When it comes to communicating the credibility of your brand to the world and growing a positive reputation within the minds of your target audience, PR, or public relations, is the best and most cost-efficient way to do this. In fact, PR is one of the most cost-effective methods of raising brand awareness for your business and reaching your sales goals.
In comparison, product placements in popular magazines, paid ads in newspapers or TV can help get brands in front of mass audiences and inform them about their brand values, product(s) and service(s), but the best way to build a trustworthy and authentic brand is through media relations, public relations and positive press placement.
A simple positive comment or tweet about your product from an internet user can add an additional layer of trust and credibility to your brand. This is one step in the sales cycle that consumers take throughout the digital media journey of learning about a product or service and ultimately buying said product or service. Now imagine the effect that a comment from a credible journalist would have on your brand credibility and trustworthiness. This is the power of PR! Getting the media to talk about and tell stories related to your brand or service/product is the ultimate credibility indicator. When your brand gets credibility from a powerful and respected third party, like the media, that can take your business to the next level when it comes to reputation, online traffic and overall sales.
The ultimate definition of Public Relations is the practice of managing your reputation and between an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) and your identified target audience. It may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment.
Here are 3 Key PR Tactics to Grow Your Business:
1. Be Your News Source
You want to be in control of the news angles published about your brand. You don’t want to risk someone else impeding on your own brand identity, which may not align with your company’s ethos and values. Create a news page on your website where people can go to fetch authentic news. Make sure to proactively distribute your news through several sources, online and off, as well. This includes social media platforms, email marketing, relevant forums, press release distribution sites, blogs and media websites.
2. Produce and Publish Consistent, Authentic and Interesting Content
When putting together a pitch or press release, keep the content succinct and solution-oriented. Focus on an issue that consumers are having and want to find a solution to, and describe in depth how your company or brand can assist. This looks more natural, and is also what magazines and newspapers look to publish.
3. Be Honest
When releasing company information, it’s important to be honest and never stretch the truth, or hide anything from the public. A successful brand is an authentic story told well. Your story need not only be well-told via flavorful positioning and messaging, but it should also be authentic. Doing otherwise may hurt your brand in the long-term.
4. Keep Up with Trends
To be seen as a reliable source of information and leader within the space, you need to be conversant with the latest trends in your industry. Keep an eye on what people are saying via trends sources like Google Trends, social media, news, industry reports, forums, etc. to know what’s hot in your industry, and then come up with relevant topics you can become an authority on.
PR is an invaluable asset to established and growing brands alike. Not only does it generate buzz and awareness, it helps define and create the very best brand story. Public relations is much more than a service or liaison to the media. If a brand has a great story, passionate founders at its core, and a stellar public relations agency or consultant supporting it, great business success can be achieved! Together, a team like that becomes unstoppable storytellers, and the media and consumer attention naturally follows. If you practice this constantly, you’ll have more than enough great ideas to pitch publications, and you’ll begin to score more citations and publicized press releases.
Remember that PR should always be approached as a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t experience success with PR overnight. You must have a long-term PR strategy mapped out, and with time and consistent efforts, your brand will distinguish itself and attain the desired recognition. If you are ready to take your PR efforts to the next step, hire a PR agency like Savory PR! We offer complimentary consultations and offer competitively priced monthly PR packages that can be customized to your business or brand’s unique communications and marketing needs! Email us today at Samantha@Savory-PR.com.
