Getting In the limelight using PR

A company should understand that PR is not done by waving of a magic wand and is done strategically over a period of time. It forms the image of a company and the activities designed for PR are based on the outlook of the company and where it wants to head to. In today’s world when communication happens as quick as the wink of an eye and when people are very inquisitive, it is important to play the right cards of public relations and make sure that your company is noticed as it is half your work done. Bill Gates rightly underlined the importance of public relations when he stated, “If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it in public relations.”

PR personal Anu Kailasam states that, “ PR can also be carried out through social media and wire press for startups as it is cost effective and the link is more direct with the customers. It is not necessary that all PR has to be based on media stories and we should mix the various tools and try to get the best results in the tools which we find handy.”

Who’s your Audience

It is important that your message is decided based on your audience and the mode of communication is also based on it. “For a business like ours that is into retail ecommerce, our audience is anyone and everyone, across the country. We use our customers to act as our PR representative. Once a person makes a purchase, we gather information related to their shopping experience and use the same to capture further customers” says Krithika Nelson of Shopo.in 

So use the powerful communication tool, PR and climb up the ladder with a glittering reputation. Show the world that you are a step ahead of your competitors. Sandeep Komaravelly, Vice President at Snapdeal.com says “getting the mileage we deserve started with understanding who our target audience is. We use tools that tell us the page, product that a customer has spent most time on. Leveraging on that information, we attract them with offers related to those products. This is how we go about getting PR for Snapdeal. We also have a blog, facebook and twitter account that are updated on a daily basis, interactions with customers and prospective, all of which help drive the business ahead.”

Go the media route

It is important to capture the attention of journalists and the information that you hand out to them should help them to understand the essence of the company. Every journalist is interested in giving out something that will be new and refreshing for the reader so it is important to stand up in the crowd of startups in order to get the attention of journalists. The pitch you give the journalists should highlight the originality of your company and should be able to provide fodder for an interesting write-up. This will make the journalists take notice of you and will transfer the attention to print. In PR the old saying “first impression is the best impression holds good till date so it is important to be technically sound and to be strong in all aspects of your company.

Vinod Harith of CMO Axis adds “as a market research company, I was not very sure where to start. What kind of PR was needed, but now for me, it is mostly the conferences and events, even those such as Tie and TED that bring in new customers and connections. Today, I have a few journos and others from media who are constantly in touch, seeking updates and insights. It works for us, am not complaining”

Influencers

The best mode of marketing is word of mouth. And these days, with businesses going online, the best PR medium are the bloggers- customers and others who blog on various categories. Dr Hari, a wellness specialist says “ I have employed an agency to help me promote my services. One of the activities we carried out was to meet a group of bloggers who have been blogging about health, medicine, fitness and other categories around this and give them a taste of what I do. This was then promoted through their blogs, which is read by their followers. I cannot afford to shell out a lot of money for PR, so this route works best”

smementor@moneycontrol.com