The Public Relations Blog

Customer feedback is incredibly important for any business, so online reviews are very valuable.  E-commerce sites have made it easier for consumers to price-check and do quality comparison for any product or service they are interested in.

Nobody wants to waste money on sub-par purchases, so for customers, reading online reviews is an important step in making their buying decisions. This means that online reviews are critical to businesses because they affect their online reputations and business productivity.

Learn how making the right decisions can advance your news coverage efforts

Some say that ethics comes from knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do. Sure, there are ways to cheat and get around rules with little or no consequence, but is that the way you want to run your business?

Just as there are right and wrong ways to run your company, there are also correct and incorrect ways to manage your media relations efforts. Before you create or adjust your media relations strategy, it is important to be aware of the ethical issues involved to ensure that you don’t damage your reputation in the pursuit of news coverage.

Use PR expertise to learn how to work with media

Many companies want to know how to control the media. They want to know exactly when a story will appear and what it will say.

The truth is you cannot control when or if a news outlet will run a story. Nonetheless, with help from PR, you can learn to better target your media relations efforts, give journalists what they want and increase your chances for coverage.

Social media is a necessary tool for any company, and hiring a social media agency could be a great business boost and time-saver. But is your agency really representing you well?

Here are five secrets your social media agency may not want you to know about social media.

Learn how you, too, can use PR to grow your business

In business, growth is the name of the game. Many small- and medium-sized companies look to large corporations to see how it’s done. Knowing this, you may be curious about how much large, billion-dollar global corporations invest in public relations.

Big companies invest heavily in PR firms, typically $250,000 to $25 million annually – often less than one percent of revenue – to achieve big results. Even if you don’t have that kind of revenue (yet), you can still take maximum advantage of smart public relations, if you know how.

When you compare cost to results, you will always come out ahead

As a medium-sized company, you have more resources than a small business, but can still maintain a level of flexibility not present in large corporations. Although you have more money to work with, you still need to ensure that you spend it wisely. So, are you spending enough on public relations?

This is one story about PR and small businesses. Read How small companies do PR and what big companies can learn from them, 5 Things big companies know about PR that small businesses can learn from them, PR firms should avoid startups, and Why small businesses struggle with PR firms for more.

When you combine smart spending with strategic planning, your company wins

In 1971, two teachers and a writer in Seattle opened a shop to sell coffee, teas and spices for customers to take home and brew on their own. That was the birth of Starbucks. Facebook began in a dorm room and was only meant to be a method of communicating between Harvard University students. Every business starts small, but thinking big can bring you incredible success. Sometimes, all it takes is the right mix of bold courage, hard work and good public relations.

When it comes to your growth and success, invest wisely

You have decided that your company needs the services of a public relations firm. Perhaps you already have in-house staff that could use an extra hand to get more done. Maybe you are looking to invest more resources and time in your company’s PR efforts for increased visibility and results, and you have determined that a PR agency is your best option. Whatever the reason, you first need to know how much hiring a PR firm will cost.

Understand the difference between these key components of a winning PR plan  

Goals, objectives, strategies and tactics are some of the most important parts of a public relations campaign and are key components of any PR plan. Many people often fail to fully understand – and therefore misuse – these uniquely nuanced words. Because of their importance, you, our client, need to understand their differences to ensure greater success for your business.

When your CEO creates a firestorm

An instance of self-induced crisis cleanup began on Wednesday when Verizon workers went on strike over several key issues – which, in itself, wasn’t the crisis.

In the presidential campaign events the next day, both Democratic candidates took to the stage to support various aspects of the Verizon workers’ decision. This is common for politicians; it only became an issue for Verizon when the company’s CEO chose to respond to only one candidate, Bernie Sanders, but remained silent regarding Hillary Clinton’s similar statements on the same day.