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PR are everywhere. It’s the hidden underdog behind every campaign and twitter mistake. But, with PR being everywhere you would think anyone could point out a well-crafted campaign or ethical PR practices. Unfortunately, that’s not necessarily true. PR takes tons of practice and lots of understanding. So for today’s blog, let’s reflect on PR practices and how we can make this culminating career a little easier on us and better for future clients:
Define your target audience:
Before you do anything, it is critical that you understand and define your target audience. Crafting a PR message is important, but how can you tailor a message unless you know who wants your product/client? Without defining your audience all you have is a general message. Once you find your target audience down to all the specific demographics, psychographics, etc. you can create a more personal message that your target audience will feel drawn to.
Know your ethics:
There are 4 components to ethical PR: authenticity, awareness, gratitude and respect. Authenticity means engaging in social and political issues more, behaving as if they (the client) are on view at all times and transparency with a clear mission. Awareness is being empathetic to the concerns of audience and allowing your audience to tell their story. Gratitude should focus on trusted partnerships and highlight collaborative progress you achieve with the help of your customers, partners. Respect is Especially important in issue-related PR Avoid issue statements that sounds as if your attorney drafted it to avoid liability. Consider everyone affected and address them thoughtfully. Lastly, don’t forget about how controlled vs. uncontrolled media can affect ethical consideration. Remember to use the PESO model to help you identify what type of media is being used. Controlled media is going to be on your side, while on the other hand uncontrolled will be the third-party media (reports, customer reviews) will.
Get comfortable with different writing styles:
There are plenty of writing styles out there. But for PR, it’s important to at least know these: press releases, blogs, social media, feature stories. Press releases are important for formal introductions to a product. They should have some sort of attention grabber to make sure whoever you are pitching to even opens the email. But for the most part its formal and it answers and all the W’s & H. Whereas blogs are a lot less formal. Blogs are fun, typically they are reviewing a product trying to give feedback to a target audience. The most important part about a blog is to make sure you have content that makes the audience want to interact with. Social media is quick, fun and to the point. No one likes reading paragraphs or a million hashtags. Social media answers a few W’s with a captivating image. Feature stories, on the other hand, are longer and more detailed. They’re stories explaining to an audience what makes this person/product/place so important and why they should care. Most importantly, it answers why they should keep reading. Although all these writing styles may seem different, they all have one thing in common: they are promoting one important thing and trying to gain attention for their organization or product.
Learn the positives of well-written PR
When you have well-written PR content, your boss won’t be the only one who’s happy. You will have built a relationship with your client. The more you have well-written and ethical PR practices the stronger the bond is built with your client. They will trust you more and allow you to have the image of their brand/company in your hands. Once that relationship is built, it’s important to maintain by continuing your good practices and improving your writing.
Now that we have the tools you need to create great PR content and have reflected on perfecting our PR, what will you do to continue being a good professional and what can you do to improve?
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