Do you have a smashing idea, a recognisable design or a message that just needs spreading? Please let us know, we need to get things going! Just like any good story deserves to be told, any good idea should to be shared and promoted. The trick here is to generate curiosity with the right people. When it comes to PR, it’s important to have those people help you spread your ideas that can share them with your peer group. The best way to do this is often a subtle one, and establishing bonds of trust through media channels take some time. Good PR work requires a fair bit of research, listening to customer demands and sustainably establishing ties with them. Find out how and read on!
Why Public Relations?
A media channel’s range is not the only decisive factor. What’s more important is the clientele that the channel addresses. You’re more likely to raise a peer group’s awareness if you post on a blog, website or other media channel specialized in your topics. Running an advert in a large-circulation paper would not do the same good. The Gods of logic tell you that selling strawberries require advertising in a local paper, and that promoting tractor designs works well when contributing articles on agricultural blogs. When telling the story of your shop or promoting the products on offer, it’s important to cater to the needs of several “news values”. These values include closeness, curiosity, newsworthiness and emotion. And then there are certain factors that always sell: breaking news, VIPs, social drama, conflicts, sex and progress. Addressing any of these will definitely not thwart your chances of improving recognition.
Further steps
Do your designs cater to any newsworthy values? Do you know who you are addressing? Then you’ve already accomplished quite a lot, and if not: cover your base by doing some research. Once you have established who is potentially interested in your stuff and which channels you can use to catch the attention of your peer group, you can turn to classic press work or social media work. The difference here is that press work uses a separate media channel to transport a message and social media channels address the recipients directly. Moreover, social media implementation puts an emphasis on emotions and appeals to feelings such as humour, sorrow, solidarity, concern, joy and the like. Feedback will come directly from your peer group. The sharing potential of friends and acquaintances holds a major advantage for promoting your shop. Press channels, on the other hand, generate more trust and offer a wider range. Media cover stories always relate to the issuer in terms of newsworthiness for networked gatekeepers. People assume that these reproduce news in a neutral and correct way. That’s your chance! It’s always a good idea to get in touch with the media channel’s editorial office to find out whether your story fits the bill.
Ideas & occasions for communication
Here for a list of topics that are always worth a story for you to communicate: founder stories and general background reports on people (works locally and on a supra-regional scale); numbers, statistics, guides (journalists like communicating numbers, transparent statements as well as tips and strategies); product news (fundamental news, new collections/designs, events); success stories (customer stories, cooperation reports, visitor figures, sales)
Feed different channels with your PR work! Use i.e. free PR portals where you can promote your own content. Give advice on issues relating to your designs, and take part in discussions on blogs and forums. Give expert opinion on portals or niche channels that fit your topics, and feed your content to social networks and news portals.
Good luck!
Please do share your experience with your PR work. Can you give us feedback on how promoting your shop works for you? Please leave a comment below.
“If I was down to the last dollar of my marketing budget I’d spend it on PR!” – Bill Gates
Yes I agree with that, I do my own PR entirely, it takes take but it’s worth it every penny! Use your skills, if you don’t have them take your time to learn it.