Managing your own Public Relations ( PR )initiatives as it relates to you business and promoting mutual understanding amongst the publics involved would serve as a critical management function that seeks to project a favorable image and perception about you organization in the eyes and minds of all the stakeholders.
Managing your own Public Relations, as opposed to hiring external PR consultants to act on your behalf would to a large extent reduce costs significantly and enable you have direct contact and maintain relationships with the right mediums, bloggers, journalists, influencers and opinion leaders.
Herein underlines the need to develop a robust plan to engage various stakeholders and the right mediums for disseminating information among the publics of particular interest to you and your organization.
Below are steps you should take in managing your own PR
1: Create a media list:
One of the first measures you should put in place in the course of managing my own Public Relations is to create your own media list.
The proposed list should contain names of the right newspapers, blogs, electronic media and trade publications that are popular amongst your target audience or publics.
The list should also comprise names of journalist that cover the particular topic your business is engaged in, as they would serve as the influencers whose articles or reports are likely to influence your target audience.
To nurture relationships with the media it would be necessary for you to conduct outreach programmes to them frequently. You would also need to pitch them with news stories whenever your business or organization has something newsworthy to publish.
2: Creativity
In order the gain attention from the media, you would have to be creative in your approach. Being more creative would give you an edge when competing with other businesses or organizations also seeking attention from the media.
Consequently, you would have to come up with ideas for engaging stories about your organization that would be of interest to the news media. This would also culminate in organizing events and programmes that seek to add value to society in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
3: Taking advantage of speaking events:
Another measure you should put in place in the course of managing your own PR is taking advantage of speaking events. Whether it's a trade show, seminar or workshop speaking at events or forums would afford you an opportunity to directly convey messages as it relates to your stakeholders. If done properly this could solidify our position as a thought leader in the business you engage in.
Honestly addressing issues as it relates to your activities could engender trust among our stakeholders.
4: Blogging:
Blogging serves as a unique form of owned media, that would afford you an opportunity to reach out to your target audience directly. It is important to note that the essence of blogging is not to sell your products and services, but to offer useful information your targeted audience would find engaging and of immense value.
5: Issuing press release:
Another tool you should use in managing your own Public Relations is through issuing well written and edited Press Releases, that boasts good and creative content. To achieve this you would need to write and properly edit a press release before it’s sent out.
A well written and edited press release when pitched to the media is more likely to be published as it reduces the stress and workload a journalist or news editor may have to put up with in editing your story before its published.
Consequently, the press releases you issue must not lack facts, consistency and objectivity. You should also follow the inverted pyramid style of writing a news release, in which information is written in a descending order of importance.
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