PR is often used interchangeably with marketing, advertising and is, paradoxically, often misunderstood.
While academics, PR gurus and institutions have highly considered descriptions, this vivid explanation attributed to American author S. H. Simmons, sums it up quite nicely.
As a team of experienced former journalists, it’s our job at Accord PR to help our clients make the news and build the kind of profile that opens doors for their business.
There’s a myth that journalists are only interested in bad news. The truth is that, like any good business person, they are very aware of their market. They want a story that interests, engages and resonates with that audience.
We understand that because we have been in their shoes and we use that knowledge to create quality coverage that builds trust and opens doors for our clients.
The way we get information and news has changed. We are active seekers, not passive receivers. The media has never been more complicated – online, offline, social and broadcast. For small and medium-sized businesses this complexity means greater opportunity. More media = greater demand for more newsworthy stories.
Thanks to the Internet, today’s news is also tomorrow’s news, and the next day’s. It exists online for the duration.
Stories on genuine news sites also rank highly on Google and as more people search for news and information, positive news stories about your business can create a lasting impression, over and over again.
Accord PR takes a multi-channel approach, using online and social media channels as well as traditional magazines and newspapers.
We work with small to medium sized, owner managed businesses often, but not exclusively, in a business-to-business market.
We help those businesses create a widespread reputation that builds trust to ultimately boost business.
Accord PR offers specialised services for small and medium sized businesses. Click on the links below for more information on each of these services.
Social media is just a buzzword until you come up with a plan’. Anon.
Social media is an arena of fast moving trends.
Think social media today and Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Linkedin will come to mind, but not that long ago we may have been talking about My Space.
Tomorrow, who knows whether Google+ will have eclipsed the all-powerful Facebook? Keeping on top of those trends can be vital if you are going to get the maximum benefit out of these free channels as marketing tools.
Social media used for PR and marketing can deliver many things for your business such as:
That’s a healthy list of pluses, but one thing to remember: It is a medium. Social media is not the brand, not the message and not the market.
It’s important to make sure that your social media and PR channels reflect your company or brand and that takes some planning and thought. Just like traditional media you have to make sure that you are reaching the right market with the right messages.
It also works best if it’s integrated into your PR and marketing activities.
Having a strategy is the key to making sure the public relations methods you employ, work for your business.
With clear aims and objectives as its starting point, a PR strategy sets out a vision of what your business story or messages are, who you want to reach and how to do it. It’s a business-focused approach that allows for smarter evaluation at the end of a campaign.
As part of this strategy, Accord PR uses a multi-channel approach to public relations, for the simple reason that the way we receive information is changing.
Newspaper sales are declining, while there is a greater demand for information on the move. As consumers we piece together information from a multitude of sources to get the full picture.
The internet has revolutionised our access to information, how we want it, when we want it, meanwhile social media has given us a whole new ability to network and connect with people. It’s exciting, it’s on demand and it’s growing.
For business this means there are more opportunities to reach customers and stakeholders, each bringing a section of people into the picture. It also makes for a complex and potentially disjointed picture.
Accord offers Integrated PR services. This multi-channel approach uses:
Using an integrated approach to PR puts all the pieces are in place to ensure that your stakeholders get the full picture. Appropriate channels are selected according to your business needs, to engage the people you need to reach.
This integrated approach has many benefits, it not only ensures that you are covering more bases, it also offers more return on your investment. It is a way of making sure the information your story hits as many channels as possible.
