A successful strategy for Public Relations
How does the public view your brand? This is an important question to ask as you build your public relations strategy. There is more to consider than just how your business will be portrayed by the media. How you communicate inside and outside of your organization, events you plan, your involvement in the community, and even how you handle a crisis make up your public relations strategy.
To help you create this strategy, we have outlined each piece and why it matters to your brand’s image:
1. Corporate Communications
How your business communicates with other businesses, both internally and externally, creates its voice. A corporate communications strategy is the backbone of your overall public relations strategy. It uses your brand’s voice to express important messages in a way that your audience will understand. For example, internal emails or press releases announcing important company news are part of your corporate communications strategy.
2. Media Relations
Media relations is the relationship an organization has with the press. In order to be successful, you must build a relationship with the correct contact person for each relevant news outlet to ensure that your business is portrayed well in the media. Whenever something newsworthy happens at your organization, you can send press releases to these contacts. Press releases are news sources which make media relations a symbiotic relationship between the press and businesses. To help you build the best possible relationship with the press, we’ve compiled some tips for creating a successful media relations strategy.
3. Community Relations
Your business is a member of your community. Community relations establishes your business’ presence and the perceptions of others. There are many ways your business can get involved in the community. At Pulse we’re involved with a variety of community programs focusing on the economic growth of our area, education, public health, and the environment. We actively sponsor, donate service, and volunteer our time.
4. Crisis Management
How you face a crisis or other unexpected situation can make or break your business. Having a crisis management plan in place allows your business to operate as normally as possible through a crisis and preserve your image. Internal and external communications are especially important during these times to keep the situation under control. Even if your situation can’t be prevented, the very least you can do is be prepared.
5. Events Management
Your business’ events are a valuable marketing tool, especially with young people who place a high value on experiences. That being said, planning an event is an equally exciting and stressful time for your business. You have to consider when and where the event will be, who will attend, and so much more. Having an events management strategy can keep all of the details of your event organized so it runs as smoothly as possible.
Public relations is made up of many working parts that build a positive image of your business in the eyes of your community. Having a strategy in place can keep these efforts organized and create the image you want for your business.
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Source: pulsemarketingagency.com
- Published in News
Public Affairs Strategy vs. Tools & Tactics
Public affairs is the communication between a company and its stakeholders. Shareholders are the most obvious examples of stakeholders, but they’re not the only ones. Your customers are stakeholders because they depend on your business to provide products and services. Vendors are stakeholders who depend on you as a customer. The local community, government and media have an interest in your business as well and are also considered stakeholders.
Public Affairs
In a broad sense, public affairs includes any communication with stakeholders. More specifically, it includes public relations with the media, lobbying with the government, or in the case of a small business, attending city and town council meetings and letting your voice be heard. Engaging with customers and participating in business organizations is part of public affairs as well. Public affairs also includes reacting to unfavorable circumstances about the business, such as product recalls or layoffs.
Strategy
A strategy is determining where your business is now, where you want it to be in coming months and years, and what methods you’ll use to get to where you want to be. Think of a strategy as a battle plan or a road map, or as a blueprint. The strategy shows what you’ll do. But it won’t show you how you’ll do it, the tools you’ll use, or the specific actions you’ll take.
A small business might decide to use a public relations strategy to increase its visibility to the business community and potential customers. The goal is to get press coverage and generate a Web and social media presence. Look at your resources, time, personnel and money and decide what’s reasonable. For example, in the next year the objectives could include five pieces of coverage in the local newspapers, magazines, radio and television, and recruiting a base of 5,000 followers for your company’s social media page.
Tactics
Unlike strategies, tactics are time and action oriented. They are the methods you will use to implement the strategy, when to implement it, and by whom. The tactics assign specific actions to specific people that must be accomplished by a certain deadline. For example, a public affairs tactic might involve setting up a press release distribution schedule for the next 12 months, consisting of one release per month. Another tactic is to assemble a contact list of reporters, writers and editors that cover your industry. Setting up Facebook pages, a Twitter account and Google+ pages are tactics for establishing a social media presence.
Tools
The toolbox for a public affairs strategy for improved public relations would include such tools as press releases and a media list. Press releases are short, informative stories about your company written in a news-oriented way. They might cover the release of a new product or the opening of a new store. They are then distributed to a media list is a list of newspapers, magazines, trade journals, radio and TV stations, community and business websites and influential bloggers that report on your type of industry and business.
Source: https://smallbusiness.chron.com
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- Published in News