9xb - Creating Online Success

EMPLOYING A PR COMPANY

Public Relations. Of all the marketing tools available to you, PR is perhaps the least well understood (or perhaps the most commonly misunderstood). To many, the phrase itself summons up images of oily spin doctors massaging the truth to generate flattering newspaper headlines. Actually, the most effective PR is the most truthful.

We're reminded of this as we've just taken on a new client (Nexnet - a PR company in Leeds) and the issues that they face bringing their business to the market via the web are very similar to the challenges that we ourselves face: namely, huge amounts of competition and a degree of negative perception about the industry as a whole.

The Basics...

Most baseline PR activity is centered around the use of press releases to gain your business coverage in the media. This exposes your brand to a wide audience. It also creates a positive impression of your business because people (right or wrongly) believe in the credibility of newspapers and magazines.

Your common-or-garden press release should take the form of an article written by professional writers with journalistic experience. This article is then distributed to actual journalists working on local, regional or national newspapers and publications. While there are no guarantees attached to most PR work, well-written, interesting articles are normally taken up by journalists and rewritten for publication.

Strategic PR

One-off press releases are fine in themselves, as a way to boost the short-term visibility of your company. Where PR can really work wonders is when it is allied to a clearly defined strategy.

This means having an overarching goal for all of your PR activity. If your first lot of press coverage is all about how you are bringing cheaper prices to your customers, then your future press must be carefully co-ordinated to not conflict with that key message.

Bad PR is often a case of the wrong messages reaching the press. Having clear strategic objectives should minimise the chances of this happening to you - and give you a clear 'party line' to uphold in the event of a negative story reaching the press.

Other PR Functions

A good PR office will also make itself available to deal with enquiries from the press and media on your behalf. If you are not used to dealing with the press it is very easy to make an unguarded remark that can have big ramifications on your future relationships and coverage.

PR companies are very often tied in to promoting events and shows - and can help you gain speaking engagements, representation at awards and introductions to other businesses.

Online PR... The Future?

Like everything else, PR is increasingly moving to the web. As traditional newspapers face a squeeze on their advertising revenue, automated networks such as PR Web are being used as a way of shortcutting the traditional personal contacts that fuel the industry. To a company like us, interested in the effects of strategic link building, online PR is becoming a very cost-effective, legitimate way of building a website's profile. It is also a great way to get high-profile links on good authority sites like Yahoo News which can increase visitor numbers and search engine visibility.

Today's Moral?

Even if you have had a negative experience of PR, or believe the bad publicity it (ironically) receives then put those thoughts aside. A well-delivered PR strategy can work wonders for your business - and increasingly your website.

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