Marketing & Design

PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

by: Vicki Morris | Marketing & Communications Strategist

Creating and maintaining a consistent ‘voice’ for your organization falls under the responsibility of the PR team for your company. This can include how press releases, social media content, print articles, and website verbiage all come across to the various audiences of the organization. The words and phrases used, the word pictures created all are a function of the public relations team. Given our current national and global emergent situation, Coronavirus or Covid-19, a company’s crisis management, or PR team, would distribute the corporate message internally and when needed externally. Your corporate PR team is your dedicated media contact. They should be well versed in a variety of writing styles to include social media content creation, writing for televised new content, radio interviews, and printed articles.

If your company does any of the following, you have an active PR team: *Community Outreach *Communication with various sources of media *Social media *Crisis management (internal plan, external communications)

This sounds a lot like marketing, and it does cross over from time to time, however, the specific focus of public relations is to effectively communicate a message; to educate the audience.

The Public Relations Society of America says, “public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

A good PR professional is able to cultivate a story that portrays the company in the most positive light, regardless of the situation. The target audience for the PR team is not just potential customers, but the general public. Advertisers are trying to sell and promote products and services to potential customers. PR professionals inform, and educate

When positive things happen for the company or organization, the PR team communicates that message to the target audience, not based on whether they are potential clients. When negative things happen like a company shut down, a natural disaster, or leadership misconduct, the PR team is also called to manage the message and curtail the negative effects of the situation on the corporate image.

Just as important as media relations is for a great PR Team, research is also a vital part of the PR professional's role. Researching and evaluating current and future community events, fundraising programs, company policies and procedures, business and marketing plans, and other programs.

Some of the most common duties of the PR team can include: *Writing and distributing press releases *Writing speeches and presentations *Developing pitch letters to send to journalist *Managing social media messaging and responding to negative opinions *Conduct Market research *Create and manage special community outreach events *Attend networking events and sponsoring events *Managing crisis communications

Businesses large and small, across all industries need effective public relations. It can be something the owner of the business does, or it can be something that is contracted out. Most cases, it is best advised to outsource certain aspects of this role to maintain an objective focus. Seek out the services of a PR professional when your company wants to protect, enhance, or build its reputation through various media outlets. There are many entry points for organizations to give their message to the media. Blogs, websites, TV shows, magazines, podcasts, radio shows, etc. Great PR professionals will do the research to discover the best outlets for the specific messages of the company and the best way to verbalize that message at any given moment in time. They will take the time to learn about the company, their mission, their strengths, and their weaknesses. You have to know where the weak spots are so you can anticipate problems and work proactively to minimize negative press.

Face To Face Marketing is a public relations and project management focused firm that can help your business, large or small, effectively communicate your message in your corporate voice.

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