Press relations, AKA public relations (PR), is about talking to journalists and finding ways to earn media for what you do. Positioning yourself with the media opens opportunities for you to get in front of larger audiences, creating a stir for your business or organization.

PR isn’t cliodynamics. It’s a function any business can use to amplify its message.

Press Relations Benefits

• Increases brand visibility
• Builds brand authority
• Stronger relationships
• Backlinks

Press Relations Tactics

Press Relations Tactic 1: Send out press release or press announcement

Press releases are a timeless tool, especially in the world of B2B business. Press releases have a simple format that is easy to mimic and use to generate buzz about your company.

The idea behind a press release is to send the journalist a version of the story that you wish they would write, but still sounds reasonable and realistic. Journalists will often quote press releases directly if the information is presented in a professional manner.

Reasons to Write a Press Release

• New product
• New hire 
• New company
• New funding
• Big conference
• Performance milestone
• Awards
• Partnerships
• Mergers and Acquisitions

Press Release: Morgan McAllister Joins RedShift Writers as Senior Content Writer

Press Release: Senior Content Writer Morgan Acree Joins RedShift Writers

Press Relations Tactic 2: Send out press kit

A little more extensive than a press release, a press kit includes several pieces of collateral to tell journalists about your company or recent company news. Press kits are versatile and can be used for a wide variety of purposes.

A press kit usually includes:

• Press release
• Company bio
• Headshots and leadership bios
• Product sample(s)
• Any other relevant information, such as an event invite or upcoming calendar schedule of events

Press Relations Tactic 3: Reach out with tips or expert insights

Just as journalists may print parts of a press release verbatim because they need content fast in order to do their jobs, they may also take quotes verbatim from experts in the field regarding a story that they are writing. When you create a piece designed to drive thought leadership for your company, make sure to send it to journalists with a note letting them know you are available for interviews and would be happy to lend insights or answer questions. In turn, you may end up in their stories as a voice of authority.

Press Relations Tactic 4: Hold a press conference

Need to share information that is highly newsworthy to multiple outlets at once? Plan a press conference. You can hold press conferences in person or virtually depending on your needs, the reporters you are trying to reach, the weather, etc.

Press Relations Tactic 5: Host an event

Whereas a press conference is simply the speakers and the press, an event takes a lot more work. But if you do it right, the event itself can become a story and draw the attention of journalists.

Types of Public Relations Events

• Grand openings
• Parties for customers and other stakeholders
• Live product tests
• Product launches
• Book releases
• Conferences
• Workshops
• Panels
• Speaking events
• Publicity stunts
• Galas

Press Relations Tactic 6: Conduct a research study

Journalists love data points. It helps them keep things factual. When you send them sound research that has been tested via survey, it takes some of the work off their plates. If you have enough time, try launching a survey and sending the results out in a case study or white paper angled toward your business needs.

Press Relations Tips

Press Relations Tip 1: It takes time

Do not expect that you will send out a press release and journalists will swoon. You have to build relationships with journalists before they pay attention, and it will take time to calibrate your news pitch so you can learn what they are looking for from sources like you. Keep a journalist database that includes all journalists for your particular beat. If you want to get fancy, you can use a PR database to blast press releases to a bunch of lists of influencers all at once.

List of PR Distribution Databases

Cision from PR Newswire

Businesswire

Prowly

GlobeNewswire

PR Buzz

If you cannot afford a fancy system like one of these, you can also just email journalists directly and follow up with a phone call. If you send the same email to a lot of journalists, use the BCC function on your email or you will send a spammy-looking email that ticks people off.

Press Relations Tip 2: Not everything is news

I once knew a window company who wanted to be in the New York Times. Why? Because they read the New York Times, and they wanted to be somewhere with a lot of attention.

The problem is that nothing about them warranted a story in the New York Times. The effort it would have taken to pull off such a miracle would not have been worth the cost. It would have been cheaper to take out a full page ad. The New York Times covers some of the nation’s most pressing stories. Its readership just isn’t that interested in glass windows.

