PR is a lot of what appears in the news (01/24/2011)
(...) Or ideas, rather. One clothing business utilized a general election to publish a list of well-dressed (and badly dressed) MPs. This was a fun, human-interest story that offered a light-hearted look at what is a serious topic. (...)

Building a corporate brand means much PR work (01/24/2011)
(...) There were hundreds of other companies available, numerous of them much longer established, so unless he was going to compete on cost (which in business is the last refuge of the incompetent) he would have to compete on credibility and integrity. Stobart gave all his trucks women's names (his first were named following prominent female performers of the seventies like Suzi Quatro and Dolly Parton) and insisted that his drivers be smartly dressed in collars and ties in any way occasions. Driver training is still a main part of Stobart's success-apart from hiring good people to begin with, the business trains drivers to be courteous to other road users and (of course) to customers, and to take a pride in their vehicles. (...)

Involve your stakeholders in your PR efforts (01/24/2011)
(...) It has a low crime rate, good local schools and shopping, and some excellent parks. Unfortunately, though, being close to the airport means that much of the town is given more than to warehouses and industrial parks. Belmont had a reputation for being dull, industrial, and characterized by low home prices. (...)

PR newsletter and interview control (01/24/2011)
(...) Newsletters are simply a brief outline of the latest developments in the firm. They could be produced in hard copy, with or with out illustrations (desktop publishing makes it easy to include photos or cartoons), or can be produced electronically. The choice depends upon regardless of whether employees are all on e-mail or not. (...)

Releasing the story of your product to the press is good PR (01/24/2011)
(...) Telling the entire story produced Dyson a success, exactly where other lone inventors (Sir Clive Sinclair is one) failed to catch the imagination of their markets. Letters columns of newspapers frequently offer an easy method to get your story across. Of course, you have to have a good letter to write, and preferably one that is newsworthy in itself. (...)

PR should help you develop local marketing strategies (01/24/2011)
(...) Note that the vouchers do not benefit the customer directly: they benefit local schools. The Tesco customer has the warm feeling of helping a good local cause, but without actually having to spend anything. Tesco has the kudos of helping a local cause, while still operating on a national basis-yet the cause is branded across the country rather than being linked to a specific area. (...)

Running surveys and involving employees is successful PR (01/24/2011)
(...) The results were amusing, and also the topic itself was needless to say one that many people discovered relevant: it's certainly a situation that nearly all single individuals encounter on a normal basis. The survey was widely quoted on TV news, and also sparked numerous magazine articles-all great PR for Nescafé. A lot of PR coverage is directed internally. (...)

How good PR can help you with business enemies (01/24/2011)
(...) They occupied the rig for several weeks, and when they had been evacuated they held a press conference in Aberdeen: as is frequently the case, the protest groups have slicker PR than do the companies they protest against. Over the ensuing weeks, Shell petrol stations and offices had been boycotted or even attacked, and Shell staff had been sometimes abused. Shell ultimately backed down and had the rig dismantled. (...)

PR can hire freelance journalists when dealing with press releases (01/24/2011)
(...) Nowadays, magazines and newspapers are like any other business-they need to cut their overheads. Employing individuals is expensive, what with saving up for their holidays, paying their National Insurance, putting money aside for their old age, paying sick leave, and so forth. The answer for many periodicals would be to use freelance journalists. (...)

A successful PR campaign can sometimes be out of the ordinary (01/24/2011)
(...) The company's PR campaign emphasized their experience of the supply-chain event management marketplace, and their knowledge of how a big number of businesses were now using the internet to solve supply-chain problems in ways that would have been impossible only a couple of years earlier. The campaign also highlighted instances exactly where research showed the level of losses being incurred by companies whose supply-chain management was inefficient. The campaign worked out fine. (...)

Eye catching PR is doing something unusual (01/24/2011)
(...) Spin Media, the PR consultancy involved, staged a "Ballerina on a Building Site" event in which ballerinas in leotards and hard hats danced on the construction website itself. This proved to be an irresistible photo opportunity for the press and TV. An opera singer sang from The Barber of Seville while shaving comedian Johnny Vegas's chest hair, and DJ Mark Radcliffe reported on the progress of the building during radio interviews, thus involving a younger audience. (...)

Do not pay much attention to your business enemies (01/24/2011)
(...) A great rule would be to avoid being intimidated by a silence. Numerous individuals really feel that they have to say something once the other person has stopped speaking-but if you wait a couple of moments, they will often go on to say something entirely ridiculous. This tactic also gives you time to think of a great response. (...)

