Struggling and new companies and businesses quickly realize the importance of developing functional public relations strategies. If you frequently find yourself wondering whether there is something you are doing wrong, you probably need to go back to your public relations drawing board and restructure.
Communities respond to companies they can relate with or share values with. This is why developing a tactful strategy for approaching your target clients is an essential step in planning and marketing.
Ronn Torossian’s PR execution strategies
Because a public relations plan is a chance for a business to convey its narrative to its target audience, Ronn Torossian contends that it can only be done via storytelling. Additionally, the firm has the opportunity to explain what it’s about, what it advocates, and why clients should be interested in the company and its solutions.
Each narrative that a business tells the community should connect back to the main reason it was founded and why it is operating the way it is. The most important milestones or steps to consider include:
Setting a goal to work towards
Setting the objective of a public relations approach is crucial once a firm has thought about its existence and why it performs the tasks it does. That’s because it might be challenging to create a public relations strategy without having a specific purpose in mind. This is particularly true for businesses that rely on sales, as these businesses must set quarterly or yearly financial objectives.
Based on how the business plans to evaluate the effectiveness of its marketing initiatives, the objectives for a public relations plan may be qualitative or quantitative. No matter what kind of objective the organization sets, it’s crucial to make it clear, explicit, realistic, pertinent and time-bound.
The company should also develop a habit of having reviews either yearly or biannually to examine which goals have been attained and which ones need more work. Setting goals without accountability is just a step away from wishful thinking. Reviewing the set goals makes the company’s employees aware of the ultimate objective they are working towards.
Identifying your target audience
Diverse groups within a company’s target market frequently congregate in various locations. For instance, a firm whose target market is a well-known restaurant with several locations in congested sections of a town will concentrate all of its PR operations on social networking sites or different relevant media sites. This is so that the restaurant may especially target the people who spend a lot of their time in congested areas, who are far more inclined to see the business’s sales promotions on their cell phones.
It will be much simpler for a business to determine which media sources it requires to approach and produce far more focused pitches and pertinent articles. These will be distributed to the sources and the community at large after the business has identified its target audience. Marketing and strategizing without a target audience can be a waste of resources and a big part of the reason why a company is making little returns.
For example, imagine trying to sell baby products such as diapers to college students in their early 20s. In a pool of 100 students, you might only effectively communicate with five or fewer, as there are only a few people with toddlers or children at this stage in life.
Telling a relatable, compelling story
Companies find it much easier to tell their story after they have identified their intended market and media sources. The narratives must contain important messages that relate to the company’s overarching statement of purpose and its principles. The business must also take into account its brand persona.
By first determining the main demographic interested, linking it to the history of the firm, and then converting that knowledge into pieces that are simple to scan through, a company can build a compelling narrative to capture the attention of its intended targets. It’s crucial to understand that businesses must act on their principles beyond the public relations campaigns; they cannot just declare what they believe in.
These key messages and corporate values of a company or organization become much more pertinent to the intended audience when the attitude of customer reviews or posts on social media networks ends up reflecting the attitude of the firm’s key messages. In other words, most consumers can recognize when a company isn’t being genuine or isn’t living up to its vision or ideals, which causes them to steer clear of those organizations.
Final thoughts on PR strategy
Public relations strategies are a key element in presentation and representation for businesses and companies. You can easily reach your target audience through the right channels and plans in PR. And isn’t this the whole point of opening a business or starting a company — to satisfy a gap in your target market?
