The Public Relations Blog

4 reasons to stick with public relations for the long haul

The insightful Warren Buffett says it takes 20 years to build a reputation. Public relations shouldn’t be a short-term investment. PR is about building relationships and building results. It’s important to know that every company’s needs and objectives are different. PR isn’t a cookie-cutter process. In fact, the best results come from a strategic and proactive PR campaign. Companies that don’t stick with public relations for the long haul are making mistake #15 of Axia Public Relation’s list of the top 15 mistakes companies make when they hire a PR firm. Below  are four reasons you should commit to a long-term relationship with your PR firm.

Why PR professionals are more effective at media relations than marketers

Companies use media relations as a means of reaching their important audiences. This is a great strategy. Stories that appear in the media are highly credible and reach large audiences effectively at no expense.

It’s a fact that public relations professionals are more successful in building relationships with the media and getting news coverage than their marketing counterparts. Why do marketing professionals hate pitching the media?

6 steps to earn a Wikipedia article for your organization

A Wikipedia article is an effective way to spread the word about your company and keep people informed about it. Google often uses Wikipedia summaries at the top of its search results, which is great coverage for your company. So, how exactly does one get a Wikipedia page? There are several tough guidelines with which you must comply before moderators will allow your company to appear on Wikipedia.

How to benefit from marketing and PR strategies

The terms “marketing” and “public relations” aren’t interchangeable. Defining what makes them different can help you create better-focused marketing and PR campaigns, with better objectives, goals and expected outcomes.

Social media expert explains what social media analytics mean

One of Axia Public Relations’ favorite social media publishing tools is HubSpot. Yet HubSpot isn’t a fit for every company, so we often recommend Buffer as an alternate because it’s so easy to use and offers analytics that update daily. It’s important to understand the meaning of your social analytics. How is post reach different from post impressions? And what’s the difference between engaged Facebook users and Twitter engagements?

5 questions to ask your PR firm to initiate a measurement conversation

When you bring on a public relations firm, one of your first conversations should be about measurement. This helps both parties identify the need for a PR campaign and the overall goal for your organization. In order to establish collaborative goals and a shared vision for your campaign, you need measurable objectives in your communication plan.

Axia Public Relations covers 15 mistakes companies make when hiring a PR firm, and not having a measurement conversation is mistake #14. It’s important to have the measurement conversation with your PR firm in the initial steps of planning your PR campaign.

Be the company that journalists want on their team to gain positive news coverage

You want to increase media coverage for your company, yet you’re afraid or reluctant to share specific details, such as sales, revenue, contract value, client names, costs, etc. Your fear is understandable, as you have to worry about maintaining an edge over your competitors and keeping control of your information. The media experts at Axia Public Relations have some sage advice for dealing with this conundrum: Get over it.

In every relationship, there has to be give and take, and media relations is no exception. If you want your company to receive great media coverage, you have to share. Cooperating with journalists is crucial for the success of your brand.

Prospective clients ask us on a regular basis, “How do you get to know our company, and how do you use that information to generate earned media coverage?”

We love educating business people about the power of PR and how we help companies earn media coverage.

One reason companies hire a public relations firm is to raise awareness about their products. When you’re ready to gain media coverage for what your company offers, it’s critical that you provide samples of your product for media representatives to try. You should also be sure to ready your spokesperson for interviews.

When a company is unwilling to share product samples with media or to give the media access to certain people within the company, it's making mistake #12 of Axia Public Relations’ 15 mistakes companies make when hiring a PR firm. Don’t let this be your company. Educate yourself and prepare before you hire a PR firm. Here are four factors to consider when you’re ready to launch a campaign for your product.

Prospective clients often ask us about news wire distribution services as part of their public relations campaigns. We find that many companies are using these services incorrectly. If you aren’t using a distribution service the right way, you aren’t receiving the full value of the news release and that could be hurting your brand.

To that end, we created a list of how, why and when your company should use a news release distribution service.