Public Relations
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!
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!
Role of PR in Crisis Management
When you think about public relations (PR), most people picture businesses sharing news and trying to get positive press mentions to increase brand awareness and credibility. Yes, PR does those things, but there’s an important flip side to it as well. You see, PR doesn’t just help businesses promote the good; it also helps you to overcome negative publicity. As such, PR has an integral role in crisis management. Here’s how it can help your brand in a crisis.
What is Crisis Management?
By definition, a crisis is a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger. But in the business world, a crisis is really any unanticipated event that could disrupt your operations and/or cause potential harm to your brand reputation, including:
- Product recalls
- Customer injuries
- Employee misconduct
- Security breaches
- Natural disasters
In turn, crisis management is the art of not only responding effectively to events that have occurred but also being proactive in anticipating crises so that your business is prepared.
How PR Can Help with Crisis Management
The goal of public relations is to influence, engage, and build a positive relationship and/or image with your target audience, which is why PR tactics are so ideal for helping brands in a crisis. The role of PR in crisis management gives brands the following.
1. Peace of mind
When a crisis hits, panic typically follows, and that’s when mistakes happen. For most businesses, crisis management isn’t something you or your team deal with every day. So it’s natural to be overwhelmed and unsure of what to do. A PR specialist can take that worry off your shoulders by acting swiftly and surely on your behalf to protect your brand in the public eye.
2. Freedom to focus on the crisis
There’s much more to worry about in a crisis than public relations alone. Having to split your focus between what to say in public, to your customers, and to your employees while also working on the logistics needed to resolve the crisis itself leaves you pulled in so many directions that you and/or your team may not be as effective as you could be. With a PR specialist handling the media and your message to each audience, you’re free to focus on the aspects of the crisis in which you’re needed most.
3. More control of the narrative
When it comes to crisis management, speed is everything. Especially how fast you communicate about the crisis. It’s much harder to change public perception once the crisis is already being talked about in the news and/or on social media than to drive the message from your point of view. During the time it takes you and your team to decide whom to contact and what to say, the narrative can quickly spin out of your control.
The key is getting the right message to the right people right away. A PR specialist can help you do just that because they already have the processes and the connections in place.
4. Ability to present your brand in the best light
Most of the time, how you say something is just as important as what you say. If you’re not used to speaking with the media or on video, you could inadvertently come across in a way that does more harm than good during a crisis. PR specialists have the training and finesse to help you get your message across in a way that puts your brand in the best light. It’s imperative that everyone representing the brand about the crisis is authentic, honest, and transparent in their words and their body language.
5. An even better reputation
When done right, crisis management may potentially improve your reputation over the long run. Of course, it depends on the crisis at hand, but businesses that are authentic, honest, and open the lines of communication through effective PR have often been the ones who have thrived despite the circumstances.
6. The means to monitor the situation
As the crisis evolves, so will public sentiment, which means you need to keep a pulse on national and local news outlets and what your customers are saying on social media. Again, if this isn’t something you deal will every day, you may not have the means or the time to stay on top of this effectively. Not to mention knowing when to respond and how. But your PR specialist will!
They’ll also be able to track your campaigns carefully as well. If your crisis communication approach is working, great! If it’s not, they’ll help you reassess to see how you might tweak to improve communications going forward.
Next Steps for Crisis Management
The adage, “the best defense is a good offense,” certainly applies when it comes to crisis management because the reality is that you’ll be best prepared to respond to a crisis if you proactively plan for one.
A PR specialist can help create a plan that identifies where your brand might be vulnerable, develops messaging for potential scenarios, and appoints those who will speak on the brand’s behalf. They can also help with media training. But, most importantly, keep in mind that one crisis does not have to define your brand, and with effective crisis management, it won’t. So, to get started, contact us to schedule a call today!
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!
Impacts of Intelligent Marketing and PR on Business
With a proper strategy in place, marketing and public relations (PR) can work together seamlessly to improve sales, public opinion, customer loyalty, and so much more! Marketing and PR are distinct practices—marketing focuses on the selling of products, while PR typically focuses on managing and maintaining a brand’s reputation. When applied intelligently, they complement and can strengthen one another.
Keep reading to learn about the varied impacts well-thought-out marketing and PR plans can have on businesses.
1. Increase Brand Awareness
Traditional marketing placements like out-of-home advertising, social media marketing, and in-person events can help sell products. But on a secondary level, they also work to boost brand recognition. PR teams can play off this by complementing marketing efforts with related pitches and other media opportunities. Together, these strategies can boost brand recognition across target demographics and markets.
