Being in the public relations field means people ask us all the time, “what exactly does a PR associate do?” Most people instantly think of a certain HBO character (hello Samantha Jones) and relate the fabricated storyline of living in a big city and throwing extravagant parties for celebrities’ with public relations. While not entirely false, seeing as client events are important, PR is way more than the glamorous lifestyle that Ms. Jones portrayed on television.
If you speak to anyone in public relations, our immediate answer to that question will be that we are storytellers. A client may have an event coming up, and it is our job to get the public and media interested in attending as well as remembering the event well after the clock strikes midnight. So how exactly do we get the word out? Well there is the obvious answer: social media. Then there is the not so obvious answer that millennials sometimes forget about: traditional media (yes people still watch TV and listen to the radio).
Public relations professionals not only tell a company’s story through media outlets and events, but also help a businesses stay relevant and keep said story on people’s radar. We do this by aiming at target audiences through specific media outlets. For example, if your company were to host a pop-up boutique downtown, we would reach out to local fashion bloggers and influencers around the area to get the right media exposure for the shop. In turn the bloggers and influencers would continue telling the boutiques story long after their visit.
So with that begs the question, what is a good story worth? While there are many ways to go about this question, here are a few short answers:
- Increases sale and profit margins while establishing your brand
- Creates free media for your business
- Having good stories about what’s going on in the community is exactly what people want to see and in turn sheds a positive light on your business
- Increases attendance when your company has an event
With the right PR firm, a story can be worth a lot more than most may think. We know what it takes to get a story on television or in the local paper and get people interested in what you have to say. I mean we are storytellers after all.