Not everything is news, and sometimes you have to accept that your company is not as newsworthy as you think it is, or at least not yet. Good PR firms have to explain this to their clients all the time. 

If you want to be newsworthy, get creative. Find an angle and pitch journalists that are relevant to your beat and your story. Start small, build press, and use your momentum to grow your presence in the media over time.

Press Relations Tip 3: Measurement is tricky

I received my masters degree in the field of public relations. Throughout my program, measurement was a hot topic because the impact of PR is difficult to quantify. How do you measure public opinion? How do you assess sentiment? Is it about how many stories you land? How many column inches you take up in the paper? 

What about how positively your brand is presented in the media? How do you measure that?

There are all kinds of fancy tools to measure sentiment, but there is no magic bullet to measuring public relations. The key is to come up with a goal before you launch your PR efforts so you can measure using the same key performance indicators at the beginning and end of the campaign. You will likely find that your PR performance is tied to other parts of your company such as marketing, especially in the age of digital public relations, where site traffic and other web analytics are used to measure the reach of a news story.

Press Relations Tip 4: Be strategic

Remember, not everything is news. However, what is news to you may not be news to me. If you are launching a new little library program in your small town, the small town paper may find that newsworthy even if CNBC does not. Your new product offering may not break into the business section at the Chicago Tribune, but a credible business blogger may still write about it. Be strategic in listing out the parties that are most relevant to your business and most likely to run a story about you, and you can save yourself time and effort.

Also consider using press relations tactics in coordination with a larger public relations campaign. For example, you may want to plan an event, then send out a press kit with a press release to promote the event. You can even hold multiple events or a press conference followed by a product launch to build a narrative with continuous buzz. 

The more methodical you are in your public relations efforts, the more successful you will be.

Akin to press relations, community outreach involves finding all of the community groups that communicate with your company. Community outreach tends to look beyond corporate media relationships to the grassroots connections you can make for your business, no matter your size or focus. 

Community Outreach Benefits

• Softer sale
• Authentic connections
• Shows values
• Qualifies leads
• Brings people together

Community Outreach Tactics

Community Outreach Tactic 1: Pursue social good

What causes do you care about? How do you want to make a difference? Where do you donate charitable funds?

Social good spaces are where you can meet a lot of people whose values align with your own because these spaces are actually built around those efforts.

There are a million social good spaces out there, so searching for a space can become a time-consuming process. Fortunately, social good organizations tend to communicate clearly about what their mission is, so it should be easy for you to quickly tell whether or not their efforts align with yours. Research different programs and applications for things you care about and send them content.

Social good opportunities also carry direct business advantages: they clarify what you stand for, build goodwill, and save you money on taxes. If you launch your own social good project, remember to send out a press release about it. You may as well tell the world and inspire others to do something good, too.

Community Outreach Tactic 2: Join trade and professional groups

Every profession brings a different mix of people. If you work in construction, you probably know roofers, plumbers, window and cabinet companies, architects, designers, lawyers, and many other people who are in and around the construction process. Since we are a writing company, we tend to network a lot with marketers such as web developers, graphic designers, PR teams, social media strategists, and other roles in the marketing profession. 

You are probably already thinking about the spaces that are relevant to your own industry. Go network in those spaces. They offer a lot of room for business growth.

List of Professional Group Examples

• Practitioner (Role) Groups
• Industry (Vertical) Groups
• Local (Geography) Groups
• Age (Generational) Groups
• Identity (Culture) Groups

There are plenty of other ways to sort and find groups to network with. Remember: in addition to joining groups that are directly relevant to your industry, also find groups frequented by your prospects. If a client has been ideal for you, network in their industry space. For example, if you are a cleaning company who has found success with medium-sized businesses in tall buildings, attend events that those companies go to. You can find a lot of information about a company just by Googling them.

Those who you compete with may still trade leads with you, or even want to partner up on something fun and prosperous, so be sure to be among others in your industry sometimes, too. 