Brand recognition is far more important for businesses than most realize—according to Liana Zavo, writing for Entrepreneur, “Without publicity and reputation, a business cannot grow in its respective industry.” Brand recognition is not only important for making sales. It also helps maintain and gain market share and subtly impacts public sentiment surrounding a brand.
2. Promote Brand Values
Trust is the most valuable thing a company can possess. With improved brand recognition comes increased awareness of brand values. As such, intelligent marketing and PR strategies can ensure the general public has a comprehensive understanding of a company’s giving initiatives, mission statement, and brand values. These key messages bolster customer loyalty, enhance word-of-mouth marketing, and help keep the top of the marketing funnel full of consumers.
Because social media marketing provides many opportunities for discourse with consumers, social platforms are a great place to share detailed information about company values. Thought leadership, well-placed op-eds, and executive interviews can all achieve similar effects; the strongest plan is to employ all of these strategies at once!
3. Strengthen Community Relations
Community relations fall into the scope of both marketing and PR. Generally speaking, marketing teams can foster relationships between businesses and their neighbors through in-person events and activations, staff volunteerism, and other foot-on-the-street initiatives. Public relations teams can help tell these stories through earned and paid media opportunities. People love to hear heartwarming stories, and these types of narratives also help to strengthen overall brand recognition and public sentiment, even though they don’t push any particular sales agenda!
Brands can also build their own communities by planning meet-ups, volunteer events, and other activations for their consumers and social media followers. PR and marketing teams can coordinate and publicize these events, which are great for demonstrating brand values in an authentic way and exemplifying that a business is interested in more than just selling its products!
4. Boost Staff Morale
Marketing and PR are not just for external campaigns! Especially when it comes to large corporations, marketing and PR strategies should be applied internally to boost staff morale and trust in executive leadership. Some examples of internal marketing and PR campaigns include the rollout of new mission statements and brand values, visual brand redesigns, and onboarding and corporate education.
Regular and effective internal communications impact the satisfaction of the workforce, which will directly affect customer service, word-of-mouth marketing, productivity, and recruitment as well as retention efforts. Internal communications can also be used to ensure employee voices are heard and taken into consideration through town hall meetings and anonymous suggestion boxes.
5. Improve the Profile of Executives
If marketing and PR strategies are executed well, the profile of top-level executives at the company will improve. This is typically achieved through securing speaking opportunities, thought leadership and op-ed placements, conference presentations, and participation on panels. Executives who appear trustworthy, educated, and connected to the company improve consumers’ confidence in the business as a whole.
Additionally, on-staff experts will receive more speaking, writing, and moderating opportunities. The PR team will have to rely less on outside placements. Everyone wins!
6. Keep Audiences Well-Informed
Not all audiences consume news and information from the same channels. Employing a robust marketing and PR strategy will ensure you’re reaching former and future customers wherever they already are instead of having to lure them to your preferred channels. Major business announcements, such as high-profile personnel changes, important product rollouts, and rebrands, should be pushed out across multiple marketing and PR channels to ensure the highest chance of informing all stakeholders. This can include but is not limited to email marketing, social media marketing, press releases, media advisories, interviews, and mailers. Marketing and PR teams must work closely to ensure the success of this type of campaign.
How important is it to hire both marketing and PR teams? Can I get away with just one?
Intelligent marketing and PR strategies will not only complement one another, but they will improve each other’s results. Often, marketing campaigns indirectly result in positive PR and vice versa. But choosing to employ one or the other will likely minimize results and weaken campaigns. Hiring both teams is not a requirement, but it is a smart business move.
Many firms offer both marketing and PR services in order to help businesses streamline their publicity needs. If you are on the hunt for a full-service firm, contact us to schedule a call today!
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.
9 Fascinating facts about publicists you probably didn’t know
Being a publicist—also known as a PR professional—means you must master various skills, from managing communication strategies to building corporations’ credibility. Publicists are social media coordinators, brand strategists, masters of internal communications, and wordsmiths with a knack for writing. These multi-skilled individuals are in demand by large companies, non-profits, celebrities, and even public figures, as their unique set of skills makes them useful for brand overhauls, crisis management, proactive storytelling, and more. Keep reading to learn more publicists facts so you know what to look for when it’s time to make a hire for your own team.
