Nowadays, starting your own business is much easier than before. Every day the necessary tools to start a business are more at hand, but there are many things that we still can not leave in the hands of software or artificial intelligence, one of them is public relations, so today we want to give you some tips on public relations for entrepreneurs.

Often the work of public relations is often confused with the work of social media manager or marketing department, because they all work in one way or another with your public image, but public relations goes much further, so if you want to know what are the differences and benefits of public relations for your venture this article is for you. 

What is public relations

The concept of public relations is one of those concepts that we use very often, but perhaps we do not fully understand, so to better understand what its objectives are and how public relations can help in our venture, let’s start by understanding what this term refers to.

Public relations is the set of tactics, actions and strategies that focus on creating links with different audiences. So these practices will not only help you generate positive links with customers, they will also help you generate links with suppliers, investors, even with authorities or the media.

Undoubtedly, you can imagine how important and necessary they can be for your company. However, let’s take a closer look at the benefits they can bring to your business.

 

Why I need a public relations department

A good public relations strategy is necessary for any business, especially in today’s competitive world, because it not only helps you to establish links with your customers, but it is also a key element in the positioning of your brand among the media and your competitors.

The benefits of public relations applied to your business can be summarized in three:

• Generate identity: if you have well established the identity of your brand and especially if you know well your value proposition and the scope it can have, then you have already set a goal and route for the public relations of your company, because they will focus on showing the world what is your identity and what is your value proposition. A public relations strategy prevents the brand identity and value strategy from getting lost in a sea of information.
• Transmit credibility: a good public relations strategy can help you to be seen as a serious company by your public and competitors. Giving an image of a formal and legal company is one of the objectives in public relations, especially if there is a problem or conflict.
• Facilitate meetings with investors and relevant audiences: a specialized public relations team will help you establish clear and assertive communication with both investors and relevant audiences, making your message more concise and faster to these people, saving time and money.

Does my venture need public relations?

Now that you know all that a public relations strategy can do for you, you may imagine that its work is very similar to that of a communications department, you may even think that these objectives are already met by your venture with the help of other departments, but you may want to read these signs that indicate that your business needs to improve its public relations:

• You have no contact with the media that will help position your venture.
• You are looking for new investors or new sources of income
• If your business strategy is not aligned with the communication channels you are interested in.
• You are not achieving the engagement you want with your audience.
• You do not have a contingency plan in case of unforeseen situations of an informative nature.

 

Tips to implement public relations in your venture

As always, the best advice to implement public relations in your business is to hire a specialist, who will always give you the best advice and the best guide to show your company to the world in a professional and serious way.

However, even if you hire public relations specialists, it is advisable that you take into account these tips so that your strategy fits your identity and your objectives as a brand.

 

Know yourself

Knowing your own company seems like a no-brainer. However, sometimes we take for granted that we perfectly understand all the elements of it, but sometimes we can’t answer, without resorting to platitudes, questions like:

• What are the values I want to convey?
• What makes me different from the competition?
• What is the company’s mission?

The answers to these questions are the basis for creating a brand identity, with which a team or a public relations expert has the basis for designing a productive campaign. 

Networking

A public relations strategy will help you establish a link with the media and with the professionals who will position your brand, but you must first have an idea of which media you are interested in linking with.

For this reason, it is a good idea to network by attending entrepreneurial events, participating in forums and conferences focused on your market niche. Research your peers to understand what alliances you can form with them and which ones are best suited to your business model.

Building a network of contacts will help you understand the market in which you want to operate and above all will help you get an idea of the companies and entrepreneurs that best align with your venture and with whom you would like to be connected.

Establish objectives

As in any strategy, the most important thing to do before starting is to establish objectives, so for your public relations department you should establish short, medium and long term objectives.  If you do not have a clear idea of what these objectives should be in your public relations, think about what you want to achieve with a communication strategy.

The most important thing is to establish “SMART” goals, i.e. goals that are specific, measurable, achievable and time-bound. A good example might be to appear in three business magazines in the next three months, or to collaborate with a certain influencer in 6 months.

Once you have well-defined these types of goals, you will be able to establish parameters to evaluate your public relations strategy, to establish priorities and to make a more detailed follow-up.

Make your CEO visible

When you start a business, the most important thing is to project the image of your company, but many times you forget a figure that is just as important, especially in business environments, we are referring to the CEO of the company. So our next tip is to give visibility to the CEO.

It doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of your venture, or you hired someone to run your company, the person in charge of the company should have the same visibility as the company. Remember that in the end we all prefer to deal with people and put a face to a company to better identify it.

Try to ensure that the CEO has a presence on networks with a professional but warm and human image. In addition, he/she should have a positive relationship with the media and other entrepreneurs.

Plan for the long term

Keep in mind that public relations will help you create a reputation, but building it is not something simple, nor something that is achieved in a couple of years, so take into account that you will see the results in the long term. So you must be aware that you will have to make a long-term investment.

 

In conclusion, public relations are much more than marketing and are an essential part of your business that should not be missing. It will help you establish links with your customers, investors, media and other companies, which you can hardly establish with other strategies. Tell us, is there any extra benefit of public relations that we forget?