I remember when I first heard about public relations. It was a long time ago and I thought it was a fancy name for a special type of marketing. I later discovered the true meaning when I became a content marketer.
Although I’m not a guru yet, I’ve learned a lot and can tell you this: Public relations walks a fine line between creativity, persuasion and strategy. So if you want to introduce your company to new people, build trust with the public, improve your reputation, or even deal with a business crisis, you need public relations.
According to the PR Global Market Report 2024The PR market is expected to grow from $106.93 billion in 2023 to $114.1 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $144.28 billion by 2028.
In this comprehensive guide, I share everything I’ve learned about public relations, as well as some key insights I’ve learned from experts. I will also explain what a PR strategy is and how to build one.
What is public relations?
I also discovered the following: PR is the way brands manage the distribution of their information, so it is similar to branding. The main difference is that PR focuses on communication and reputation, while branding is based on visual elements such as logos, websites and marketing materials.
Accordingly James HackingFounder and chief playmaker of Socially powerful“Public relations is about influencing people’s perception of your brand. It’s about media coverage that aims to build trust and credibility while ensuring your brand’s message resonates with the right audience.
“In a fast-paced digital world, PR is critical to maintaining a good reputation and remaining relevant despite constant scrutiny.”
Why is public relations important?
Public relations defines how a company communicates with people – customers, partners, journalists, philanthropists, politicians and the public. In my opinion, all companies need public relations, regardless of their size or industry.
“For me, PR is the ‘conscience’ of an organization,” he says Gauri ManglikCEO & Co-Founder of Instrumental.
“It helps leaders make smart decisions that serve both the interests of the company and the community. PR keeps us informed about what people are thinking and feeling. It’s that crucial outside perspective – the voice of the customer, if you will,” she continues.
Found in a global survey the most trustworthy sources When it comes to news and information, at the end of 2023, 62% of adults said they trust traditional media, while 68% said they trust search engines. Interestingly, social media was considered the least trustworthy source.
PR professionals are skilled storytellers. You’ll find strategies for getting your story in front of the people you want to see, in media channels that build trust.
Why? Because today, customers want to trust the brands they do business with – and nothing builds and promotes trust like public relations.
Manglik confirms this, saying, “Without thoughtful PR, companies can easily lose touch and make missteps that damage their reputation.” I have learned this lesson the hard way more than once in my career. But when PR is done right, it creates tremendous goodwill and loyalty among stakeholders. This is an invaluable advantage in today’s skeptical world.”
What is a PR strategy?
A public relations strategy helps a company create, organize, and measure the effectiveness of its public relations tactics over time. It is independent of a marketing plan but should support marketing efforts.
What I noticed is that a PR strategy can cover campaigns for an entire year or address a single goal, such as a product launch. Additionally, developing an authentic PR strategy requires a collaborative communications approach.
Share a position Issues such as climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion are no longer optional for brands. I also learned that internal communication and employee communication play a more important role.
In 2024 70% of PR professionals inform their managers about measurements and reports once a month or more, while 44% plan to spend more time on internal communications.
And according to the Global Communications Report 202492% of communications leaders agree that the C-suite has sought advice from the communications department more frequently in the last 12 months than in previous years.
I believe all of these numbers speak to the increasing importance of PR for business operations and brand perception. It can be easy to take advantage of golden opportunities to attract media attention, but if you want to know how to do PR right, start with a PR strategy.
Louis Meyer is marketing and creative director at RX communicationa boutique medical communications agency.
“Through my years of experience in public relations, I have learned that the key to building a successful PR strategy lies in combining dos and don’ts,” says Meyer.
These guidelines look like this:
- Do Focus on building strong relationships with key stakeholders, including media companies and influencers.
- Not Underestimate the power of transparency and authenticity. In today’s digital age, always communicate honestly and openly.
- Do Stay agile and adaptable in your approach. The PR landscape is constantly evolving.
- Not Forget the importance of measurement and analysis.
How to create a PR strategy
1. Research internal and external brand factors.
I would recommend starting with what has and hasn’t worked well for your company in the past. This could include:
- Track media mentions.
- Review influencer relationships and results.
- Evaluation of social media engagement and traffic KPIs.
- Review buyer personas and customer insights.
