Are You Ready for PR? Here Are Six Things You Need To Know!
This guest blog post was written by our friends at Creative Label.
Hey Homies! We are Creative Label, a public relations, branding, and marketing agency based in Scottsdale, AZ. We are so excited to be here today collaborating with Homemade Social!
Today we’re answering the question: “Are you ready for PR?” and if you don’t know the answer, we here at Creative Label are here to help!
If you or your brand is looking to step into the world of PR, but you don’t know where to start, we got you! But before you consider investing money into public relations, you need these six things to ensure you’ll get the most out of your PR experience.
Consistent Branding
Branding is foundational to any business’s success, and maintaining cohesive branding is essential for any public relations efforts to thrive!
What does good branding look like? It’s making sure each one of these aspects of your brand is consistent and intentional:
Fonts - you have a clear set of fonts you use.
Colors - you use the same colors consistently.
Logos - you have a logo suite.
Photo and Video - you have quality photos and videos that showcase your product/brand.
Messaging - your messaging speaks clearly to your target audience.
If you are lacking in any of the above, your audience and any journalist you have been pitched will feel like this:
Active Social Media Accounts (Duh)
Having an active social media account should go without saying. A social media presence is vital to your brand’s success and your public relations strategies’ success!
Social media is the new PR, so you need to make sure you’re actively posting consistent content.
One way to ensure users will engage with your content is by posting shareable content. You may be asking, “What’s shareable content?”. Shareable content is content that adds so much value that it makes your audience want to reshare it to their audience.
Social Proof
Social proof? What’s that?
Social proof essentially provides credibility for your consumer, so they know you’re a legitimate business with a real product or service ready to sell! Social proof can range from people posting about your product and having reviews on your page to mentioning your features in past press publications in your Instagram bio and websites. Making sure your bio works for you is vital to your brand’s success and letting people know you are the real deal!
A Press Kit and One Sheet
If you don’t know what either of these are, get familiar because these are crucial to getting your brand exposed to major publications and partnerships. They both vary in length but should still be informative in ways that make your brand appealing to journalists you pitch!
A press kit is a detailed overview of your brand, what it offers, and why your story matters. Press kits usually include:
Your bio
The products/services you’re selling.
Past features and collabs
Photos of products
Charity work and contributions
Your brand’s sponsors
A one-sheet, on the other hand, is the shorter version of your press kit. These are perfect for pitching to journalists and strategic partners who don’t have the time to read through a whole press kit!
A One-Sheet is one page of a digital document that includes the following:
A headshot or brand logo
Your bio
Social media following and summary of demographics
Past features and collabs
If you’re an e-commerce brand, consider developing a lookbook a season before release that showcases every single product you’re featuring in your next collection.
A Lookbook should have the following:
A brief summary about the brand or collection
Photos of each product with the product name and pricing
A contact page at the end
High-Quality Photo and Video Content
Having quality visual content is SO important in making an excellent first impression! Despite what opinions you have of this, appearances do matter, and having consistent, polished visuals is the first step in grabbing your audience’s attention.
Keep in mind that your brand’s photo and video content must be intentional and have a strategy behind it. Don’t be afraid to get creative and have your brand stand out!
Have Systems in Place
Always be prepared just in case if your brand suddenly goes viral and receives a high volume of website traffic and/or orders. Before you even think about PR placements, make sure your business foundations are established so you and your team can hit the ground running on booking new business or sending out products.
Pro tip: Act as if you’re getting your brand published on a big media outlet’s website soon by having all inventory organized, packaging in place, and making sure your website’s bandwidth can sustain high customer traffic.
Follow us on Instagram and shoot us an email at info@creativelabel.com to set up a free consultation! If you still are unsure if you’re ready to invest in PR services, have questions, listen to our full podcast episode, go more in-depth on what you need to have to move forward, or send us an email!
XX - Your girl gang at Creative Label