PR Should Be the Last Cut from Your Corporate Budget
A well-planned PR strategy provides your company with a consistency of brand and message, trusted third party endorsements, and helps create the message your company wants to emphasize. In accomplishing these, you’ll stay current and vibrant in the news and media – reminding customers of the needs you fill – pointing those dollars spent on PR to multiple income streams. Your efforts can be targeted to a variety of audiences, covering more generic exposure to almost one-on-one efforts.
Sharing Knowledge
There are several approaches that can be used to keep your company and leaders in the public eye in the best ways. The CEO and other executives of the company generally have garnered a great deal of expertise in the field of what the company offers. Their expertise becomes a resource used to draw people to your business. Find opportunities for them to express their expertise while working with the media. Every time they share their knowledge, there is likely to be someone who thinks, I need that, or I know someone who needs that, and another customer is born.
Media Trends
Be aware of what’s trending on media. If something is trending that can be tied to what you offer, find a catchy way of saying it in just a few words and tweet it to the world. If you do it well and often, you’ll pick up a following that who wants what is offered by your company. You can do the same with events or holidays. Tie your product to what’s happening and share with different approaches often, even after the event, use it to report and bring people back to what the company does.
Sharing
The more media coverage obtained, the more likely there will be more of it to follow. That’s a good thing, but when it happens, make the most of it – share links to positive articles about your company on all your media sites and your company website as well. On sites like Facebook, only a small percentage of followers will have your posts published on their page, and they may not be on the site when it happens. So sharing everything increases the chance they will see an article and be reminded – “oh yea, I need to order that.” Or, even better, “I’m going to share that with my friends.”
Extras from Good PR
Above all, when you are evaluating company expenditures, don’t forget that a strategic PR plan does more than just sell your products. It can translate to the rise in stock prices, or in a private company, the valuation of the company, create goodwill in the community, and give existing customers the opportunity to share your good news as well.
