PR: the basics

PR – or public relations – means getting people to talk and think about your business in a positive way. It can be a vital weapon in your business’ armoury.

It’s a way to get good publicity without advertising. Also if there’s ever a problem facing your business it helps you deal with it effectively.

You can use PR to attract and impress people such as customers, suppliers, distributors, banks and other lenders, potential employees and possible business partners.

PR isn’t just for big companies using national newspapers or television. Even the smallest business can use publicity opportunities to catch the eye of its local audience and promote itself online to reach a wider customer base.

This guide will help you generate positive media coverage and identify the media you should target. It will also tell you how you can go about writing a press release and give you tips for dealing with bad publicity.

Identifying your target media

The first step to getting media coverage for your business is to decide who your target audience is and which media you should use to reach them. These types of media should become your target media organisations. Ask yourself who will be interested in your story and which publications or media will reach these people or businesses? Your list may include:

• your local paid-for newspaper
• your local free paper
• your local council newspaper
• the free county magazine
• local radio and television
• trade, technical and professional magazines covering your type of business or expertise
• national newspapers
• consumer and lifestyle magazines
• national radio and television – but usually your local station will feed your story to the network if it’s good enough

Get details of target publications in directories such as BRAD, Willings Press Guide or Hollis Press & Public Relations Annual – have a look in your local reference library.

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How to get media coverage

You could send out press releases on the same story to a number of outlets. But you’ll need to tailor each release to the audience.

For example, if a small engineering company wins a big Italian order with a new manufacturing technique which it uses under licence, the press release for the trade and technical press should highlight the success of the technique and the company’s use of innovation.

The press release for the local paper however, should be about increased employment and the prestige for the town in beating foreign competition.

There are many natural PR opportunities:

• a new product launch
• new premises
• new members of staff
• an important new order
• involvement with a charity
• significant anniversaries, eg your 1,000th customer
• business partnerships

And you can create publicity opportunities:

• submit articles for publication
• commission a survey on serious or fun issues and send the results to the press
• suggest a newspaper competition with your product as the prize 
• give expert opinions and volunteer quotes
• send letters to the editor on business topics using your business address

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Building contacts with the media

Introduce yourself to editors of local papers and trade magazines – perhaps at a reception or an organisation’s annual dinner.

News editors decide which news stories will be covered by their reporters. If you don’t know any of the reporters, contact the news editor.

The features editor will decide which longer analytical or background articles will be included in a publication. The press release is one of the key points of contact with news and features editors.

Put journalists on your mailing list for background information they may find interesting, such as your business’ newsletter.

Journalists work to tight deadlines – find out the deadline and supply your story well in advance. If a journalist is trying to get hold of you – respond quickly before their deadline.

Journalists’ news agendas are different from yours. Provide what’s interesting to them and their audience. They’re always looking to fill space, so putting facts down in writing – including quotes from you – helps before a conversation with them. Emails are good for cutting and pasting and so are easy to edit ready for publication. The other advantage is emails can be sent and responded to quickly and easily – a big benefit for a journalist with a tight deadline to meet.

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Online public relations

Increasingly, businesses need to consider how they manage public relations (PR) online. Many businesses mistakenly feel they should target internet media, communities and audiences in the same way as traditional print media by pitching carefully crafted press releases to journalists.

With online PR, you communicate not only with targeted media channels and online journalists but also with the wider public who are talking about your business. Online PR is no longer driven by the few but rather by the many. The challenge is identifying the key influencers talking about your brand online and how you can engage with them to communicate your message.

There are a number of key differences in how you should approach online PR compared to traditional routes:

• Online communities tend to form around interests or ‘passion points’. You need to identify the online communities that are most relevant to your target audience and provide the stories and messages that will get them talking about your business.
• Create ‘a buzz’ around your brand by using different types of content – eg video, images, articles, blog posts, etc. These can quickly gain social currency and be spread virally over the internet. See our guide on Web 2.0: a guide for business.
• As well as using third party sites, think about publishing content to your own website or blog. This will give you a little more control over how your message is delivered. Think about the tone of your content and what interests your customers about your brand.
• Online audiences value authenticity, transparency and interaction over ‘spin’ and obvious sales messages. If your audience feels that you’re trying to hide something it will do your company’s reputation more harm than good.
• It’s well worth befriending people with an influential online presence in your field, such as bloggers, to act as brand advocates. Advocates can also help you manage reputational risk.

