Why PR Should be included in Your Marketing Plan

Every company has its own unique story, and a good public relations (PR) campaign can be a very useful way to share news about your business and your products or services.

PR can be used to increase brand awareness and engage with potential customers. It is a blend of strategy and creative persuasion that can have a real impact on your brand’s reach. A strong PR campaign will target journalists and bloggers writing about your field, who will then share your story with an audience that wants to hear about it.

This fosters an atmosphere of trust, as this is not a paid advertising campaign but someone in the media choosing to write about, and thus validate your company or products.

If you want to share your brand with a wider audience, you need public relations in your marketing plan.

What PR Does

PR drives traffic to your website, and lets you communicate what your brand is all about. It is a form of organic, earned media that can be very useful for developing interest in your company, and attracting new customers or even investors. It gives your company a chance to tell people what you do, and why you do it, and how it can impact them.

PR Strategy

A robust PR strategy can assess and manage how you relate to the public or the media. It can be used to communicate clearly with your target audience, and generate interest in your products or services.

It will include a multichannel approach that communicates effectively what your story, goals and news are, so that your company is seen as being a brand leader in your field.

Well-planned PR can capitalise on any news or sales that you have, and can be used to share stories about your brand. As it is your story, written by journalists, rather than your company paying for adverts, it is a natural, fluid way to generate interest in what you are doing.

A strong PR strategy can help you:

• Create and share content strategically
• Identify your target audience
• Identify key players in your niche.
• Determine your short and long term objectives.
• Build relationships with journalists, broadcasters, bloggers and influencers.
• Boost SEO
• Build new connections
• Build your brand image
• Increase trust in your brand
• Generate leads

How to Include PR in Your Marketing Plan

PR helps promote your company or goods, but it has a broader purpose than direct marketing. It communicates your message to a target audience, but instead of pushing products, it can allow you to share insights, and also show that your company is an expert in its field.

These points will help you develop a strong PR plan.

• Establish your goals, what is your short-term and long-term aim?
• Do your research, who is your target audience, and who is writing about your industry. Create a list of journalists who may be interested in writing about your business.
• Write clear, concise press releases.
• Share them to media outlets
• Create and regularly update an editorial calendar so you know when publications or TV or radio media are publishing or broadcasting stories.
• Plan when you share your stories
• Measure the data; see how your PR activities are doing.

How JournoLink can help with PR

 It can seem daunting to have to develop a PR strategy for your company, especially if you do not have media contacts.

Journolink has made it easy, with their simple to use, yet effective PR software. You can sign up with JournoLink to use their tools and resources to craft expert press releases to share your stories with a wider audience.

If you don’t have media connections, we have saved you the trouble, as you can connect with bloggers, broadcasters, journalists and publishers listed in our media database. We connect SMEs with the media , so you can see at the click of a button, who is writing about your sector.

Explore JournoLink for free to get your PR strategy off to a great start!