Building Relationships for a Successful PR Campaign

Suzanne Tormollen of Atingo Public Relations is a 13 year PR veteran of the tech scene who has worked with many venture-backed companies in the Austin and Houston areas.  You can view her work history at www.atingo.com.  Suzanne is a regular contributor to Startup Houston.

Now that summer is over and my 3 year old son is back at pre-school, I’m regaining some semblance of order and schedule in my life.  And with that accomplished, I’m pleased to share useful PR tips with you once again.

Although the summer was hectic with BBQ’s, family vacations and countless trips to the community pool, I was able to find some time to read a great PR book called Putting the Public Back in Public Relations by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge.    If you are trying to navigate your way through the world of Social Media and you don’t know how Social Media is impacting PR and how to get involved then this is the book for you.

I admit I was a bit anxious to read the book as I thought it might expose some ignorance as it pertains to the burgeoning Social Media world.  After completing it, I’m happy to report that I gained a new level of understanding for Social Media and how it impacts PR, but more importantly, I also learned that the PR skills I’ve employed for nearly 15 years are even more useful as we attempt to reach new audiences through new Social Media outlets.  What did I learn at the most basic level?  It’s still all about relationships.   It’s about engaging with the right communities, on the right level.  Here’s an excerpt from the book…

“The new breed of tech- and market-savvy PR people will be skilled at observing, facilitating, and maintaining relationships, and creating and fostering trust and credibility with myriad groups of people who populate and define the landscape of new influencers and customers we need to reach.”

I think I’m fortunate because I started working in technology PR at a firm in Boston primarily supporting IBM Software.  We were trained to uphold the highest standard of ethics in our outreach and communications with the media community.  I was never exposed to “spamming” and I’m happy for that. It was always taught that my job as a PR professional is to make a reporter’s job easy.   You don’t call or send a news release or pitch to a reporter unless you’ve done your homework and truly understand their interests, writing style and preference for receiving information.

This basic tenant continues today although the audience has expanded beyond the traditional journalist to include bloggers, customers, consumers and peers, to name just a few.  Also, the level of communication has expanded.  It’s no longer about sending or just feeding information to your audience.  It’s about engaging in a dialogue with your audience whether it be a blogger, a customer (who may actually be the blogger), or a reporter.  You need to know your industry and you need to get involved.  As Solis and Breakenridge pointed out in the book…

“When you are truly engaged in dialogue with other community members or speaking with media influencers, you are not thinking about messages that you want to convey; instead, you are more focused on what information you can provide to help someone else.”

I chose to address the value of relationships because establishing a mutually beneficial relationship, regardless of the medium, has never been more important for today’s PR professional to succeed.  And while this should be common knowledge it is so easy to forget with the number of day-to-day tasks we all have to check off our lists.  Being truly engaged, understanding your company’s product and knowing all your audiences will deliver results and drive success for your PR program.