1. Publicists handle more than just advertising
Contrary to popular opinion, publicists are not the same as advertisers! Advertising is the practice of paying for a certain amount of impressions, clicks, or actions. Publicity, on the other hand, encompasses more than that. Publicists manage overarching communications strategies, which can include but are not limited to pay-to-play advertising campaigns. Successful PR strategies hinge on both paid and organic placements, meaning publicists spend significant time building relationships with media and nurturing stories that reflect their clients’ values and strongest initiatives. Paid advertising is a great way to drive website traffic and conversions, but to build long-term loyalty, organic coverage is also essential.
2. Publicists can build solid relationships with media personnel
Not every story will be a slam dunk on the first try. Occasionally, a publicist’s success will hinge on the strength of their relationships with reporters. Building relationships with overworked reporters is a challenging job. It takes a lot of time and effort, but the payoff is certainly worth it. Organic coverage in top-tier outlets builds unmatched credibility for brands.
3. Publicists can help your business grow in a cost-efficient manner
Publicists don’t require massive advertising budgets to make a difference for your brand. They add value by leveraging their relationships to promote your business on popular media channels, building and adjusting various strategies, and placing authentic coverage about your brand that more effectively spreads the word about your mission than a paid ad. Billboards and out-of-home ad placements cost a fortune, and tracking who’s actually being reached is hard. But a publicist can spend a fraction of that cost on highly targeted media pitching and see similar results.
4. Publicists can help businesses grow at every stage
Another interesting publicist fact is that PR services are designed for businesses at every single stage in their lifecycle, not just for start-ups. Goals might shift from awareness and driving traffic to brand loyalty and targeting specific consumer segments, but the overarching PR strategies can be applied in many ways to support brands both large and small, old and young. Every business needs the help of a publicist to maintain a steady beat of positive coverage and share new and evolving messages with audiences.
5. Publicists possess wide-ranging skills
To see continuous growth in the PR industry, publicists must not only remain proficient in baseline skills like media pitching and business writing, but they must also develop new skills as the times change. In the past several years, this has included learning many social media platforms, adapting to digital publications, learning how to manage virtual events, and getting acquainted with a 24-hour news cycle. All this knowledge means PR professionals can help fill in knowledge gaps at your company so you can focus on larger organizational goals.
6. Publicists manage your story from start to finish
A publicists' work is not finished after they submit your press release or pitch. They manage the process of sharing stories from start to finish. Their core skills help them outline key messages in the form of media alerts and leverage their network to get stories picked up, but they can apply these skills to other communications needs, like social listening, SEO strategy, email marketing, and beyond.
7. Publicists possess incredible persuasion abilities
There are so many products on the market these days! Publicists have a knack for convincing potential customers that their client's products and services are the best in the business. They have honed their persuasion skills for years. They have an exceptional ability to narrow down key differentiators, turn messages into catchy elevator pitches, and find the best placements for each story. Publicists are adept at crafting messages that appeal to specific target audiences’ desires.
8. Publicists often work around the clock
Not every newsworthy event or crisis happens during working hours. That means publicists must be ready for anything at all hours of the day. Hiring a publicist doubles as an investment in your customer service, as you’ll have round-the-clock support for your business. This is crucial in times of crisis, but also extremely helpful to gather feedback in slower times, too.
9. Publicists are always learning
This is a publicist fact that remains mostly unknown. But PR pros tend to get bored when working on one project for too long. Collaboration with all sorts of brands and learning the ins and outs of what makes their businesses and industries tick are both exciting and highly stimulating for publicists who love to expand their knowledge. You can leverage your publicist’s desire to learn more by inviting them to participate in various team meetings and initiatives. You never know—it might spark an idea for your next big story!
I’m ready to hire a publicist. What are the next steps?
The above publicists facts might have you convinced that now is the time to hire a PR pro for your business. But before embarking on the hiring process, clearly define your business’s goals and make sure multiple stakeholders weigh in. Your publicist must have a clear sense of the work you need to be done before building your strategy. If you’d like more info about how a publicist can help grow your business, you can schedule a discovery call and get answers to all your questions today.
Challenges of PR in the Digital World
The Public relations (PR) industry, like so many others, has evolved and changed dramatically since the dot-com boom. Today’s PR pros face challenges, including an ultra-fast news cycle, round-the-clock media coverage, and reputation threats in every corner of the internet. Read on for today’s top challenges of PR, as well as how your company can deal with them with the help of a well-equipped PR team.
1. The 24-Hour News Cycle
In the past, broadcast news ran for a handful of hours each day. Now, the news is on 24 hours a day, meaning there’s a constant flood of information entering households across the country. The news is on when you wake up with your baby at 5:00 a.m. and when you’re running at the gym at 8:00 p.m. This information overload can make it very difficult for your brand’s story to stand out from the crowd.