You likely already know who many of those folks are.

Once you find the groups you want to engage with, check out all the ways you can get in touch with them.

Possible sub-distribution channels within community outreach include:

• Online forums- Usually on social media.
• Luncheons- Rubber chicken and conversation.
• Galas- Fancy shmancy suit and tie stuff.
• Educational Events- Workshops, speeches, and presentations.
• General Networking- Coffee, bar nights, bowling, whatever.

Your industry also likely has a ton of certifications and awards. Consider applying for both.

If you’re a B2B business, you will probably also see a ton of opportunities for your clients to connect with their customers. Let them know about those as a matter of service, and build ways for them to make it happen. (Customer experience hacking makes life better for everybody. Boom!)

Community Outreach Tactic 3: Join business chambers

Business chambers are easy to find. They operate much in the same way as professional and trade groups, and you can find them the same way. Structurally, they offer similar opportunities, but are composed only of business owners. These groups have a lot of decision makers in them.

Community Outreach Tactic 4: Seek out opportunities from government bodies

Government groups are also fairly easy to find, and there are a ton of them out there. If they are important to your business or could add a prosperous dynamic to what you do, check them out. To get started, search for Small Business Administration opportunities in your area. You can also search for economic development councils, especially ones that are related to local public universities or municipalities.

When we think of the government, a lot of people think about elected officials. The government definitely is inclusive of those folks and their staff, but it is much, much more. There are departments at the local, state, and federal level all putting out projects and vying for budgets and attention. There is a market there.

You can also find quasi-governmental bodies, such as public commissions, public-private partnerships, or public honors for private entities. Maybe you can get a client an award at City Hall. 

Community Outreach Tactic 5: Attend art and culture events

Museums, galleries, and recreational establishments all hold different events with paintings, DJs, discussion groups, movie screenings, concerts, tastings, and plenty more. A few are bound to overlap with your interests and purpose. Go connect. Have fun!

Not sure where to start? Ask yourself: what is the largest cultural event in your area? The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the largest annual event in mine. It has a ton of committees and individual tents where people need assistance for the day. You can network there just by getting involved in the organization.

Community Outreach Tactic 6: Go for the goal at sports and recreation events

A lot of wealthy people love sports, and not just the most popular sports. In most large American cities, football, baseball, basketball, and perhaps hockey are the biggest sports. However, squash is a well known game in many parts of the world, and is a favorite of people who are wealthy enough to have memberships to very nice squash courts. If you network with the squash crowd, you can sell them your service, or you can sell a service specifically around squash. Either is an opportunity made real by those willing to network in squash circles.

Community Outreach Tactic 7: Support schools

Kids deserve to learn in a good environment, so schools can use all the help they can get. There are opportunities at all levels of education to get involved.

You can:

• Talk to classes
• Join PTOs
• Volunteer
• Support a good policy
• Launch a scholarship

There are certainly good business opportunities here, but make sure they follow true goodwill if you are going to go in that direction. Schools are a good place to engage and be helpful as you network.

Community Outreach Tips

Community Outreach Tip 1: Make a non-mutually exclusive list of all stakeholder audiences

Write down literally all possible stakeholders for your company. Every kind of consumer, influencer, community member, media outlet, regulator, partner, etc. Start with categories; you do not have to be specific. 

Once you have all of your audience categories listed, you can use the list to further guide research into those audiences. You may already have a list of names in a company CRM. You can also easily hire people who will build large lists that can help you take shortcuts as long as you give those vendors strong direction on what information is to be gathered.

Community Outreach Tip 2: Focus your efforts

Unless being in a ton of different communities is essential to your brand, as might be the case with a PR firm, be judicious about community outreach. You do not need to be in every area. Find the ones that make sense for you and focus on those.

For example, if you want to position your business to win government contracts, you probably need to get good at responding to Requests for Proposals (RFPs), and get to know the people who draw those up so you know the best way to respond to them. Public meetings to discuss those bids are eye-opening if you have never attended them. 

Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas is currently undergoing a $1.5 billion airport makeover that started in 2014. That money was bid out to the public by the City of Houston, who owns the airport. When a bunch of people show up to a meeting about how to bid on more than a billion dollars in drywall, carpet, ceilings, floors, fabrication, transportation, catering, and whatever else is needed to complete that bid, that’s an opportunity for many businesses to find clients.

Where do you need to go to find those clients fast so you don’t scour the whole world in search of something undefined?

Community Outreach Tip 3: Connect people when possible

People love to be connected to other people in a mutually beneficial way. Think of other people and connect them with a well-worded email or text about how great they both are and how you thought they might work well together. The people you connect will benefit from their relationship with one another, and both parties will remember you as a connector who is worth keeping in their network. Not only do you get good business karma, but they will also be likely to return the favor down the road.

Community Outreach Tip 4: Let genuine interest guide you

Something about the communities you engage in must ring true to you. Otherwise, hire someone else to do your community outreach work. It is okay if a group is not for you, but then you are not the one meant to network there.

Owned content distribution channels are all the ones under your control, from your website to your office and every other asset. If you have vehicles, you can put a sign on them. Same with  a wall that you own. 

Owned content can be pushed out through channels you do not own through guest posts and press relations, but it is mainly designed for content that goes directly on your website, brochures, phone scripts, and other major collateral. It may also be pushed out through spaces that are quasi-owned. For example, you control most aspects of your social media pages, even if you do not control the websites that host them. Therefore, these pages are under your control but not technically yours. Nevertheless, they are a big opportunity to connect with your audience.

Owned Content Benefits

• Ownership of ideas
• Direct attention and SEO traffic
• Builds value in the company
• Certainty in distribution

Owned Content Tactics

Owned Content Tactic 1: Update your website

Since your website is basically your digital storefront, you should always leverage it for authority and performance. When people land on your site, you want them to understand your service and start looking to buy.

Just like a physical location, the changes you can make to your website are limited only by your imagination. Unlike a physical location though, they are far less limited by your budget.

When looking at ways to update your website with fresh content and a new look, there are several broad categories of subtactics worth exploring.

Website Update Tactics

Add Pages

Adding new pages to your site will expand your sitemap, increasing the likelihood that pages will be indexed by Google, linked to by other websites, or browsed by website visitors.

Possible new web content for your website includes:

• New service pages
• Blog posts
• Press releases
• Ebooks
• White papers
• Guides
• Landing pages

Update Pages

If you do not want to add an entirely new page, you can also add content to an existing page, or otherwise change the content on the page.

Possible page updates you can make to your website include:

• Adding or changing the footer of your website
• Adding sections of new web content to an existing page
• Adding new photos, videos, or graphic illustrations
• Editing or enlarging existing paragraphs
• Adding plug-ins and widgets to your page such as graphs, tickers, countdown clocks, and social media feeds

Change Pictures

Altering the images on your site by upgrading them to higher quality or optimizing the alt text can be a fast, easy way to improve the optimization of your site.

Change Template

Changing your website template may require a larger overhaul effort than other tactics, but moving widgets, plug-ins, content, and graphics around can make a big difference in your content performance. Some digital marketing CMOs spend their days testing two versions of the same page (AKA A/B testing), then directing traffic to only those that perform best. Eventually, they are able to optimize the template of the website for the best possible performance. Any company, whether it’s a small business, a medium-size business, or a conglomerate, can take the same approach.

Owned Content Tactic 2: Launch email campaigns

Decades ago, businesses depended on a mailing list and a phone list to reach their customers. Today, email lists have become the new central repository for most customer information.

Email campaigns target prospect lists that you have either tailored or purchased specifically for your needs. Oftentimes, these campaigns are aimed at people who actually opted in to receive more information, making for fertile ground for rich interaction with your intended audience.

Email campaigns are based on sequences of emails tied to user behavior. 

