Public relations is hugely important for a business as it helps you build your reputation, raise brand awareness, and paint your company in a positive light. Your engagement increases, and ultimately it can translate to more sales and profit.
An aspect of PR that I find is sometimes overlooked, however, is ethics. Ethics in public relations is also highly important as it relates to the perception of your business and whether you are operating morally. If your company is perceived to have poor ethical practices, it can severely hamper your PR and brand image.
Below, I take a look at ethical PR, the way your business can conduct itself, and simple ethical practices to consider.
We have all read news stories of companies that have their ethics questioned through poor business practices or unethical actions and it’s clear the damaging impact this can have.
As a result, your business should strive to operate ethically and this is something a digital PR agency can help with. There are some basic things to remember whenever you perform a business action including:
The simplest thing you can do is remember that every business action has a consequence. You must not only consider the financial implications of your actions, but also the ethical implications.
Could this social media post be portrayed in a negative light? Should I give my thoughts on this social topic? Questions like this are important to ask and you should always think about the ramifications your actions have and if they are ethical.
A simple thing I like to do too is to consider what would happen if everyone took the same action as me. If the results are negative then it’s most likely an unethical decision!
While questioning your actions is a great starting point, there are some key practices to follow or avoid to help your ethics in public relations.
You would be surprised how often figures are inflated in the world of business but this is something you should avoid. For example, some businesses may inflate their sales figures to downplay a poor quarterly performance.
While this can seem tempting, there is no real benefit as you are hiding the truth and avoiding the underlying problems that are causing the need to inflate figures initially.
Also, if it is found out that your business is inflating figures, there could be legal consequences plus the inevitable huge hit to your reputation which will only snowball the situation.
Similar to the above, you should never mislead the public. Every PR message, social media post, or article should be truthful and portray your business accurately.
A prime example of misleading the public is YouTube game adverts. There are so many low-quality adverts that give a false impression of games or use misleading tropes. As you can imagine, this only has the opposite effect of making sure that I never download or play that game!
The general public is intelligent and switched on and they can smell misleading information a mile away!
It’s quite easy to get involved in online debates or give your thoughts on trending topics but this can be damaging and it can be unethical. Unless the morals behind a cause or issue are undeniable, it’s generally advised to stay away from public discussions and supporting causes.
There is too much potential for backlash in the world of cancel culture that we live in and unless you are incredibly knowledgeable about the subject, you don’t know if it is truly ethical.
Businesses cannot look at their actions in a vacuum; especially in the online world. Even something as small as making a social media post on Instagram has wider implications and can set off a chain of events.
Therefore, ethical PR involves considering the wider implications of your actions. How could this PR campaign affect those outside the industry? Could it have a negative impact or be detrimental somewhere?
By increasing your scope and avoiding tunnel vision, you can ensure your PR is ethical and that it doesn’t cause any harm or upset on a global scale.
In today’s world, society is becoming more fractured as different groups arise and it is important to be sensitive to these different groups and minorities. A simple thing to avoid is obviously any form of racism, sexism, or PR behavior that could result in a minority group being offended.
This can be tricky, but if you use your common sense or make your PR material more neutral, this shouldn’t be a problem.
In a world where there is so much immoral and unethical business practice, it is wise to stay clear of this and only engage in ethical public relations. The code of ethics in public relations is simple to follow and you can benefit from an improved brand image, positive customer relations, but also the knowledge that you are making a positive impact in the world.
Public relations is an especially important process that applies to all business models including B2C and B2B companies. B2B PR is often an afterthought and many companies don’t practice it at all in favor of marketing but that shouldn’t be the case.
By crafting a B2B PR strategy, you can raise your company above the competition, become the voice of reason in your industry, and forge positive relationships with your customers – other businesses. If this is something your company is lacking, I have created a comprehensive guide to B2B PR, and the different tools you can implement in your strategies.
First, we have to distinguish B2B PR from B2C PR. Yes, the two processes have similarities, but due to the nature of your audience and target customers, what you actually do is completely different.
B2C PC is concerned with trying to build your relationship directly with the end consumer and this is often done on a larger scale with hundreds and thousands of customers.
