The importance of Public Relations

In today’s blog we will be going through the benefits of working with a Public Relations (PR) consultant, explaining why it is important for small businesses to do so, and discussing the misconception that PR consultants are only needed for big businesses.

There are many reasons why PR can be crucial to a business’ success. Every business relies on its reputation and the essence of PR is all about building and managing those reputations, which is why it is so important to work with an expert in this specialist area.

Communicating to your audience

Working with a PR professional enables your business to provide positive news stories on a regular basis to your audience, which in turn can help you attract new customers. By allowing your company to keep local papers or press updated about your product or services and also about your brand. This can be useful as it can allow you to generate more opportunities for exposure to your business. Having a PR consultant to bounce ideas off can help build your company’s authority, build outstanding relationships with your target audience and put simply, it will help boost your business to the next level. PR isn’t just for big businesses and if used correctly in a small business environment it can really push your company to stand out from the rest.

Building trust

Having support when it comes to PR can also help support your business by generating new leads. Gone are the days where people would trust big corporate television advertisements to sell them products. These days people care way more about genuine messages and using a PR expert will help your business tenfold as they are trained to communicate genuine messages for the people, to the people. Furthermore, utilising PR can do wonders for your trust and credibility. Having your brand’s name, products or services pop up and get recommended to people can enforce the image that your company is to be trusted. Which of course your businesses’ image should be reputable otherwise you might be running a scam… let’s hope not, aye? Shoot for the stars, get your brand’s name out there by utilising a great PR consultant and shed light on your company to your target audience. By doing this your business will gain traction, new leads, and will help turn your target audience into customers or clients!

Better than advertising

Why advertise when using PR is more effective? Earning your publicity whether it be through media coverage, word-of-mouth, or testimonials from customers is far more trusting than advertisements. Data from a Nielsen study shows that PR is 90% more effective than just using advertising when it comes to influencing potential customers. You can advertise anything, which is why earning - for example a favourable mention of your brand will hit your audience much harder than a plain old drawn out advert that may or may not be embellished.

Prevention is better than cure

Having a good PR strategy will help prevent any problems that may arise. For example, if you are a small business who mainly rely on word-of-mouth then having an angry unsatisfied customer spreading rumours or just writing up a bad review about your business can really damage your brand’s credibility which is something you really don’t want. Also, on a bigger scale if any potential lawsuits are raised then they can be mitigated if dealt correctly and quickly. A major part of PR is to stay on top of everything that is said about your company and making sure that information that is being said and spread is accurate.

If you are running a small business and working with a PR consultant makes sense, or have any questions, then you can speak with one of our PR experts by clicking here Get help here

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