause marketing resources to support local charities that mean a lot to your employees, and their genuine interest will shine through in subsequent media coverage. Consider asking your employees what types of causes they feel strongly about and dedicating a member of your PR team to research the best organizations to support in the area. If you approach your cause marketing from a place of authenticity, you’ll be able to ensure your efforts are truly benefitting society. If you’re looking for PR strategy or execution support, especially in the realm of cause marketing, contact us to schedule a call.

by R Public Relations Firm