The Public Relations Blog

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December 2020 – Year in Review 2020
Key Takeaways and PR Moves to Make Now

This year, we saw a tremendous upheaval for industries across the globe — perhaps none more so than in marketing. Check out the major impacts affecting marketing strategy as we move into the new year and the moves to make now to position your team for success in 2021. 

Use our step-by-step guide for measuring public relations the right way.

Before you can meaningfully explore PR measurement, you have to account for research, planning, and implementation. Research and planning will help you identify the end results, and then you can work backward from the desired results.

Too often, executives and public relations pros want to measure PR without establishing a research baseline.

Under research, planning, and implementation, you have objectives, inputs, and activities. And under measurement, you have outputs, outtakes, outcomes, and impacts. Although most public relations professionals at PR firms and in-house PR staff tend to focus on measuring activities and outputs, efficient and effective measurement goes well beyond measuring activities and outputs.

Let’s start at the beginning. A good framework for measuring public relations and corporate communications begins with objectives. 

As marketers and public relations pros, we’ve likely all wanted to have an amazing April Fools’ Day prank as a fun way to bring attention to our brand.

In the right circumstances, April Fools’ Day pranks can make for great PR.

In the wrong circumstances, April Fools’ Day pranks can make for really bad PR.

Even the least experienced PR professionals know, as with any joke, there are many potential April Fools’ Day pitfalls to consider. Avoiding backlash should be a top priority.

Measuring your PR and communication campaigns the right way proves its value

The Barcelona Principles provide best-practice guidelines to measure how well public relations and corporate communication efforts are working. PR isn't sales, yet measuring it correctly helps connect PR to real business results like sales pipeline activity, social media conversions, market share of voice, site traffic, and site rankings. 

No marketing plan is complete without PR. An Entrepreneur article claimed “marketing without PR is like a dream without a goal.” And no marketing and PR plan will be able to prove value if not measured.

Our PR agency created this 20-step process for getting earned media coverage for your company

We’ve previously discussed what earned media is and its role in public relations. However, knowing about earned media is one thing, and doing it is another. For someone unfamiliar with this process, it can seem almost impossible to know where to begin and how to get through it. However, there is help.

At Axia Public Relations, we’ve developed our own system for earned media we’d like to share with you. Here is a visual chart showing how we do things and an explanation of each step.

It's hard for corporate communications and marketing professionals to be creative

Creativity would be easy if we had unlimited time, budgets, and resources. And since we don't, it can be hard for corporate communications and marketing professionals to be creative. 

We are expected to deliver unique and powerful ideas on the regular for our leadership team, clients, and customers. Sometimes inspiration comes from strange places. Since 2016, in an intentional effort to improve my creativity each day, I've been challenging myself to try new things, do things differently, and take more risks. It's now part of my daily DNA and my personal drive.

WordPress might be the most popular content management system, yet it’s not the best for company websites. There are smarter, safer platforms available that offer the perks of WordPress without the hassle and risk.

The digital age has changed marketing. Old-school tactics, like cold calling and direct mailing, are no longer effective as a means of increasing sales. Consumers have more control over what advertising they encounter, and most mass marketing campaigns are an exercise in futility. To grow leads and sales, you must attract prospective customers through thoughtful, insightful, informative, and entertaining content. In other words, you need a winning inbound marketing strategy.

Public relations software is one of the many important tools for earning media coverage

Every week a prospective client, PR agency peer, or another PR professional asks us:
“what's the best solution for a U.S. news media contact database?”

It’s not an easy answer. It’s like asking “what’s the best automobile?” 

At Axia, we've tried them all. And the simple answer is each has their pros and cons.

No company is safe from crisis as we’ve seen with the coronavirus pandemic. Although your communications strategy and tactics must shift to crisis communications during a time of emergency, it’s still of utmost importance to monitor and evaluate your company’s coverage as it weathers the storm.

You should continue to measure your company communications during a crisis, and you should include these four values in your criteria.