It’s everywhere these days—and the less you know about it, the harder it will be to catch up to your already PR-savvy competition. So what, exactly, is public relations? Public relations (PR) is a method, promotion, or group of activities employed to establish and promote a favorable relationship with the public and goodwill towards an institution. In other words, public relations should positively influence the attitude people have towards your company with the ultimate goal of creating and maintaining loyal customers.

Public relations is not advertising. PR and advertising are both invaluable marketing tools used to promote your company, but they are very different. Advertising is promotion with a message that your company controls by paying the media to deliver it. Public relations is promotion through any solicited or unsolicited media coverage. The media can use or not use your material any way it sees fit. Public relations is always a gamble, but good public relations creates third party credibility, which is something no amount of advertising can accomplish.

How to get started:

First, create a written public relations plan for the entire year. A written plan will help to ensure that you spend your budgeted money on priorities where your money can do the most good. The public relations plan is the basis for your public relations program. Your plan can be for your entire company or be more focused on a particular product or service. You’ll want to start your plan with an executive summary that outlines what the plan is trying to address and the timeframe involved in carrying out the plan.

Situation analysis – Look at the trends and public opinions that are affecting your industry. Chart your company’s strengths and weaknesses compared to your competition. Determine where your company has been and where you want it to be.

Goal – State the single goal that would directly address the problem or opportunity identified in your situation analysis.

Target audience – Describe who you are trying to appeal to by demographics and psychographics. Demographics are quantitative characteristics such as geography, age, income, education, gender, occupation, and family composition. Psychographics delves into the lifestyle, behaviors, and psychological make-up of your potential customers; in other words, what they like to do in their free time, where they like to vacation, political views, and values. You need to know both the demographics and psychographics of your target audience in order to advertise and sell effectively.

Key message – Develop a short list of core messages (or “talking points”) that will be the focus of every communication and can be delivered in a quick sound-bite. Because having too many messages creates nothing but noise and confusion, you shouldn’t have more than three key messages.

Objectives – List the objectives that you want your public relations campaign to accomplish such as enhance company image, create awareness, generate positive word-of-mouth, broaden your customer base, and differentiate from the competition. Your objectives should be very specific, measurable, and attainable within the determined timeframe. Of course your objectives should compliment your marketing plan and the main goal of increasing revenue.

Strategy – Summarize how you plan to implement your public relations objectives. Strategies should include the broad who, what, when, and where of accomplishing your objectives.

Tactics – Determine the specific action steps you will take that support your strategies and meet your objectives such as press releases, publicity, special events, promotions, appearances, contests, charity work, etc. Every tactic should include a deadline and a budget.

Budget Total – Determine the total amount that your company plans to spend on PR. Each individual expense will be noted in the tactic section.

Measurement – At the end of the year, determine if your objectives were achieved. If not, why? What worked? What didn’t? How can the plan be tailored to better meet your company’s future needs?

Your plan is not written in stone; consider it a working document. Use your public relations plan as a reference to make sure that you are still on track and making good progress towards your goals. Your plan can be amended, adjusted, and built-on each year.

Above all, keep in mind that the operative word in PR is “relations” – you are developing a relationship with the public, much as you would with family, friends and colleagues. It takes time, commitment, patience and persistence. But in the end, it’s all worthwhile if you can garner just a little of that good PR!

You sent out the press release and included the contact information. You are listed as the spokesperson for your company—but what does that mean? And how can you be an effective one?

As a spokesperson, you represent your company. You are the human link between the media and your company. Although a powerful way to raise your company’s profile, two-dimensional press releases can not connect with a journalist like a person can. If your press release is the lure and the hook, you, as the spokesperson, need to reel them in.

First, always be available, easily reached, and completely prepared for comment. Journalists work on all kinds of deadlines. If a journalist takes the time to call, be available to talk to them.

Second, always know whether your goal is to inform, motivate, persuade, or entertain the media. The ultimate goal for public relations is to improve your company’s visibility and image. Journalists need a story, not a sales pitch, so determine the best way for your company to be part of a bigger story.

Third, time permitting, find out why a journalist wants to talk to you. This means looking over the reporter’s previous work to determine if there is any bias or areas of particular interest.

Fourth, always be able to summarize what you want to say in one minute or less. If you can’t do this, then your news is too complex or is too broad in scope.

Fifth, always be completely interested in and believe in your subject. You must intrigue and convince yourself before you can intrigue and convince others.

Sixth, always know your subject inside and out with tangible facts to back up your claims. Draft a fact sheet to give to the media stating any relevant data, statistics, research findings, or evidence with accurate sources. And, contrary to what you might think, it’s best to include information about the opposing point of view and counteract those points.

Seventh, never say anything that you are not 100% sure about. Instead, if you don’t know a particular answer, tell the media that you will either get back to them or refer them to someone who does know an answer.

Eighth, always be prepared to answer difficult questions. If it’s anything other than a human-interest story, don’t expect softball questions.

Ninth, always know your top three messages in a positive, non-defensive, concise format. Avoid jargon and overly technical terminology. Refer to your organization by name, not by pronoun.

Tenth, practice makes perfect! Always rehearse your answers and statements aloud.