5 New Year's Resolutions for PR Professionals

The end of the year is only a couple weeks away. That being said, we should be thinking about how to improve things in 2015 when ti comes to franchise PR.

1. In 2015, I will have a great PR crisis plan ready for my clients. If you do not have this done already, then you definitely need to get on this one. With so many ways things get talked about besides word-of-mouth and press releases. Today, we have all that traditional media but we also have the internet, which includes social media. If something goes wrong for a business, it gets talked about quickly; the bigger the company, the bigger the crisis. Here are 5 example of good crisis communications plans. 
2. In 2015, I will be on the lookout for new opportunities. A great way to gain exposure is to attach yourself to a larger story. This can be a great way to generate story ideas. 
3. In 2015, I will make a better effort to contact journalists. Since PR professionals outnumber journalists (roughly 4:1), then the lesson here is simple: our pitches have to stand out and be good enough to read from word one. Begin with who you are targeting, make sure your pitches end up in the right hands and do not contribute to the clutter. 
4. In 2015, I will reconsider influencer targeting. What is this? Influencer targeting the people of the internet that have mass followings and strong influential value. These people are on social media, blogs, YouTube, etc. Maybe they are not actually journalists but they still have info and can clout. 
5. In 2015, I will be open-minded about how PR influences content marketing and social media marketing! The world of franchise public relations works hand in hand with things like content marketing and social media marketing. The three of these things have to work together to get the job done correctly and efficiently. 

Maybe none of these resolutions resonate with you and you would like to submit your own. The bottom line is that we are looking ahead to the new year and planning for it. If you want your business to get noticed, you have to look ahead. 

Hire a Chicago PR agency that is always looking ahead and planning on how to adapt to the markets. This is how you will get noticed in the world. 

PR Lessons We Learn from Santa Claus

In the spirit of the holidays, we thought it'd be fun to look at the lessons we can learn from Santa when it comes to franchise public relations.

Make a list and check it… twice. What if Santa gave a bag of coal to someone who was actually on the "Nice List"? That would be really embarrassing and create a PR crisis for Santa. In the world of PR, we have to build lists all the time and can seem tedious. When building a list of contacts or tasks to get done, such as work to be done for a client, then make sure to check it over to make sure t
hat everything is correct.

Plan, prep, execute. Santa prepares for his delivery run each and every year by building toys and planning things the previous eleven months. In franchise PR, we do not always have eleven months to prepare for something. Sometimes, we do not even have eleven hours. Or minutes. However, if we have a basic plan of action for something, say crisis communications, then we should be able to deliver quickly.

Share information. Santa shares lots of things such as presents, the fame (those elves are the real heroes), and his likeness (Santa doesn't sue for others using his likeness.) In public relations, in terms of social media, it is great to share images, logos, posts, news, info, and other goodness with those that are willing to listen to us. You want to protect your brand image but you also want to share the love.

Get a big rep. Get both a big reputation (for good) as well as a big franchise PR agency. Santa is one of the most recognizable people in the whole world, everyone who sees him knows his name. Santa has had his image used by some bad people and businesses for their own gain, yet we all still love Santa.

Show people that you care. Santa is known for his generosity and spreading holiday cheer. As PR professionals, we are in a great position to spread some cheer as well; when we successfully get a client in front of the media for something great, it makes them happy. We can also have clients do some good philanthropy, as well as ourselves.

Do you want a franchise PR firm that can get you as popular as Santa? Then contact All Points PR, a Chicago PR agency with experience in many industries and the results to back it up. See how we can help your business gain success!