Reputation management

Online reputation management is the business of monitoring what online communities are saying about your brand. Monitoring what consumers say can provide early warning signs for product or service issues, and allow you to ‘catch’ potential disasters before they escalate. Tools such as Google Alerts and Twitter Search can help you to track key industry words and phrases.

Communities you should monitor include blogs, discussion threads, forums and social networking sites.

If a crisis does occur, you can immediately respond to concerns and post information. Addressing crises quickly can head off speculation and accusations that you’re trying to deny or hide something.

If you have built up a reputation for transparency through your online presence from the start, your crisis response will carry more weight.

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Dealing with bad publicity

Disgruntled employees and customers, crises and accidents can all generate negative news stories.

Make sure employees know who to refer journalists’ enquiries to and ensure that only employees who are authorised to do so respond to enquiries.

If a journalist contacts you, check their deadline, carefully construct a written statement, and respond in time. It usually doesn’t look good if you refuse to comment.

Show you have done everything you reasonably could to correct any problems.

If there’s a tricky follow up question, take time to put your case forward and restate it by written communication if possible.

It’s not a good idea to go off the record when there’s bad news. Answer truthfully to any questions put to you, although it’s not your job to volunteer every detail.

Be aware that any response you give may carry legal implications. In the worst case scenarios it might be worth seeking legal advice before making any responses or consider making statements for the media through your legal representatives.

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Should I use a PR agency?

There are no hard-and-fast rules for when small companies should call in outside PR help. Take into account:

• how confident and successful you are at managing your PR and dealing with journalists
• whether you’re involved in a crucial product launch or sales expansion that might be helped by using an agency for, say, six months
• whether you face a potentially controversial or sensitive issue, or are involved in an industry that’s in the media spotlight
• how much time it’s taking
• how much it’s costing you

Consider using a PR agency if your annual PR budget is greater than £10,000-£15,000. For smaller one-off projects, you can employ freelance PR agents. Day rates can range from £300 upwards.

Choose an agency or freelancer with relevant experience and contacts. Getting publicity in national newspapers, television and radio is extremely difficult without an experienced agency or freelancer.

Provide a clear briefing on what you’re trying to achieve. Explain what makes your company and products different.

Plan how the PR agency will work with your other promotional activities. Be wary of agencies that see PR as the answer to everything, with no thought of alternatives such as advertising.

Is it worth it?

Always get quotes on how much you’ll be paying and what you’ll get for your money.

• How much will it cost to write a press release?
• Who’ll be doing follow ups and answering queries arising from the release – you or the agency? Are you getting 24-hour cover or just an event- or press release-based service?
• Like your business, PR agencies will have fixed costs to cover. Decide how much actual PR output you’re getting for your money.
• Assess how interested the agency is in your business, and whether it understands it.

Make sure you establish clear objectives from the outset and communicate these to the agency. At the end of the campaign you can compare your results against these original objectives to assess whether you have obtained good value for your outlay.

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Writing an effective press release

What’s important to you may not grab the news organisation. They may be less interested in the product than the fact that it brings environmental benefits, for instance.

News is typically:

• controversial, new or surprising
• amusing or funny
• directly important to the audience
• confidential or secret – until now
• linked with famous people or places
• linked with conflict, romance or mystery

Here’s what you do

Most press releases are now delivered electronically. In an email or using a company branded document, write ‘Press release’. Then write the date. Put a headline on the left – six or seven words in bold type. The headline will be active, understandable, convey the main point of the story and make people want to read on.

The first paragraph, the introduction, expands on the headline. It concentrates on what has happened or will happen, who is involved and where. It conveys the whole story in a nutshell and its interest and relevance to the readership. It would still be understandable if the rest of the press release was deleted.

Tailor the introduction to the publication – a trade journal is attracted by what a new product can do for its business audience, a local paper is interested in local jobs, prestige or human interest.

Subsequent paragraphs give the how and why – the explanation and development of the terse first paragraph or two – and the when.

A quote from you is essential.

Keep everything tight and clear, with short sentences. Don’t make it sound like an ad. Write the release like a newspaper report. Refer to your business in the third person – ‘it’ not ‘we’.

