Public Relations Tactics: Old and New
Public Relations is a strategic management function used by many businesses to accomplish their goals and follow their vision. PR professionals use many platforms to reach their target publics. Some fall under the traditional route and some are in the digital world.
Traditional PR
Traditional PR is all about the basics, press releases, email pitches and making phone calls to pitch a story.
- A press release is a written news story sent to the media in hopes that they will run in it on air, in a newspaper or on the radio. Your press release should be news worthy and interesting to captivate your public’s attention.
- An email pitch is an email that you write and send to a journalist or reporter pitching your story. It can include nice images to catch the journalist’s attention. Be short and to the point and write a great pitch, journalists may have hundreds of emails to read.
- Phone calls to pitch a story are very personal. The extra attention may make a difference in your story getting picked up. Prepare what you want to say beforehand and practice out-loud.
Social PR
Social PR works in the digital world. It is all about engaging your publics through social networking and online blogging.
- Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are great outlets that make it easy to reach your target audience. Keep your postings relevant to what your publics want to read and straight to the point.
- Blogging is becoming a popular way for PR pro’s to stay interactive communicating with their publics. Write something useful, it will keep your readers coming back for more.
When deciding which outlet to use for your business, it is important to take your business’s goals into consideration. The mixture of both practices is a great way to keep your business in the loop online and maintain personal relationships with the media.
