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Five Reasons to Consider a PR Consultant .. or Can You Afford NOT to?
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Five Reasons to Consider a PR Consultant .. or Can You Afford NOT to?

Watch the local TV news any night of the week. You may an uncomfortable corporate executive fumbling through a 10-second sound bite that makes you cringe. “That could be ME,” you think.

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Be prepared for interviews – a PR consultant offers his or her expertise

A Philadelphia investigative reporter did a segment on a company that was being cited by the state for equipment problems. During a sound bite, the reporter questioned the CEO and president why he didn’t know about the problems. The man wondered out loud to the reporter while the camera was rolling why the reporter referred to him as the CEO and president. The reporter replied that he had done his homework. The CEO looked ridiculous for seemingly trying to ‘hide’ the fact that he is indeed the CEO and president and is ultimately responsible for what happens at the company.

This scene is a reason a company – especially a small or medium-sized business – needs a public relations consultant. Large companies have resources to retain in-house PR or communications directors; smaller companies often don’t have that luxury.

  1. A PR consultant who is familiar with your business and who has media experience will guide you through protecting your brand and keeping messaging and responses focused.
  2. A good PR consultant will listen to you and your company’s needs and be able to translate those needs into messages that the customer/consumer/client can relate to.
  3. When you are revamping your web site, ramping-up social media and collateral materials, the PR consultant is a fresh set of eyes to write, edit, interpret and offer expertise on how your content and communications will be perceived outside your company.
  4. Since media can be your friend, the PR consultant can reach out to his or her contacts with an appropriate pitch geared to the media audience and then prepare you to take on that media interview with confidence.
  5. To prepare for times when negative news is focused on your company, the PR consultant will act as your company spokesperson or prepare you or your delegates to speak in a straight-forward manner aimed at tackling the crisis and looking forward to repairing the company image.

Can your company afford to be caught unprepared? The PR consultant is a human insurance policy watching over your image and brand which is what makes you successful.

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Your Company Story – Expert PR Advice

You’ve got the best product or service out there, right? So you say. But how do you get your audience and customers to believe your message?

One of the most difficult challenges to public relations is straddling the needs of the client and the needs and wants of their customers. It’s the PR person’s job to relay a message that ‘sings’ to the audience even whWhatisNewsen the client may not be completely on board with that message. For example, the client wants the message to express how expert their services are; the longevity in the business and how they will take care of the customer like no other similar company. The customers sees many other options in the marketplace so how does THIS company stand out above the rest? It’s all in the storytelling.

The PR person should consult with you to develop potential news ‘hooks’ that can be told in a clear, concise and compelling way in order to attract the interest of customers via your web or social media content, news releases or through customized pitches to the media. A savvy PR person who has strong media connections and knows how to reach out to reporters, producers and editors is uniquely qualified to provide this service for a client.

A PR company that blasts the same release, pitch or storyline to a long media list will likely not get the results the client is hoping for. A media pitch can take hours to mold and shape. The client has to assist by providing the facts, quotes and other details needed; it is the PR person who shapes those details into a pitch (and compelling subject line) that will at least get the media person to open the e-mailed pitch. The client who believes he or she can do all this will be disappointed in the results and frustrated by the amount of time taken away from daily business. A PR person is a step removed from the client’s daily business and can more or less objectively present the pitch to media contacts.

Why not call each media person? Reality is: people seldom answer their phones these days. When they do, they are pressed for time. If they are not interested in your pitch, the phone call may leave a bad impression.

The best PR people:

  • Listen to the client’s story
  • Ask questions about the business, challenges, hopes and dreams of the clinet
  • Find the message that will translate first to the media – then to the public

Trust your expert PR person to understand and tell your story in your content as well as in media pitches. That person is working for you for a reason; he or she can translate your story about your product or service to people with a compelling story that in turn can mean more business for you.