In contrast, B2B PR is involved with building your reputation and relationship with middlemen, or other businesses that are your customers. The scope is typically much smaller – where a B2C company may deal with 1000 customers, a B2B company may only deal with 10 businesses.
Also, the tone, voice, and content usually differ as you need a far greater level of professionalism when dealing with other businesses as opposed to the general public. You may not be able to use a joking or fun tone, but instead have to reinforce facts, and figures, and make your company the authoritative voice within your industry.
It’s clear that B2B PR is important and can have a positive impact on your company, but how exactly is it done? An online PR company can help define the best strategies for your business, but to get you started I have listed six simple tools you could incorporate:
Case studies are an integral part of B2B PR and can give your company tremendous authority and authenticity to your business customers. These could be case studies that your business writes about your product or service to show its benefits in a real-world scenario.
Alternatively, it could be case studies written by third-party journalists about your business or a particular aspect of your business such as your environmental policies, or a groundbreaking new technology or process you are using.
Nothing does wonders for your PR and business reputation like a positive testimonial. Testimonials from your actual business customers help portray your company in a positive light but also showcase the potential you have for other customers.
Testimonials should be authentic and there should be no financial incentive involved. Paid testimonials can often do the reverse and have a negative impact on your PR if you are found to have paid a business to write a favorable review.
Infographics are incredibly simple to devise and they can be used on numerous platforms such as social media, website pages, and blogs. They are easy to digest and offer great value in promoting the values and knowledge your company has.
This, in turn, can be a great PR boost as other businesses will learn new things and see your company as a major voice within the industry.
White papers are some of the most informative and insightful documents a B2B business can create and they can do wonders for your PR. Perhaps there is a central problem or need within your industry – you could write a white paper on this subject and give an authoritative voice and credible solution.
This not only helps promote your product or service if it answers the problem, but it shows your industry knowledge and improves your own credibility and PR. Make sure the white paper is factually correct and promoted via various media channels so it gains traction.
What could be a better PR spin than creating an entire E-book relating to an issue or theme within your industry?
E-books are essentially a longer, more detailed version of a white paper and can be used in B2B PR to further develop your authoritative voice and show your company as the voice of reason within your industry. Depending on the quality of the e-book, it could also be monetized and sold on platforms like Amazon!
Although the scope of B2B companies is usually smaller than B2B, social media still has a place in B2B PR and can be effective. You can forge links with journalists and reach out to them to write articles or posts on your company.
There can also be direct interactions with your business customers and you can drive engagement with them and their staff to create a more informal environment where ideas can be shared.
I hope you can see the importance of B2B PR and why you should take it seriously. Too many B2B companies neglect this process because they feel the scope of B2B PR lacks compared to its B2C counterpart.
That’s not the case! With an effective and concentrated B2B PR strategy, you can greatly improve the relationships you have with businesses in your industry which should only lead to more sales and profit.
If you want to build your brand reputation and create a positive image for your business then you must engage in public relations. This tried and tested process continues to be incredibly important but the process itself has also evolved dramatically in the last 100 years.
The digital age has transformed how we address public relations and it’s interesting to see the state of this profession today. Indeed, it’s also important to understand modern public relations so you don’t waste time and money on methods that are no longer relevant.
Below, I take a look at the history and evolution of public relations and how the digital age has changed what we do.
Cambridge Dictionary defines PR as:
“The activity of keeping good relationships between an organization and the general public”
Pretty simple right? It’s the idea that creating a positive image for your brand and forging positive relations with your customers and the public will only benefit your company. People are far more likely to use the services of or buy products from a company they trust and have positive engagements with.
As you can see, PR is hugely important in gaining a competitive edge, retaining customers, and maintaining a positive brand image. But where did this process start and how has it evolved? We can break the history of public relations into three clear sections:
The art of public persuasion and influencing public opinion has been theorized since ancient history with philosophers like Plato recognizing the importance the practice could have.
This process flourished in the early 1900s and developed into a profession with PR companies specializing in print media like newspapers, radio stations, and postal PR. It was a largely physical process and as a result, was relatively slow compared to modern methods.
