Public relations – from mystical to matter of fact (a small business case study)

PR to me has always been a little mystical.  What is it about? Is it something we could do ourselves or do we need to engage a PR firm? As a not-for-profit business, we wanted to take advantage of other mediums that we hadn’t thought about previously which could drive further awareness about our business and its benefits to our customers. Like many small businesses with so many options available, what are the best ways to get more ‘bang for your buck’ and be heard in a market where you can easily become ‘unheard’?

PR mentee, Sam Leet.

The PR Mentor workshop which we recently completed with Kim Larochelle from DRPR provided us with an avenue to further explore, utilise and take advantage of some of those other mediums.  We thought we would have to know some of the lingo – but guess what – you don’t!  What this workshop does do though, is help you put your own marketing plans into context around some really effective PR principles such as formulating key messages and identifying your target market and the objectives around what you want to achieve from your communication plan.

Simple stuff!  Well not so simple, but what we did find is that we basically, had most of these things already formulated – our key messages for instance needed tweaking with a twist on the focus.  Once those key messages are set it flows down to every piece of communication you have throughout your business including your website, social media and how you liaise with the media.  All these elements are covered in the workshop in a holistic way – it flows and by the time we got to the end of the workshop we had a much clearer understanding which we could confidently put into practice.

On a personal note, Kim Larochelle is an excellent presenter and passionate about her craft.  It is very refreshing to attend a workshop where you walk away armed with some very useful information and, more importantly, techniques.

Sam attended DRPR’s PR Mentor Program in May 2011. This blog was originally posted on the Dennis Rutzou Public Relations PR blog.