Public Relations Strategies: Get Off the Backburner and in Front of Your Clients

When the storm of COVID-19 restrictions started, many companies battened down the hatches and reduced marketing budgets. Organizations asked their marketing teams to do more with less. More traditional strategies like public relations were replaced with a plethora of other duties to help organizations survive the economic impact of COVID-19.

However, even as some reduced budgets, other companies, having learned from previous recessions, understood they needed to maintain a presence in the media. PR analysts have reported an increase of PR briefs starting during the summer and growing even more in the fall.

What does this mean?

Companies have recognized that people are consuming a higher volume of news in 2020. With people staying at home as much as possible and the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, many people turned to the news for information as well as something to do. Distrust in the media has also fallen by 4% from 2019. This has provided a prime opportunity for organizations to not only show they are still active but also prevent their competitors from taking more of the market share.

What can you do?

If you’ve continued or resumed your public relations efforts already, keep going. Start planning for 2021 and how you can utilize these PR opportunities in multiple ways. Also, take this time to identify credible, key publications to be featured in for 2021. Legacy media outlets like the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Barron’s and New York Times are seeing a resurgence in popularity. A survey by Dukas Linden Public Relations found that 46% of those surveyed are consuming more financial news than they were before the outbreak.

If you put your public relations strategies on the backburner, now is the time to dust them off and start planning for 2021. Begin identifying opportunities to share who you are and what makes you unique among your competitors. Consider who your audience is and reach out to the news organizations that they follow. Earned media opportunities will increase your credibility and create content to share across your other platforms like social media.

With COVID-19 vaccines on the way in the near future, everyone is ready and gearing up for a return to a more “normal” life. This means that every organization will be vying for a piece of the market. Don’t get left behind by waiting too long to make your voice heard.

If your public relations strategy needs a boost and you’re not sure where to start, Chartwell Agency can help.