Monday, April 25, 2011

Learn the In and Outs of P.R. and Marketing

As a public relations executive in an industry where the media landscape continues to change, you must stay ahead of the trends. I read industry magazines, online blogs, and tons of newspapers each and every day to stay on top of shifts and changes. I also continue to keep nurturing my relationships with media contacts on a regular basis. They are always looking for a story, and you’ve got to be the person ready to supply them with one. However, you can’t waste anyone’s time. Each time you contact a TV or radio producer, TV anchor or news reporter, you must have a pitch ready that will really capture their attention. That’s the most difficult part of my job when you work in cause-related marketing because sometimes the media isn’t always looking for a feel good story. They’re looking for information that is sometimes sensational. The story that might interest them would include a celebrity mention and involvement, or just anything they might feel their readership, viewers or listeners would be interested in knowing.

When I first got in this field over 20 years ago, keeping professional memberships current was easy. However, as a veteran P.R. professional, mother of multiples, wife and businesswoman, keeping up with those memberships have become pretty hard. I have many hats to where and not enough time to where them. Therefore, I must pick and choose what associations to join that will provide the best benefits to me because I have to stay ahead of the trends in order to offer the best services to my clients or employers.

I always create a P.R. and marketing strategy uniquely tailor made for each client or employer I work with in order to appropriately promote them. One client might need to boost their presence on Facebook initially and later start building their presence on additional online sites such as Twitter, YouTube, and their very own Web site. Another client might need to sell tickets to a concert, which would require gathering all music lists deadline dates to make sure your clients events are included. Well-timed articles in various newspapers and magazines will also build brand recognition, so a good P.R. professional should always be thinking about how to get their clients best achievements into great pitch letters and/or press releases that will hopefully turn into newspaper articles, TV and radio interviews or numerous magazine exposure. You might even be asked to write the articles for some small magazines, and small newspapers sometimes use your press release word for word. The more P.R. skills you have means top notched promotional campaigns. Clients and employers rely on you to get the word out utilizing multiple skills while you work on various projects that might involve social media as well as writing speeches, releases, articles, white papers, and many marketing materials.

Upon taking on a new client, you should always do a thorough inventory of all marketing materials as well as P.R. hits in the past to ascertain the clients true needs as well as perception out in the marketplace. Perception can be more powerful than reality, so you need to understand what you’ll be dealing with prior to getting started. When reviewing marketing materials you have to ask yourself if a consistent message is present. If not, you need to overhaul all materials and get the client up to speed on brand messaging and consistent designs starting with the company logo. Is the company logo working or does it need to be redesigned? What marketing materials do they really need? How many marketing pieces should you create? Answers those questions and move on accordingly. As far as P.R., as I said above you need to know what the current perception of a company is prior to writing any releases, speeches, articles or pitch letters. I am a firm believer in plenty of research to know what the objections to your pitch might be. If you’re prepared you’ll be ready to respond appropriately in order to secure the right media hits for your clients or employer. I could go on, but I can’t give away all my trade secrets. However, if you’re interested in learning more about my services and how K.T. Communications can help you build awareness and build your brand, please contact me at ktcommunications45@gmail.com so we can discuss your P.R. and Marketing needs.


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