2. News Travels Fast…Very Fast
The virality of certain social media posts, videos, and images is great for global knowledge-sharing, but it is also one of the major challenges PR professionals face today. One negative review, which previously could have been dealt with one-on-one with the reviewer, now must be managed immediately or risk it going viral and causing irreparable damage to the company.
It goes without saying, then, that speed in PR is now of the utmost importance. Having a team of multiple individuals working on your company’s brand management at all times helps keep minor issues from spiraling out of control, especially on social media.
3. Crisis Management in the Age of Social Media
One of the major challenges of PR in the modern landscape is the need for real-time crisis monitoring. Disgruntled customers can reach you on your website, by telephone, by email, and across dozens of social media platforms. It takes more than a few hours a week to effectively complete social listening and ensure your customers are happy with the products and services you’re providing.
In the digital age, every brand must plan for the inevitable crisis to occur. Even if the issue is small-scale, a PR team can help you outline a crisis communications strategy and draft some boilerplate statements. You’ll also want to make sure your entire team knows who in the chain of command to escalate crises to when the time comes. Crisis communications used to be a problem for only the largest, most powerful companies, but due to the digital revolution, that is no longer the case.
4. Responsive Web Presence
Today, it’s the norm for people to get their news, check social media, connect with friends and family, and sometimes even work primarily from their phones. As such, it’s more important than ever for brands to have a responsive web presence.
A responsive webpage will automatically reformat itself to fit the size of any phone, tablet, or computer, meaning important information and photos won’t be cut off if the user isn’t viewing the site from a desktop. While it sounds simple, this requires some complex backend support and the keen eye of a PR professional to ensure your assets will look perfect on any type of screen.
5. Information Availability
Perhaps your company, when under the purview of a different management team, made some rash decisions. Or maybe a tweet went up a decade ago that was swiftly taken down due to its accidentally insensitive nature. It’s no longer simple to brush historical mistakes under the rug, as every brand has a digital footprint that can’t be erased. Information is readily available to everyone on the internet, and you simply can’t assume past mistakes will be allowed to lie dormant forever.
Undoubtedly, to tackle this challenge, PR teams can work with brands to hone a strategy rooted in honesty and authenticity. Brands must set aside pride and apologize for past mistakes or risk dealing with worse PR crises—and losing brand loyalists to competitors—down the line.
6. Clickability is Key
Whereas newspaper and magazine editors once made content decisions based on the information they felt their audiences most needed to know, now advertising dollars and click-through rates reign supreme. Clearly, PR pros must learn to position stories according to their “clickability.” Will the headline drive clicks? Is the subject line catchy? Is the topic highly relevant to the publication’s audience?
7. The Slow Decline of Print Journalism
PR teams have grappled with a decrease in actual print publications to pitch. Nevertheless, compressed demand for earned media in print publications and a dwindling number of reporters means competition is fierce in the current PR landscape. In order to face this challenge of PR head-on, PR teams must be highly adept at parsing out the most important and engaging stories for brands to highly-targeted outlets—a far cry from the wide-reaching PR strategies of the past.
All of these PR challenges are overwhelming for my small team. How should I decide which to prioritize?
We recommend developing a crisis strategy first. Look for helpful templates online, or engage a PR firm to help with the process—some even specialize in crisis management. From there, tackle PR challenges in the order in which they will have the most significant potential impact on your brand. For example, a responsive webpage can maximize sales, while a social listening strategy can improve customer relations. Thus, figure out your greatest business needs and go from there.
R PR Firm offers a wide range of services to help you face PR challenges head-on and thrive in their wake! From earned media pitching to comprehensive social media strategies, R is available to help your team tackle whatever comes your way. Contact us to schedule a call.
9 Reasons your Business Needs PR Consulting
There are functions of any business deemed essential – accounting, human resources, sales – and then there are functions that far too many believe unnecessary. Public relations (PR) is one of them. That’s a mistake businesses often don’t realize until they’ve spent valuable time and money only to achieve lackluster results. For example, Forbes cites a study from Nielsen commissioned by inPowered that concluded that PR is almost 90% more effective than advertising. But PR is a specialized skill set often confused with marketing. However, the two are very different, which is why lumping PR in with the responsibilities of your marketing team isn’t always the best choice. On the other hand, outsourcing PR consulting can be a game-changer. Here’s why.
