In many of our business meetings, we ask why the decision was made to engage public relations. We ask this question because too often, there exists a lack of understanding not only about what public relations is, but how it can impact overall business goals. Over time, we’ve learned that asking that question provides a perfect launch pad to highlight that PR is not just press releases, wire distribution and crisis communication.
In fact, in its most concise definition, PR is storytelling.
Whether engaging journalists, influencers, or targeted internal and external demographics, our focus is on communicating information that establishes narratives, shifts perceptions and evokes not just emotion, but action.
To accomplish results, there are a handful of best practices we encourage our clients to keep top of mind, to ensure communications campaign success:
Public relations is often confused as marketing. Although the lines between social, marketing, advertising and PR are becoming more blurred, a key point of difference is the word, earned. If news media believes what you are doing is valuable and newsworthy, the headlines will be yours. Follow the above five steps to solidify a good start to your own PR. Should you want to take your program to the next level, consider collaboration with a PR agency, which can further guide you along your storytelling journey.
For an example of our storytelling abilities, watch this video and see how CGPR followed the rules above and turned a two-man hiking adventure into national headlines.