Position Paper 4 - Wild Card

Ways to Improve Public Relations

Many successful business people have, at least, one thing in common - they understand that public relations are a necessity for a business to be successful.

Public relations is not an option for businesses, as we all relate to the public in some way or another.  We will always have those relations, whether they be good or bad. We will never be rid of them as relationships area function of business that has, and always will be, an existential part of it. The relations relate, not only to our respective companies, but to our own everyday needs. 


Savvy business leaders have long understood that putting your name forth is not an issue of ego, but a valid marketing technique. After all, public relations is all about the credibility and trust of a company. And the best way to achieve that is by getting a third party to endorse yourself or your business.  Creating or enhancing reputations takes two to three years at a minimum.  And a plan must be developed, and updated, to be successful. Here are seven different ways to increase your public relations and, by extension, keep a good reputation, according to Forbes.

• "Identify the topics you wish to speak on.  Are they management, product or service-oriented?  Concentrate on your areas of expertise and two or three messages of interest to your target audiences.  A focused plan will achieve satisfying results faster than an unfocused one."
• "Target audiences.  Know precisely to whom you want to communicate these messages.  These are your target audiences.  Again, you must be focused.  A quote anywhere in The Wall Street Journal is terrific, but it may be even more effective if it appears in the marketing column, depending on who you are trying to reach."
• "Practice Techniques.  Personal publicity, speaking opportunities, community activities, serving on boards of directors, and the reprinting and distribution of articles and speeches are very effective techniques."
• "Develop media interviews.  Both traditional and digital media are hungry for content and the experts who can interpret it and provide additional insight."
• "Identify all the outlets that are most interested in your issue.  Insure that your targets include general business media and those that focus on trade issues."
• "Develop a rapport with the other content providers. Explore what their current interests are and what stories they will be writing in the future to see if you can provide them with commentary and article ideas."
• "Speak before target audiences.  Seek three to four speaking opportunities a year before audiences that you consider important to you and your business.  Contact those involved, determine their criteria for speakers and panelists, identify a niche for yourself, and submit a proposal to them."

With the rise of technology and social media, marketing your business has become easier than ever before. Now, instead of needing to put up billboards that nobody reads or creating a boring television advertisement that many people, especially younger viewers, won't watch, one can simply make a Facebook advertisement, or tweet out an event that's going on. According to Sales Artillery, there are three main ways a business or individual can increase their public relations with social media.

1. "Developing relationships. Social media, especially Twitter, enables you to interact directly with many journalists, bloggers and reporters. By communicating with and helping these influencers, you can increase your company's chances of being top-of-mind."
2. "Pitching. Social media enables you to follow what the influencers have been covering, and occasionally, what stories they are developing. Armed with that additional background, you can pitch more relevant and helpful story ideas."
3. "Creating interesting content. Using social media, a back-to-back marketer can create interesting and even fun and entertaining content. Publishing industry data and research that your company has fielded can be enormously effective.  This interesting content can be made available through social media channels such as a company blog and even a social media newsroom."

Social media has also given rise to a new way to monitor a company's public relations. It gives you the ability to assess all statements, events, etc., all from the convenience of your phone or computer. But beyond just monitoring the conversations, social media enables companies to engage in the conversation and respond to the community. The greatest benefit to PR efforts, however, can be your ability to respond in a crisis communications situation by updating your clients and/or customers early, often, and with transparency.

Using social media is a good way to not only keep the customers informed and up to date, but a good way to keep your employees up to date as well. Whether it be a simple message about an upcoming meeting, or a sales pitch that needs to be delivered to a client, using social media allows you to stay in contact with your staff at all times. With the efficiency and convenience of using social media platforms, such as Facebook messenger, it makes the everyone's life a little easier and increases public relations between the employees and mangers/owners.