7 Ways to Integrate PR Into Your Daily Marketing Activity Small business owners can integrate low-cost PR techniques into their daily marketing activities.
By Renée Warren Edited by Micah Zimmerman
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Want to help your company stand out from the crowd? There's one strategy that goes beyond the reach of ads or traditional digital marketing tactics and can create an even bigger impact: an effective public relations strategy.
An excellent public relations strategy can mean distinguishing between struggling to get noticed and receiving the attention you've worked so hard for. It pushes your brand message beyond likes, clicks and new followers, creating a memorable brand presence and telling your company's story how you want it to be perceived.
Having run my own agency for several years and done PR extensively for my own company, I've seen first-hand the value of getting your company's story out.
PR isn't too complicated and is a low-cost way to amplify your current business strategy. If you'd like to benefit from PR but don't have the budget to hire a firm, it's best to start with some easy tasks to get you started. Here are seven ways to integrate PR into your daily marketing activities.
1. Monitor your target demographic
The best way to gain daily insight into your audience's thoughts and feelings is to watch how they engage with your content and your competitors' content. See how they interact, and pay attention to what they're saying and the content they typically share.
Also known as social listening — the process of monitoring and analyzing social media content related to your product or service — is a critical part of understanding your target demographic's needs and desires. This method allows you to gain insight into your audience, what they're looking for, issues that concern them, and more. With this new information, you can tailor your messaging to reach them more effectively. Often, it can help spark some creative content or pitch ideas.
Related: This Tool is the Key to Enhancing Your Social Media Presence.
2. Skim the news
It seems simple, but keeping up with the day's headlines is often overlooked in place of more urgent tasks. Begin the day by skimming the headlines (I like Apple News for that), reading trade publications and devouring your competitor's newsletters and social media feeds. Then, take a quick peek at your accounts' social activity and even your clients' feeds to see what's trending.
You can do this 15-minute task while on the treadmill, preparing your kids' lunches or gearing up for your morning commute. There is no time to be one day behind the trending memes or headlines in the fast-paced marketing world. You need to sink your teeth into what's hot right now, or else you'll miss the opportunity.
3. Focus on storytelling
Good marketing is less about cold or hard selling and more about great storytelling. Stories evoke emotion, and people connect to messages that make them feel good (or bad), seen, and heard. Every purchasing decision is emotional, so finding unique ways to share stories of how your products or services benefit others can help your audience form a deeper connection with your brand.
For example, reflect on your emotional journey that led you to launch your company, how you solved your own problem and even highlight case studies that expand on your client's successes. Free PR for your clients too? I am sure they won't say no to that.
Related: How to Use Storytelling to make your Audience Fall in Love.
4. Use free PR monitoring tools
You can use numerous tools and techniques to tune into journalists' needs. A quick Google search will bring up gems like Help a Reporter Out (HARO), or a quick hashtag search on platforms like Twitter for #journorequest will bring up a multitude of journalists seeking experts for their latest story.
There is no need to spend hundreds each month on PR tools that would confuse you. Start with free or affordable PR monitoring tools instead.
Related: Why Your Marketing Team Should Be Journalists
5. Dedicate time to chat with your audience
It's also important to regularly communicate with journalists and your audience to provide value and help nurture those relationships. This includes responding to comments on your posts, giving carefully thought-out replies to private messages and sharing pertinent content that complements your brand message.
Public relations is just that, relations. So yes, direct messaging a follower to ask about their day or taking the time to encourage someone is a form of relationship building. The more your audience can know, like and trust you, the more apt they will buy from you or recommend you to a friend.
Engaging your audience builds trust between you and your brand's audience. People want to know they're being heard, and sometimes all it takes is a "thank you for sharing" response to a comment praising your product or service publicly. Plus, it really doesn't take much time to be responsive.
6. Create content that connects your brand message to your followers
Value-driven content beats most other forms of content because it allows you to share actionable and useful videos, blog posts, social media posts, and even press releases that position you as an authority in your space.
Create content that motivates your audience to take action. It doesn't have to be complicated or detailed. In fact, the more simple it is, the better. If you can help solve a small yet common problem your audience has via Instagram Reels and transform that into a success story, you'll have even more proof that you know what you're talking about. This can be a great pitch angle when reaching out to the media.
Related: Branding 101: The Basics of Building a Successful Brand
7. Use testimonials as a powerful tool for your business
Client success stories and positive testimonials can be used to create content that shows your audience that you care about their opinions and value their feedback. On the same note, you can use negative feedback to make content that shows your followers how you're striving to improve your business. All feedback is good feedback, and this is especially true when merging public relations into your daily marketing activity.
While PR is one of the best ways to boost your public profile, it's often neglected because many entrepreneurs think it takes time or a huge budget. But even businesses that don't have extensive marketing budgets can benefit from the above strategies. Remember that relationships are only built through consistency, so this isn't a set-it-and-forget-it approach but something your business must be actively working towards. By incorporating PR into your everyday marketing and spending 30 minutes on it, you'll see a difference in brand awareness as people become more aware of your products or services.
