What is PR and Can You Did It Yourself?
The term public relations seems to have different assumed meanings, so let’s take a second to clarify what we mean when we say PR. To us (and to Google), it is “the active maintenance of the perception and relationship between your company and the public.”
Okay, so what does this mean exactly? And do I need to hire a professional to handle it?
What is PR?
Public relations specialists/publicists build and maintain a positive public image for a company or organization. They create media, from press releases to social media messages, that shape public opinion of the company or organization and increase awareness of its brand. They also deliberately manage the release and spread of that information between a reporter or news outlet and the public in order to affect the public perception.
Do I still have you? I can break it down further! In short: PR people are storytellers.
They create narratives to advance their agenda. PR can be used to protect, enhance or build reputations through traditional media (magazines, newspapers, website, blogs, TV shows etc.), social media, or self-produced communications. A good PR practitioner will analyze the organization, find the positive messages and translate those messages into positive stories. When the news is bad, they can formulate the best response and mitigate the damage.
Bottom line: PR helps in shaping the image of your brand.
What isn’t PR?
As PR professionals, we constantly find ourselves explaining what we do – or don’t do. For example: we don’t buy advertisements, we don’t order journalists to write stories for our clients (but damn, I wish we could!), we don’t produce Instagram posts for social media influencers, and we don’t hand out free samples like they’re confetti.
What we do is promote our clients, our products or ourselves. But unlike advertisers, we persuade our external or internal audiences via unpaid or earned methods. Whether it’s through traditional media, social media or speaking engagements, we communicate with our audiences through trusted, unpaid, sources.
Can I handle my own PR?
PR is essentially something anyone can do; you just have to commit the time needed and use your common sense. If you have news to tell, there’s no reason you can’t tell it yourself. Before you go vetting someone to do the work for you, consider these public relations tips and start marketing yourself.
Find the news hook: If you want to get press for the sake of getting press, you’re going to have a hard time. Reporters need news. Why? Because that’s what their readers need. When finding your news angle, write down specific points you want to communicate to support your news. This list should include: Why the news matters. What makes you the expert. Why anyone should care.
So, why are we making you write out this list? Two reasons:
Talking points: The purpose of this list is to guide your conversation with a reporter. You’ll only have a few opportunities to get your talking points and quotes to stick in the minds of your editors or reporters.
Pitch writing: Use your list to outline your pitch. Don’t put all the information in it, just enough to tease the reporter to take an interview with you. Your pitch should be informative, concise, and relevant. Using your bullets as a checklist will help.
Set realistic expectations: Don’t assume you’re going to get an article a week. Reporters are busy, no matter what publication they write for. They will write about you if you have a good story and if it supports their area of focus, but many won’t–or can’t–actually write about you every time you want them to.
Align your timing with the news: Your grand opening, major milestones, a new launch are all strong news hooks, but you need to be able to follow each of those up with a full narrative and release the news with amble time for your contacts to report on it.
Find the right contacts: Once you have your pitch, you need to figure out who the relevant journalists are. Finding out who is relevant is actually easy, but it does take some time and effort. Read, read, social stalk, and then read some more. You’ll be able to see who the major players are in the conversation and target them.
Get their information: If you don’t have access to a paid database, you can find this in a couple of ways. First, you can check the online masthead for contact info or call the main number to see if they will provide an email address. Second, find a friend in PR and ask them if they have contact info. Or, third, check Google, LinkedIn or social media.
Always assume you are on the record: even if someone says this is off the record. Never say something with a journalist in the room that you would not want written.
Be receptive to feedback: PR means potentially opening yourself up to attention and opinions you have no control over, listen and adapt accordingly.
Follow-up: Chances are you’ll need to follow up. The best way is to reply to the original pitch with added detail or insight – essentially, another valuable piece of information that might pique the reporter’s interest. It’s a delicate juggle of being persistent and polite, but not pushy.
Be thorough and considerate: It should go without saying but spell check your emails and press releases, scope out the appropriate network of people to reach out to in the media and be respectful of everyone’s time.
Check out our other articles about pitch writing and handling your own PR for further examples:
https://www.noagencypr.com/blog/how-to-write-a-thoughtful-pr-pitch-that-gets-noticed
https://www.noagencypr.com/blog/seven-tips-for-writing-an-impactful-press-release
https://www.noagencypr.com/blog/five-secrets-to-handling-your-pr
For more information on public relations or PR tactics, strategies, campaigns and more email us at Eva@noagencypr.com.