As time progressed, public relations made its way to TV, and for a long time, this was one of the main outlets due to the popularity of the goggle box and things like 24/7 news stations. To summarize, the early PR channels included:
This wouldn’t change until the 1980s and the surge of the digital age with the development of the internet.
When the internet arrived, the history of public relations would take a dramatic change. At first, the technology was limited, and traditional, physical methods still prevailed.
However, as technology improved and accessibility was boosted, we saw the emergence of the first forms of digital PR which included websites, online news websites, online magazines, and online journalism.
The speed at which the public relations information could be relayed and shared was incredible compared to the relatively slow traditional methods. People could access websites 24/7 and have publications, articles, and news stories immediately.
The internet also made public relations a two-way affair. Previously, there wasn’t really any possibility to react or engage with businesses if you saw their PR material.
However, the internet changed that with the advent of blog comments, emails, instant messaging, and more. Customers and the general public had more access to businesses than ever which coincidentally made PR even more important!
Digital PR shows no signs of slowing down in today’s digital world and it is easily the most prominent platform for this process. Traditional methods like radio, newspapers, and postal mail are still used but the internet and digitalization have taken over and it’s hard for companies to ignore the scope and reach it has.
Today we are witnessing the next evolution of public relations with the creation of social media. Social media platforms like Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Instagram are now some of the prime public relations tools that businesses use and this is something an online PR agency can help with.
Millions of people use social media daily and it has become part of the daily routine for many. What do you do when you wake up in the morning? Many people will open their social media accounts and spend time scrolling through their feeds.
This hyper-connectivity has been tapped into for public relations and businesses have never been as accessible. You can communicate directly with a business on social media and get a response within minutes – it’s fantastic!
This interactivity and huge audience means that social media will become (if not already) the prime public relations outlet in the modern age. There are other digital mediums too, though, that are used for PR including blogs, videos, podcasts, and live streaming. Where this will progress in the future? Who knows, but if the history of public relations is anything to go on, we can expect more evolutions in our lifetime!
I found it incredibly interesting learning about the history and evolution of public relations and it’s fascinating to see how this process has changed to its largely digital state today.
Where newsrooms, print media, and radio stations were initially major PR outlets, these have now been supplanted by digital news websites, online journalism, and social media.
These traditional methods do persist, but the effectiveness and scope of digital PR means that they continue to shrink and it is not unrealistic to see an abandonment of traditional methods in the near future as the digital world grows.
Public relations is an essential part of business and it’s something you should look into as a successful PR campaign can improve your brand awareness and image, and result in increased business.
Something we find many businesses do not do, however, is measure the success of their PR and this is something that is equally as important. I explain how to measure PR below and why your business should start doing this below.
PR is not an inexpensive process. It can take huge business resources and these resources could be used elsewhere such as marketing, SEO, and product development.
Because of this resource allocation, you want a positive ROI and for the money to be spent wisely and this is why it’s essential to measure PR success.
Without measuring the success you could simply be throwing money down the drain and wasting valuable business resources. This holds true for any strategy or campaign you undertake and the process of analysis is just as important as the campaigns themselves.
PR can also be intangible and does not always lead directly to sales so there is a greater need to make it cost effective.
PR measurement is a grey area and there isn’t a single metric that you can use to define success. Instead, it takes a combined effort utilizing an array of metrics to gain an overall understanding of the effectiveness of your PR.
One of the simplest PR measurement metrics is social media engagement. The premise is simple – if your PR campaigns are working, your social media engagement should be increasing. By engagement, we mean a range of actions including:
If you see some or all of these increasing then you are doing something right!
A brand mention is when something to do with your business is mentioned online. This could be your business name, a product or service you sell, a hashtag you use, or even your brand slogan for example.
An increase in brand mentions on social media, blogs, forums, and other digital outlets points towards a general boost in brand awareness and shows that your PR strategies are effective.
It is important to check the context of your brand mentions too though as the aim is for positive mentions although there is an argument stating that any mention, whether positive or negative is still beneficial.
Another simple measurement in PR is website traffic as the ultimate aim of your PR campaigns is to boost your brand image and awareness, but also to drive sales and get new customers.
