Public Relations is responsible for managing communication between your organization and the general public, with the objective of building, managing, and maintaining your business’s positive image. They work towards the management of internal and external communications to enable the smooth functioning of the organization, along with the analysis and understanding of the opinion of your target audience about your organization.
The PR professionals you work with will ensure that the public sees your company in a positive way. Press releases, speech writing, and advertising are some of the tools used to achieve the same. Among these tasks, their primary job is to gain you earned and paid media coverage. With the kind of competitive market that we face today, PR is a powerful way to break away from the clutter and help position your brand strongly.
This write-up will guide you through the ways a Public Relations agency help you build your brand image by gaining media coverage through various means.
Media Partnership
PR agency helps your organization in getting media partnerships to support the events or conferences you conduct in your industry, resulting in mutually beneficial publicity. The partnership will gain you access to the general public through a range of pre-event and on-site branding activities, increasing an extended reach for your organization.
The PR agency will research and jot down a list of media outlets that are most likely to deliver your message most effectively and help to plan your approach carefully. Of which, they come up with a media outlet that will best fit to earn the desired outcome for your event.
Some of the opportunities offered by Media partnering are:
- Organic exposure to the general public
- Exchange of content
- Promotion of your organization on the website of the media partner
- Reach among their target group
For instance, if you partner with a newspaper publication to cover your CSR activity, then you will have one of their newspaper pages occupied with the details of your event. It helps you gain better reach among the general public, earning you more visibility to your business.
Role Of PR Agencies In Media Partnership
- Public Relations professionals carefully devise a list of things that your organization could offer to the media partner and what you want in return from them.
- They prepare content materials such as surveys, pictures, and videos, and arrange an interview with a leader of your organization to promote your event.
- Preparing articles or interviews to publish on the website of your media partner.
Example of media partnership
An excellent example of a media partnership is the relationship established between an Indian newspaper and a leading European business school by the school’s PR agency. The business school aimed to attract more executive education business from India, and hence its PR agency provided a monthly management column written about the school’s academics. It helped to raise the school’s profile in India while the newspaper gained many new readers and more considerable publicity because of the PR experts it had writing for it. Thus, it mutually benefitted both the parties involved in the partnership.
Event Sponsorship
Sponsoring an event refers to supporting an event by providing funds in exchange for something that is valuable for your organization. Often, the so-called ‘something valuable’ is received in the form of increased brand exposure, speaking opportunities at the event or access to data of people attending the event.
Several organizations sponsor events in the hope of moving their own businesses forward, along with their interest in patronizing an event for the good cause of the community. Sponsoring any random event would not help you to reach your potential audience. When you sponsor an internal event within a company, it rarely provides enough value to your organization and serves no purpose. This is where PR agencies come in. If you have the right PR agency on board, they will shortlist the events you should sponsor in order to gain exposure to your own brand among the general public.
Opportunities offered by Event sponsorship are:
- Increased brand awareness among the attendees of the event
- Visibility among the general public
- Chance to directly interact with your potential or existing customers
Nowadays, several companies are shifting their resources to sponsor local events. These events allow the brands to be in touch with their target market, which in turn might aid in driving direct sales. These local events attract smaller crowds but since they are exactly the target the brand is looking for, these event sponsorships tend to be quite effective.
Role Of PR Agencies In Event Sponsorship
- Your PR agency will research and shortlist the events that you should sponsor for favorable publicity about your business among your audience.
- They help your business to communicate effectively with the event organizers.
- They devise strategies to build the image and reputation of your business and its products or services in the event.
Example of event sponsorship
Coca-Cola is well known for its sponsorship of the Olympic Games, which the brand has been supporting through various means since 1928. Its latest success story dates back to the Rio Olympic Games of 2016 with its #thatsgold campaign.
As part of this campaign, Coca-Cola came up with two TV commercials, which included archive footage from past games as well as current top athletes. With this idea, it broadened the reach of the Olympics as well as promoted its brand. Also, this program brought together selective global bloggers and social media influencers around the world who partnered with the brand to bring more people under the #thatsgold campaign, helping it reach more audience.
This partnership between the event and Coca-Cola means that the brand has taken efforts to perfect the leveraging of the event for the benefit of both parties.
Seeking Media Opportunities
Media relations is a valuable service offered by PR agencies, with which your company or brand engages and interacts with the media. This is the main reason why PR firms are often sought-after. They have the contact or access to the press, aiding to take your brand’s core message and turn it into compelling stories that create a buzz among the media to cover. The outcome of your PR agency’s relatios. Industry awards, recogninship with the media often results in a feature in a magazine or a TV interview on a well-known news channel.
