Here at Hear Me Roar Media we find sharing is caring and therefore, we have put this article together to help you. Public relations is something businesses need and though it can be confused with marketing, it is completely different. PR is a different strategy and while marketing is important too, PR is vital as well. Public relations work by getting your name in the news and getting noticed. Instead of a one-off or series of advertisements you will find your name in the papers, media outlets or at events talking about your business. As you can imagine this is hugely beneficial as it builds trust with your potential customers and shows your position as a leader in your market/sector. Here are a few simple PR tips:
Decide on your message – Before you begin you need to know your business story and understand your branding. You also need to know about what you are trying to say to your potential customers. What are your goals? Who is your target audience? You need to have something interesting to say too. Is it newsworthy? Is it something in the news already and could you piggyback on the topic? Pay attention to the news and be ready to respond to your sectors findings or studies.
Write a press release – Writing a good press release is harder than you may think but it is good to practice your skills. You may want to shout about a new product, or a new service and a general press release can be sent to local or national papers. However, remember that journalists and news outlets get hundreds of emails a day so how can your press release stand out? Well firstly, it must be well written with a good hook – don’t forget the subject line in an email is vitally important as it could mean the difference between a journalist opening or not opening your email. Personalising your email will help too and builds relationships with journalists. Getting a trained person to do a press release is advised as it needs to be executed perfectly with good grammar and spelling.
Make calls – As much as a press release is beneficial, in some cases, you need to hit the phones and pitch ideas to a paper or media outlet. Once again, these are busy people so have a few notes on what you want to say and think of the hook. Most importantly, what is in it for the journalist? Journalists want to break good stories and they won’t write or print something they don’t think is a good story. Work on your pitch and work on your story.
Build relationships on social media – An effective way of getting your business noticed is by social media but more importantly, Twitter. As Twitter uses hashtags and because you can follow journalists you can pay attention to what they need or what they write. The #journorequest hashtag is full of opportunities too for businesses. Just by regularly posting about your business and responding to peoples tweets online can get you noticed. It is a cheap way to grow your business and brand. Facebook and Instagram can work too but only if your content is being shared regularly. Hence why Twitter is stronger as you can be noticed without having too many followers through the hashtags.
If you are struggling with your PR/communication needs, you can ask us for help! We are on hand to build your strategy and implement it – saving you time and getting results. Contact us for more information.