Top 5 Public Relations Strategies, Tools & Tactics

Hello friends! Do you want to increase your business’ visibility and credibility? Public relations is the best option!

Public relations is an essential part of any marketing strategy. It’s not only for large corporations. PR can be used to promote products and services by small businesses.

We used some of the same tactics and strategies mentioned below to scale Chronic Guru & Sativa University to multi-million dollar companies.

What is Public Relations?

Public relations (PR), is the management of information flow between organizations and the public. PR professionals promote the positive image of an organization and its products and services. They also work to establish and maintain relationships with key stakeholders such as employees, customers, media and the public. PR can take many forms, including social media, influencer and crisis management, brand storytelling, media relations, media relations, media relations, and social media. PR has the goal to build a positive image of an organization and its offerings. This can increase credibility, sales and overall success.

Here are the top five ways you can use PR to help your business.

Media Relations: It is crucial to build relationships with journalists and other professionals in order for your business to be featured in the media. Media relations are a great way for your message to reach a wider audience, whether it be through press releases, press kit, or media pitches.
Social Media: It’s becoming more important than ever that you have an online presence. Use PR to create compelling social media content that engages followers and builds your brand.
Influencer Marketing: It’s possible to increase the credibility and reach of your brand by partnering with influential people in your industry. Find influencers who share your values and can promote your products or your services.
Crisis Management: There is no way to avoid crises. Having a solid plan for your PR can help minimize damage and protect your reputation. You should have a plan for dealing with negative situations and you should be proactive about resolving any problems that might arise.
Brand Storytelling: PR can be a powerful way to tell your brand’s story and connect with your customers on an emotional level. You can distinguish your business from its competitors and create a loyal customer base by crafting a compelling story.

Here are the Tools

Here are 3 of the best public relations tools to use for each of the strategies mentioned above:

Media Relations:

PR Newswire and Business Wire are paid wire services that allow you to distribute press releases to journalists and media outlets.
Muck Rack: This platform helps you to connect with journalists and finds media opportunities for your company.
Cision: A comprehensive PR software platform, which includes a media database and press release distribution.

Social Media:

Hootsuite is a social media management tool which allows you to publish and schedule content across multiple social networks.
Buffer: Another social media management tool, Buffer allows you to plan and publish content as well as track the performance of your social media activities.
Canva: This design tool makes it simple to create visually appealing social media graphics.

Marketing with Influencers:

Upfluence is a platform that allows you to connect with influential people in your industry.
AspireIQ: Another platform that allows you to find, collaborate and manage influencer marketing campaigns.
BrandSnob is a platform that allows you to connect with micro-influencers who can be more cost-effective and still promote your brand.

Crisis Management:

Meltwater is a media intelligence platform. It helps you analyze social media mentions and news about your business so that you can respond quickly to any crisis situations.
Cision: Cision, a complete PR software platform, includes tools for crisis management such as media monitoring, crisis simulations, and crisis simulations.
Reputation.com is a reputation management platform. It helps you to monitor and protect your online image, as well as react to negative comments or reviews.

Brand Storytelling:

Canva: Canva, as mentioned above is a design tool that allows you to create visually appealing content for brand storytelling efforts.
Adobe Creative Suite: Adobe Creative Suite is a suite that allows you to create professional-quality content for brand storytelling.
Prezi: This presentation software platform allows you to create visually striking presentations that tell your brand’s story.

Here are the Tactics

Here are some examples of how to begin implementing the public relations strategies mentioned above:

Media Relations:

Identify key media outlets and journalists relevant to your industry.
Create a press release that communicates your business’ newsworthiness and includes quotes.
Your media pitches should be personalized to each journalist. Highlight why your story is of interest to them and offer any additional resources or materials that might be useful.
Make sure to follow up with journalists to confirm that your materials were received and to answer any questions.

Social Media:

Find the most popular social media platforms your target audience uses and create profiles for your business on them.
Create a social media content calendar with a mix of promotional, educational, as well as entertaining content. This content should be consistent with your brand’s mission and values.
Engage with other users using hashtags to increase reach and build a community around your brand.
Analytics tools can be used to monitor the performance of your social media activities and make adjustments if necessary.

Marketing with Influencers:

Find influencers in your industry that have a large following, align with your values, and are willing to help you.
Reach out to influencers to propose a partnership, offering them a product/service in return for their promotion of your brand.
To measure the effectiveness of the collaboration, set clear goals and expectations.
After the collaboration, follow up with influencers to express gratitude and possibly discuss future opportunities.

Crisis Management:

Create a crisis management plan. This will outline the steps you should take in an emergency, such as who is responsible, how to communicate with stakeholders and media, and how to minimize damage to your reputation.
To identify potential crises early, monitor news and social media mentions about your business.
Respond quickly and transparently in crisis situations.
Follow-up with stakeholders and media to give updates and address ongoing concerns.

Brand Storytelling:

Create a compelling story that highlights your brand’s unique values and qualities.
You can use a variety of content formats to tell your brand’s story, engage your audience, and include videos, infographics and blog posts.
Use customer testimonials and case studies as a way to build trust and credibility with your audience.
To ensure your brand’s story is communicated consistently to your audience, weave it into your marketing efforts.

Conclusion:

There you have it! These are the top 5 ways PR can help your business. PR can be a great tool for your business, whether you are just starting or looking to grow.

Want to start using PR to help scale your business? Book a call with Patrick today and we’ll come up with a strategy together!

Comment below to share your tips for using PR effectively!