5 Reasons a PR Strategy Is a Necessity, Not a Luxury - 10 Yetis Insight Blog

Some people say that a PR strategy is just a ‘nice to have’ as opposed to a ‘need to have’. Some people also say that Donald Trump will be "the greatest American president of all time". So, you see, not everything people say is true.

When a brand decides to ‘take a break’ from their public relations activity or, worse, doesn’t do anything at all (like, ever), it’s never a great idea in my opinion; and I’m not just saying that because clients pay the bills that enable me to pay my mortgage.

Whilst a decent PR campaign, digital or otherwise, is largely about increasing brand awareness and, subsequently, customers, there is a lot more to it. Here are five reasons why a PR strategy is a necessity, not a luxury:

• Consistency is key – Without a clear PR strategy, you’ll be getting bits and pieces of coverage here and there without anything every really coming together. Nothing will add up and journalists will forget your brand easily if they only hear about it once in a blue moon (unless what you do during that blue moon is truly spectacular and memorable). You need to be actively sending stories out, not just waiting for them to land in your lap. This is necessary because your target audience needs to be hearing about you in as many places as possible, as often as possible.

• It’s good in a crisis – Like a good friend, PR is good in times of trouble. In fact, it’s not just good but 100% necessary. If your brand gets caught up in something negative, you could have journalists knocking on your door, ready to write up a story that could be very bad for you indeed. It’s times like this that a good PR strategy and crisis comms process needs to be in place, to manage the situation and keep brand damage to an absolute minimum.

• It’ll help you to compete – New brands and businesses are launching every day and most marketplaces are, by now, pretty darn crowded. Competition can be fierce and how well you stand out against your rivals can be the difference between your business flying or flopping. Digital PR, specifically PR for SEO(Search Engine Optimisation), can help your business to rank better on Google for key search terms, helping to drive more customers your way. It’s all well and good ploughing millions into an advertising campaign, but the truth is that some consumers are more open to brands they read about on their favourite websites or in their favourite papers and magazines. This is where PR needs to come in.

• You need to manage your brand’s image – Every brand has a reputation to think about and this needs to be managed. Either you have a good image that you need to maintain, or a bad image that you need to improve. Brands like Innocent and Paddy Power aren’t what they are today by accident; it’s a result of awesome PR activity and brand management. Other brands have worked hard to improve their image, like Ryanair, through positive PR stories. So, you see, PR is very much needed to build and maintain a brilliant brand image and reputation. A good, clean image will make consumers want to become your customers, not avoid you like the plague.

• If growth is on the cards, PR needs to be too – As a business expands, the growth is likely to attract more attention from the media. Unless you have your PR taken care of in-house or have the help of an external agency, this attention can be hard to manage and control. A PR strategy and plan is needed to ensure that your maintain a good reputation with the media, because (and trust me on this one) you need them on-side. Plus, you’ll need PR activity in place to shout about your successes and let people know that you’re a big player in your field.

So, if you thought that public relations activity was exclusively for big brands and those in a crisis, hopefully this highlights that actually it’s much more encompassing than that. PR isn’t just something that it’s good to throw a bit of budget at every now and again; it needs to be consistent, well-managed and in line with your business objectives. It’s needed and it always will be.