PR Terminology Explained
It’s finally here – the third in our marketing jargon series!
This weeks focus is on PR (or Public Relations). I’ve always been a huge fan of PR, it’s easily one of my favourite channels (things only a marketer can say!). PR allows you to create trust with your consumer without overtly selling to them. I’ve also found it can be one of the most fun elements of marketing as even if you are marketing a traditionally serious service, PR allows you to get creative about how you get your message across.
Whilst fun, PR is not without its marketing jargon (though, a lot less than traditional media to be fair).
PR or Public Relations
Forbes takes the PRSA’s definition of PR as:
Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.
Essentially PR is a way of deliberately spreading ‘news’ through various media outlets. It can deliver broadcast, and editorial – it is not the purchase of space or coverage.
PR as a medium can support brands in building long term consumer trust; because, unlike purchased media, which can be quite passive, generally the fruits of PR involve people actively choosing to read an article, tweet or social post, or actively choosing to watch the news or a show – it is much more integrated into choices.
Stunt
A stunt is the creation of news by some sort of PR activity. Think, the giant Games of Thrones polar bear wandering through London; or Two scary dolls on the tube for Darren Brown’s Ghost Train, or Maze Masters across the city of London for the move of The Crystal Maze LIVE Experience. These are stories which are created by brands to get coverage about a particular piece of activity. Typically these are accompanied by a great photo so that you can target both the news and the picture desks. These can be particularly challenging to pull off, not least because of the logistics, but also because if something big happens on that day (e.g. Brexit, COVID, Prime minister stepping down) that will be all over your hard work gone for nothing.
Here are some of my favourite PR stunts from the last few years.
Greggs – Gregory and Gregory
Greggs famously took their produce to a fancy food fair, branded as Gregory and Gregory. Foodies tasted their food, and talked about how delicious it tasted, and we’re naturally somewhat shocked when it was revealed as Greggs. Image Source: Wales Online
London Zoo – Animal Count
Each year London Zoo release their animal stock take. Every January. Its a great stunt, and always gets headlines. Image Source: BBC
Newsjacking
The opposite of a piece of ‘Stunt’ PR – newsjacking is about hijacking the news to get cut through. By hijacking, I mean making the story relevant to your brand. So for example:
Madame Tussauds – Harry and Megan royal split
Harry and Meghan removed from the Royal grouping. Image Source: BBC
Legoland discovery centre Manchester – Perfect Oscars Photo
Recreating the Oscars selfie back in 2014. Image source: Manchester Evening News.
These are pieces of PR that didn’t try to create the news, they used it to push their brand relevance across.
Press Release
HubSpot describes a press realise as - A press release is an official announcement (written or recorded) that an organization issues to the news media and beyond.
A press release can cover:
1. Promotional stories
2. Accompanying a stunt (see above)
3. New Product Launches
4. Business updates
5. Product Updates
6. Events
7. Grand Openings
8. New Partnerships
9. Rebranding
10. Executive Hires
11. Awards
The purpose of a press release is to help you get coverage. Some journalists will simply copy and paste it (which whilst this sounds great, is very annoying and doesn’t help your google ranking); but for the most part, journalists will use it to then write an article for their publication.
That means it needs to contain, the Who, What, Why, Where, and Why should we care.
Press releases are typically accompanied by a press pack – a selection of images, videos and rich media for the journalist to use.
News Release
Smaller than a press release, this is a short ‘nib’ which succinctly gives information on your business, or promotion or event, in a paragraph. These ‘nibs’ are also great when you are running a campaign with long and short lead times, as it allows you to ‘remind’ the journalist of your story.
Selling-in
If you work with a PR agency, you will often hear them use the phrase – Selling-in. This means exactly what it sounds like. It means calling promoting your story to the journalist (like a salesperson would sell in your company). This is the hardest part of PR, but in my experience it is vital. Sometimes your stunt will be enough to carry your campaign through to a journalist’s radar; often though, day to day business news needs a little help.
Press Event
As you might expect a press event is an event where you invite the press. It’s a chance to show off your new news. These are great for immersing the press in your brand. It also helps you get an idea of what sort of coverage you will receive. The challenge, however, nowadays, is that getting the press to commit to coming to something, even something cool, can be difficult. Journalists are stretched, there a far fewer than there were a few years ago, and therefore getting permission to leave their desk can be challenging. This is where expanding your press event to influencers, and bloggers can really help in your favour. As can inviting celebrities to the event as then it’s a double whammy of coverage for the journalist.
Boilerplate
This sits at the bottom of your press release. Its information about the business sending out the press release (you, not the agency). It gives the history of your business, so that should a journalist not be aware of you, they have all of the information they need to give their story some context. It’s typically just a paragraph or two.
Coverage
Coverage or press coverage is the amount of space or time in news broadcasts given to a specific topic. It is one of the ways of recording the success of the campaign. The quality (the publication/ broadcast house), and the quantity (the amount). Coverage also includes the number of people who read that publication, or where digital read your article.
PR Value
PR value refers to measuring ‘earned media value’. How much would it have cost to get the same amount of coverage through traditional advertising means – this is known as Ad Value Equivalency or PR value. The generally accepted formula is:
AVE = (collum inches) X (publications rate card prices) x (a multiplier (selected by your agency))
The multiplier is typically somewhere between 1.5 and 3 - the idea being that people glance over advertisements, but they read an editorial, and therefore your PR coverage is worth more. The challenge is there is no agreed industry rate, and PR agencies themselves will say that this metric can only really be compared campaign to campaign within their agency.
Additionally, the rate card it’s based on is typically a thing of fiction, no advertiser buys at a rate card – meaning even before the multiplier the rate is exaggerated.
So, there we have it, a whistle-stop tour through Public Relations. If you need some support with your PR, we’d love to help you build a compelling campaign to give it the best chance of success. Get in touch now!