If a PR campaign was successful, you should ideally see an immediate increase in website traffic during or after the campaign is finished. There are many tools available on CMS systems and analytical platforms like Google Analytics to track website traffic and this is something a top digital PR agency can help with.
SoV or Share of Voice helps show your authority within your industry and how “loud” you are compared to your competitors. It is a metric that shows how much content on a specific subject matter is attributed to your business.
The aim here is to have the greatest share compared to your competitors as this theoretically means that you are “heard” more and thus have more effective communication. If your SoV is too low then you know that your PR campaigns need to be bolstered and you need to shout louder!
Reach determines how far your PR campaigns and messages traveled and you always want a greater reach as this should translate to more interactions, brand awareness, and website traffic.
There are two categories of reach you can use to measure your PR success – social reach, and non-social reach. Social reach is easier to track as this concentrates on how far your message traveled across social media platforms like X, Facebook, and Instagram.
Non-social reach relates to anything outside of social media and this can include things like website traffic, mentions on blogs, news sites, forums, podcasts, and streaming services.
Sales figures are typically an essential KPI in most business strategies and the same applies to PR measurement. Ultimately, while increasing your brand awareness and reputation is superb, you want your bottom line to improve and this is achieved through more sales!
While we don’t expect PR campaigns to result in ridiculous sales figures, a successful campaign should result in a boost and a steady increase in sales over time.
The best PR campaigns result in brand mentions on various media outlets such as blogs, news sites, and journalist websites.
Therefore, a simple thing to measure is media content and this involves analyzing how many articles and press clippings your campaigns generated, but also the content of these articles. Ideally, the content should be positive and contribute towards the improvement of your brand image.
Any campaign you undertake for your business must be measured and reviewed. It is the only way you will improve and grow your brand. This holds true for PR campaigns and you should now have a clear idea of the different PR measurement techniques available like SoV, reach, brand mentions, and social media engagement.
Traditional PR methods involved things like press releases and reaching out to media outlets but times have progressed and we now have a much more effective PR tool – social media.
Just think of how many millions of people use social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and X on a daily basis. Not only that, but businesses, journalists, and media companies also have a huge presence on social media.
This means that we have a more accessible channel for PR in social media and this is what we look at below.
The main issue with traditional PR issues was the limited scope and you could only typically reach specific audiences. These constraints are not present on social media due to how the platforms work, the hyper-connectivity, and the millions of people that use them.
With public relations and social media, you can reach new audiences and interact with your customers in a way that previously wasn’t possible. It is far easier to grow your public image, boost your brand reputation, and craft a “business persona” that bolsters your PR.
Due to the vast scope of social media, I get that it can be difficult to know where to start. I advise first, building your presence and concentrating on producing consistent, quality content that is engaging for your audience.
With a solid social media presence and following, you can then look at PR and improve your image and relations. There is a range of things you can do to achieve this including:
Influencers can be incredibly… influential… get it? Anyway… seriously – tapping into the power of influencers is a great PR move and you can essentially benefit from the vast audience they have accumulated.
Influencers earn a living via sponsorships and crafting relationships with companies so you can form a mutually beneficial relationship where you get to boost your PR. The key is to work with influencers who have a positive image and are experts in your industry.
If they promote your products or services and recommend your business this can do wonders for your PR but can also drive sales and engagement on your social media profiles. Influencers can also add amazing credibility to your business as research shows that many people now trust influencers over a company’s own advertising methods!
Traditionally, forging relationships with journalists was difficult but now most journalists have a social media presence and are incredibly active on platforms like X. Therefore, a key aspect of social media PR is reaching out to journalists and maintaining positive relationships with them.
As with influencers, you should ideally seek journalists who specialize in your field of business or at least have relevance to your industry.
Journalists can then create pieces relating to your business such as reviews, interviews, blog articles, or simple social media posts. All of this gives a boost to your PR and helps build your positive business image.
Hashtags are often slept on and I don’t know why as they can benefit your business in a number of ways. Next time you log on to X (formerly known as Twitter!) just check out the trending hashtags! You can see the buzz these tiny phrases can generate and this can give a boost to your PR.
You can create your own hashtags and use them in your social media posts to generate interest in subjects. It can also be beneficial to look at trending hashtags and try to incorporate them into your posts.