Interesting advertisements can bring your PR efforts to another level (01/24/2011)
(...) Such stories are automatically interesting, and are almost usually sure-fire winners with the media simply because they lend themselves to eye-catching headlines. This preoccupation with extremes is what makes people buy Guinness World Records, and is also a driver for people buying newspapers. Such stories frequently make the TV news as well, and there have even been several TV shows devoted to extremes of weight, height, and even silliness. (...)

Telling the story of your business to the press is a smart PR tactic (01/24/2011)
(...) The Heinz history is illustrated, is interactive, and is comprehensive. Not all businesses would have the resources to create such a web page, but even the smallest business can make a human-interest story from their history: Lucie's Farm, a supplier of Highland beef, tell the story that their founders (Craig and Marjorie Walsh) first became interested in rearing Highland cattle after seeing the film Rob Roy. They are now the leading breeders of these cattle outside Scotland: the farm even has its own crest. (...)

Make your clients do the PR work for you (01/24/2011)
(...) 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. (...)

PR activity must include blog monitoring (01/24/2011)
(...) You need to state your situation, sure, but you can be a small humble about it! Do not be tempted to get a friend to post a glowing recommendation on the blog. They rarely read true, and also the blog master will take exception to it if you are discovered out. Many businesses carry out charitable works or make charitable contributions, sponsoring this and that, but relatively few will go the step additional and establish a longer-term relationship using the charity. (...)

PR people must offer fast responses to any emerging crisis (01/24/2011)
(...) Obviously all students had an email address that was provided by the college, however it turned out that this was much less effective than the other methods of communication. Peer Systems sell their software to numerous organizations, both governmental and commercial organizations. Anybody needing to contact a lot of people quickly needs a similar system. (...)

Get a celebrity to attend your PR event (01/24/2011)
(...) Obviously you need to be clear that you have hired a lookalike-you can't pass them off as "the real thing" no matter how much they resemble the celeb-but lookalikes have great potential for humor, and also make a great photo opportunity. Produce something with impact around the celeb. Try to choose someone who is in the news, in specific if they have some connection with your industry. (...)

In flight magazines offer a lot possibilities for PR people (01/24/2011)
(...) For example, an estate agent may write about property trends, a restaurateur may contribute some traditional recipes from the local cuisine, or a clothes store might contribute an article on fashion trends. The possibilities are endless! Authoritative articles on subjects of interest towards the readership are exactly what editors are looking for. In numerous instances, though, such articles are dry, even tedious: an article about falling house costs and what you can do to help your home sell is interesting, but lacks a certain humanity. (...)

What is upstaging the competition in PR terms (01/24/2011)
(...) Such stunts are hard work and might not usually pay off-but it is better than doing nothing in the face of a juggernaut! Children are an emotive issue: anyone who is, or has been, or will be a parent has at least some emotion about kids in general. Yet from a PR point of view they are often neglected, when in reality they could (and ought to) be a potent source of PR coverage. Newspapers and TV love stories about children, simply because they know that their readers and viewers adore stories about children. (...)

PR tactics and exercises for defining companies to the public (01/23/2011)
(...) Forcing opponents into a negative position provides you with an instant advantage in establishing your own credibility in the minds of your publics. Unless your opponents are extremely slick, you will have gained the high ground. Find the positives. (...)

Sponsorship as a popular PR tool and effective PR campaigns (01/23/2011)
(...) Hamlet sponsored a prize by the Literary Review for probably the most badly written sex scenes in new literature. The 2004 award went to famous American author Tom Wolfe, who's reputed to be the only author who did not turn up to claim his prize. Sponsorship has now also been banned for tobacco companies, which has left a void in the funding of numerous organizations: nevertheless, for a time the Bad Sex Award offered Hamlet a great method to promote itself. (...)

How PR people manage to attract the attention of teens (01/23/2011)
(...) Far too numerous executives regard the press as a nuisance, and answer "no comment" to anything they are asked. You need to attempt to develop in some time for journalists to talk one-onone using the movers and shakers in your organization. Understandably, journalists prefer to have an angle that other journalists don't have, so announcing everything to everybody doesn't go down well. (...)

Know the journalist you work with and be controversial (01/23/2011)
(...) Having this kind of understanding shows that you're taking an interest in the journalist and the periodical, and enables you to produce something that will probably be of real interest to its readers. This dramatically increases the chances of its being published. Breaking through information clutter is a perennial issue. (...)

PR and business promotion in a creative way (01/23/2011)
(...) Getting the photographers along to your media event will make the story an excellent deal more publishable, and will also create an excellent deal more interest amongst your publics. For this to happen, the story must be visually exciting as well as newsworthy, of course. Finding something that will make a good news photograph is a challenge, but it is a challenge that can be met, having a little creative thinking. (...)