Everyone wants more business, more clients, more work, ultimately leading to more revenue. Clients, whether they are business or consumer clients, are generically speaking part of the public sphere. In order to attract new clients from that public sphere, you have to have some sort of plan on how to reach them, educate them about your company and product, and attract them to do business with you instead of your competitors.

This basic concept of interacting with the public has three main components that I believe are the foundation of defining public relations: Reach, Educate, and Attract. How you do each of these things will depend on your target client, the type of product you have, the message you aim to send, the marketing materials you have available, and the person or team you have dedicated to your public relations campaign. Some companies are large enough to have an in-house PR person or team focused 100% of the time on the public image, message, and visibility of the brand. Others might have one person who juggles PR, marketing, and sales. Some may outsource PR to an experienced professional or firm. Regardless of who is handling your PR, equal energy must be applied to the multiple tasks necessary to build your relationship with the public.

Reach Your Audience

You might read “reach your audience” as “find your audience.” There is no question that public relations requires finding the targeted public, but beyond finding them you have to actually reach them, engage them, interact with them, confirm that they are indeed part of your audience. A good bit of research as well as trial and error should be put into finding and reaching your audience. With multiple media formats available, your desired new clients could be on the other end of television, radio, newspaper, magazine, email, website, social media sites, conferences, networking events, or even the dinner table. Knowing your demographic and how they use each of these media as well as word of mouth will help you determine where to spend the most energy in finding and reaching them. Once you have identified where the audience is, start to interact with them. Multimedia such as TV and radio will require that you have a story to tell as well as a call to action that motivates your audience to come to you. I personally think these forms of media push the “reach, educate, attract” goals all into one campaign where you must accomplish everything at once.

I believe print and online media offer platforms in which you can build a relationship with your audience. Reaching an audience on the other side of a magazine can be done through having press releases or articles published, letters to the editor printed that speak directly to your clients, or photos used that show your product being used in a way that the audience can relate to. The more your target audience sees your company or product, the more they will be getting to know you.

Online media is an endless array of opportunity to find, reach, and connect with an audience. I’ve written before about Twitter which is an invaluable resource for reaching an audience. Social media sites abound where you can create profiles to show the public face of your company and interact with clients. Interacting on blogs, message boards, and other networking sites are also open doors you can walk through to reach your audience.

Educate: Share Information

Take the time to educate your audience–teach them not just about your company and product but about your industry, where it’s been, where it’s going, how you are a part of it. Tell them how your products are made, how they’re used, what you have changed, what has evolved, and what you have learned from other customers. Use your full field of vision when sharing information with your audience. Don’t limit yourself to talking about just what is in front of you because when you talk about more than just yourself you give your audience a chance to understand where you stand in the industry and where you stand on industry issues. Give your clients as much information as possible so that they can ask educated questions of both you and your competitors and make well-informed purchase decisions. Chances are if you educate the audience better than your competitor, you will reap the sales rewards of having shared valuable knowledge with your clients.

Attract Relationships

All of the effort you put into public relations is about building a relationship. From finding, engaging, and interacting with your audience to sharing information with them, understanding their questions and responding to their needs you are creating a two-way relationship. Once you’ve invested in getting your company name and product in front of your audience and they know who you are, you have to provide them with a call to action, a reason to come to you and stick with you. Whether you are appealing to their emotions, needs, goals, or budget find the thing about your company that is most attractive to your audience and make it work for you. If you’re not sure what that thing is, ask the audience. Remember, it’s a relationship which requires open communication to be successful.

Public relations allows you to show your best side to your audience and if you put the many pieces of public relations together, you will find that the audience you intend to reach will continue to grow, you will have more information to share, and you will find yourself in many happy relationships.

Post from: Chesapeake ProCon

However, they weren’t sponsoring the regatta for the sake of converting sailors to “the dark side.” Charlie Ann Syprett is the particular Krogen owner I was corresponding with and she happens to be on the board of a non-profit organization, The Wellness Community, which provides support, education, and hope to cancer patients and their loved ones. She recognizes the peace and escape that boating offers and in working with TWC started Kruisin’ for a Kause which unites TWC cancer patients with boat owners for a day on the water. Kadey-Krogen as a company was immediately on board with this concept and so were many of their owners who were eager to help share the joy of cruising with those who are so consumed with the stress and exhaustion of a horrible disease.

Selfless Success
When Charlie Ann’s yacht club was organizing the annual Invitational Regatta she saw an opportunity to bring TWC in front of an even larger cruising audience, and again Kadey-Krogen supported her efforts. Their sponsorship allowed the regatta to have a charity aspect for the first time.  The event’s ticket sales from an evening Docktails party as well as an auction raised $30,000 for The Wellness Community.  This was a fantastic opportunity to inform the marine industry, regional publications, and oncology publications of the good being done by one small yacht company, an enthusiastic cruiser, and a community of caring boaters.

What really made this whole experience so meaningful were the people involved that provided me with the information and photos I needed in order to distribute a meaningful press release. I was connected with another public relations firm, two photographers, yacht club members, Wellness Community supporters, and regatta organizers all of whom had something to contribute. Not only were they helping me, but they were also spreading the word of the success of this event through blogs, announcements, and newspaper articles. The energy of the event, the feeling of hope it generated, and the selflessness of everyone involved in creating and promoting one group’s charity efforts was absolutely contagious. — Natalie Friton

Post from: Chesapeake ProCon