Building and maintaining media relations is a time-consuming process that requires diligence, creativity, and an understanding of how the media functions. It can’t be achieved overnight and requires an ample amount of time and effort. To summarize, it is an investment that pays dividends. Your PR agency takes care of all these activities and makes use of its media relationships to create awareness and engagement for your brand.
Content marketing is an essential role of the PR agency because of the opportunities that owned content possesses. With content marketing, your PR agency takes your brand message and translates it into valuable pieces of content that lives on your own websites, blogs, etc.
Forms of content that creates brand visibility:
- Press releases
- Articles in magazines
- White papers
Press Releases and articles in magazines are crafted to showcase the news that you want to share with the public in a well-structured way. White papers show the efficacy of your brand and help to build trust.
These forms of content help in promoting your product or service, attracting consumers, and driving leads for your business. In short, your PR agency’s relationship with the media will seek new opportunities that drive authority and credibility for your organization.
Helping To Win Award Recognitions For Your Brand
Winning an industry award can work wonders for your organization when appropriately leveraged. It is one of the practical means to gain credibility for products or services offered by your business. Industry awards, recognition from a higher authority in your industry, or related small-business organizations can increase the visibility for your brand, improving your business’ reputation.
But locating appropriate opportunities and awards demands a lot of time, effort, and consideration. Thus, businesses often abandon the process before it even begins. This is where PR agencies play a significant role. They assist your business to take part in surveys and rankings from which you have chances to earn awards for the products and services offered by your company.
Winning awards places your organization alongside other remarkable brands. It earns profitable networking opportunities and may even allow your customers to choose you rather than your competitor. Also, your PR agency promotes your brand after you receive the award through several ways. They write and publish press releases about the award you received in your industry, promoting your organization among the general public.
Credibility
An organisation may spend crores on advertising and feel that this brings on brand awareness and builds brand image. There is no doubt that advertising campaigns generate a great deal of attention amongst consumers but where they lack is credibility. Everyone knows that advertisements are released by the brands and therefore they are bound to only reveal the positive side of the brand. On the other hand, when something about a brand is reported by the media which is a third party, the credibility factor comes in. This is one of the key reasons that every ad campaign must be complemented by a PR campaign as well.
Monitoring Media
One of the services offered by a PR agency is monitoring the media. The agency acts like the eyes and ears of your organisation and constantly scans thCrisis Communicatione media for news of your organisation. It also keeps tabs on your industry, competitors and the key happenings. This helps you make informed decisions to promote your business and also helps you prevent any kind of negative news into blowing up in a big way.
Crisis Communication
Today, the entire communication landscape has changed. Social media has gained precedence over mass media. One viral tweet or one viral video can change the fortunes of a company. While good publicity on social media can amplify brand promotion and sales, the opposite can happen when negative publicity builds. For instance, say an accidental chemical leak from an industry leaving some employees injured and dead can turn into massive backlash on social media. During times of crisis, many organisations make the mistake of staying mum and this leads to plenty of misunderstanding and speculation. The best way is to let a PR agency handle it. With their expertise in handling sticky situations like this, they can make sure your brand recovers and also work to prevent the further onslaught of negative publicity.
Building & Maintaining Goodwill
A PR agency also helps a brand make the connect with its target in an enduring way. Regular updates help consumers feel part of the brand and a relationship based on goodwill is built. Nurturing this results in loyal customers who will not get easily swayed by other brands.
Conclusion
Achieving media coverage is a great way to build the profile of your organization. It helps to increase your brand reputation and communicate your brand message to your target audience.
In today’s fast-paced world, the most common concern from several companies is their inability to attract positive media coverage for their brand. With the increasing news channels and online publications that are popping up every day, media coverage might look easier. However, it still remains elusive.
But hiring the right PR agency can help you gain positive media coverage, taking your business to the next level. Your PR agency will devise plans that aid in increasing the reach of the media coverage and make the most out of the opportunity available through the media. Thus, more people will see your business in the media and build your profile as a thought leader in your industry. All these will result in a rise in your sales, increasing your profits.
At Catalyst PR, we come with years of rich experience handling a wide bouquet of clients ranging from retail, banking to corporates. We have met many challenges head on and emerged victorious. We understand that each client’s needs are unique and devise a powerful and customised strategy that will help them realise the goals that they have set for themselves. We have had hundreds of success stories so far and would be happy to replicate the same for you.
