The Public Relations Blog

Learn why you shouldn’t let just anyone manage this vital tool

To do business today, everyone says you must post, tweet, share, update, like, pin, snap and follow on a daily basis. You also have to take great care to prevent costly mistakes and pay close attention to what others are saying about you. This is in addition to everything else you do to keep your business successful. How do you find the time?

Consumers find comfort and reassurance in the opinions of others. In fact, 52% of consumers reported that positive customer reviews make them more likely to invest in a local business, compared to just 28% who make selections based on factors including location and price.

The word-of-mouth referral predominantly in use today takes the shape of the online review. Whether it’s on Yelp!, Google+, TripAdvisor, Angie’s List, the BBB, or another digital review outlet, the opinions of others carry a significant amount of weight when it comes to where consumers invest their time and money. In addition, leading search engine sites place greater SEO value on “earned input” such as reviews, creating several key reasons for businesses to make a concerted effort toward encouraging reviews.

Ethical implications of using this favored PR tool

Several Axia Public Relation team members, including me, began our communications-based careers as journalists, serving as media gatekeepers. This added expertise often comes into play when counseling the clients we represent as public relations practitioners. We’re bound not only to the Public Relations Society of America Code of Ethics, but to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. Each derivative, interestingly enough, shares a multitude of overlapping guidelines – one of which focuses on the use of the phrase “off the record.”

To those unfamiliar with the parlance, “off the record” is a public relations tool used by any individual (source) who wants to share information strictly as background or context when speaking with a member of the media.

Speaking at conferences, community meetings and expert seminars is a wonderful opportunity to get in front of your key audiences and grow your business. How does your company benefit from such speaking engagements?

Let PR show you how you can benefit from disaster

President John F. Kennedy remarked, “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” A crisis typically indicates that something was wrong and has now reached the stage where you can no longer ignore it. Still, it is also a chance to make changes and make things right.

After a crisis, you must quickly assess the situation and determine what you can learn from it. PR can help with this process.

Invite local bloggers to build awareness locally for your national brand

Firehouse Subs is one of America’s leading fast, casual sandwich franchise restaurants. Brothers Chris and Robin Sorensen founded Firehouse Subs in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1994, creating a brand out of their personal history as firefighters. Their company now boasts 903 locations in 43 states and Puerto Rico, with international expansion to Canada and Mexico planned for the near future. How did the franchisor build such an impressive brand and reputation?

PR can help pave the way to industry stardom

TED is a nonprofit organization whose wildly successful conferences are the holy grail for innovative and enterprising individuals looking to gain publicity and disseminate their ideas worldwide. Conceived in 1984 as a conference for ideas in technology, entertainment and design, TED is now the paramount platform for visionaries seeking a global audience to discuss virtually any topic.

Here, you win by demonstrating your ethical know-how

Is fakery rife in the PR industry? Lying has unfortunately become more common with some PR practitioners – especially lately, with the majority of outlets slashing their seasoned workforces. This leaves tightened budgets, added responsibilities and time-crunched junior practitioners with little experience and apparently no problem turning their heads when it comes to unethical tactics.

Talk to ethics experts and they’ll tell you that the best defense against ethical problems is keeping it real. Professionalism – not exaggeration – is the key to the future of the PR industry. PR is all about building relationships and brands; if the brand image tumbles because of a faulty message, that can damage your relationships, products and services.

Learn more about this important topic to ensure eyes on more of your posts

Why aren’t consumers reading, liking and sharing your social media posts more often? Perhaps your images are to blame. Thankfully, our cool friends at Sprout Social have developed an amazing guide to help ensure that your images are sized correctly.

We spend lots of time determining what kind of information clients should post to each social media platform. However, many don’t understand the importance of the accompanying image.

How your company should respond to a social media attack

A great illustration of mob mentality is the scene in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast when the townspeople amass and call for the Beast’s head. Can you imagine what that would be like today if the mob flocked to social media and the Beast was a company that people felt had “wronged” them in some way? The Beast would have a sea of virtual torches and pitchforks at his company’s door. Without a PR firm, that business could be doomed.

Navigating social media and the public can be tricky. A single negative post concerning even a well-established company can go viral in an instant.