With every PR and marketing professional trying to come up with the most exciting way to put their campaign above any other, it can sometimes feel like you’re fighting a losing battle when setting out the blueprint for your latest creative campaign.

The future of campaigning is direct, cyber and interactive for both PR and marketing, and with the rise of social media, it’s not just the traditional channels that must be considered.

One of Interdirect’s all time favourites was the Best Job in the World campaign, which was essentially an online job search conducted through social media for a new “caretaker” for Hamilton Island, Queensland, Australia. Through word of mouth and innovative PR, the campaign received more than 34,000 videos from applicants in 200 countries and more than 7 million visits to the site generated from 500,000 cites.

Interdirect takes a look at some of the lessons to be learned from the Best Job in the World campaign, as well as our own PR initiatives, with our top tips for making your PR campaign pay off.

1. Make it believable. Big claims must be backed up. Evidence your PR campaign with real experiences and real content from your organisation to show internal engagement.

2. It’s not all about the money. One of the benefits of opening your campaign up to social media is that you don’t have to spend lots to achieve big results. If you have a product or service that is worthwhile, along with a good story, then people will talk about it.

3. Focus on content, not traffic. High traffic is worthless if you don’t have engaging content that will keep customers coming back for more. Make sure your content is appealing to the mass audiences that will be exposed to your campaign through multi-channel markets, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

4. Create an inherent reason for people to share. Interdirect’s most recent We’ve Got it Covered campaign enabled our Facebook fans to vote for their favourite photos uploaded to our Facebook page. This meant that after someone was shortlisted in our top three they had an incentive to share it with everyone in their social network, to get more votes, and in turn, increase traffic to our page.

5. Don’t underestimate the power of content creators. The people who are interacting with your campaign, creating chatter and posting content are the people who are going to ultimately, drive the success of your product. The potential impact of online users is massive, for example, Interdirect’s Facebook page received over 460 interactions in the final five days of our We’ve Got it Covered campaign.

6. Make it last. Once you’ve reached the end of your campaign, you’ll hopefully be left with feature rich content that doesn’t have a sell by date. Make it last by incorporating your content into future promotional material and remind your audience of the campaign by asking them to keep sharing and interacting.

The irony of public relations is that it often gets a bad rep when being considered as a service within a company’s marketing mix.

PR is often misunderstood – perhaps because there a so many different types of PR, and the role itself is made up of lots of different facets, or in most cases companies just feel more comfortable with ‘tangible’ marketing activities.

It is no surprise that myths about PR have developed. Milton Keynes’ leading full service agency, Interdirect, reconsiders some of the myths and provides a few home truths – in today’s media age, public relations really should be a ‘must have’ on every business leaders marketing list.

Myth: PR is easy, and can be done by anyone.
Truth: You wouldn’t get someone without experience in sales to sell your home? So why would you trust someone with no industry knowledge to generate a rewarding PR strategy for your business? Expertise matter, and Interdirect’s dedicated PR team is made up of experienced PR professionals, a combined knowledge of more than 20 years in both agency and client side PR.

Myth: PR agencies “make stuff up”.
Truth: Making false claims doesn’t benefit anyone, so no good PR agency will tell lies. ID:PR believes in finding the best possible angles to showcase your products and services.

Myth: You need to be a big company to afford PR.
Truth: ID:PR’s diverse range of clients include national standards approvals services and local charities right through to financial services training providers each with their own objectives, but with one aim: to get results. We know that in today’s economic climate no organisation can afford not to stick to budget, and we understand that you want bang for your buck.
    
Myth: To get good PR, you need a big agency.
Truth: The saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ applies here. A big agency with glamorous offices and A-list clients may be impressive, but a smaller agency, like Interdirect, guarantees you a closer relationship, enabling us to understand exactly what each client wants.

Myth: Only PR agencies with vast experience in your field can achieve results.
Truth: ID:PR boasts clients in a variety of sectors and with our knowledge, experience and attention to detail, our PR team can adapt its exciting and innovative ideas to suit your business; whatever sector you are in.

Myth: Getting good PR is about wining and dining journalists.
Truth: PR is about communicating with the press in an effective way to build long term relationships. For ID:PR, it’s about having the journalist on board with your client’s products and service through journalist ‘meet and greets’, media research and  monitoring, not through a three course meal. You can’t control the press; instead you can work alongside journalists to put your organisation in the eye of the media storm.

Myth: PR is about who you know, not what you know.
Truth: Yes, it’s important to build long terms relationships with journalists, but without valuable content these relationships are worthless. If your story isn’t newsworthy, the journalist isn’t going to run your story just because they like you...

Myth: The media is only interested in negative stories.
Truth: Stories that are interesting to readers are ones that offer an insight and get the facts across in an interesting way. These are the stories that will go to press, and ID:PR knows how to write them.

Myth: Digital PR is an excuse to jump on the social media bandwagon.
Truth: Digital media has given PR professionals a new platform that’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to directly engage with customers and drive marketing campaigns like never before. With a background in digital solutions, ID:PR understands that social media isn’t going anywhere and cannot be ignored, but it’s also about  careful management, monitoring and support.

Myth: PR will generate instant sales.
Truth: One-hit-wonders are common in PR; they are at the top of the hot-topics list once their video goes viral but just as quickly, they crash back down to earth. PR is a long term commitment not a short term solution and it does take time. The key for any organisation is steady success through a well planned and thought out PR strategy, which is unique to the client, and gets results.
    
To find out more about how ID:PR can work for your business cal 0845 121 5566 or email pr@interdirect.co.uk.

Interdirect is pleased to announce the win of a new PR account with Corporate Training Partnerships (CTP).

The new account will see Interdirect’s PR team provide media support that will be specifically tailored to meet CTP’s needs; from generating press coverage and building media relations to meet and greets, interviews and events.

CTP provides training and development solutions for the financial industry, and its vision is to be recognised as the UK leader in the financial services sector for supporting and delivering organisational change. Interdirect’s passionate team of PR experts will work alongside CTP to promote its recognised training and consultancy services and help it work towards this vision.

Interdirect PR strategically helps the media, your peers and ultimately your customers hear about what your business has to offer.  A direct, yet flexible approach guarantees that our clients continue to be satisfied with Interdirect’s bespoke public relations service.

CTP adds to Interdirect’s growing list of PR accounts, which also includes non-profit accredited certification body, British Approvals Service for Cables (BASEC), combined luxury health spa and medical centre, Champneys Medical, and niche software provider, Worksmart.

Contact ID: PR and find out what we can do for your business. Email PR@interdirect.co.uk or telephone 0845 121 5566.

Over the past decade, there is no denying that the presence of social media has become an increasingly influential source for journalists. With the need for PR to be more efficient, effective and exciting, communication platforms like Twitter and Facebook are the most accessible and interactive supply of the latest news and information. But encouragingly, PR firms are still the first port of call for journalists when it comes to sourcing newsworthy stories.

A Digital Journalism Study by the Oriella PR Network quizzed 500 journalists and found that 62% of respondents use PR agencies as their number one resource for news or feature stories.

Without PR agencies, many journalists couldn’t get past first base when putting together a story to a tight deadline, as well as qualifying their sources. This survey shows that credibility is still one of the most important factors in getting your news release to press.

Interdirect’s PR team understand the art of journalism, how to spot a good story, who to target and what to say. We work with journalists, we don’t harass them or simply sit with our fingers crossed hoping they will use our news release, once a journalist has worked with us they keep coming back for more.

Contact ID: PR and find out what we can do for your business. Email PR@interdirect.co.uk or telephone 0845 121 5566.