Blog

When does a company need to turn to public relations (PR) to get its message out? That is one of the fundamental questions facing business leaders nearly every day.

The challenge of making your company known, selling a product or service or idea and clearly stating who you are and what you stand for is a complex one.

This requires a willingness to share stuff about yourself that you may not think necessary; it demands a thoughtful review of where you are as a company and what you might have to tell people; and it really calls into the whole question of marketing, of being highly visible and being willing to talk to the media or other interested parties.

There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s begin with the most basic idea. PR is a tool you can turn to when you have something to announce or when you need help getting your viewpoint across. In worst case scenarios, it becomes a necessity when you need to explain the actions you may or may not have had to take during a company crisis.

Also, PR is not marketing. It’s not sales. And it is certainly not advertising. It is simply developing a relationship with the media, whether that is print, social, web, electronic or digital, and turning to them to help you.

If you are simply selling, don’t reach out to the media through PR. If you want to advertise, sure the media can help— just know there is a financial cost involved. If you have nothing “new” to share in the community or business sphere you reside in, PR is not the answer.

In fact, the overuse of PR as a tool to help you make your point or sell your company, product, service, is a critical mistake. And sadly, many companies do that. Why? They don’t know when to use PR.

Okay, so now here we are. Consider PR the right choice when:

• You have a new product or unique service to explain.
• You have something to announce that impacts your company, your employees or the community or communities where you operate.
• You are expanding and hiring lots of people.
• You are evolving your business and changing your company’s focus, maybe even the its name.
• You have made a breakthrough in your industry.
• You have hired a well-known business leader.
• You are doing something for those in need, a nonprofit group, or a worthy cultural cause.
• You are launching a new company.

While these topics seem broad, they’re at their most effective when you give as much detail as possible. For example, the fact that you’ve hired four new managers may be of interest for the business pages. A more effective approach, though, would be to explain that all four of the managers are women under 30 who will be leading a new initiative at the company.

Also, PR needs to make an impact. It can be very focused, it can be super general, and most important, it needs to matter. Does anyone care that you are hiring four new managers? Not many, probably, and most likely not the media. But if you add a caveat that the new hires are going to lead a new initiative in the company to support nonprofit work by the local foodbank and you might have a story to share, one that the media would find worth considering.

You’re probably noticed in this blog that the “when” to use PR idea is closely tied to the “what” that is your information, message, or story you are trying to tell. You’d be right. It goes back to the idea of what PR is, and isn’t. PR is a tool to share your story, offer information or expertise, and develop a message around specific events, products, people, actions or services.

When PR becomes a sales pitch, or a way to advertise that you are a medium size company who has hired four new people, the impact truly falters and it is unlikely that the “when” of your PR will even matter.

To wrap this up, remember to think about when you want to utilize PR and a company like Logos Communications to help. Tie that directly, though, to the what of your story and your message.

Back, then, to our question. Do you need PR right now? My answer is an emphatic YES!