Hashtags relating to social issues, environmental issues, and world news can help convey your business in a positive light and craft relationships with new audiences. Obviously, you should only jump on trending topics if you agree and believe in what is being discussed!
This isn’t really a strategy but more of an SEO technique but adding social share buttons to your website content can help boost engagement and traffic. A digital PR agency can help integrate items like this into your web content.
Social share buttons can be added to blog articles, product pages, and generic web pages and this is a great way to get customers involved.
An aspect of social media PR that is rapidly developing is social media as a customer support outlet. Many businesses now utilize social media to respond to customer support queries and even have dedicated customer support profiles on X.
A public-facing and highly accessible customer support method on social media can do wonders for your PR and social media presence. Customers can see that you are engaged with them, that you value their business, and that you are active in improving their experience with your business.
Obviously, this is something that must be planned carefully and you must have an effective team who can handle the queries and respond quickly otherwise this could have an adverse effect on your reputation and PR image.
The impact of social media on public relations is undeniable and we have never had such accessibility and interactivity with businesses. If you want to improve your PR, this is the way to go, and being active on platforms like Instagram and Facebook can help build positive relationships with your customers, suppliers, and more.
PR and marketing are two key business processes and oftentimes I find people confusing the two, or misunderstanding their purpose. While these two business processes often overlap, they achieve different things and the approach to each is also different.
It’s important to distinguish between the two business essentials so that you can make effective campaigns in each and this is what we will discuss below. Read on to find out about PR vs marketing, how they differ, and the typical processes involved with each function.
So, what is PR? This is an age-old process that has been utilized as a profession since the early 1900s. While there were originally PR professionals and PR companies, it’s typically taken care of in-house today.
PR is the process of improving your public perception and forging positive relationships with your customers. You want your PR to drive engagement, make people see your business in a favourable light, and build a bond of trust.
Ultimately PR strives to boost sales and profit, but this is usually a by-product of the process and not the central focal point. Instead, you want customers to have a positive experience when dealing with your company.
Example functions involved in PR include media relations, events, brand journalism, and reputation management. This also means dealing with negative press and trying to smooth over difficult situations to prevent reputation damage by things like apologies, or trying to spin events from a different perspective.
Marketing is directly involved in the sales of your products and/or services – basically, you are trying to get people to spend money and buy into your business. It is a more financially driven process and concentrates mainly on the selling aspect as opposed to the aim of building a positive business reputation that PR strives to do.
Marketing includes things like social media campaigns, radio adverts, brochures, new product press releases, email newsletters, and website content. The basic thought process in marketing is that your customers have a problem, and they need your product to overcome that problem, so you are simply bringing A and B together.
Today, marketing is largely done online and traditional marketing methods like leaflets, brochures, TV adverts, and radio are not as popular. These have been overshadowed by social media, influencer marketing, and video content marketing for example.
With a brief introduction to PR and marketing, we can look at business specifics and see how the two processes result in different activities and functions such as their goals, target audience, and measurable metrics.
The goals for marketing and PR are usually different but there can be some vague overlaps. PR goals are concerned with things like improving business mentions, social media following gains, articles written about your company, and share of voice in the industry.
In contrast, typical marketing goals include reach, conversions, sales, profit, and sale value per customer. In short, marketing goals are usually financially driven, whereas PR goals can be less tangible and focused more on boosting reputation and visibility.
For both processes, the target audience is highly important, but marketing and PR usually have some differences in who they are aimed at. PR can involve targeting journalists, other businesses, news outlets, and influencers – not always the end customer.
This differs from marketing as you are primarily concerned with reaching the end customer and trying to convert them into sales.
On a day-to-day basis, what a PR specialist and marketer does will vary hugely too. A PR specialist may try to get in touch with journalists and forge connections in the industry. They may also analyse the presence of the company in the industry and try to assess how popular they are.
Marketers will spend time creating marketing campaigns such as social media posts, blog articles, content, and maybe even video content. They are more concerned with interacting with the end customers from a sales perspective.
Analyzing the success of both marketing and PR is especially important, but the metrics used to assess how effective each process differs.