Next, I would conduct a competitive analysis to find out what works best for other companies in your industry. I learned that Social listening tools can speed up this process.
To complete your research, list any internal or external factors that may have impacted your brand. These could include:
- Feature, product or price changes
- Distribution shifts
- Change of stakeholders and leadership
- Employee mood
- Legal factors
- Political climate
- Economic changes
- Trends
- Technological advances
2. Outline your goals.
It can be tempting to rely on tactics that you notice as you research, but I would recommend deciding on goals first. Whether you’re tackling a local crisis or planning a year-long public relations image-building exercise, this step is crucial.
Even a brief overview of the goals can point you and your team towards the right tactics.
“A PR strategy is an integrated communications plan that combines online and offline tactics to achieve specific goals,” he says Edward WhiteGrowth leader Bee HIV.
“Online tactics could include influencer collaboration, while offline approaches could include events or sponsorships. This dual approach ensures your PR efforts reach audiences wherever they are. A strong strategy links all measures to measurable goals and thus ensures alignment with your business goals.”
Here are a few things that I think should be included in every PR plan.
- First, decide who your target audience is for each campaign.
- Next, select the key messages you want to communicate to this audience.
- Don’t forget to also include the metrics you want to track. Analytics tracking should be part of campaign setup, not something you add after launching a campaign.
Pro tip: Creating a strong foundation for your public relations efforts will better enable your success than one-time efforts. I would also recommend making every goal a SMART goal. The PR plan template can help you ensure your strategy covers your key messages and other objectives.
3. Create a schedule for your PR campaigns.
The success of public relations depends on the right message at the right time. Therefore, create a clear calendar for short- and long-term initiatives.
Be sure to note holidays and important industry dates. For example, the end of November is an important time of year for most e-commerce companies.
4. Choose the right PR tactics.
Once you know when and why, it’s time to determine which tactics will work best to execute your strategy. Later in this post I will cover some common PR strategies and tactics. It can also be helpful to look at some PR examples for inspiration.
5. Track your results.
Once you’ve decided on a tactic, the next thing I want you to focus on is how you’ll measure results. Public relations is not an exact science and measuring perception can be difficult.
Align your PR metrics with business goals whenever possible. This can help you make a clear connection between PR efforts and ROI.
Here’s something Mushfiq SarkerCEO of LaGrande Marketing says:
“A big no-no in a PR strategy is ignoring analytics. Ignoring data loses all clarity about what is effective and what may need improvement. Analytics provide important information about the performance of your efforts and show where resources should be focused. Metrics like engagement rates, website traffic, and click-through rates tell you what resonates most with your audience.”
Sarker also points out that “using this information allows you to make adjustments, optimize your efforts, and maximize the impact of your campaigns.” Without analytics, you risk wasting time and resources on strategies that don’t produce results delivery.”
An important note: A PR manager often bases his strategy on earned media, but with a multichannel strategy he can be more effective and connect the right topic with the right target group.
Brands manage their PR – or communications and reputation – across various media channels. A good PR strategy typically includes three types of media.
Media: Owned vs. Paid vs. Earned
The types of public relations I’m about to discuss fall into three main categories: owned, paid, and earned media.
Each type has the same goal of building a positive brand reputation, but uses different strategies to get there.
I would suggest that your PR strategies include all three as they all offer different ways to reach, engage and build trust with your audience.
Own media
Owned media refers to all content that your company controls. This is often the preferred strategy for companies looking for it Create a PR campaign.
Rightly so, as it is arguably the most important type of PR media you should focus on. This is because you are in complete control – unlike the other two media tactics.
Owned media includes:
- Social media posts
- Blog content
- Website copy
- Email newsletter
Owned media acts as a “home base” for your PR activities. When people write about your brand or products, they are likely to reference (i.e. link to) your own media in their coverage.
Paid media
It’s not uncommon to pay money to promote your content in the marketing world, and that goes for PR too.
Paid media refers to paying to get your content seen. It is common practice to promote your own media.
Paid media includes:
- Social media advertising
- Influencer marketing
- Pay per click (PPC)
It’s becoming increasingly popular to put some money into promoting PR content.
Since most social platforms reduce the organic reach of business accounts, paid media is a fantastic way to ensure your content gets in front of the people who want to see it.