Write ‘end’ and then name yourself as a contact, with phone and email details. A ‘note to editors’ can give background or more detailed information.

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Get coverage for your press release

Once you have written your press release, your aim is to get it covered by your target media organisations.

Find out their copy deadlines. Send the release to the editor, news and features editors and possibly the reporter who might write the piece.

Many media organisations will accept an email version. Newspapers and magazines might just cut and paste most of a well-written release.

Check the release has been received and if further information is needed.

Photographs can boost your chances of getting your story covered. Try to include at least a head-and-shoulders shot of the person quoted in the press release. Or get an agency to take a picture of the person at its premises. If you’re lucky, a publication might send along a photographer.

See the page in this guide containing a sample press release for a local newspaper.

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Non-media PR

Don’t see your PR as just something that’s directly targeted at the media. You can influence and impress people – including the media – in many ways, not just by getting a mention in a news story.

Try out some of these ideas for raising awareness of your business in your locality or your industry sector using non-media and activity-based PR. For example, you could try: 

• giving talks on business and other subjects to organisations, schools and colleges
• joining an organisation and becoming a figurehead, so that its publicity brings you publicity
• sponsoring events such as a school fête or exhibition
• sponsoring a local sports team
• organising competitions, initiatives and surveys, possibly in cooperation with a news organisation
• meeting and talking to opinion-formers, journalists and other business people and leaders, just being seen around
• sending letters to the editor on local or industry issues – but don’t become a constant whinger
• helping with, or donating products to charity
• teaming up with suppliers or customers to work on attracting joint publicity

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CASE STUDY

Here’s how I implemented a PR strategy in my small business

Spotlight recruitment is a small, fast growing dynamic company based in Convent Garden specialising in creative and corporate recruitment. Managing director Nicola Stafford wanted to raise the profile of the business, without taking away from the management of the recruitment consultants or the day to day running of the business. Here Nicola describes how she created a PR strategy that not only raised the profile of the business but also gave them a place as a finalist in the UK Marketing and Advertising recruitment awards (MARA 2010).

What I did

Set time to develop your PR

“PR and marketing are just as important for small businesses as it is for large. To achieve your PR objectives you really need to give an appropriate amount of time to your PR strategy. Working out exactly how much time you have to spare allows you to then set achievable targets or get the help you need.”

Get some PR help

“With around five hours a week to spare, it was clear that the impact I could generate would be minimal so we decided to hire someone on a contract to support the PR and marketing function in-house. With experience in editorial and working for large PR firms they already had strong PR and journalism contacts which were valuable to us and a employing them allowed us to see the value of the input in the this area.”

Social media – make use of blogging

“My time was used to manage this role, reviewing writing for blogs and articles, setting targets and helping develop relationships along with strengthening existing digital marketing strategies. We saw a really strong response almost immediately with articles on Spotlight being featured in industry relevant press and media. Our social media strategy was strengthened and further blogging along with publicity through more traditional media, all helped to make promote our profile. Getting to the finals of award ceremonies for recruitment in media and advertising allowed us to see how far we have come.

“Our social media keeps candidates and clients updated and our presence across Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook enhances our PR strategy. Interactive e-marketing campaigns and updates allow clients and candidates to keep informed and gain stronger attention than traditional methods alone. Candidates find our method of texting and emailing new jobs and updates more appealing as well as being able to register and search on our website and apply online.

“Embracing technology and social media and making it work for us by communicating clearly with everyone we deal with, thinking outside of the box to adapt to client and candidates changing needs has been at the forefront of us leading by example.”

What I’d do differently

Review your marketing and PR strategies

“As a business develops it’s important to keep reviewing PR and Marketing strategies. A PR strategy that may suit a start-up will not suit a larger or a more fast growing company.”

Be represented in the digital space

“If the business is within the digital space, it is critical to be represented appropriately online as traditional media may not be as relevant. It is a continual process and while PR support internally was beneficial to us early on as we are larger and more established we now have a need for a more targeted and effective strategy via an agency.”

Accept that you don’t need to know everything

“One of the most important points at being successful in running a company is appreciating that you don’t need to know how to do everything and being confident in selecting expertise in different areas to support you appropriately.”

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