A Guide To PR By Our Essex PR Agency
PR is such a detailed and broad-ranging discipline that it would be impossible to cover it exhaustively in anything shorter than a novel. By the same token, there are certain universal trends, traits and methodologies used within PR circles that are worth being broadcast to a wider audience. You too may benefit from some of its more nuanced subtleties.
Public Relations, or PR, is all about brokering the engagement of a brand, product or service with either the general public, the media or other industry professionals. To call those who work in PR simply middle men, however, would be doing them a great disservice. Their remit extends well beyond just the securing of leads, even if this is their main task, day to day. The team here at VerriBerri, are a multi award winning Essex PR agency. Today we want to outline the processes involved within a PR department; so that you may better see just how vital they are to the success of businesses the nation over.
What Does Someone In PR Do Most Of The Time?
Whereas marketing is fairly simple to explain (you can work in PPC, SEO, social media, graphic design etc.). PR is less so. PR executives would make for very rich folk indeed were they to collect a pound every time the question ‘what is PR’ was asked. At its most basic, it is about securing coverage for a brand or business.
If your business hires an Essex PR agency; what you’re essentially doing is guaranteeing your business space in a magazine, newspaper or any other media outlet. In fact, increasingly it is the digital avenues rather than the print media where most PR success is found. The process by which they do this is relatively simple, carrying it out effectively is anything but.
Our PR team has access to a database of journalists and media professionals who they pitch to on behalf of your brand. The pitch usually contains ‘an angle’ that your brand and very few others can offer. If this gains traction from a journalist, they then write an article on the journalist’s behalf; before ending up printed within the publication, whatever media it may be.
Easy, right? Well… The truth of the matter is that journalists receive so many PR pitches that propositioning something original or exciting is hard to do. A successful PR executive, therefore, must have an incredibly advanced level of writing.
Whilst a content creator may have free reign, creatively speaking; a PR assistant must toe the line between expression and being succinct. As a content creator, I don’t envy them in the slightest! I can rattle off reams of copy to my heart’s content; but the real skill is knowing how and when to dial it back. At our Essex PR agency, we have a wonderfully-skilled PR team, each bringing their own styles and voices to the table.
Other Examples Of PR
The pitching and writing of articles isn’t the only thing that a PR team will do, however. Their other roles range from crisis management all the way through to something altogether more fun like event management. As well as going to events on your business’ behalf.
Crisis Management
Let’s look at crisis management for a moment; constantly evaluating and re-evaluating how your brand or business is perceived by the public is just as important to PR teams as is securing those leads. PR teams will almost always be in the brainstorming sessions, where campaign ideas are bounced around; and it is PR teams, usually, that come up with the ideas that tend to get chosen. (Though, as a member of the marketing department, it pains me to say this.)
This isn’t necessarily because their ideas are inherently better. (Although they would argue to the contrary. It’s more that they understand what works both from the brand’s view as well as from the public’s perspective. If there ever comes a time when that reputation comes into question, i.e. a crisis, then a PR team will again step up to the pass.
They’ll be able to help you know what to put out in terms of press releases, concoct a strategy centred around honesty and remorse, and prevent any other fires from sprouting up when you’re down on the canvas. Our Essex PR agency has found that no business is beyond being subject to a crisis, and that it is always better to have a team on-board when they happen.
Events
On the other end of the spectrum was the event work! Not every brand is composed of people who love the limelight. Personal interaction is very different from putting words on a page in the form of an email encounter. A PR team will go to industry fairs, rallies and conferences on your company’s behalf and engage with the public on a level that many business people would struggle to reach. This isn’t to slight or throw shade upon these businesspeople, but there’s an element of performance to these public shows, and PR executives tend to have the knack of the charm offensive ready to wheel whenever required. Some say that within every PR employee, there’s an actor ready and waiting to take to the stage!
Contact Us
A well-trained PR team can sniff out opportunities where there seem none to be found. Their relentless drive to help clients grow their businesses is a quality found in few other professions. This is by no means ‘the complete works’ when it comes to PR, more like a teaser chapter! But from it, I’m sure you’ll agree, there’s a lot that goes into working in PR. So, if you’d like to find out more about our Essex PR agency, then get in touch! Contact VerriBerri today on 01376 386 850. We’d love to have a sit down and a cuppa’, and talk about where we could help your business grow.
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