Do you contribute or withdraw? 5 keys to working your Public Relations (and making it work)

Are you freelance? An SME? If you think that you have nothing to contribute in terms of PR and that they do not contribute anything to you; if you literally “walk away” because you think that they are not for you and you think that they are an exclusive preserve of large companies, you may not be well informed. Thanks to them you can get visibility and notoriety. In other words, let your “public”, your “audience”, your “target” get hooked on your brand.

5 keys to knowing if you are deviating from PR

1. You don’t have “clear ideas”. So-called forceful ideas, clear, direct, unambiguous and memorable messages.
2. You ignore the press. You lack “the” list of journalists and media. You do not make press releases nor create newsworthy content.
3.  You are at home. You are not aware of the communication actions carried out by your competitors and you only look at the prices they charge. You do not belong to any group or guild in your sector and you have no idea if there are events in which you could participate.
4. You only keep accounts. If someone mentions you, if you have more followers or more likes… But you don’t have a clear digital strategy and you don’t analyse how to improve your presence. If someone speaks badly of you and you don’t know it. And if you find out and it’s on social media, you simply delete the comment.
5. You don’t make relationships… You just go along with it, “by leaps and bounds”. You forget to say thank you… You’re too busy selling!

If any of these realities are happening in your company, it is clear that you need PR.

Here are 5 keys to make your PR work:

1. Knowledge is power. It’s not only about knowing the customers you already sell to, but also the ones you want to reach. In addition, it is essential that you seduce and win over your interest groups (those who are now called stakeholders), who will not buy from you, such as the media, bloggers, NGOs, employees… but who can speak well of you.
2. Find out about yourself. Analyse where you are in your relationship with each of these stakeholders and with your clients. Research, review, get to know them.
3. Plan what you are going to do. Think of personalised actions for each group. Obviously you cannot and should not do the same action for a supplier (who might recommend you), as with an NGO, as with a client. Be creative.
4. Be clear… and personalised. Linked to the previous point, find ways of communicating with each of them. Work from excellence and be detailed. Personalise. Make those who see you feel incredible. Monitor what they talk about you. If someone criticizes you on your social networks, dialogue, show the most exquisite education, find a solution in a transparent and open way. Be honest.
5. Evaluate and start again. Measure the impact of your actions. Don’t expect an immediate impact on the economy. If what you’ve done doesn’t work, try other ways. A professional can help you.  

 With these 5 keys, you will no longer have to leave PR behind and you will be able to contribute more to your business than you can imagine: recognition and profitability. You decide: Do you contribute or withdraw?