How Can You Do PR For Your Business?
Public relations is the process of strategically communicating with important stakeholders to achieve business goals and enhance your relationships with them. There are various ways in which you can do PR without spending more than you can afford.
Media Relations
It is important to build relationships with people in the media industry like journalists. You can do this by engaging on their social media posts and suggesting useful news stories to them. Through these relationships, it will be easier to convince them to run a story or press release for your small business, which will give you more publicity.
You can also go a step further and use tools like HootSuite, Google Alerts and Mention to track where and how your business is mentioned on the web. This will help you to take control of the narrative and know how well your business is doing. Good knowledge of PR, mixed with other skills like marketing, will enable you to have excellent media relations for your brand.
Content Creation
Even if you are working hard to grow your business, not creating content can slow down its growth. Content gives you more visibility and shows your audience the value you are bringing to them. The type of content you create tells customers what to think about your brand, so you need to take it seriously.
You can improve your content by planning content days or weeks in advance. By creating a solid content strategy and understanding your audience, you can create content that’s interesting and shareable. Content should be visual and not be limited to one format as an average consumer has a low attention span. For example, you can create styling videos and colour-inspired carousels on Instagram as a fashion brand.
Apart from creating content for social media alone, you should write occasional press releases and blogs to drive awareness and establish your business as a thought leader. Public Relations encourages storytelling, and the easiest form of that is content creation.
Social Media Management:
Managing your business’s social media effectively is an essential part of PR. You can do this by creating content that’s appropriate for each social media platform. By engaging with your audience regularly, you can create a relationship with them and ultimately, get more sales.
You can also track how your page is performing. This will help you to know what is working and put more effort into that. Social media is a proven way to draw attention to your business and you do not need a lot of money to maintain a strong online presence.
Crisis Communications:
Sometimes, getting negative publicity is inevitable. Having effective crisis management skills will help you to take control of the situation. You can manage a crisis by responding to it as soon as possible and trying to solve the problem. Alternatively, you can prepare ahead for a crisis by being conscious of things that could cause a crisis.
A crisis can damage the reputation of any brand, so it is important to be firm and transparent when responding to it. If handled well, a crisis can lead to an improved reputation.
Event Planning
Most small businesses cannot organise a large-scale event, but using PR correctly can let your small event have the impact of a large-scale event. By organising and promoting events like product launches and webinars correctly, you can reach the right people who need the product you offer. For example, a brand that teaches people a skill can reach the right people if they use social media to promote a webinar or physical event.
As long as you pay attention to the event details and manage it effectively, your event is on the right path to being successful. No matter your budget, knowing how to plan the event is what matters the most.
Brand Management
This is one of the most important PR activities you need to do for your business. You need to create a consistent and appealing brand image to succeed in today’s world. A brand can use a serious, playful, friendly, funny or educational tone to achieve desired results. Once you choose the right tone for your business and use it effectively, you just need to focus on managing your business properly. For example, a business that sells shoes could decide to use a friendly tone with its audience.
Another aspect of brand management is making sure that all your brand elements are consistent with one another. No matter what content you are posting and where you are posting it, your brand should be easily recognisable. You can also go a step further and continually improve your brand image so that you fit in with what your audience needs. This will ensure consumer loyalty and exponential brand growth
Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder engagement is a vital part of PR. By engaging with stakeholders like customers, employees, and investors, you can grow your brand quickly and maintain a positive reputation. Building beneficial relationships is a sign of good public relations, and is the difference between average and excellent brands. One way to improve engagement is by constantly communicating, listening and paying attention e.g. giving out gifts to loyal customers during Christmas.
PR is a strategic process that requires hard work, creativity and effective communication skills. By understanding what it means to do PR and leveraging the necessary tools, you will be able to make your business bigger.
