10 Tips for Mastering Public Relations
Public relations is not a 2 + 2 equation. It is complex and has to be flexible. A solution that works for one event/press release/crisis may not work for the next incident you have. It has to be more adaptable. There are some general rules that you can follow, though, that will make public relations strategies more agreeable. Let’s dive into some tips you can use to get the most out of your public relations strategies.
10 Tips for Mastering Public Relations
Avoid being generic.
Public relations is all about knowing your “publics” or your audiences — and you’ll never have just one audience you are trying to reach. One of your publics may be your employees, another your potential employees, another your clients, etc. Never send a message that could be sent to all, and especially not if you are trying to reach out to a specific person.
After conferences or networking events, do not send generic messages to the people you were just networking with. If you are working on networking, take notes on the person you are talking with to avoid forgetting important details about her/him later on. You are more likely to get a follow-up if you show that that person truly meant something to you. Oh, and don’t copy and paste content in those follow-up emails. Write each email specially for the recipient.
More on networking: Top 10 Networking Tips, How to Follow-Up After Networking
Get to the point.
Here is a tip that is especially going to help you in your social media and email marketing: Get to the point! People are busy these days, and they don’t want to read pointless details and useless information. If your email newsletter has lots of details and isn’t skimmable, people are likely going to X out of it. Here’s a hint, if you are bored writing your content, your audience is going to be bored reading it.
Become a better storyteller.
People connect over stories and shared experiences, and that makes storytelling a huge part of public relations. Learn to become the best storyteller you can be, and then use those skills on the job. Stories can make the news, can be put into social media for creative content, and can be blogged about — raising your SEO. Your story is also great content for your About Us page.
Your company has a story — tell it! Use that story as the foundation for building your brand. It will humanize your brand, and it can help make your brand more memorable. You can’t go wrong with a solid story.
Related posts: How to Use Storytelling to Build Your Brand, How to Tell a Story with your Content
Share your story with your employees.
It is not enough to be an expert in your organization’s story. You also need all of your employees to be rehearsed in your story as well — not in a overdone way — but, you need everyone to be onboard with the idea that your story has power — because it does.
Your story should have power to shape the things that you do inside of your organization. It should be something that your employees think about when they are making even the smallest, every day decisions.
Learn new things.
The media is constantly changing, and often the media is what shapes people’s lives. To keep up with the ever changing information, it is imperative that you are up to date on new trends and new programs as well. You want to be up with the trends, or better yet! one step ahead of them.
This may mean that you spend an hour or two each day or each week looking into new software that makes life more efficient or reading a business magazine to find out what is currently on the cutting edge. Whatever it be, you are going to want to be up to date on it!
Stay up on your current events.
A great way to get publicity for your organization is to jump on the backend of current events or to relate current events to something that is happening with your organization. For example, if it is relevant, you could jump on the back of a trending hashtag to get people to notice your organization. You could tweet out support for victims of a natural crisis and relate it to what your organization does. These are great ways for you to showcase your company’s relevance, gain publicity, and show your support for people who truly need it.
Listen to your audience and respond.
It is so important to be engaging and interacting with your audiences, especially because they see things from a different perspective than you do. If they believe that a change would be beneficial to your organization, it is important that you do not wave their opinions off altogether. There may be benefits to what they are saying to you.
Seek out the opinions of your publics. It can’t hurt. Find ways to get their feedback so that you can get second opinions on what you are doing. You want to keep on building that strong, healthy relationship with your audience — and listening is a great way to facilitate this growth.
Write creative press releases.
Press releases are wonderful things in the world of public relations, and they can do wonders for the growth of your company. If you have newsworthy content, it is a great idea to write a press release that will bring publicity to the goings-on in your company and to your company itself.
Oh, and did we mention that creating press releases can be free and can be one of the most efficient ways to reach a large, new audience…? Perks. Perks.
Be aware of media relations.
It has long been a thing that the media and public relations do not get along. This often proves itself to be true in the world of business, but that does not mean you should make a point to make it true. Do your best to build relationships with people who work in the media so that you can both benefit from each other’s business expertise. You will bring different aspects to a story, so it is great if you can learn to work together.
Plus, if you can build a great relationship with the media, you can pass your press releases on to them. Then, if your press release is well-written and newsworthy, it can be shared like a news piece. Again, perks, perks!
Build your social media presence.
One of the fastest ways you can reach people is through social media — as you likely know. So, it is important that your fans and followers know that you are going to be up to date on your social media platforms. This means that you need to be posting consistently and regularly, so that people become more aware of your platforms and your company itself. Active social media is a great way to enter people’s daily lives, keeping them reminded of your company.
Related posts: Sins of Social Media, Creative Social Media Content Ideas
These tips should help you build your public relations presence and your brand. Remember your different audiences, and good luck! If you have any questions, reach out to us here.