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PM Forum - Bristol
Ensuring PR earns its keep
Natalie Birrell from Brandon Hill Communications gave a talk to PM Forum members at Clarke Willmott’s offices in Bristol focussing on the topic of ‘Ensuring PR earns it keep’.
Members were given advice on how to get the most out of your PR agency, including tips on the main differences between a PR agency and a freelance journalist and how to ensure your PR strategy is correctly positioned with the right tools to deliver.
The importance of setting a correct PR brief was also outlined, showcasing the necessary requirements of a proper brief, to include correct roles and responsibilities (both internally and externally), setting clear targets and objectives as well as outlining potential pitfalls such as not integrating both PR and marketing strategies. Not clarifying the brand and its messages in the brief and failing to provide a workable measuring process were also highlighted as potential risks.
Internal PR is as important as external PR and Natalie advised guests on how to ensure a businesses PR message and its success is communicated throughout the organisation and how media training and practical to fee earners advice can be used to build relationships within the regional media.
Finally, PM Forum members were warned of the importance of managing expectations. Ensuring key decision makers in any company should understand, when setting their objectives, exactly what PR is and what it can do within the working budgets and timeframes.
The change in media landscape has had a considerable effect on how a business profile can be raised in the press. Companies need to be more creative with their thinking and thought leadership features are far more likely to be published.
Natalie’s top tips on getting media coverage are:
- Approach a journalist in advance with an idea and provide a case study or statistics where appropriate
- Get management teams on side in the planning stages of any PR project
- Advertorials – when done well can be a great way of guaranteeing covering when a specific message or call to action is required
- Photography is very important. A good picture taken by a professional photographer will significantly improve the chance of an article being published
Melissa Dickinson
Clarke Willmott
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