The Power of PR

When it is utilised to its full potential, public relations is a force to be reckoned with. At its core, public relations is about creating content that tells an authentic brand story and builds the image that you want for a brand. It can increase visibility and brand recognition while preventing and managing any issues that may be damaging to a brand’s reputation. This helps organisations to grow and supports their other marketing initiatives.

The main aim of most PR work is to gain as much coverage and to spread the word as far and wide as possible, but this must be to the right audience, and for many companies the overall goal is to gain coverage on a national scale. With the right PR, national coverage is achievable for businesses of any shape, size or sector and as an agency, we shoot for the stars when it comes to achieving coverage for our clients.

In 2019 alone we achieved some amazing results for our clients and secured multiple pieces of national coverage in:

The Telegraph

We pitched our client David Hallam, founder and CEO of OrderWise to The Telegraph after spotting an opportunity to feature him as one of The LDC’s Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders – an initiative launched in 2018 by The Telegraph and LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group. Some 400 nominations and 150 interviews took place as part of the process and in October, David Hallam featured in a double-page spread of the paper alongside other business leaders from across the UK.

The Charity Times

We recognise how important PR is not only for our clients, but also for our own company. As part of our ongoing corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, Shooting Star chooses a charity each year to work for on a pro bono basis. We were asked to contribute towards the Charity Times, which is the leading business and management magazine for UK non-profit professionals, to discuss our choice of Help Me, I’m Fine as our Charity of the Year for 2019.

The Mirror online and The Daily Mail online

As part of our pro-bono work for our Charity of the Year Help Me, I’m Fine, we helped tell the heart-breaking story behind why it was formed. We are thrilled to have played a part in securing national attention for the charity and to tell its story in the most personal and human way possible.

The Times

We put out a news release on behalf of Midlands Enterprise Universities promoting the launch of their new service, the Midlands Credit Compass, to help students switch universities part-way through their studies more easily. This piece was featured in several national publications, including The Times newspaper and The Times Higher Education supplement online.

The Daily Express

As part of our work for East Lindsey District Council, we helped promote the Lincolnshire Wolds, which is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the Lincolnshire coast as visitor destinations. We pitched to The Daily Express and secured coverage within their feature on ‘Perfect stays on Britain’s golden sands’, successfully raising their profile on a national level.

In today’s modern marketing world, companies are aiming for more ambitious depths in reaching out to their customers, not only to raise awareness but to retain an audience and build a loyal customer base. Increasingly, businesses are also using a CSR strategy to embed brand purpose into the work they do or the products they sell — which studies have shown directly impacts purchasing decisions.

However, the power of PR is only fully effective when adapted to the changing face of the marketplace. PR has traditionally been associated with print publications but more and more consumers are viewing content online, this means it is now more important than ever for companies to make their mark on the world wide web.

We work with our clients to make sure their content is optimised for its target platform and positions the brand in front of the right readers. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become increasingly intertwined with PR as it boosts the search rankings of content and draws the appropriate audience to where they will ultimately make a purchase or buy into the service offered.

If you’re struggling with creating a PR plan or communications strategy, then we’d love to help! Please get in touch with a member of the team today or take a look at the range of services we offer.

 MO