5 Key Responsibilities of a PR Pro

When people hire a PR firm and they’re not in the midst of a media crisis, they generally want to know how the public relations company can help them enhance their brand’s public image. To accomplish that goal, there are many things your PR team should – or could – be doing for you.

Generating Earned Media

Earned media, essentially, is professional public attention you didn’t pay for. If your PR company is not getting your brand to and through media contacts to a broader and more focused audience, you need a better plan. Earned media is important because it can feel more genuine to the audience. It’s not bought and paid for, and, at least on some level, the audience understands that. Your message has value beyond the cash that changes hands to put it in an advert.

Building and Executing a Content Strategy

Your message should not be limited to a single point of contact. Especially today, you should have media outlets owned or controlled by your brand, and you should have an in-depth strategy for pushing content out through these channels. This could be a website, a print product, TV, radio, or other multimedia, as well as books, podcasts, and any other way your message can connect with your chosen audience.

Message and Media Analysis

PR is not a ‘send it and forget it’ job. The responses to your message should be monitored, tracked, and assessed to determine which messages and which outlets worked the best, so you know how you can better direct and massage your message for the next time. Properly conducted, these kinds of media analysis actions can give you fast, in-depth insights into your audience that can offer information you didn’t have before and answer questions you had not thought to ask.

Improving Internal Communication

All too often, brands think about PR teams in relation to outside communication, but how you spread your message inside the building is just as important. Your team needs to be on the same page, operating off the same sheet of music. You make this happen with carefully-crafted internal communication that keeps people informed and brings them together.

Building Media Relationships

One of the most important responsibilities of any professional PR companies is to have well-developed media relationships. When your brand wants to connect a certain market with a specific message, a good PR pro will know who to approach at which opinion-making publication. You will not have to wonder if your message will be seen or where it will go, because your PR team will already have the right connections.