Earned Media
Earned media is the tactic you can use to drive conversation around your brand. I’ve found that it’s essentially word of mouth and is arguably the best PR tactic for building your reputation.
Earned media is the most difficult type of PR media to source. It takes a lot of effort, consistency and hard work to establish it – that’s why it’s “deserved”.
Earned media includes:
- Mentions in industry news and reviews
- Praise from customers on social media
- High rankings in search engines
All of these media channels offer opportunities to use PR to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and convert those leads into paying customers – similar to your marketing.
Next I will discuss the difference.
Public relations vs. marketing
Public relations and marketing are similar in their approaches and tactics, but their goals are quite different. The main goal of PR is to increase your brand’s reputation. On the other hand, the main goal of marketing is to drive sales.
Unlike marketing, PR doesn’t always impact sales. It is typical indirect promotes your products or services through activities such as Distribution of press releases and presentations at industry events.
Alternatively, instead of improving the perception of your business, marketing campaigns focus on increasing sales and increasing profits.
“If a marketing strategy deals with the introduction and sale of goods in the market, the PR strategy monitors the overall image of the company, protects and builds its credibility and contributes to the long-term development of the brand,” he explains Brandon SchrothFounder of Reporter assignmenta digital PR agency.
I also learned that people don’t buy products, they buy brands.
This is why combining PR and marketing produces the best results: Typically, someone connects with your brand because of your PR efforts and becomes a customer because of your marketing tactics.
Next, I’ll discuss the types of PR you can use to promote your business and build and manage your reputation.
PR strategies and tactics
- Business events
- Community relations
- Corporate and social responsibility
- Crisis management
- Cyber threat intelligence
- Employee relations
- Influencer relationships
- Media relations
- Social media marketing
1. Business events
Business events provide an opportunity to market your products or services and promote your brand.
Whether your company is hosting or attending, I love that events are also important sales opportunities. Events offer you the opportunity to meet potential customers and inspire existing customers personally.
Speaking at events is also helpful for increasing brand awareness and sharing unique thought leadership or data-driven information that can help grow your brand.
2. Community relations
Community relations is the process of building positive relationships with the local community around your company.
This can include charity work, donations, special discounts, or anything else that builds a strong relationship with the community and strengthens customer loyalty.
3. Corporate and social responsibility
Corporate and social responsibility is similar to community relations, but I have found that it places a greater emphasis on ethical business practices, environmental stewardship and philanthropy – locally, regionally and globally.
This is a critical area of PR because it directly impacts the public perception of your brand.
4. Crisis management
Crisis management is the practice of identifying, managing, and working to reverse negative communication and perceptions related to a corporate crisis. PR typically takes care of anything that could threaten or ruin your brand’s reputation.
Crisis management is an important function of PR and should be approached quickly, consistently and strategically. Certain PR tools can help you prevent crises by monitoring online chatter and quality checking any marketing or promotional material that may be misunderstood or misinterpreted.
Free resource: Manage, plan and communicate your company crises with this free solution Crisis management communication kit.
5. Cyber threat intelligence
In 2023 only 46% of US companies You have an active threat intelligence plan. But cybersecurity is among the top five global risks, according to the World Economic Forum Risk report 2024.
In addition to the financial challenges that cyberattacks pose, I have also found that there is a perception challenge. This can be devastating to a brand’s reputation if not handled skillfully.
These issues require PR’s crisis management expertise. It’s also a good idea to build relationships with technology experts and industry thought leaders. This will give you the expertise you need to limit the impact of these increasingly common attacks on your reputation.
6. Employee Relations
Employee relations, also called internal PR, is the practice of communicating and maintaining a positive attitude Employees Perception of your company.
This process may include special employee newsletters or communications, employee perks and benefits, free training and skills development opportunities, employee appreciation events, and collaboration with unions or employee groups.
I’ve found that employee relations not only keeps your employees motivated, hard-working, and loyal, but it also encourages them to commit to your company – which can attract both customers and more quality employees.
7. Influencer relationships
Another thing I discovered is that influencers play an important role in PR and marketing. According to Statista, the influencer market has been worth it 21.1 billion in 2023 will more than triple its value in 2019. And is expected to reach a Record 24 billion in 2024.