Why Your Business Needs PR Consulting
1. Shapes Your Reputation and Message
When your business is presented in a positive light through outside sources versus direct communications from you to the customer alone, it does wonders to improve your brand’s reputation. That’s why relationships with the media and influencers are so important. Cultivating and maintaining those relationships is a key component of PR consulting.
What’s more, your customers need to be aware of your business’s brand positioning and the benefit and value of your product/service in a way that resonates with them consistently. PR can help you relay those messages effectively across multiple channels.
2. Drives Awareness
Your target audience can’t buy your products or services unless they know about them. That’s why driving awareness is so vital to businesses. Having direct media contacts is the key to ensuring your message is shared in the right places at the right time. Unfortunately, most businesses neither have the time nor the expertise to cultivate and maintain these relationships. However, PR consulting firms do!
Another part of driving awareness is staying relevant to your audience. A business only has so much news to share. But PR consulting firms stay on top of trends and opportunities to pitch your brand in a way that’s relevant to what’s going on in your industry, with your target audience, and in the world.
3. Boosts Credibility
Consumers don’t take businesses at face value anymore. They ask questions and want to know your brand before buying. In fact, Edelman's Trust Barometer found that 70 percent of consumers say trusting a brand is more important today than in the past. What’s more, 53 percent agree that trusting the business behind the brand is the second most important factor (only to price) when purchasing.
As such, PR consulting that helps you to be featured in the media, trade publications, and/or by trusted influencers will boost your credibility (and, as a result, trust) in a way that no advertising and direct communications from you can.
4. Reaches a Wider Audience
Most businesses don’t have unlimited budgets, and advertising is costly, particularly when it comes to national campaigns. On the other hand, a PR consulting firm has the expertise to help you reach a wider audience with earned media. However, this organic coverage is harder to achieve on your own without the right media connections.
Another benefit of earned media coverage is that you may receive news mentions introducing your business to new audiences that you’ve never considered before!
5. Gives You an Edge over Competitors
As mentioned above, PR isn’t often seen as necessary because it doesn’t directly drive sales in the way marketing does (although it does indirectly by driving leads). And while competitors are ignoring those top-of-the-funnel activities and trying to figure out how to stretch their limited marketing budget to attract more interest, those who are proactive about PR enjoy a robust funnel of leads. This, in turn, gives your business an edge by allowing you to focus marketing on increasing sales conversion.
6. Enhances Online Presence
You may not realize that PR and SEO have similar goals, including brand awareness. For example, high-quality backlinks from credible media sources (or influencers) can help your website move up higher in search results which drives more organic traffic. Brand mentions as a result of your PR consulting efforts can also help you rank higher for specific keywords in Google as well, particularly local brand mentions.
7. Generates More Leads
Again, if you think of the sales cycle as a funnel, PR is at the top, where awareness, credibility, and engagement are cultivated, versus the bottom of the funnel, where the sale is closed. Marketing can only do so much at the top of the funnel for several reasons: budget limitations and the resulting reach limitations, not to mention lack of staying power.
Once an ad or campaign has run its paid course, it’s done. Whereas those news mentions have legs, they can be found long after publication. So, PR drives lead in the short and long term, consistently generating more leads overall.
8. Attracts Investors and Brand Partners
PR consulting can help your business get in front of VCs and other investors in a way that increases your credibility. It helps them learn about your brand as a potential investment option. PR can also help you find brand partners by raising awareness among those with complementary products and services.
9. Effective Crisis Management
Crises can and will happen. Whether it’s a problem with your product/service, an issue in the industry, or some unforeseen event. In these circumstances, your PR consulting firm’s crisis management strategy is vital in helping you quickly share information, address the impact on your customers, and let them know how you’re remedying the issue(s).
A good PR consulting firm can also help you to identify any potential vulnerabilities proactively, too.
How Do You Choose the Right PR Consulting Firm?
To ensure the PR consulting firm, you choose is a fit for your brand, industry, budget, and goals, ask about their specialty, clients, whom you’ll work with daily, their working style, and how they measure success.
To learn more about PR consulting, contact us to schedule a call!
7 PR Trends Changing the Industry in 2023
The new year brings new opportunities for groundbreaking strategies, public relations (PR) successes, and company growth! Although it can be challenging to keep up with the fast-paced PR industry, not every trend sticks. Here are the seven PR Trends for 2023 that you need to pay attention to—they just might change the game for good.
