Public relations (PR) firms work magic to improve messaging effectiveness for all organizations. For those new to the industry or kicking off their very first PR campaign, the PR can be quite daunting.
Although it’d be great if every PR campaign were successful, the reality is that some will perform better than others. Keep reading to learn PR tips to help maximize your budget and reach while achieving your goals, no matter how long you’ve been in the industry.
Public Relations Tips
Use Platforms Where Your Audience Already Lives
There are so many digital platforms out there. It can be hard to navigate them all! That’s why one of the trickiest hurdles for any PR campaign is determining which channels to use.
Rather than starting from the ground up for every campaign, consider using platforms where your audience already exists. The first step is ensuring you engage your company website in the campaign. Users of your website already have a level of brand awareness and understanding of your products, so the barriers to sales for these individuals are low.
Second, carefully consider which social media platforms to use. You can decide based on demographic information, market research that your team has executed market research, and some educated guessing. If you’re selling beauty products for mature skin, TikTok might not be a great choice, but Facebook would be a wonderful place to promote your product! Take the work off your target audience’s plate by promoting your campaign on the platforms they’re already using.
Collaborate with Journalists
Working with journalists is like any other business relationship. You need to make sure it’s mutually beneficial and that you’re both respecting each other’s boundaries.
Journalism is a highly respected profession, and many journalists are considered thought leaders. But at the end of the day, journalists are just people, too. Approach your communications with journalists with a high level of respect, and make sure you’ve done your research before contacting them.
Just like with any relationship, you don’t want to waste their time with an offer or pitch that isn’t going to be appealing to them. Make sure your outreach meets all of the journalist’s criteria and pay careful attention to their preferences. The level of care you put into the relationship will help strengthen your connection and lead to better coverage down the line.
Work with Influencers, But Be Flexible
The influencer marketing industry is already huge and it continues to grow by the day. Entry-level PR professionals should approach nearly every campaign with ideas for how they might be able to collaborate with influencers!
While influencer marketing campaigns can result in huge ROIs, PR pros need to be flexible. Every single influencer is going to have different rates, different preferences, and different demands. Each contract will need to be approached individually. Brands who aren’t used to working with influencers might find this surprising, so be sure to share this information with stakeholders and leadership in advance.
Anothe PR tip in regards to influencers is to require them to record and share all of their coverage. No one can be online 24/7, but that means you might miss an Instagram story here or there. Ask every influencer you work with to record every sponsored post they publish and provide them to you at the conclusion of the campaign. That way, you’ll be able to take stock of the partnership and learn from it in the future!
Old is Not Always Gold in Public Relations
Don’t be afraid of bold new tactics and technologies! Employing new PR strategies is one great way to stand out from the old guard of PR professionals. Press releases certainly still have their place in the PR landscape, but there are so many other outlets to try now. Be creative and experiment with new strategies!
Get Experiential
Experiential PR campaigns directly engage consumers and require them to participate in your campaign in real time. You can set up experiential events on busy sidewalks, at trade shows, or at major community events like sports games and music festivals. But rather than pass out flyers at a booth, experiential campaigns provide consumers a way to become a part of the campaign. They must be interactive and incredibly engaging to work.
This tactic is a particularly beneficial PR tip, because PR is just starting to move back into the live events realm after several years off. There’s still a lack of experiential marketing campaigns happening right now, so get in while you can and make the biggest splash possible!
Parting Thoughts
There are tons of PR tips floating around on the internet, but the five tips shared above will help you create a solid groundwork for your next campaign, whether you’re new to the industry or not. Remember to use and respect the rules of PR, but know when to break them to capture attention. Also, don’t forget that relationships are of the utmost importance in PR. Treat all of your contacts with maximal respect, and your campaigns will thrive.