I’ve also noticed that in many companies, the PR team also manages relationships with influencers. But sometimes marketing, social media and PR teams share this responsibility. Collaborating creatively with any influencer requires hard work and experience to ensure your brand gets the results you want from its authority.
Side quest: Check out this post to learn about the top channels for influencer marketing in 2024.
8. Media relations
Media relations is the process of building positive relationships with journalists, publications and other news outlets.
This process typically includes writing press releases, organizing press releases, and scheduling interviews. This not only increases awareness of your company and products, but also encourages the media to market your brand for free.
Free resource: Download our free Inbound press release kit to access step-by-step templates for creating press releases and a promotional plan.
9. Social media marketing
Social media can be both a earned and paid PR tactic.
For most companies, social media can be a helpful PR (and marketing) tool. It’s an effective way to gain followers, convert customers, share your content, and resolve crises.
Whether you’re sharing a post with your audience or engaging with an individual customer, your social media activity is open to the public.
That’s why it’s important to have a social media strategy that ensures your communication is consistent, positive and accurate.
Next, I’ll talk about the person responsible for these different types of PR: your PR manager.
What does a PR manager do?
PR managers are responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring your PR strategies and tactics. They typically handle crisis communications, write press releases, and lead a team of other PR professionals who manage your brand’s public presence.
I also learned that you can hire or work with a PR manager to handle PR for your company PR agency.
At this point, I want to highlight the skills and responsibilities that your PR manager will know inside and out.
PR manager skills
Successful PR managers have special skills. In addition to flexibility and openness to change, here are some of the most important skills I discovered.
Great communication
A primary focus of public relations is building your company’s reputation. To this end, PR managers spend a lot of time building and maintaining relationships.
In addition to speaking about your company at public events, press conferences, and other events, your PR team also makes connections with reporters, influencers, and other stakeholders.
For this reason, excellent communication is a key skill for PR managers.
Writing skills
PR managers should also be able to communicate well in written form.
Since PR managers are responsible for writing press releases and company-related news, good writing skills help convey the right message to promote your company. This is particularly useful for online PR, where you need to create blog posts, website content, and press releases to get coverage.
creativity
As with marketing, creativity also plays a big role in the world of public relations. Great PR managers are creative and know how to develop a strategy that stands out from the crowd. This is important because a unique story or perspective drives PR coverage.
Strong research skills
Public relations is a social industry, and people may talk about your brand without directly mentioning it. Good research skills help PR managers find and take advantage of these opportunities.
A PR manager needs to stay up to date with trends and digital marketing updates. PR professionals cannot operate in a bubble and must be aware of changes in search and social media for their strategies to be successful.
They offer expert knowledge and a new perspective to stay present in competitive media.
Manglik points out, “A PR plan is a living document that must adapt as circumstances evolve.” I constantly monitor results to determine what is working and what is not, and adjust approaches accordingly.
My job is to use communication to strengthen brand value, gain support and promote company success. An agile, insights-based strategy is critical to achieving this.”
PR managers also need to conduct research when planning a PR strategy. Because they may need additional information, statistics and data points to increase the performance of their own media, strong research skills are essential.
Duties of the PR manager
Your PR manager’s day-to-day responsibilities may vary depending on your industry, active PR campaigns, PR team size, and other factors. However, here’s what I learned: They often include the following:
- Writing press releases to announce company-related news.
- Creating fact sheets and media kits about the company to send to media teams for branding purposes.
- Conducting media training for internal and external teams.
- Participation and speaking at industry events as well as representing the brand at trade fairs, recruiting events, etc.
- Finding and analyzing media coverage and promoting this content across owned and paid media channels.
PR managers are also responsible for tracking and measuring their PR efforts. The following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can help your PR manager analyze and improve your PR strategies.
PR Measurement: 10 PR KPIs to track
- Media coverage and brand mentions
- share of the vote
- Pitch interactions
- Feeling
- Social media engagement
- Social Shares
- Site traffic
- SEO metrics
- Conversions
- Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE)
Only by setting clear, measurable goals can you ensure that your PR strategy is effective. In a business world increasingly focused on data-driven results, I’ve found that the KPIs you track can make or break your PR programs.
