Effective public relations campaigns require careful consideration. You can do more damage than good by sending out a poorly-planned newsletter or contacting a reporter without being prepared. Here are a few guidelines to keep you on the right path!
- Know your goals. Be specific in this regard. Do you want publicity for publicity’s sake or do you have an event coming up? Are you just looking to get more foot traffic in the door, or do you have a measurable sales goal in mind?
- Know your audience. Again, specifics help! You can only reach your audience if you know who you are aiming for.
- Listen first. This is especially important where social media is concerned. Identify the key power-brokers in your field and follow them on Twitter, keep up with their Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, read their blogs.
- Offer value. Share articles or provide tips that your audience will find useful. We’re all bombarded by information every day – so make sure what you’re putting out is truly informative.
- Link. A lot. Linking to other people’s blogs or websites tells people you’ve been listening to them. They’ll be more likely to keep you in mind for stories, sales or referrals in the future.
- Offer to write a guest blog. Writing for someone else’s blog is an instant way to reach a whole new audience. If you have expertise, share it!
- Build relationships. This is especially true when working with members of the media. Get to know which reporters cover your business and find out what kinds of stories they are looking for.
- Make it easy. Keep your website up-to-date and relevant and make sure all of your public outreach reflects your company’s mission in clear, concise language. Reporters (and for that matter, potential clients) should not have to go digging around for information.