Public Relations Tips: partnerships

There are so many different ways that you can use PR even if you don't sale product but services. For example if your company doesn't really sale a product but instead sales a service it might be a little bit hard to get people to want to come in and take a look at your services. For example say that you are a financial planner and you might not strike everyone's interest. But say that you hand out fliers at a local community event that offers parent's a free portfolio consultation that costs normally $300.00 plus you offer them a gift certificate to eat at a restaurant for free. This might entice people to come in and get a free portfolio consultation which in return they might see how much money they can save and make by investing and end up signing up with you in the process. Or if anything it makes people remember your name because dinner was on you. Plus if you team up with a restaurant you may be able to get a deal and not pay full price for your gift certificates because you will also be advertising their names as well by putting them on your fliers or banners.

Posted by DK at 07:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are involved in public relations then you know your job is to get your clients product's name out to the public eye or you are trying to get your clients view point out to the public. One great way to do this without being over bearing is through product placement. Product placement is basically a form of advertising, but rather than making the product the central focus of the advertisements the product is placed in the background and is used to enhance the scene. Because of how tired most people are of looking at ads product placement is quickly becoming popular because it allows a company to advertise their product without the actual advertisements. If you think about it you have probably seen many instances of product placement in movies, TV shows, books, plays, etc. And if you think about it this form of advertisement is a lot more effective than slamming the viewer with information about your product.

Posted by DK at 07:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are looking at a career in public relations something that you need to keep in mind is what exactly somebody does who works in public relations. Basically if you are going to be going into the public relations field you are going to be in charge of creating images for your clients that the world will remember. Your job is to generate positive publicity for your client and you are going to have to enhance your client's reputation. The client can be a company, an individual or a government. But if you are going to be working for the government in the field of public relations you should know that it is going to differ from other public relations jobs. To start off with in the government PR people are called press secretaries. And what they are in charge of doing is keeping the public informed about the activity of government agencies, explain policy, and manage political campaigns.

Posted by DK at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Regardless of what you have been told or taught something that you need to realize about PR people is that they have to be great sales people if they want to be successful and the truth of the matter is that there are not very many PR people out there who are great sales people. The reason for this is that they actually have to place cold calls to numerous reporters and other media personnel. With this cold call they have to make a pitch to the reporter or other media personnel which can actually be rather terrifying. Something that you need to keep in mind when making your pitch is that reporters and other media people can be down right rude when you call them regardless of how prepared you are so before making these calls you want to try and develop some kind of thick skin. The thick skin will actually help you to deal with the rejection you might have to face if your pitch doesn't go through.

Posted by DK at 07:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A partnership is a great way to get your products out there. But where do you find a good partner?

Within your own trade association. Many of my partners are also members of the National Speakers Association. When I attend the annual convention, I'm always on the lookout for good product partners and make a point to seek them out. Consultants and authors should look within their own trade groups. A consultant can also team up with a speaker, a speaker can team up with an author, or an author can team up with a consultant.

At your trade association's website, or in the resource directory.

On discussion boards and in news groups where partners are likely to lurk. I've met dozens of people this way.

At events where you speak. If you're a professional speaker, always review the program to see who else was hired to speak and who might be a good match.

By looking through trade publications that serve a particular industry. Keep your eyes open for people whose articles are published.

For more places to find industry partners, see Special Report #41.

Posted by Rachael at 06:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)