CHOOSE AND APPLY THE RIGHT PR TOOLS

Setting clear goals for building reputation and understanding the target market will help in choosing the right public relations (PR) tools for the job. These steps will help guide your PR decisions.

· Decide on your goals and objectives

Think about the type of reputation you want to build for you business. What do you want to be known for? What characteristics will draw new customers to you?
Identify a clear set of characteristics that you want to define your business. For example, do you want to be known as friendly, prestigious, innovative, dynamic, sustainable, community minded, socially responsible?
Expand on these characteristics to define a short set of messages that positively and accurately position your products, services and business activities. Establish a budget that will help you plan and support your annual investment in PR.

· Identify your target audiences

Consider your market research, or refer to your marketing plan, and list your target market segments.

Review the information about who your customers are, how they live and where they get their information from. This information will help you identify your best PR tools and tactics.

· Work out which PR techniques work best

Always be on the hunt for interesting stories, angles and anecdotes about your business. Identify the 'material' that will help build your chosen profile. Make this a habit that is part of the way you and your team think.

Choose material that is topical, interesting, stands out from the crowd, and best fits your target audiences. Matching your PR material to your target audiences will help you choose your most effective PR tools.

· Tailor the mix of PR tools you use to reach your target audience

PR and media tools exist for each of your customer segments. Your task is to match your media to your market. Consider the list of PR tools and activities and choose the tactics that will reach your customers.

Research community groups, websites, publications and local and regional media sources and start to build records of distribution sources matched to your target markets.

Review social media sources and seek advice from PR professionals if you need direction on how to access your customers through the fast-changing world of social media.

Developing a list of media sources that reach your customer base will help you choose your mix of tools.