Top 7 Communication Channels to Use for Public Relations

When it comes to distributing your content, it is vital to ensure you reach the right audience. Following traditional methods doesn’t have the same impact as it once had so it is essential to do your research and use communication channels that are guaranteed to get you the exposure you need. Maximise your time, money and effort on channels that are relevant to your target audience.

The best channels to use depend entirely on your business and target audience. Continue reading to discover our top 7 communication channels to use for public relations.

1. Business Events

A versatile communication channel, events can be used by all businesses both large and small. With the option to attend events in person and virtually, you can reach a wide audience. These are a great opportunity to build the trust of your clients and consumers.

2. Paid Advertisements

There are endless ways to advertise your product or service. One of the most common techniques is pay-per-click advertising online. It’s a cost effective method of advertising as you’ll only pay each time someone clicks on your add. Placement and timing is important here; if you own a coffee shop for example, you should set your adverts to appear in the morning when most consumers will be looking for a caffeine fix. A popular type of PPC is search engine advertising such as Google ads.

3. Word of Mouth

A fantastic way to get more visibility is through word of mouth. It can be beneficial to encourage your clients and customers to leave recommendations and reviews in high visibility places such as Google. Happy customers who voice their approval of your company are guaranteed to attract more business.

4. Internal Public Relations

Your employees can work as great brand ambassadors. Fostering relationships and communicating a positive employee perspective about your business is beneficial. Consider employee perks and appreciation events to show your employees that you’re invested in ensuring their happiness at work. Do this and they’ll be sure to tell everyone how much they love your company.

5. Media Relations

Reaching your target audience is easier when you have strong media coverage & relations. Define key journalists in your target publications to build trust and credibility in your business. Remember, a good reputation is the key to success.

6. Social Media

The power of social media has grown exponentially in the last decade and utilising it in the right way can be of great benefit to your business. Determine the sites that your target audience use and invest your time and energy into those channels. Consider the benefits of LinkedIn for example. With over 660 million users, it is a great platform to reach a professional audience. Adopt a refined approach to social media marketing to optimise the value of your efforts instead of a ‘spray and pray’ technique.

7. Influencers

The power of influencers should not be overlooked. Find influencers that align with your target audience and values. The brand awareness influencers create will drive traffic to your site and could, potentially, bring you a whole wave of new customers.

Communication Channels Matters in Public Relations

Public relations is all about getting the appropriate messages in front of your intended audience at a time when they are going to be more likely to engage and be impacted by it. If you choose to do your PR on your own as a brand, you risk getting lost in the plethora of communication options available to you.

A good PR firm is going to know what your end goal is and how to carefully craft the right message that is going to resonate with your intended audience. They are also experts in which communication channels in public relations are the most suited to your brand and purpose.

The media channels a public relations company uses will depend on factors such as whether you are trying to promote a new product or company rebrand, entice stakeholders to invest or dealing with a crisis. There are three methods of public relations that your company will use for PR depending on the purpose:

Earned media: Earned media is the crème de la crème of PR. Consumers are more likely to trust what independent sources and other customers are saying about your company, rather than something that you’ve paid for.

Shared media: This is media created by you that is meaningful and engaging. It resonates with your audience that then shares it as valuable content through their social media and other channels.

Owned media: This is media that you directly control. It’s your blogs and website content, social media sites and company publications.

Communication Channels in Public Relations

You should always have communication strategies in public relations for your organisation. As a boutique PR agency in Sydney, we design strategies that help you to craft messages and communicate effectively in order to meet the core objectives of your PR campaign. 

First things first, you have to get to the core of what you want to achieve through your PR campaign: is it to increase awareness? Engage your local community? Promote a product? Deal with a crisis? This is essential in determining what kind of PR your business needs.

A comprehensive analysis is then the next step, including a competitor analysis so you know where you are starting and what you need to do to be where you want to go.

You then need to identify your target audience depending on your different PR campaigns and develop messaging that you know will engage and entice them. This then trickles down to the best communication channel to use to disseminate this information for the most effective impact on your target audience.

Once you have distributed your messages to your target audience, it’s time to analyse and measure the results (if possible) to see how effective your messages were and if you can change anything to improve on them going forward.

Building Better PR for Communication

At Pure Public Relations, we have an intimate understanding of the media landscape and how businesses can use different channels to achieve success. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can help you reach the right audience with targeted PR campaigns.