If you’re reading this, you probably understand the value of public relations. It’s cost-effective and credible. Its power in winning over prospects to turn them into customers is unquestionable. PR is about telling stories—and even getting others to help us tell our stories. Think customers, influencers and, of course, reporters.
While it’s always been a valuable tool in the marketing mix, in today’s content marketing driven world, public relations has taken on an even greater role of importance as companies seek to fill the pipeline with relevant, compelling material.
When we reach out to reporters with a pitch, we sometimes get the desired result—a story! Or we pitch a speaking gig—and we secure a speaking engagement! Or, maybe we’ve entered our company to win an award—and we win!
But then what?
When I speak to groups about public relations, I often talk about how to “publicize your PR.” No, our job isn’t over once we’ve secured the coverage or the speaking gig or won an award. After all, if you’ve worked so hard to get the opportunity, should you let the win just wither and die on the vine? Absolutely not! It should have a life beyond the day it appeared.
So how exactly do you make the most of your efforts? How do you max out the life of that news story, contributed article, speaking gig or award? Here on some ideas on how to make the most of the fruits of your PR labor:
- Once you have a press release or article, push it out using appropriate channels—the news area on your web site, your social media channels like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, in your newsletter and so on. Of course, let EVERYONE know—your customers, followers and investors.
- Once you secure a speaking engagement, promote it—you can post it on your site under “Events”—“See our CEO at XYZ conference,” for example. And leave it there a while…even up to six months is a good idea. Social media is a great place to promote the speaking gig before and after. Months or weeks before, you can post about it. When it’s over, you can post saying, “Thank you for having our CEO present!”
- Once you win an award, publicize that news—issue a press release, post it on your site, and blast it via social media. Maybe even investigate to see if there’s a “badge” you can add to your site. You can even work it into your boilerplate. And once you’ve won, you’ll always be an “award-winning” company.
These are just a few ideas. You can probably come up with other ways to share and leverage your news. Whatever you do, be sure you make the most of the win and get more bang out of your effort. Helping your publicity live on should always be your goal.