Types of Email Campaigns

• Direct sales emails: Make the ask for purchase.
• Educational emails: Inform the customer, providing them some new knowledge that is relevant to their interests.
• Promotional emails: Highlight a specific offer.
• Seasonal emails: Highlight something related to the time of year and your customers’ seasonal interests.
• Drip campaigns: Send out a series of continuous emails designed around a specific objective for your company.
• Reengagement emails: Loop in “cold” customers who have fallen out of touch.
• News emails: Inform customers of something happening now.

Each of these email campaigns can be used in sequence with one another and in varying patterns to maximize results. Some individual emails or email marketing campaigns can fulfill more than one purpose, adding more depth and texture to your efforts.

Tweak your email campaigns the same way you do your website. Try sending out two batches to the same group with only one changed variable. See which version of the email gets better results. Go with what works.

Owned Content Tactic 3: Enhance your social media presence

Social media networks were once a secret weapon. Now, many of the largest social media sites have gone mainstream. But social media is constantly evolving to offer new opportunities to engage your audience, whether its emerging social media networks or new ad services added to older networks. 

Social media presents the opportunity for direct engagement with customers, but direct engagement must be used cautiously. For many brands, the time commitment and risk of PR mistakes outweighs the potential benefits of an ongoing discussion with your market. Nevertheless, almost all companies can find a reasonable, positive way to use social media. And in many industries, it is vital to push a consistent social media drip to keep audiences engaged.

Social Media Content Distribution Tactics

• #Hashtag campaigns: Design a campaign and assign a #hashtag to it.

• Live streams: Talk directly to your audience.
• Webinars: Plan a digital event or workshop and gather a crowd.
• Cool art: People love to share imagery. You can always use memes.

25 Social Media Content Distribution Channels

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Pinterest
• Tumblr
• Reddit
• Quora
• Snapchat
• Vimeo
• Twitch
• Google Reviews
• Flickr
• Medium
• Discord
• SoundCloud
• Nextdoor
• Meetup
• Clubhouse
• Periscope
• Triller
• Goodreads
• Yelp
• Vimeo

You do not have to be on all of these, and there are tons of other social media channels out there beyond these 25.

Owned Content Tips

Owned Content Tip 1: Plan your calendar

Instead of trying to keep up the pace with day-to-day churn, plan your calendar out in advance so you can develop quality content on a regular basis. Site updates, email campaigns, and social media can quickly grow into an enormous beast within your marketing department. If directed properly, owned content can benefit your business, but it can also be overwhelming to manage. 

Keep a clean, easy-to-use content calendar that you can lean on to know what’s next. Hold periodic meetings to discuss what is on deck and to brainstorm so you can stay ahead of the calendar, no matter what content distribution channel you are discussing.

Owned Content Tip 2: Be consistent

Keep producing and testing content. Activity begets interest over time. Stay at it.

If you are unsure where to get started, remember that you do not have to turn everything on at once. Think carefully about your overall content strategy before focusing on distribution instead of diving headfirst into trying to do everything at the same time. Planning will save you a ton of time, headaches, and budget.

Owned Content Tip 3: Ramp up

Start small, then grow. You have to walk before you can run. You have to get a handle on one owned content channel before diving into another.

Owned Content Tip 4: Align and integrate all owned content efforts

Whatever is happening in your email campaigns should complement what is happening on your blog. Your social media should push out blog posts and videos. Your videos should have transcripts and images. Seek alignment in your voice, style, and activities across all channels.

Owned Content tip 5: Lean into your strengths

If you’re good at video, use video. If you prefer to write, write. Leverage your company’s natural talents and hire out the rest of the work.

Owned Content Tip 6: Optimize

Social media channels in particular operate according to specific rules. Similar to search engine marketing’s relationship to Google and other search engines, social media companies require marketers to play into certain algorithmic preferences, usually discovered by posting and testing the performance of your content. Perform tests to figure out what works best.

Owned Content Tip 7: Hire content writers, graphic designers, web developers, and other strategists

Remember to lean on hired talent! You do not need to do everything, and in fact, can’t.