Confused about what public relations can do for your business? Despite the fact that a smart PR strategy can have a huge impact on the success of a business, not all business owners are clear on how exactly PR can help. Not only is it a cost-effective and crucial element of your company’s marketing mix, engaging with a public relations agency will also greatly help you to communicate key messages to stakeholders and beyond. Here are five things PR will do for your business .
- Raising positive awareness
Using public relations to raise awareness of your brand, product or service has added benefits in comparison to advertising alone. As the publicity is earned, rather than paid for, it carries an extra level of credibility. Gaining positive exposure with an on-message press release covered by a respected journalist or publication will build trust and awareness for your brand. In turn, it will persuade customers to choose you over those without any media exposure.
- Elevate your company as a thought-leader
We all admire those who are experts in their field. Public relations is an effective means of positioning key spokespeople within the organisation as thought-leaders. Through guest blogs, interviews and panel discussions, your representative can build a profile as a leading specialist in a field and over time may find themselves approached by journalists for expert comment. Customers and prospective customers will therefore be positively influenced and more likely to choose your brand.
- Demonstrate company culture and values
An organisation is distinguished by its people. That’s why attracting the right talent is crucial to business success. Used for employer branding purposes, PR can be an extremely effective tool. Showcase your staff and core values through feature articles and by promoting in-house content on your company’s blog and social media channels. By getting your company’s personality out there, suitable job candidates will naturally be drawn to a culture in-line with their own values.
- Enhance your reputation
No company is immune to a crisis and without a proper crisis communications plan, the consequences could be disastrous for your company. Public relations is essential in mitigating the damage of any crisis and providing support throughout. PR allows organisations to communicate quickly and effectively through carefully selected channels and a designated spokesperson. Engaging with the public through a continuous public relations policy also enhances your reputation and builds up a bank of trust; invaluable in the event of a crisis occurring.
- Drive business growth
Of course, businesses should be focused on growth and overall success and PR plays a vital role here, too. When public relations is practiced in the right way, it helps a company to generate leads, drive sales and achieve its business objectives. At Comit, we work with our clients to develop a one-page messaging document to direct all of our PR activity. This ensures we are always focused on pursuing activities which will help our clients to grow.Depending on your priorities – be it increasing SEO ranking, driving attendees to events, increasing visitors to your website – your public relations plan should be aligned with your company’s key objectives, targets and goals, and help to surpass them.
PR is an essential element of any successful integrated communications plan. Working in tandem with advertising, digital marketing, and other communications methods, PR will undoubtedly help to protect and grow your business.
If you want to drive a communications strategy for your business, then working with a specialist public relations agency may be the best solution for you. If you’re looking for expert tech and B2B public relations advice, please get in touch with Comit today and see how we can help!
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