1. Mobile Commerce as Part of Social Strategy
Organic social media is necessary for any good PR strategy, but organic posts alone won’t drive growth the way they used to. Recognizable brands like Domino’s and Starbucks have started turning to branded apps and SMS marketing to complement their existing social strategies.
While an app isn’t realistic for every brand, the barriers to entry for SMS marketing are low. Click-through-to-buy features on platforms like Pinterest and Instagram can, and should, also be leveraged by brands of all sizes.
Another one of the PR trends for 2023 is affiliate marketing, which is poised to become an essential driver of sales for product-based businesses next year. Amazon, Walmart, and Target all offer affiliate programs. Work with your product teams to get involved and increase the likelihood of your products being featured in product round-up articles.
2. Creator-Produced Content
As platforms introduce new opportunities for brands and creators to collaborate, the influencer industry continues to grow at an exponential rate. There are so many creators out there, it’s possible for any brand to find a good partnership fit.
Layer creator collaboration strategy onto your social media strategy and start to leverage this industry ASAP. Not only do creators have built-in, loyal audiences, but they’re often extremely well-versed in crafting authentic and engaging content about their favorite brands. This is especially true on newer platforms like TikTok.
An up-and-coming trend in the content creator space is live-streamed shopping events. Brands can collaborate with creators to run these events, which function similar to TV shopping networks, and pay them for their efforts. It’s a win-win!
3. Data-Driven Decision-Making
There’s growing interest in monitoring and evaluating PR campaigns and outcomes with solid datasets. Gone are the days of relying on monthly readerships and arbitrary subscriber numbers. As more brands layer paid strategies onto their campaigns, tracking specific revenue-based metrics like cost-per-click, cost-per-acquisition, and others will become increasingly important.
There are so many metrics to choose from; data-driven results are not one-size-fits-all. Work with individuals throughout your organization to determine which metrics matter most to your company!
4. Simplified Brand Messaging
One of the major PR trends for 2023 is simplified copy. Brands should work to carefully cull messaging until it is concise, catchy, and authentic. When in doubt, select shorter copy.
This trend applies to press releases, social media copy, advertising copy, videos, and more. Boil down key messaging until it is in its most concentrated form. This will help brands differentiate themselves from competitors and hone in on specific target audiences.
5. Convey Empathy and Authentic Values in Copy
Staying abreast of local, regional, national, and global news is incredibly important in the PR industry, and this will be even more true next year. Brands must be aware of all major news happenings and adjust PR and social media strategies accordingly, or else risk offending followers.
Avoid being the person behind an ad that runs next to tweets about a new global crisis. Check-in on world happenings often, and don’t be afraid to pause or delay campaigns. As stated by Jennifer Berson in her article for LinkedIn, “No one wants to support a brand that carries on as usual in a crisis, even if it’s happening on the other side of the globe.”
Brand strategy should also take inclusivity into account. Copy should exude authenticity and empathy, but be sure your brand values align with your company’s actions. Act on the causes you claim to support and treat employees with high levels of respect. Any effort to use inclusivity and diversity policies as talking points in campaigns will be counter-productive.
6. Pitch Exclusives
There is so much content behind paywalls now. Journalists that remain with short-staffed publications are slammed covering multiple beats while working to optimize their articles for SEO. PR pros should try to make journalists’ jobs easier by providing them with pre-optimized, catchy, and relevant premium content!
That means less widespread pitching and more highly targeted and exclusive content offers. With less publications to pitch and more news than ever, journalists will need additional enticement to publish your announcement, and exclusives will help you capture the attention of both reporters and readers. Exclusives also increase the likelihood of quality coverage and assist with relationship building.
7. Social and Media Strategies Will Find Equal Footing
As previously mentioned, media opportunities are dwindling while social media opportunities abound. Traditional PR strategies typically place a premium on published content and position social media in a supporting role. Adept PR pros will start to shift this dynamic by placing equal value on media and social media strategies. Keep your eyes peeled for this PR trend for 2023 and watch as more large companies make major brand announcements on social media and through creator partnerships rather than through embargoed press releases.
What is the best way to keep up with PR Trends for 2023?
PR firms are well-suited to keep up with industry trends. Because team members’ skills are highly specialized, they are able to keep a pulse on algorithm changes, media personnel shifts, and more. They also often have internal structures for knowledge sharing across industries, which means firms can apply learnings and successes from other clients to their strategies without having to go through testing or trial-and-error.
Want to dive deeper into any of these PR Trends for 2023? Schedule a call with R PR Firm today—our team is always happy to talk trends and strategy. Contact us here to schedule a call!