SKC Insights

A common dilemma: You have a growing company, great products and services, happy customers and a knowledgeable CEO. But no one knows who you are. Thankfully, a strategic, focused public relations program can change that. Many companies have relied on proven PR strategies to raise awareness, build industry presence and even bolster sales. You can too.

Here Are 6 Ways PR Can Help Your Company:

1. PR Positions Company

Ever get the question, "What does your company actually do?" Are you inundating prospects with confusing messages? A PR program can craft direct and memorable messages that can effectively position and differentiate you from rivals. It also positions the company and CEO as the "go-to" source for industry trends and news.

Email, a major pillar of any savvy company's marketing strategy, is the only channel where we have full control of our messages, design, and distribution. Plus, the ROI and conversion rates are consistently higher than other marketing tools.

So what makes a marketing email effective? Is there a secret formula that can help produce consistently great emails? There is!

AIDA is one of the longest serving models in marketing, commonly attributed to American advertising advocate Elias St. Elmo Lewis. Time tested, AIDA is a foolproof method of creating effective marketing emails with four essential elements. In fact, once you understand AIDA, you’ll start seeing it in every piece of marketing content that makes you say, “I need to buy that!”

1. Attention - Catch the Eye with A Killer Subject Line

Attention spans are shortening and you may only have seconds to attract a customer as they scroll through their inbox. So that attention-grabbing subject line is your essential foot in the door. Those few words will have to get your customer to read the first sentence of your email, which will lead to the next and the next. Peak their curiosity and self-interest with the promise of a benefit to them.

What separates the haves from the have-nots in the business world? The simple answer is "reputation," an intangible that fortunately isn't unattainable. Chances are you already have most of the components to build your company's identity and reputation. One thing is for sure, no matter how good your product or service, you don't stand a chance in the business world without a solid reputation.

Here Are Five Ways To Build Reputation:

1. Know Thyself

Laser-focus on the niche that gives your company its competitive advantage. Knowing where you stand in the competitive landscape is the first step to developing your company's key messages and a larger strategy for building your company's identity and reputation.

You've spent months and years of your life on it, and you're finally ready. You're ready to launch your new company, product or service to the world. But how do you ensure that the right people notice? Many ingredients make a successful PR launch – a generous dose of time, a sprinkle of creativity, and most of all, intense preparation on all fronts.

Here are 5 Considerations for Your PR Launch:

Tradeshows are like marathons. They aren't for the faint of heart. The biggest ones, like CES, run for six days and are packed with early mornings, late dinners, bustling business exchanges, and constant industry buzz. Tradeshows are also popular, albeit noisy, forums for promoting your company, your successes, and your messages. But how can you make sure that your company is not swallowed up by the sea of vendors vying for mindshare and media attention?

Here are 5 ways to grab the tradeshow media spotlight:

1. Be Prepared

Months before the doors open and the crowds pour in, your PR firm can work in close coordination with event organizers to uncover media opportunities for you -- from inclusion in tradeshow dailies to exclusive invitations to media events. Plan your releases so they can be pitched weeks in advance, not days. Now is the time to enlist the expertise of PR pros to refresh your message, update your media kits, and get your executives interview-ready.

So, you've decided to hold a media event: a press conference to launch a new product or service that will change the industry (or the world), celebrate a company milestone, merger, or a bi-centennial. Before you send out invitations to guests, especially your media guests, review your checklist and make sure not to miss these five steps. As a host, it is up to you to intrigue reporters to gain their attendance and potential media coverage.

Here are 5 steps to planning a media event:

1. Have a News Hook

You might have organized a well-planned event: you might be disclosing company news, or launching a new product, or providing breakthrough sessions at your conference. Believe it or not, these might not be enough to tempt busy reporters to come to your event. You'll need solid, relevant and timely news hooks. How will your company news or product shake up the industry? What value can you bring outside of what the media can read from your press release? Can your news resonate beyond the conference room and event hall? Be sure to highlight trends, unique aspects of your product or service and demonstrate how your news will transform and elevate these trends. Where there's a news hook - there's a story.

"Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent," said Harriet Beecher Stowe, an abolitionist author who lived in the 1800s. More than 150 years later, this statement still rings true. Organizations must find ways to communicate and convince your target publics of the worth of your missions, services, and products - or compromise success.

Here are five reasons why you need the media:

1. Reach Your Target Audiences

The media has the uncanny ability to reach thousands and millions of the right people in an amazingly short time. The company and/or individual who knows how to interest and intrigue the media has mastered one thing -- the ability to leverage the media for mutual benefit.

In ye old days of print, a newsroom was the physical space where journalists gathered to pound out news on their typewriters. Now, the term refers to where companies post their news and all the information they want journalists to find.

Also known as digital pressrooms or media kits, your newsroom is the PR hub of your website. It not only attracts traditional journalists, but podcasters, bloggers, and influencers who are curious about your business. To ensure that they find what they are looking for, be sure to include newsroom essentials like:

Growing up is never easy. There are always unexpected twists and turns, but as children there was that shining light of adulthood at the end of the tunnel. Building an online presence for your company can feel the same. We dream of skipping those awkward adolescent years of slow news coverage and empty email lists and moving straight to being the go-to website for your market. But we need to learn to walk before we can run.

Sometimes it is nothing short of mystifying when a competitor with lesser products, numbers, and brand recognition generates more ink than you. Just as the art of Chinese calligraphy is built upon layers of subtleties, spanning thousands of years of knowledge and imbued with the spirit of the masters, so are the complexities of telling your company's story.