I love working in PR because it does and achieves wonderful things. When I receive feedback from a client that says: “Thank you for your advice, we put it into action and it went down a storm! We never thought we would accomplish what we did, thank you.” – Now that’s a priceless comment!
This company achieved a full page spread in their local newspaper based on our advice and input concerning media relations. Never before had they attempted this, believing they weren’t good enough, interesting enough or newsworthy.
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They achieved what they deemed to be the unachievable and also received a huge dose of recognition and credibility – I love PR for having the power to do that.
How did they achieve this? They developed a story that was authentic and relevant to their audience.
PR should be authentic and relevant to your audience
Here I share with you 3 PR savvy tips to help you achieve the unachievable.
1. Be interesting
How can you make your story interesting but keep it authentic and rich with content that is relevant to your audience? Be honest with yourself, is the story you are contemplating interesting? Maybe you have a hero in your business who has achieved amazing things, or a product that makes your customers’ lives easier. Just think of the most gripping stories–they can be exciting, scary or enlightening, as long as they engage.
One of my clients didn’t think they had much to announce this month so we got talking about business and developments. It turned out they had achieved new business on national scale. From a provincial business they developed into a UK-wide business! We were able to develop a piece of communication around this to ensure the audiences they wanted to engage with knew about their capability and credibility nationally.
2. Be unique
Maybe you have a new service or product, or have achieved something unique to your industry. Maybe you are the only company in your industry to reach a particular milestone. Perhaps your recent new starter is unique – for example, the only male in a female environment? Maybe your product is the first of its kind off the production line. It isn’t good enough to create corporate fluff dressed up as a good story. Think about how you would want to read about yourself!
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Only last week we identified a story that demonstrated my client’s business performance and innovation in their market with their investment in electric vehicles. This is a worthy piece of communication for my client as they are the first company in their sector to make this investment.
3. Be newsworthy
Putting aside scandal and conflict, which the media love to focus on, ask yourself: Is my story really news? Is it bang on trend, an opinion piece, or hard-hitting? Is it filled with human interest and local interest? Ensure it is timely, and by that I mean current. Your stories need to be fresh and relevant to the media channel you are engaging. Success was easy when we worked with a high school who organised a school trip to England’s chocolate capital to experience making chocolate as well as learning about its history and heritage. No, it isn’t hard-hitting news, but it’s full of human interest, relevant to the geography of the school and let’s face it–who doesn’t like chocolate!
If you can identify a few of these PR nuggets, you’ll be achieving top quality PR results that will connect you to your audience, create more understanding about what you do, and develop your reputation. You’ll be loving PR just as much as me!
Colette Lowe is the Founder and owner of Chew PR. Colette has worked in PR for over 15 years. She has seen both sides and worked for consultancy and in-house teams providing her with an insight not many see. Colette will be contributing to the Public Relations section. She is based in Wakefield, England.
Photo credit: Cara Melody