10 steps to effective Public Relations

Define what you want PR to achieve for your business.
Set measurable objectives, such as increased customer and prospect awareness of your offer, or attracting new business.

Focus on who you want PR to reach (target audience) and with
what messages.
Defining messages to market is key to campaign success.

Concentrate on your differentiators and unique selling points.
Are you doing something new and innovative?
If so, "lead" with it in your PR.

Distribute your news.
new products, services and people. What seems "business as usual" to
you may be of real interest to others.

Leverage your company's knowledge and expertise.
Commit your knowledge of (say) an industry sector or product area to paper. Offer it to the relevant print and online media.

Offer selected spokespeople for media comment.
Press interviews for published quotes; radio or TV interviews for airtime. Ideally, they should be media trained.

"Exploit" your customers.
Their positive experience of your services or products - case studies, new-business-win press releases and media interviews - is a powerful PR tool.

Get to know key journalists and their publications.
What they need to fill their pages, and look for a match with what you can offer. Do the same for TV and radio journalists, researchers and producers.

If you are doing your own PR, be prepared to devote time to it
Build it into your business planning. "On, off" occasional PR can still be useful, but it is less effective than a sustained campaign.

There is more to public relations than media relations.
Networking via industry associations; conference platforms; new market initiatives & promotions are all PR activities. Consider them in your planning.