PR needs to be more data-driven

Analyzing data and utilizing it is often tied to something tangible like leads, sales, number of likes and hits, etc. It’s hard to find how communication and public relations (PR) can be data-driven. But in reality, data plays a key role in both the functions of a brand or company. Here are the ways with which data can be better used to bring in benefits for the corporate communications and PR industry.

There is much more than coverage tracking:

In PR industry, mostly the PR professionals feel that the real data is restricted to getting a number of hits and pieces of coverage. While this is indeed an important part to look at, there are much more characteristics of real data that can be used by PR professionals for their benefit. With properly analyzed and verified data in hand PR professionals can more accurately predict the news cycles and interest of the audience. This can also help in better identifying and select the outlets to invest in relationship building. Hence, the data-driven approach in PR is not just limited to getting the measurable volume of coverage but is also helpful in better understanding the media landscape in order to gel up better with the media professionals.

The more you ask the more you gain:

When the data comes in hand one of the most important things to do is getting a thorough knowledge about what that is included inside it and drafting relevant questions that can find answers through the given data. For example, what would be the top publications preferring stories from the industry that a particular client specializes in. Or is there any new angle that can be pitched in for a particular story. There are much more options to it. Just give time and some creative thought to bring out some new and interesting insights to the client’s business and overall PR campaign.

Get clear with what’s needed and what’s not:

There are numerous of data available with us from several sources. But it is the PR professionals who need to judiciously select the data that would be benefitting for a particular client. Basically, it is the trends which we need to refer with the selected data in order to get a better sense of their efforts. When referring to what’s needed as a data and what not it is the context, relationships and question asking ability that would be benefitting.

How PR can tackle the Fake News?

Fake news had always been there in the picture, but the digital age has boomed its impact up to a severe extent. From fake news sites to unqualified sources of fake stories, all such fraudulent activities are a serious threat to the Public Relations (PR) industry.

If it’s vital for the PR firms to ethically persuade the target audience towards their clients, then safeguarding the public’s trust and media outlets from getting eroded by fake news also becomes a part of their must-to-do duty. PR professionals need to understand that their profession will survive only when good journalism thrives. For this reason, PR experts need to be more critical regarding this issue and hold them more accountable to tackle this problem of fake news with utmost seriousness and dedication like never before.

And here are the several ways with which you can do it:

Carry forward the real news: PR professionals and experts should realize that there is much more than securing a blockbuster hit. The first priority of every PR Agency must be to deliver real news which in turn provides real value to both the journalists and the readers. The professionals working in PR companies need to take much more accountability for the spokespeople and stories they are pitching in for. The more authentic the story is more becomes the chances of securing coverage in great numbers and the relations in the media industry becomes much more healthier and safer.

Use the real and authentic sources: It’s true that a mention in the hit story will gain great exposure for the brand, but using the newsjacking tool as an excuse to proffer unqualified spokespeople is not an ethical thing to do. Clearly get it into your mind, that it’s the deep expertise and knowledge of the particular industry that could broaden the scope of public’s knowledge. This is the only way to put the best use of the media opportunities and make a win-win situation for both the PR and the journalism.

Use contacts to do good only: Anyone working in the PR industry is familiar with the fact that fake news holds in more power to get spread easily. They do get spread easily but when the fakeness gets unveiled it hampers the reputation and image of the industry as a whole. So, being a PR professional dedicatedly working in the industry, it becomes a necessity to dismantle it at the earliest. The PR professionals should not wait for others to bring a change instead, they themselves need to discourage the fake news amongst their media contacts and help in ensuring journalism free from unnecessary clutter and garbage.

PR Secrets for successful startup launch

To understand marketing strategy isn’t a big deal but to understand the actual PR concept surely is. Public relation is still a mystery even for savvy business leaders. Grasping this concept is not as tough as it seems to be. Basically, the work of a PR agency is to create a strong business image and refined and expands the same later on. But due to lack of knowledge, the business especially startups miss out the advantage of laying strong PR foundation or hiring the potential PR firms.

Knowing the PR secrets for successful startup launch is not the rocket science and if you would know these secrets at the very beginning then it is sure that no one can stop your business from climbing the ladder of success. Let’s discuss some of the points that PR agencies and startups should know so as to get the right benefits from the same.

Important PR secrets for startups:

Start with the goal

Running in the dark would never give you anything; therefore, it is important that your PR management services should start with the goal. Creating a buzz for your company is not enough; you should start with some specific objective which you actually want to achieve. Try to understand how certain strategies would help you in understand the actual goal of your startup. See, if you know that where you wanted to be in future then it might help you in making the strategy today. This is not the secret anymore and PR services in Delhi have already adopted this method so as to benefit the startups.

Keep it simple

In the world of complex fakers, simplicity is still appreciated. Standing out of the crowd doesn’t mean that you would adopt off the beat methods. Just go with simple techniques at the very beginning. A recent study has found the PR agencies that use complex strategies would never achieve success in their field. Creativity is good, but don’t become over creative which would just make you complex and confusing later on. Go with the flow and understand that it would take time.

