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Business Tips

Why people won’t listen to you in PR until you’ve listened to them

We all remember the Green Cross Code: Think; Stop; Look and listen; Wait; Look and listen again; Arrive alive. Why do we remember it.  Well, simple really.  We wanted to live. And that’s exactly the approach you need to take in your PR too.

How many times have we apologised for an inappropriate comment with the excuse that 'mouth worked before brain'?

That apology in your business has cost you customers, and important revenue.

20% talking

So 80% of PR is about listening, with just 20% actually 'talking'.

The whole objective of PR is to build quality relationships through communication with the clients that matter.

Remember that you have three brands too, not just the name on the can that you are trying to sell.

You have a Financial brand, a People brand and a Marketing brand, and you need to be talking to each of them in the language they understand, and with the messages that will resonate with them. The messages may well be the same, but the way you communicate them may be very different.

When you have worked out how your different audiences listen, then you will be heard. Which is why people won't listen to your PR until you have listened to them. Only then will you know what they lack, how you can best resolve that 'lack', and then how you will go about telling them.

This is where many business owners come unstuck with their PR. By definition, they are usually 'mountain' people, rather than 'valley' people. But they also have the tendency to climb the mountain before checking the weather forecast.

So start listening

Listen on Social, listen to your Competitors, listen to your Investors and listen to what is being said about your sector, your industry and your brand.

Set up hashtags on social and watch the trends, set up google alerts on your competitors and track their news, tap your investors for the gossip, and stay close to the articles that the journalists that follow your type of business are writing.

Then, and only then will you be in a position to communicate effectively through PR and be listened to.

Remember your overriding objective is to influence your audience, not just to satisfy your own ego.

Check out the 'Isola-Tet' broadcast on https://www.facebook.com/journolink.pr/videos/529973537663686/, part of the JournoLink 'PR tips'' series.

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