When market conditions change and economic downturn is on the horizon clients tend to tighten up their spending and press pause on marketing, advertising and PR. But it’s important that businesses don’t get caught in the race to the bottom when it is now that PR is needed most.
PR builds strong brand loyalty and improves the position of your brand against competitors. It also gives your business a considered and strategic value-based message strategy to execute on when your audience needs to hear from you.
Here are four strong and sturdy PR strategies now and forever and for all eternity:
Rest, Reflect, Rejuvenate and Re-angle your PR Approach.
Whether you outsource your PR or manage them in-house, now is the time to update that style guide, finesse that website, execute on social media with more value, get those blogs written and check in on media because you care.
We also use quiet times to research boarder feature stories; trend or opinion pieces that are educational and relevant to media audiences. If you’re not up for managing these yourself; outsource what you can and go at a slower more sustainable investment pace. Now is a precious and rare time to activate and execute on the things that rejuvenate your brand.
Speak Your Truth, This is PR, Believe It.
It’s ok to speak openly about the challenges your business faces in the media and via social media in what will be a likely recession. This is not a time to be media shy. It’s an opportunity to be more present and visible to your community. By having a media presence and being open about what’s happening in your business and industry environment right now it humanises your brand, builds trust through authenticity and allows you to be more relatable. Humans like doing business with humans. So by speaking your truth and remaining visible it cultivates a deeper ‘we’re all in it together’ connection.
Focus on PR Tactics that Build Brand.
This is a unique opportunity to better position your brand in a time that is likely to be less crowded by your competitors. Building and maintaining a strong brand presence remains one of the best ways to reduce business risk. Better known brands are more shopped than lesser known brands. It’s as simple as that. And PR builds brands. This is the time where you need to cut the fat but not the PR muscle.
Some of the ways in which the PR function works to build brands is by generating media coverage and third party endorsement for your brand, in-turn securing awareness and cut-through with your target audience. A strong social media and content presence across multi-disciplinary platforms is another brilliant way to build a brand. This is assuming that you have great brand portfolio, and an incredible website already.
Pitch with Value in Mind (always)
Our approach to PR is to always pitch with value and to streamline the media outreach efforts to ensure a high strike rate. It’s no different to now in ensuring concrete and effective PR efforts with meaningful results.
It’s most definitely an interesting and unprecedented time for businesses. But it’s a wonderful opportunity to execute with thoughtful PR that helps you to gain market share and see a greater impact for your PR investment.
Words by Jade Roberts
raraPR Founder and Director
raraPR is above all the sum of people who together help build brands and share stories. We are present in our determination to make a positive difference to the world by representing individuals and businesses that are doing good. We are an extension of the personal stories within us, those that we exist for and those within you that need to be heard.
