The greatest kind of PR is the PR that comes from your clients (and indeed the rest of your publics). What you say about yourself is usually a small suspect-people are well aware that you have a vested interest. But what your clients, staff, suppliers, and so forth say about you is far more credible.
Testimonials have, of course, been in common use since Victorian occasions, but the age of communications has supplied us with a lot more possible ideas.
Ask members of your publics to write you a testimonial. If they don't have time to do it, write it for them and ask them to approve it-obviously you need to be pretty careful here, since people do not always like to have words put in their mouths.
Testimonials are greatest used on your website and in publications (such as brochures) that people ask for. Using testimonials in advertising is often regarded as suspect-this is because communications that are unsought are assumed to be biased, whereas information someone has asked for is assumed to be pretty accurate.
A good way to encourage your customers to write testimonials (at least, if you're in a business-to-business marketplace) is to ensure that they plug their personal business in the testimonial. If you're writing the testimonial for them, this is something you need to do on their behalf.
Charities are always strapped for cash, and they're usually looking for publicity. This means that they're usually fairly switched-on about PR: following all, if it's for charity they have a fairly simple time of it in terms of getting air time and press space, as compared having a commercial organization.
Rattling a collecting tin on a street corner rarely works effectively-in fact, the people doing the collecting would probably raise more money by putting in some overtime at function for a couple of hours, and donating the money. So charities are usually looking for something a bit more high-profile, along with a bit more lucrative.
Run an auction on behalf of a charity. You can ask individuals to contribute goods and services, but fairly obviously the top items should come from your business. Run the auction in an easily accessible place, and if possible get somebody famous to conduct it: this will increase the likelihood that the press will attend.
The idea works greatest if what you are auctioning is something high-profile and/or of high value: if you auction off a holiday in the Seychelles, this has more impact than auctioning a weekend break in a country hotel. If you have something topical to sell, so much the better: during the 2009 recession, cars had been not selling in any way, so auctioning a car might produce a considerable impact. Your decision has to be based on how much you can afford, of course.
Involving other individuals in the physical exercise may dilute your PR value to an extent, and could outcome in the physical exercise being hijacked by someone with a more exciting contribution, however it will help to share the expenses.
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Note: This article was sent to us by: Serena Greane at 01242011
1. PR tactics and exercises for defining companies to the public
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