As you look back on 2022, and indeed the past three years since the first rumblings of the pandemic, do you feel as though you did everything you could in terms of capturing and amplifying your core messages to the media and your markets?
Perhaps you had all the right intentions, commissioning writers to pen blogs and other content that was uploaded to social media channels. You may have also experimented with writing the odd press release in house, distributing it to a list of media contacts, in the hopes of picking up a story here or there.
Or maybe you already had a public relations and marketing agency doing all of this for you, but delivering the sorts of results you’re wondering whether you might have achieved on your own anyway, and without the monthly retainer.
But of course, with everything else you need to do running the marketing, and perhaps also the operations of your business, you don’t have time to develop and execute a proper PR and content strategy.
Doing this well and achieving the results you deserve demands a dedicated team of professionals with real industry experience who you can trust to invest the necessary time and effort to understand your brand and your story.
That’s the first step, anyway.
At the heart of all successful communications projects is great content
Having great stories means nothing without the right strategy, skills and intent to create and convey them in the best way to the right audience.
As you might expect, it’s the professionals who have done this for a living in real media and news environments that do this the best.
Yet they’re conspicuously absent from most public relations agencies.
To be fair, many agencies are led by experienced PR professionals overseeing truly hard-working mid-level directors and juniors. But their enthusiasm doesn’t bridge the yawning gap in their understanding of how journalists really think and how publications actually operate.
Among the many skills that are unique to professional journalists, is their ability to tease stories out from their sources to discover stories that neither were aware of, and that might go deeper than mere products and services.
This is critical in circumstances when you need to get your ‘news’ out to the media and the market and have it be noticed and heard amid all of the noise.
Being able to differentiate your news and brand from your competitors and every other business vying for media attention requires skill and careful consideration. It also demands having a clear understanding of media trends and which journalists and publications are interested and writing about what, as well as the ability to use that understanding to build meaningful relationships.
But storytelling goes much deeper than news
Your company history, how you got to where you are today, your customers and partnerships, and of course the unique people that make up and drive your valued teams are all potentially valuable stories, requiring lengthy and purposeful engagement to draw them out and give them life.
This can be in the form of written materials such as case studies, thought pieces for magazines, industry keynotes, white papers and a breadth of different marketing materials.
Or it might be conveyed in, say, video form or audio podcasts.
Many agencies will say they can produce professional content that conveys your story and messages to the media and industry.
But as we know, it often falls short of the mark, usually resulting in constant back and forth between you and the agency, costing valuable time and money.
Truly capable PR agencies rely on real media professionals with experience gathering and packaging stories to the highest standards, and under pressure.
This means that you get the story told right the first time – and on deadline – allowing for small tweaks and changes to finesse your final message.
And in the same way that successful media organisations rely on content management and other systems to properly archive and enable ready access to content, the best PR agencies today are likewise committed to helping clients build proper content ‘libraries’ that ensure you get the ROI you should.
Sydney-based Brand Comms Bureau provides a full suite of public relations and media marketing services to start-ups, SMEs and enterprise organisations throughout Asia Pacific, the United States and Europe. With a team of seasoned communications professionals with deep experience across print, online and broadcast media, the agency has a strong track record of success in helping clients achieve their business goals.
From launch campaigns to thought leadership initiatives, Brand Comms Bureau can help you tell your story and reach your target audience.
Get in touch today to book your free consultation to identify your unique PR and communications pain points and we’ll tell you what we can bring to the table that other agencies can’t.