PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGIES

 By Lawrence Sunday Ogwang

What is a PR strategy?

A Public Relations strategy is a roadmap that takes you from your current situation to your end goal. It could be short-term or long-term. A single goal, such as positive media about your latest product release. Or, the long-term aim of meeting your business goals (Meg, 2020).

It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that PR strategy is merely how your brand is portrayed in the media. It includes communication inside your organization, as well as outside. The events you hold and attend, how you manage a PR crisis, Your involvement in your community and Your market. Strategies can also help you maintain mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and its publics. Below, are some of the strategies a PR can employ to these effects:

Community relations

It’s important that your brand has a human face. A genuine human face. Forget about marketing and making money for a moment. Building positive relationships with your community - donations, education, charities, public health, environment, discounts - will reinforce customer loyalty. Mind, it has to be honest community relations. Don’t be thinking of making a quick buck by making your brand look charitable. Consumers aren’t that dumb. Your intention and goal are to maintain a mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and its publics. Therefore, community relations are key is such goals.

Crisis management

Every brand suffers a crisis at some point. Large and destructive, or small and irksome. If it has the potential to jeopardize your business and damage your brand’s reputation, you need public relations to manage it Quickly, consistently, and strategically. You may not be able to prevent a crisis, but you can be prepared. During a PR crisis - listen, identify, review, respond as seen the chart below:

Adopted from (Kag, 2020).

Internal PR

This boils down to cultivating a positive perception of your business, internally among your teams. These can include: benefits, lunch vouchers, team events, newsletters, free training, free fruit. Get the idea? Maintaining healthy employee relations keeps your team motivated, diligent, and loyal. You’ll also end up with dedicated brand advocates, willing to promote a brand they’re proud of and happy to work for. This is honest marketing that will bring in new customers and encourage new talent to your team. Far from the these, it will also improve efficiency and employee retention in the organisation. While doing this, Be transparent, respectful and honest.

Social media

Social media can be earned and paid media. It’s a vital marketing and PR tool that can help increase your number of followers. Be a platform for promoting your content. Convert prospects into customers and, be an early warning sign of an oncoming crisis. Your social channels will speak to consumers, so your social media strategy must be consistent in voice and brand identity, positive, honest, and… human.

Owing to the fact that people are always on different social media platform, it can be a great advantage to you that your followers can access your information anytime and from any where. This can help you to maintain a perfect relationship with your organisation and its public with accustom ease.

Conclusion

PR strategies are indispensable. Any organisation or PR seeking to get eyeballs on the brand, promote products and services to a new audience. No matter how skilful you are, regardless the size of your business, or which industry you’re in, you need a PR strategy. These helps not only in making a brand name but creating a mutual relationship between the organization and its publics.