For PR metrics like SoV (Share of Voice), reach, and brand mentions are commonly used as these help show how much your business is being talked about. Marketing metrics are more financially motivated and often include things like sales, average sales value, new customers, customer acquisition cost, customer value, and ROI.
Something you should understand about PR vs marketing is that you don’t have to keep the two processes strictly apart. Oftentimes they overlap and business campaigns can contribute towards both marketing and PR and a b2b digital PR agency can help you understand this.
For example, you may run a social media campaign on Instagram and Facebook to boost sales of a new product. Depending on the content, tone, and positivity in the social media posts, this campaign could just as easily contribute towards PR too.
I hope you have a clear idea of the differences between PR and marketing and that you can see that the two processes are mutually beneficial and often overlap. Indeed, PR tactics usually contribute towards sales and thus can be seen as a type of marketing, while marketing can also help build a positive business image and relationships.
Building public relations in business is the art of creating a favorable image of your company to the general public. The aim is to boost your reputation, create a bond of trust with your customers, and improve brand awareness.
But how do you do this and where do you start? The best way is to undertake strategic public relations i.e. a considered and crafted approach where you treat PR as a task – something that you can work on in a formulaic process and this is what we look at in the below article. I discuss the importance of PR and offer a simple 5-step guide to creating public relation strategies.
First, let’s take a look at why a business should bother with PR. It is a process that can get shunted to the back in favor of other actions like marketing, but shouldn’t be as it offers the following benefits:
A positive public perception is incredibly beneficial for businesses as after all, without customers, businesses wouldn’t exist. It affects multiple areas of your business indirectly and can ultimately lead to more sales and profit.
If you want to have effective PR, you must create focused strategies and have a clear plan of action. Without this, your PR efforts will be splintered and their effectiveness reduced. Below, I have created a simple 5-step guide to create and improve your PR strategy.
In most areas of business such as marketing and sales, the underlying key to success is knowing your target audience. This is true for PR strategy and if you don’t know who your ideal customers are, how can you hope to communicate with them?
You can go into this with as much detail as you want and the more info about your target audience you can gather, the more effective and focused your PR strategy should be.
Basic information to find includes typical age ranges, regions, average income, and spending habits. Other things to consider include social media preferences, and how your customers search for info and products.
With this target audience information, you should then be able to understand what PR voice to use and what channels will serve you the best.
Any public relation strategies should be monitored too so you can assess their effectiveness. For effective monitoring, you need goals to strive towards. A digital PR agency can help define goals, but examples could include:
Many of these goals are easy to quantify using tools like Google Analytics, but some are less tangible and require more research such as brand mentions and shave of voice. Regardless, you need a set of realistic goals to benchmark your PR strategy progress against.
With the target customer info and goals set, it’s now time to build your PR tactics and define what you actually intend to do. You should have a clear set of actionable steps assigned to relevant staff members with clear deadlines. Examples of potential PR tactics could include:
Make sure to keep things direct and focused – don’t give vague instructions and make sure that everyone involved understands what is expected including the PR goals and timeframe.
You should now have all the tools, info, and actions needed to launch your PR campaign. It’s ideal to set a timeframe for these actions such as a month as this gives everyone a clear deadline, but also allows time for the effect to be realized so that you can measure the PR success afterwards.
Hopefully, your hard efforts and focused actions should yield results but you have to be sure of this and review your PR strategy.
Set a regular review date where all the team members involved can come together to discuss the process, suggest improvements, and most importantly, dissect the results. You can use analytical tools such as Google Analytics to help with this.
The aim is to compare the PR strategy results with your original goals. Even if you met your goals, you should still look at ways to improve your strategies and strive for continual improvement. After this, you can look to start the process again either with the same strategies, or re-focused new ones.
Your initial PR strategies may be underwhelming and you may not immediately meet your goals but perseverance is key and reviewing and making adjustments is an integral part of this.
It’s incredible how many businesses disregard PR and do not form an effective strategy to boost their image and brand awareness. Oftentimes companies are solely concentrated on sales, marketing, and other aspects and while these are important, PR should not be overlooked. A watertight PR strategy can naturally lead to more sales and enhance your marketing and SEO while also forging important relationships with your customers.
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