In this second blog in our series, we look at six practical steps to produce a PR strategy for SMEs and how to find the stories which will bring that strategy to life.
In part one, we looked at the way good public relations enhances the reputation of a business with the aim of building trust. Now, we will delve into the detail.
Define what you stand for
Ask yourself a simple, but profound question. Why should anyone care about you or be interested in what you are doing?
Set your values and your purpose as a business. If you can’t express why your firm exists, no one else going to grasp it either.
- Start with the board or senior management team
If your leaders are not serious about improving your reputation to meet new challenges, why should anyone else be?
- Engage your staff
Employees have plenty of great ideas. What kind of business will they feel proud to work for? You might be surprised at what you hear; most people are more positive about their own firm than leaders give them credit for.
- Build the business case for PR
Work through the numbers. How will an enhanced reputation cut your costs, boost sales growth, facilitate innovative partnerships to drive NPOD, give you greater Licence to Operate?
- Embed your values into your business model
Ensure everyone in your business knows, understands and implements your values. And don’t tolerate those who cut corners or ignore them to boost sales figures or their personal position. It’s that old cliché – walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk.
The example of Brewdog shows the dangers of not living up to the values you preach.
At 360 Integrated PR, we define our purpose as communicating how business benefits the planet, people and the pursuit of profit.
To that end we:
- Take steps to reduce our own environmental impact
- Support third sector organisations
- Work with companies who are actively decarbonizing themselves and their sector
Define and prioritise your stakeholders
This goes deeper than just listing customers, shareholders, staff, local communities, although even that is a good start. Probe deeply, question those stakeholders: what matters to them, what do they want from a relationship with your business?
Then prioritize. You cannot keep all of your stakeholders equally informed about everything. They seek different levels of communication from you and possibly through different channels. Map this out.
And keep an eye on who else those stakeholders listen to; how can you influence the influencers?
Set measurable and realistic goals
This is the area most lacking in a PR strategy for SMEs. Far too many have woolly objectives – ‘raise awareness’, ‘increase reach’.
Be specific. What behaviour or attitude changes do you want your PR strategy to achieve?
One of our objectives for PR in 2024 is to generate four speaking opportunities to present purposeful PR strategies to SMEs in this region. As a result of consistent communications and relationship building with key business organisations, we have already achieved this goal, so we will now stretch it further.
Craft your messaging
Don’t just think about what you want. Remember those stakeholders you identified earlier? The sweet spot for your messaging is where what you offer and what stakeholders most care about comes together
So, create no more than three or four top line messages. Be sure you can define why are they important to your and the stakeholders you are developing a relationship with.
Substantiate, substantiate, substantiate. Everything you write, say, or do should demonstrate the truth of one message and should be supported by the facts.
Tell strategic stories
Use the TRUTH principle to ensure your story will cut through the noise – it should be True, Relevant, Unusual, Topical and have Human interest.
Then choose the right media for your key audience to convey each story. We use the PESO model to help make media choices. It broadens the scope of wat you think possible.
Before you press Send ask one final question. Who cares?
Keep focused and monitor sentiment from key stakeholders
Historians claim that, when Roman emperors took part in a triumphal parade, they were accompanied by a slave who kept whispering in their ear “Remember, you’re only mortal”.
It’s not all about you. So, our final piece of advice is this: be an active listener.
Keep close to your stakeholders. Is their opinion of you changing? How are outside forces, (the cost of living, cultural norms, innovations, the competition, etc.) acting on them?
Use this intelligence to regularly review and revise your PR strategy, messaging and the channels by which you deliver your PR.
These are the building blocks of a successful PR strategy for SMEs (and any other firm for that matter). Use them wisely and watch your reputation grow. For more information or training, contact 360 Integrated PR.