The first public relations (PR) exercise, arguably, might have been Eve showing Adam just how shiny and juicy that handy apple hanging from a tree was, and that didn’t end well! Things have moved on from the Garden of Eden, and the goal of PR – getting stories into print, radio and TV to raise awareness of an issue, to help sell a product or service, or to trigger another outcome – became established some years ago. These days, such relative novelties as Influencers and Podcasts are proving at least as important as more established outlets and are among the new media channels.
Down the years we’ve been asked for advice by numerous people, businesses and charities, many of whom went on to become clients. In the last few days, we were consulted by a business founder with a product we could really talk about and communicate to the media for them. However, the product lacked a brand identity and there was almost no social media to go with it.
Until both brand and (appropriate) social media are in place, we can seldom engage in PR activity. For one thing, the media loves a link (and knowing your age, unfortunately!). Having a website or social media for them to point to and interact with is vital. Being able to contact the media, share any coverage you receive, and to thank them, is a must.
We greatly welcome the fact that there are plenty of expert service providers who can help with, in particular, social media. Only one digital marketing consultancy that we know has a specific, relatively low cost, solution to ‘automate’ a lot of social media output for organisations, and that is the ‘evergreen‘ service provided by the company babel Monkey.
When a business is armed with a great brand, a good website, and well-run social media, they are in a great place to attempt and to benefit from successful PR. So, whether you choose to put these together on your own, or you choose to involve a company such as babel Monkey, make these the building blocks you put in place Before you start with PR. That’s what we tell people, and that may mean we lose a potential client or two, but it also means we’ve offered good advice, and that is the only advice anyone should offer.
Did we mention the need for hi-res photographs? Some of the basics to get right before approaching the media depend on the nature of the story or organisation, but that is another common need to be aware of. Just as babel Monkey is rather good on social media, there are a lot of expert professional photographers available. Each has their own strengths, from portrait and headshots to panoramic views to interior and exterior building and group shots, and now sometimes drone-shot photographs can be useful.
A way to find and choose a service provider that is suited to you is networking. Get to know service providers near you who you can talk to and find out their services, fees, and reputation. We will post on networking in the future, but organisations such as the Federation of Small Business, Business Over Breakfast, Enterprise Nation, and more have networks in many areas of the UK with regular meetings you can join or appear at as a guest. And, of course, getting to know people via networking and sharing what you do is in itself another form of PR, and one that we recommend.
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