Don’t think you have any news? Well, think again!

At a new business meeting recently, we were discussing with a prospective client about the benefit of Public Relations (PR) as part of their overall marketing strategy. Cue the response ‘We don’t have any news though’!
We come across this response regularly and we know that to most people, shouting about successes and milestones doesn’t come naturally. However, having a solid PR strategy can really help to boost the awareness of your organisation and in turn support its growth.
If done well, public relation strategies can take your business from the realms of mediocrity to the upper echelons of the corporate world. A good PR team will have an abundance of creativity and will come up with innovative ideas which you are probably too busy to conjure up yourself.
Sustaining a business can be very hard – 8 in 10 fail within their first year, according to official Company House data – so it’s important to have as much help as possible to avoid liquidation. Public relations is vital to ensuring that your business not only survives but thrives, and can be the difference between bankruptcy and success!
However, Public Relations is much more than having breaking news stories. According to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, PR is…
‘The discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding, support and influencing opinion and behaviours. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.’
PR can of course simply be a press release detailing a news story. This could be anything from promoting a new contract win, new recruits, investment in equipment to enhance your offering. By engaging with a good PR agency they will be able to understand what is going on in your business and how this can be turned into a worthwhile news story.
But PR is so much more than that! It is used to enhance the recognition and reputation of a business and the individuals within it. Profile building is a massive part of the PR jigsaw and one that we use with most of our clients alongside the ‘breaking news’ stories. People want to know about the person and other people behind the business, and what better way than to have some profile led pieces and interviews in local and industry related publications.
One key PR activity not to overlook are thought-led or case study based articles. These are a great way to showcase your knowledge and insight into the industry in which you operate. By commenting on a particular topic of interest, you are demonstrating to current and potential clients, that you are the go-to people in your industry. Being confident with sharing your thoughts not only raises you and your organisation’s profile but adds credibility and trust thus playing a key role in the growth of your business.
As PR experts, we have great relationships with journalists, and if they are writing a story and looking for content on a subject, it is our job to pitch our clients to them. Although you may think you have no current news in the pipeline to talk about, a topic may come up that you are able to comment on or add value to, and being part of that article will once again put you front of mind in the customer’s eyes.
So, to sum it up, the aim of undertaking PR is not merely to shout about yourself but to provide the answers to the challenges that your target audience face and how you can assist them to resolve these.
Here at KC Communications, we analyse the organisation, find out about current struggles, goals and future plans. We find positive (and sometimes difficult) messages and translate these into positive stories through effective storytelling and creating narrative to enhance our client’s agenda through. No matter what the medium and outlet, there is always some news!