PR Companies will use newsworthy information about the brand or business and create press releases and articles, as well as informative and engaging write-ups related to the industry, and use these publications to create greater brand awareness and visibility.
While marketing and advertising aimed at creating visibility through paid means, PR endeavours to do it for free. They will use the many tools, platforms, and techniques that they have available to them to achieve this, and may include social media, using authoritative news sites, as well as influencers, to name just a few, says noted Astro Strategist cum Business Astrologer Hirav Shah.
Table of Contents
What is a PR Company?
“Public relations is a process and practice of people and brands building relationships with journalists, bloggers and podcasts and spreading their message/data to the public by getting press inclusion”.
Basically, this means if no one realizes you exist, you will not have any clients!
“Public relations is a strategic communication process that forms commonly advantageous relationships among associations and their publics“.
Throughout the most recent couple of many years, the ascent of new technologies, social media and new blogs, publications and influencers have reshaped the PR landscape.
Subsequently, the public relations definition has additionally changed.
If you think that you can handle your own PR work for your brand or business, don’t! Because PR is not some simple technique that is used to market your brand, but a very powerful tool that can make or break a business’s reputation among the general public. It doesn’t only involve releasing articles and information about the company or brand, but also crisis management in instances when there is any negative PR being generated, as well as ensuring that the good vibes that are generated for the brand or business are constant and continuous. This is why a partnership with an experienced Public Relations Agency is so vital for a business.
The Role of PR Companies in Business: What They Really Do
1. Carry out research on target markets and buyer personas
If you don’t know who your target audience is, then there is no point in carrying out any marketing or PR work for your brand or business. This should be what your PR Agency does first, as this will determine the best PR strategy that they need to follow in time to come in order to achieve the set goals. Marketing research comes first and then identifying buyer personas. Researching buyer personas will include getting more details on your target audience, such as age, gender, income, interests, hobbies, etc, in order to better understand what kind of publications and strategies will suit the type of market and audience that the business should target to.
2. Targeted press lists
A good PR Agency will carry out extensive research on the ideal publications to target in order to reach the right audience. The type of publications used will depend on the industry, product, and goals of the business, and once these organizations are identified, the Agency needs to find which editors and journalists they need to reach out to. Usually, this means identifying those who have already done work in that specific industry. PR Agencies typically use very high authority publications and journalists for their press lists. This role of a Public Relations Agency or elsewhere is very important so that you know the right people to pitch to, and don’t waste time trying to get in touch with the wrong publications and journalists.
3. Create your pitch
The way a PR Agency pitches to an editor or journalist will determine if the media organization will actually be interested in covering the business or brand, hence it is important to make the pitch creative and compelling, one that will get the media companies excited about backing the brand.
4. Developing media relations
Once you pitch to a media organization, the PR Agency will have to communicate with them regularly, which means building up a positive relationship with them. Such outreach involves many things, including coordinating interviews, sending the journalists details and information about the product or brand, answering their questions, etc. The stronger the relationship with media agencies and journalists, the better coverage they can get for the brand or business, hence this is a very important part of public relations.
5. Influencer relations
Social media influencers play a major role in modern-day Public Relations and elsewhere, as these individuals have a huge following of people who base their buying decision on what these influencers say. Before reaching out to influencers, as with media organizations, the PR Agency should research and make a list of the best names in the industry, who will have the greatest influence over their followers.
6. Trade shows
A good PR agency will identify and coordinate for the brand or business to participate in the best trade shows that draw in the customers, or even partner with such events as a sponsor. They will also scout journalists at these events and also for organizing interviews, talks, participation in forums, etc.
Hirav Shah concludes, One way relationship where you and your PR team build and gain access to relationships and opportunities to help your target audience discover your company.
Instead, public relations PR can be redefined as a continual feedback loop:
- You generate PR
- An audience, discovering or consuming it real-time on social media, online news and other sources quickly consumes it and/or reacts to it
- You tweak your strategy and messaging in response
- They consume and react again
- The loop continues.”
Conclusion
Hirav Shah emphasizes the importance of a good PR agency in identifying and coordinating brand participation in trade shows and events that attract customers. They also play a role in connecting with journalists, organizing interviews, talks, and forums. According to Hirav Shah, PR should be seen as a continual feedback loop, where you generate PR, the audience consumes and reacts to it, and you adjust your strategy and messaging accordingly. This cycle continues as the audience continues to consume and react to the PR efforts.