Most PR metrics measure perception, so it can be difficult to directly link company profits to PR campaigns. For this reason, you should select a set of KPIs that directly align with your business goals.
For example, let’s say your company wants to improve brand awareness. KPIs like increased share of voice and website traffic, along with recent brand mentions, can show a more direct connection between PR efforts and business goals.
Next, I’ll discuss KPIs to help you track your PR efforts and determine the effectiveness of your PR strategy.
1. Media coverage and brand mentions
Brand mentions occur when someone mentions your brand. Media coverage tracks the number of earned media stories that went live. These metrics are important because they help you measure the awareness of your brand and its stories.
You may find brand mentions in traditional news coverage, other business or personal blogs, reviews, or social media.
Some media companies may tag or hyperlink their sources. Others may not link to your brand or website, which means you have to search for them. Check out the PR Tools section below for some helpful software tools.
Note: It’s important to read brand mentions and media reports to gain context. Remember: You want people to say good things about your brand, and it’s not always easy to understand the value of coverage until you’ve read the entire article.
2. Share of voice
This is an essential KPI for PR. Share of Voice measures brand awareness among competitors. This metric helps your business understand the size of customers in your industry and where your brand fits within it.
It also tracks your brand reputation.
3. Pitch Interactions
Pitches are another important metric for PR. It can sometimes take longer than expected for a piece to come online. So track the number of pitches you send and respond to. You also want to track how many emails are opened and how many clicks you get from a pitch.
You can use these PR metrics to create a funnel for earned media mentions.
This can help you better understand which actions will deliver the most value and how to best scale your strategy.
4. Mood
Sentiment, a synonym for point of view or opinion, measures attitudes towards brand mentions. While brand mentions and backlinks typically improve your brand awareness and SEO, it is sentiment that separates the positive mentions from the negative ones.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Whether you agree or disagree, it’s good practice to be aware of negative press.
Here’s what Sarker says: “What I always look for in my PR strategy is to monitor public perception. This includes continually tracking our audience’s opinion of our brand and reviewing media coverage to identify any mood swings. Public perception can change quickly, and understanding these changes allows us to adapt before small concerns escalate into larger problems.”
There are many great tools that can help you with this, which I will discuss below. In particular, Sarker points out how “Google Alerts and social media listening platforms help identify mentions of our brand and services and provide real-time insights into the way we are perceived.”
By tracking sentiment, you can understand what your audience is saying about your brand and whether you need to address any issues or concerns.
5. Social media engagement
Social media engagement includes a few types of activity: views, impressions, likes, shares, and comments.
This information shows the level of brand awareness and engagement of your target audience. It also tells you when your audience is most active, meaning when you should post and interact with your followers.
6. Social Shares
I also learned that social sharing is different than social media engagement. Social shares are when your audience shares something from your website or blog on their social media.
This is a crucial metric because it shows you that your audience enjoys your content so much that they vouch for it on their social channels. It is a very clear measure of your brand’s reputation among your audience.
When looking at social shares, pay attention to what types of content people share most often. This will give you an idea of what your audience likes most and what type of content you should create more of.
7. Website traffic
Site traffic is a sign of successful PR efforts. When people learn about your brand through earned media and visit your website, your PR efforts reach your audience.
When running PR campaigns, track traffic to your website as press releases and other efforts go live. I would recommend that you use your website analytics to check your visitors’ referral sources (how they got to your website) and try to reproduce this in the future.
8. SEO metrics
There are some SEO metrics that can also help you measure PR.
Domain Authority
Domain authority refers to your website’s SEO ranking and how it performs in search results.
The ranking ranges from 1 to 100 (with 100 being the highest) and is a valuable measure of how your website compares to your competitors. The higher your domain authority, the better your website will rank in search results.
Domain authority consists of three main factors:
- Links to your website (backlinks)
- Links from your website to other well-rated websites
- The age of your website.
While you can’t magically age your website, you can use PR to attract backlinks and place links in your content.
Listen: Moz offers a free tool to check your domain authority, page rank and other important website metrics.
Backlinks
Backlinks help you find brand mentions. Backlinks have websites that have mentioned your brand linking to your website, making it easier for readers to click through and visit your website.
And not only will you benefit from the new traffic from collecting backlinks, you could also see a boost in your SEO rankings.
