4 Practical Ways to Improve your Public Relations Toolkit

Are you looking to improve public relations for your small business? Public relations (PR) refers to the techniques and strategies used to manage how information about an individual or company is disseminated to the general public, particularly the media. Its main goals are to spread important company news or events, keep a positive image of the brand, and put a positive spin on bad things to lessen their impact. PR may occur in the form of a company press release, a news conference, interviews with journalists, social media postings, or other venues.

We invited some of our coaches to share their resources and where they’ve learned their knowledge of PR.

Turn to a Guide 

Annalise Evenson recommended Dorie Clark as a great resource. Firstly, Dorie’s book Stand Out was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine. Secondly, Dorie has a lot of online tools and helps business owners invest in others in the long term. Here’s access to a number of blogs. Dorie has written about promoting yourself with authority and authentically. Lots of gold nuggets to find with her!

Create Media Easily

Neha Govil, a Leadership Coach,  loves using Canva.com to design and schedule her social media posts. Are you using Canva.com? Generally, Canva is a free online design and publishing tool. Their mission is to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish it anywhere. Canva enables Neha to control the images that are linked to her brand.

Use Storytelling as a Tool

Tom Duenow, Co-Founder of Transitions in Nature,  likes to define PR as defining who you are and what you stand for.  He recommends this article on guidance on living your core values when it comes to PR. The Forbes article does a great job of reminding us that PR is about storytelling. Furthermore, the author reveals that you CAN do PR without all of the freebies, jingles, and other parts that may irritate you! Robert Wynne does a great job of outlining a list of tools you can use to start your own PR campaign. Be sure to check out the market research and pitches to improve your public relations.

Learn from Experts in the Field

Pat Koppa, a Business Consulting and Health Coach,  shared a workshop from the Institute for Public Strategies called  “Media Advocacy Workshop”. It’s a 4-hour, interactive virtual training session. The full-day workshop is led by media experts with decades of experience generating print, broadcast, and online news. In the workshop, they define “what media advocacy is and isn’t.” They also define how to “engage with the modern newsroom,” including working with Twitter, bloggers, and podcasts, and how to do your own pitches. 

Where do you turn for support and knowledge on PR pitches and campaigns? Transitions in Nature has some amazing coaches who can consult with you and help you improve public relations for your small business. Connect to Elaine today and see what custom solutions are possible!