Invest Time

Success will not come overnight and you have to understand this point at the very beginning of your startup launch. It is true that media attention and publications will create a buzz for your band name but it is a slow process. Being noticed and being adopted are two different concepts. People may notice your brand name but the success is when they started adopting the same and will prefer you over other brands, and undoubtedly it will take time.

You PR agency should know how to cut your budget and still create media attention. It is up to your choice that what kind of agency you would choose for your startup. PR services in Delhi are good enough and they very well know how to advertise your brand even in low budget.

Understand that with whom you have to compete with

It is important for the startups as well as PR firms to know that with whom you are actually competing. Try to know your industry before actually indulging in the same.

Digital is the new way of doing PR

PR industry has witnessed growth and has matured enough in the last few years with some of the most dramatic changes taking place. The changes are both good and bad but one can’t just deny them as it is because of the changes only, that an industry opens up its horizon for creativity and experimentation. Fortunately, the changes in PR industry were less disruptive than its counterparts and even the ones that were reaped in a positive result for the industry.

In accordance with the changes, the rules and tools along with the ethics of the PR scene changed too. It was the shift from the offline means to the digital paradigm that completely changed the PR scenario all over the nation. There are still media stories and branded content from the PR agencies popping up in the offline mediums, mainly newspapers and magazines but the focus is targeted more on digital media outlets with high domain authority like Business Insider and Refinery 29.

Here are the few impacts the digital PR had on the professionals involved in the PR scenario and how they are utilizing the same.

      Mastering the digital tools

Instead of going on through the tiring process of scripting press releases and organizing press conferences with numerous media professionals, it’s better to do smart work and share news through several digital arrangements like video, live broadcasting, images, etc. There was a time when blunt instruments were being used to do the job but now PR experts have more refined ways to get it done.

      Developing a varied skill set

Digital PR professionals need a much varied and broader skill set to take advantage of opportunities and maximize the benefits range of the outcomes. Earlier, content used to have in good journalistic writing and well- researched topic. But, today it’s more of playing well with the content and visuals to have a much greater impact on the audience. Any PR professional who is still not familiar with the analytics and basics of SEO and SMO will find themselves in great trouble.

      Embracing the new content style

Digital PR has provided the PR companies with an all-new way of thinking about content. For years the focus remained primarily earned media, which still is the center point of a good result of PR. Then social media came into picture blurring off the lines between paid and earned media, and “owned” or branded content from companies and their respective agencies. It ramped up blogging and thought leadership content that has now become the soul of branded websites. Most PR agencies in Delhi work side-by-side for Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned content that as a whole drive search visibility, brand awareness, and all the other important types of customer engagement.

PR Trends that have Rocked the Industry in the Last Two Years

In just a few years, the Public Relations industry has gone through a massive transformation as a lot of people are moving from the offline world to being consistently online. Moreover, the evolution of digital media, constantly changing nature of traditional media and continued launching of a variety of social media networking sites, has opened up more and more opportunities for PR firms to reinvent their current strategies. Earlier PR pros were used to send pitches through fax and press kits through mails, today the digitization has allowed PR professionals to Whatsapp media kits and tweet pitches. In 2016 and 17, the creation of a large number of mobile apps and new software have provided an edge to PR pros.

Here are a couple of key trends that were the major turning points in the ever-changing world of PR.

Mobile Marketing

Google last year’s trend of more online searches took place on mobile devices as more and more people are switching to smartphones, the importance of mobile marketing increases very rapidly. With the speed of today’s media and communications, PR professionals need to adopt solid mobile strategies in order to respond promptly to the clients. There are several mobile apps that allow users to manage their communications strategies directly from their mobile service without any problem.

Integrating Content Marketing

This time again content marketing, in its several forms, is making a deep impact on public relations campaigns. Being able to tell a compelling and persuasive story on behalf of the customers and effectively selling that story to promote them has always been the key strengths of reliable public relations. Today, there is an even stronger need to embrace content marketing to relevant to their audiences. In order to outshine competitors, Public Relations firms require strategic marketing approach and need to focus more on quality than quantity.

Real-Time Marketing is Ubiquitous

With the constant increases in social media adoption, real-time marketing or flexible messaging based on current events is becoming an imperative strategy. Commenting on current events and interacting with the audience in real-time is an excellent way to increase brand awareness and engagement. One of the best ways of RRM is to incorporate immediate content pieces such as blog posts, memes or quick videos, which are relevant to the events or issues that are happening in the real-time, and crucial to your customers.

Visual Content is Gaining Popularity

Visual content has always been the crucial element of marketing, however, in the last two years, PR firms devoted even more of their time and budget in creating this type of content. Video content, infographics, presentations and digital brochures are ideal marketing tools for PR professionals to tell their brand’s story.

Paid Reach Campaigns

In order to drive more traffic to the website or to have your content seen by more eyeballs, marketers need to pay for it. It has nothing to do with the quality of content, just that in order to appeal the right audience, you need to invest a little amount so your posts stand out the crowd. Therefore, PR professionals need to create a well-planned campaign and focus on the right channels to cover the right audience.