9. Conversions
While it’s not easy to measure the amount of new customers that result directly from your PR activity, it’s definitely worth investigating.
You can find out where your customers are coming from either by surveying customers post-purchase and asking how they found out about you, or by using a tool like Google Analytics to learn more about your customers’ conversion paths (also known as their journey for purchase).
Note: While this is an exciting metric to track, don’t be discouraged if you don’t see an influx of website traffic ready to convert. Remember that the goal of public relations is to increase brand awareness, spread the ideas of your internal thought leaders, and communicate your brand’s ideas. These new website visitors could always come back and make a purchase in the future because they know about your brand because of your PR.
10. Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE)
AVE equals the cost it would cost to purchase the space for an earned media placement if it were an advertisement.
At one point, this was the only public relations KPI, but there are many Industry professionals believe this is an outdated KPI and an inaccurate way to measure PR. Depending on your business, it’s okay if you still want to track this KPI.
Next, I’ll discuss a handful of PR SaaS tools that can help you implement your PR strategies and track these KPIs.
PR tools
To get you started, I’ve put together a handful of PR tools to help you run your PR campaigns and measure your impact and performance.
1. Brand24
Brand24 helps you monitor online mentions about your brand, product or service and measure the results of your PR campaigns. Slack integrations and a notification system help you respond in a timely manner to prevent a PR crisis.
2. Agile PR Solutions
Agility PR Solutions is a paid tool that offers powerful yet easy-to-use solutions for your media database, monitoring and analysis. These solutions help identify and engage with influencers, capture coverage, and measure impact.
3. Anewstip
Anewstip is a media discovery, monitoring and relationship management tool. You can use it to search media mentions by keyword or name, reach journalists and influencers around the world, and create a media database of key PR campaign contacts. It offers both paid and free plan options.
4. CoverageBook
CoverageBook is a paid tool that helps you find and collect coverage of your PR content. It’s a great tool for PR agencies creating coverage reports for their clients.
5. Meltwater
Meltwater is a paid PR and social media monitoring tool with many features such as real-time tracking, advanced Boolean searches, unified inbox, and much more. It is ideal for companies of all types and sizes.
6. Flaunter
Flaunter is a digital press center and showroom that provides brands with a platform to showcase their digital assets, products and sample collections. With 24/7 access for media, influencers, bloggers and stylists, Flaunter makes it easier for brands to gain exposure, editorial coverage and brand recognition.
By optimizing PR efforts, Flaunter helps brands grow their audience, attract new customers, and ultimately grow their business.
7. Google Alerts
Google Alerts is an easy-to-use, free tool that allows you to set up email alerts for specific keyword mentions. When a name, keyword, or link is mentioned online, Google will send you a summary email notifying you of the mention.
8. Mention
Mentions help you track who has mentioned your brand in media and social media. You can also use this tool to post to your social media and manage crisis communications. It offers both free and paid plan options.
9. Monitor backlinks
Monitor Backlinks is a free tool that allows you to track who has mentioned your brand in news coverage and added a backlink to your website. It is also useful for monitoring and disavowing bad backlinks and keeping your website’s SEO and domain authority up to date.
10. Crap shelf
Muck Rack is a paid tool that helps you find and contact media representatives who may want to cover your PR story.
11. PR fire
PR Fire is a paid tool that allows you to distribute your press release to journalists and receive a report on their performance and reach. It’s ideal for internal teams that do their own PR.
12. SharedCount
SharedCount shows you engagement data for any social media, blog or website URL. Once you enter a URL, the tool counts its likes, shares, comments and other engagement measures. It offers both free and paid plan options.
Looking for more? These are just a few useful PR tools I’ve found. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, here are other great PR tools to consider.
Start building your PR strategy
Whether you want to increase brand awareness, launch a new product, or build trust, I highly recommend you first develop a PR strategy.
With all of the tactics, tools, and expert tips I shared above, you can get started right away and create a brand new PR strategy or improve your current one.
As you get started, remember that outreach is an ongoing, iterative strategy, not a one-time task. And like marketing, it can take a while to see results. But with a solid strategy and commitment to getting your business out there, you’ll soon see more mentions, backlinks, and overall buzz.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated for completeness.