5 principles of PR to improve your marketing strategy

The principal way in which businesses communicate to their stakeholders is via public relations (PR). The practice of ensuring that a business brand is visible, part of the conversation, viewed positively and considered relevant.

This can take several forms, often but not exclusively via various forms of media (social, broadcast, print, trade…).

There is no doubt that PR can completely change the way in which your business is viewed. Offering an opportunity to control the way a brand is externally observed, PR becomes a consideration no business can afford to ignore. It can also affect the way you see your own business, as well as affecting the culture inside it.

An asset to any organization.

PR is an ever-changing, marathonic endeavor. But the fundamental principles all businesses should strive to communicate through are constant and don’t have to be too complex or daunting.

Here are our 5 principles of PR to improve your marketing strategy.

Your business is given its right to exist and operate because the public has deemed your product or service useful to them. This principle demonstrates why we must build relationships with our stakeholders.

It’s not a decency, it’s a necessity.

Let’s take the example of your typical for-profit organization. Without the consumer, the organization could not exist.

Should the consumer decide that the organization is not trustworthy; nor willing to engage in a dialogue – they will take their business elsewhere. This is not unique to for-profits, however. Not-for-profits rely on volunteers and donors in order to exist. Building and sustaining these relationships are paramount to their success.

Your respective stakeholders must give their consent for your organization to exist. The best way in which to maximize the chance that they do this is for them to know who you are. And, from that, conclude that you are worthy of such privilege.

Modern PR demands that business-to-consumer relationships be mutually beneficial.

The modern consumer demands to be seen. The ever-evolving technology of social media has made it so that never before has there been a more convenient and personal way to communicate with your stakeholders.

When communicating, however, you must ensure there is dialogue; not monologue.

This is what’s known as two-way communication. The act of opening a conversation, and actively receiving a response from your stakeholders.

Compare this to advertising or marketing, for example, whereby an ad is carefully calculated to ensure a specific message. The ad is then dispatched to its intended public. The consumer does not have a means through which to respond. Does this relationship seem fair?

Granted, the goal of marketing is not to build relationships – it is to sell. So the advertisement, while fulfilling its purpose, does not aid in the construction of relationships. This is an example of one-way communication.

If you are conducting a PR campaign in which the public does not – or cannot – reply, you may not be building the healthiest relationship you could.

Long-term relationships require trust. The quickest and most effective way to lose trust is to lie.

While in the short-term, tactics like hype, spin and distraction may be effective – they are counter-productive to the soul of PR: long-term trust.

Once trust is broken, it can seldom be repaired. In some instances, stakeholders may deem your act of dishonesty severe enough to cut the relationship entirely.

The role trust plays in all relationships (even those outside of business) is fundamental. What is a relationship, of any kind, which lacks trust?

If you find yourself needing to employ certain tactics which jeopardize your relationship with your stakeholders, there is a much deeper and more serious issue emerging. This will be with either your product, service, or moral compass.

This principle typically applies when an organization is undergoing a crisis. This can be, but is not limited to:

• A product recall
• A managerial scandal
• A rogue employee
• The public has discovered a lie in your claims

The public must see you taking actionable steps to solve the issue at hand.

It is not enough to simply apologize. All crises, regardless of size, should be resolved in the appropriate manner. That is, to fix the issue, then engage in a dialogue with the public.

In such a dialogue, you must answer the questions your public likely has. Things like: “How did this happen?”, “What have you done to rectify this?” and “How will you ensure this doesn’t happen again?”.

The exact answers to these questions will vary depending on the crisis. But, if you can not answer these questions once you have taken your active steps to resolve the issue – then have you actually solved the problem?

Your goal is to build relationships. This requires clear communication that shouldn’t be compromised for the sake of cleverness.

Brevity is not to be neglected when communicating. By all means be creative and artistic with your communication, but ensure that your message is not lost in doing so.

This is relevant not only to your use of language, but also to the channels of communication you are looking to build with your public.

A large part of this principle is deciding which channel(s) are the right ones for your message. For example, social media is the typical choice of channel for modern; digitally literate organizations, but a decision like this will depend on several factors (such as your target audience’s age).

Regardless of our industry or area of expertise, the way we build and sustain relationships remains of vital importance.

Your stakeholders  have dominion over your organization and those within it. To engage with them respectfully and with an offer of mutual gain is to be seen as an organization with their best interests.

With the nature of the corporate ecosystem being that of competition and rivalry, we must not forget that even our direct competitors are some of whom we benefit from conversing with.

When engaging in a dialogue, of any kind, the clarity and honesty with which you engage will ultimately decide the quality of the relationship being formed. We are always aiming for long-term, tangible relationships.

Deploy these principles appropriately, and you can be confident that your stakeholders will be loyal and kind. Particularly, in instances of crisis or inflated market.