Tips for Successful PR Work

Do you have a brilliant idea, a recognizable design or a message that needs spreading? Well just like any good story deserves to be told, any good idea should to be shared and promoted. The trick here is to generate curiosity with the right people. When it comes to Public Relations or “PR”, it’s important to have those people help you spread your ideas that can share them with your peer group. The best way to do this is often subtle, and establishing bonds of trust through media channels take some time. Good PR work requires a fair bit of research, listening to customer demands and sustainably establishing ties with them. Read on and find out how!

Why Public Relations?

A media channel’s range is not the only decisive factor. What’s more important is the clientele that the channel addresses. You’re more likely to raise a peer group’s awareness if you post on a blog, website or other media channel specialized in your topics. Running an ad in a large-circulation paper would not do the same good. The Gods of logic tell you that selling strawberries may require advertising in a local paper, but that promoting tractor designs probably works better when contributing articles on agricultural blogs. When telling the story of your shop or promoting the products you offer, it’s important to cater to the needs of several “news values”. These values include closeness, curiosity, newsworthiness and emotion. And then there are certain factors that always sell: breaking news, VIPs, social drama, conflicts, sex and progress. Addressing any of these will definitely not thwart your chances of improving recognition.

Further Steps

Do your designs cater to any newsworthy values? Do you know who you are addressing? Then you’ve already accomplished quite a lot, and if not, cover your base by doing some research. Once you’ve established who is potentially interested in your stuff and which channels you can use to catch the attention of your peer group, you can turn to classic press and social media work. The difference here is that press work uses a separate media channel to transport a message and social media channels address the recipients directly. Moreover, social media implementation puts an emphasis on emotions and appeals to feelings such as humor, sorrow, solidarity, concern, joy and the like. Feedback will come directly from your peer group. The sharing potential of friends and acquaintances holds a major advantage for promoting your shop. Press channels, on the other hand, generate more trust and offer a wider range. The media covers stories that always relate to the issuer in terms of newsworthiness for networked gatekeepers. People assume that these channels reproduce news in a neutral and correct way. That’s your chance! It’s always a good idea to get in touch with the media channel’s editorial office to find out whether your story fits the bill.

Ideas & Occasions for Communication

Here’s a list of topics that are always worth a story for you to communicate: founder stories and general background reports on people (works locally and on a supra-regional scale), numbers, statistics, guides (journalists like communicating numbers, transparent statements as well as tips and strategies), product news (fundamental news, new collections/designs, events), success stories (customer stories, cooperation reports, visitor figures, sales).

Feed different channels with your PR work! A good thing to put into practice is using free PR portals where you can promote your own content. Give advice on issues relating to your designs, and take part in discussions on blogs and forums. Give expert opinion on portals or niche channels that fit your topics, and feed your content to social networks and news portals.

Good luck and please share your personal experience with your own PR work. Can you give us feedback on how promoting your shop works for you? Please leave a comment below.