PR: how to make ideas popular?

Before diving into the scheme of promoting ideas, let’s consider what PR is and what classifications exist. 

Let’s start with the fact that PR is a set of activities used to ensure a positive image of a particular company, organization, or individual. 

It should be noted that PR is not marketing! Marketing is responsible for sales and the development of the company, while PR helps to gain consumer trust – and this, of course, has a side effect on sales. 

These can be special events to attract public attention, organizing meetings with journalists, placing information in the media, sponsorship events, advertising, etc. 

The goal of PR is to ensure a positive perception of activities, products, or services and to enhance reputation.

A good PR specialist: 

• understands how to create texts that provoke the desired reaction; 
• knows how various information channels are structured and can work with them; 
• can interest the media in company events; 
• feels which information can help the company and which can harm it; 
• knows what to do if the company faces an image crisis. 

Soft skills: 

• has a desire for professional growth 
• has a desire to achieve high results for the company 
• shows great initiative at work 
• can clearly solve problems rather than just fulfill requests 
• expresses thoughts constructively and clearly
• takes responsibility for tasks 
• is attentive to details 

PR and product 

Fig. 1 – The “Golden Ring” rule

People don’t buy what you do, they buy “why” you do it. 

Let’s break it down with an example: What – a computer. How – your unique selling proposition; how you differ from competitors; what benefits you bring. Why – this is your philosophy, some concept, why you do it.

The goal is not to do business with everyone who needs what you have, but to do business with those who believe in what you believe. 

Target audience

Fig. 2 – Target audience of PR promotion

The main tool of a PR manager is information. How exactly will you transmit it?

Fig. 3 – Options for conveying information

How to establish contacts with the media and where to find them for beginners? 

First of all, study the company’s contact database where you have started working. Organizations often already have good relationships with media representatives. 

Analyze which media your competitors are collaborating with and build your interaction strategy based on that analysis. 

Make personal contacts with journalists and editors at various events and on social media. Pay attention to crafting a written request for collaboration, as beginners often make the mistake of sending the same template email to all media representatives. 

What types of media do we need? 

Fig. 4 – Types of Media

PESO Model

Fig. 5. – PESO Model

Paid media: sponsored articles that tell about companies and convey necessary messages to the target audience. 

Why does a brand need special projects: advertising that isn’t boring; closer to the target audience; content that gets shared.

Earned media: typical comments, press releases, and news about companies, pitched stories, columns, and other content published for free.

Shared media: all content on the brand’s official social media pages. This also includes user-generated content about the brand. 

Owned media: the company’s website, corporate blog, and other sources that are fully content-controlled by the company. 

The main task of a PR manager is to bypass the advertising department and place a free publication. 

Pitching a Journalist: 

• Address the journalist by name 
• Who are you? State your name and explain your position in the company 
• Link to previous publications. Mention that you were impressed by how they covered a similar story, explain why you think he/she is the best intermediary for the story (optional). 
• Propose a topic that you think will be interesting to the publication’s readers
• Discuss the format in advance – interview case article

*Pitching is presenting an idea to interested parties with the aim of engaging them in partnership.

Inverted Pyramid Rule

How should you write a press release or article if you are sending it ready to journalists? It is best to follow this structure:

Fig. 7 – Inverted Pyramid

In simple terms: we reveal the essence of the publication, develop the topic, and add practical information. 

Checklist Before Sending a Press Release

Fig. 8 – Checklist

News Hook –  the foundation of the PR text that will interest the journalist and the publication’s audience. 

What could this be? 

• Analytics: can influence audience actions or predict ongoing events
• Innovations: impact the entire market, breakthrough technologies, inventions, etc. 
• Events of international scale: have a significant impact on the life of the entire country or a specific region
• Unexpected statements made by the media
• Emergency situations and their consequences 

Thus, summarizing all of the above, let us reiterate what PR is. It is the process of creating and maintaining a positive image of a company, product, service, or individual through media and other communication channels. Like in any other activity, PR has its advantages and disadvantages:

Table 1 – Pros and Cons of PR

Services that will be useful: 

• Coffee with a journalist – a podcast with journalists from well-known tech publications. 
• UAreport, MediaMonitoringBot – free services for monitoring mentions in the media. 
• YouScan, Infostream, Somo, Looqme – paid services for monitoring mentions in the media. 
• Similarweb – a service for measuring and analyzing websites and mobile applications.
• Languagetool – a grammar and spell-checking service.
• MailTrack – a free tool for tracking emails.
• Google Alerts – tracking news by keywords, searching for mentions in the media of your own company and competitors. 

So, in conclusion. How can you still get a publication? 

• Check the news against the criteria: interesting to a wide audience, important for the market, or affecting people’s lives or sectors. 
• Find out if you can disclose information: figures, facts, analytics, budget, investments to strengthen the news hook. 
• If the news is important: choose the target media outlet to offer the news exclusively before sending out the press release.
• Create a catchy headline: interesting to a wide audience, important for the market, or affecting people’s lives or sectors.
• Write a lead: an introductory paragraph containing the most important information about the news hooks and key figures. 
• Write the news text: information from the most important to the least, revealing details from the headline and lead first. 
• Insert no more than 2-3 quotes from speakers in the text: it is important that each contains new information, without fluff.
• Gather contacts of journalists who write on similar topics. 
• Create a letter: an introductory paragraph containing the most important information about the news hooks and key figures. 
• Distribute the news to the media database: information from the most important to the least, revealing details from the headline and lead first. 

To dive deeper into the topic, you have the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the report in video format with answers to questions.