Poll of the day: What’s your PR approach for the future?

Once upon a time, PR for business used to be simply about gaining coverage in the local and national press. There’s no doubt that developing a credible and consistent profile for your brand is as important as ever. Or that gaining positive recognition within industry media channels is both highly valuable and highly desirable. Today, many businesses continue to undertake their own PR activities, or buy in PR support to help boost their profile.

The explosion of the internet and, more recently, social media, means that truly effective PR is a very different thing from gaining a few column inches. Yet many business-owners still equate PR with the old approach of getting coverage in their favourite industry newspaper or magazine. Changes in technology have broadened the potential of PR for business – leaving many people with some outdated and potentially costly myths about business PR:

Three of the top myths on PR for business:

Myth 1:“PR is only for big businesses because it’s very costly.”

Changes in technology mean that PR can provide benefits for both small and large companies, whatever the industry or sector.

Myth 2: “PR is simply about sending out press releases and getting featured in newspapers and magazines.”

Content is still an essential part of an effective PR campaign. But the era of the press release-only approach in creating effective media coverage is long gone.

Myth 3: “Good PR is simply about being seen in the most popular publications.”

Good PR is, like every other aspect of your marketing approach, about results. Rather than relying on being seen in the most well known industry publications, effective PR focuses on what you want to achieve. So you can ensure that your media coverage brings you long-term results, rather than just a one-off result.