At raraPR our philosophy is built on the idea that there’s longevity and prosperity for businesses with well-placed foundations. Just like a home; or pretty much anything that’s built well and made to last.
There’s no way of PRing a business successfully (to its full potential) if that business is limited by ineffective (*ugly/bad/off-message) copywriting, website design, user experience, branding, design assets, product packaging, point-of-sale and of course social media.
Investing in PR brings value to your bottom line with care and patience over time. But not all businesses are prepared for PR. Whether your business is a start-up, set to take over the world or is an established business that needs a boost; here are nine signs your business is ready for PR.
You’re clear on why your business exists.
The most important step any business can take is defining their why. Knowing why your business exists and what value it brings to the world sets the tone for effective communication and ultimately PR.
You’ve defined your target audience.
Once you’ve defined your why you can get clear on defining your target market and exactly who your company serves. This is also one of the most important tasks you can do in readying your business for PR. Defining your target market and niching your audience down will allow you to dominate and get cut-through for your business.
Your brand identity clearly represents what your business stands for.
Brand ID is the foundation of perception and connection. Without a brand identity that connects with your audience and represents your business authentically; it’s going to be difficult to educate or influence anyone.
Your product or service is ready for market.
PR will drive awareness and uplift in eventual sales. Make sure your business is ready to scale and that its primed with available product that can meet the needs of customer inquiry. There’s nothing worse than successful PR falling flat because the product or service wasn’t easily available at the time of media coverage or there simply wasn’t enough product to meet demand.
Media kit assets are ready to go.
Don’t underestimate the power of how assets sent to the media can raise the bar of impact for your business. Good media kits don’t just inform the media on a businesses unique selling propositions. They elicit emotion; connection, excitement and enthusiasm to further research that business and support it with well-placed editorial.
Your social media is in order.
Don’t be afraid to Marie Kondo your social media platforms to make sure your digital footprint is in order. Media (and then potential consumers) if interested in your opportunity will investigate your business. What they’re looking for is reassurance that your business is who it says it is. The first thing media will do upon receiving a media release they want to know more about it check out your businesses online assets and reputation.
You have a call to action.
There’s absolutely no point in reaching out to media with a general ‘heads up’. They’re busy and get a deluge of opportunities to consider every day. It’s best to reach out when you have something valuable to say with a clear call to action that potential customers can take. Multiple calls to action is totally fine; but know what you want to motivate your audience to do. Know exactly what steps you want your target audience to take.
You have time.
Valuable PR results are unearthed after a whole lot of time. It takes determination, grit and resilience to get media cut-through. Not only do you need to strategically plot the channels you’ll pursue to promote your business you’ll need to triple down on time spent hustling interest. And then if you strike gold; that you have time to respond to media on demand to ensure features can go live with their content schedule.
You have budget.
PR isn’t free and it isn’t cheap. And unless it’s for a one-off product launch or special event it should be a long term and sustainable investment. Hiring a agency will save you from PR misadventures and optimise your publicity capacity, but if you don’t have a PR budget; definitely consider ways that you can manage your own PR until your business is ready to invest properly in handing it over. If you haven’t considered PR spend within a marketing budget; then you’re probably not ready for professional PR.
None of these recommendations are particularly revolutionary, and kind of seem quite logical but strangely businesses are quick to hop-step-and-jump closer towards PR before being ready. So this is a nice little check-list to help you get the timing right for when you and your business take the PR agency leap.
Words by Jade Roberts
raraPR Founder and Creative Director
raraPR is above all the sum of people who together help build brands and share stories. We are present in our determination to make a positive difference to the world by representing individuals and businesses that are doing good. We are an extension of the personal stories within us, those that we exist for and those within you that need to be heard.
