If you’ve got a business, you need to shout about it. There’s no use keeping quiet if you want to build your customer list.

A good public relations approach is a must these days if you want to promote your business. So, here are our top tips for getting started on a PR campaign that really works.

What exactly is PR?

There are a fair few different definitions of PR, but at the most basic level it’s a way of promoting your business, goods or services without having to spend money on run-of-the-mill advertising. Looking a step further at strictly digital PR, it is the way to build a business persona in the place people will see you – online.

How does it work?

PR works by meeting the expectations of your audience, and demonstrating how you provide something they need. If you want your PR campaign to stand out it needs to convey a message and call to action in a way that makes people stop and take notice – whether that’s someone browsing your social media channels, or a newspaper editor thinking of printing your press release.

Where do I start?

As with many things in business, being clear on your goals before you set out is essential. A PR campaign aimed at increasing footfall to your coffee shop will differ from one aimed at building your profile with key corporate customers.

Take some time working out what you want to achieve, who your message needs to be aimed at, and what you want people to do as a result of seeing your message.

Targeting your target

Once you’ve worked out who your target is you can start working out how to reach them. When choosing how to reach your audience it’s important to consider how they get their news.

For example, the CEO of a construction company probably wouldn’t go to Instagram for business updates, but she would use Linkedin and read relevant trade magazines.

Equally, if you’re trying to promote your coffee shop to local office workers, then Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will be on their radar.

Getting the word out

 Now comes the fun part, when you get to translate all of that research into a campaign! It can be quite daunting to turn your ideas into action, but take courage from the time you’ve spent researching and planning.

Rather than putting all your eggs in one basket, make sure that your campaign has a varied approach, both in the channels you use and the length and style of materials and content you issue.

Try not to overcomplicate your approach – the simplest ideas can have a huge impact. Going back to our coffee shop example, a poster outside the shop advertising a loyalty scheme could boost footfall and be constituted as a successful PR campaign!

The importance of evaluation

Whichever approach you take it’s vital that you evaluate its success. Hopefully it will allow you to show how the time you’ve spent on PR has had a positive impact on your business. On the flip side there’s a lot to be learned from evaluating why something didn’t work. Either way, your evaluation will go a long way to ensuring the success of your next PR campaign.

Have you taken steps towards launching your PR campaign? Let us know how you get on, in the comments below.