Public Relations and Press Releases

Are you doing PR for your business? PR stands for Public Relations and is all about promoting your business through radio, television, newspapers and magazines. Nowadays you can also use public relations to get coverage on websites too.

Proactive PR

Proactive public relations involves coming up with news about your business and communicating this to media which will reach your potential customers.

Responsive PR

Responsive public relations takes place when you react to something that has been covered in the news. This could be something specifically about your business or simply a news story that is relevant to your area of expertise.

How to Use PR to Promote Your Business

As with all business promotion you need to plan to use PR to promote your business on a regular basis throughout the year. Think about how often you will have news about the business. Study publications you’d like your business to appear in and programmes that you’d like to be featured on. Work out the sort of story that they cover and note down as many ideas as possible that would be relevant.

When to Send a Press Release

Send out a press release every month, two months or every quarter, depending on how much news you have. If you win an award or some other big news about your business occurs unexpectedly, add in an extra press release. You should also send out responsive press releases when relevant. Now, many publications like to get press releases by email. You can also send releases by fax or post. Check with the publications that you are targeting how they like to receive press releases.

Follow Up Your Press Release

Finally, always follow up your release with a call. Don’t just ask if the release has been received. Instead have something extra to offer like photographs, samples or an interview. Build a relationship with the right journalists and you will soon see your business featured in your target media.