PR (public relations) can be seen as a luxury for some, particularly smaller businesses who may feel it’s not within their budget, or even their goals to pursue.

Communicating to your market, whether this is directly to the consumer or to business peers, is a vital element of every industry and if this is implemented correctly, amazing results can be achieved, driving interest, recognition and sales to your business.

Here, Suzanne Watson, Managing Director of Approach PR shares her five top tips for introducing it to your business, as seen on BDaily.

  1. Establish your target market: knowing exactly who you want to reach – and how – will make developing your PR strategy easier. Communicating the correct key message to the wrong audience can be a pitfall for businesses who have not considered the basics
  2. Understand your business objectives and how they connect to your PR objectives – e.g. do you want a newspaper article to demonstrate a recent success in order to win new business? Knowing this from the offset will ensure your activity is on message and directly correlates to your business needs.
  3. What is your unique selling point? USP is a term we often consider when starting up a business, but it’s important to always have this in mind when communicating your key business message to your audience.
  4. Consider CSR. Corporate social responsibility is sometimes overlooked by companies who haven’t contemplated the PR benefits. As well as taking part in something to help a charity or the local community, this can link back to your original business objectives such as widening your reach and having new information to contact the media with.
  5. Don’t overlook the power of social media. You may think social media isn’t relevant for your business but consider the options available. If you’re B2B, LinkedIn could be a key part of your overall approach in securing more business or clients. Draw up a strategic plan of platforms you may join as a business and how they will support all other elements of your PR campaign.

If you are considering how PR could benefit your business but are unsure how to get started, our Introduction to PR training course provides an overview of public relations. From the first step of defining your audiences through to securing credible regional, trade or consumer news, the Approachability team will deliver a comprehensive introduction to PR for businesses. The next date for Intro to PR is Thursday 13 March, for more information and dates click here.