There is so much information on the internet that it’s easy for commercial messages to get lost. I find it really interesting seeing who manages to break through – and who effectively communicates what their business does. The latter sounds obvious, but many people get it wrong.
Starting with the most basic point, ‘PR’ means ‘public relations’. The whole idea is to manage your business’s relationship with the public – be that other businesses, or your target audience within general society – and ensure they understand your products and services and how to obtain them.
Clever and quirky marketing tools are a great idea, especially if they achieve their goal to grab attention – but you have to make sure that they lead back to your business in a way that will benefit you. There’s no point in putting on a big event or investing in an online PR campaign if your website is terrible and fails to promote what you have to offer.
If I was to use management speak (which I generally dislike), the phrase for this would be ‘joined-up thinking’. Your public relations strategy has to be consistent and offer people what they want. If you’re targeting journalists, for example, you need to think about what the genuine news angle could be and give them all the facts to back it up. If you’re targeting the public directly, think about what they’ll find most appealing about your business, and how best to communicate it to them.
Regular updates and events are important, but the absolute key is a good fixed reference point, be it a high street shop or a website. Once there, people will start to make the decision about whether to spend their money or not.
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