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Why Internal PR Should Come First
Your external public relations will score more when it's second.
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 by Amanda DiSilvestro
Business.com

Amanda DiSilvestroEffective external PR starts with effective internal PR.
This mentality is often taught at colleges and universities, and many professionals take this to heart early in their careers or when they are first learning how to start a small business.

However, as time continues external PR because the focus and internal PR is put on the back burner. After all, external PR is much more interesting and can offer more obvious results.

For those who are unfamiliar, when I say “internal PR” I mean communicating with team members and highlighting accomplishments. In a way, it’s like PR for those in the office. External PR is then, of course, the PR of clients. If you are working hard to set up seminars and writing Press Releases for one of the companies you represent, you are displaying external PR. Therefore, it makes sense that external PR would be the focus.

However, internal PR is just as important and can make a huge difference when it comes to your external efforts. Consider some of the ways you can improve the internal PR in your agency:

Top 3 Ways to Improve Your Agency’s Internal PR

1. Create an Editorial Calendar – Many PR professionals have their own editorial calendars if they have to create content for a client, but having a companywide calendar will help unify the staff. This will help everyone feel included in the agency’s projects even if they are not directly involved. It’s a simple PR move; there is no reason it won’t work in the office. In fact, this is a great way to generate new ideas for a project or a direction for the agency. If everyone is aware of the future plans, they will be able to help.

2. Hold PR Meetings – Having a calendar is great because everyone can see where a company is headed, but it is in the meetings that the ideas really come out. Holding company wide meetings every other week that focus on the different projects in motion will help keep the company unified. This is a great place to bounce around ideas and grow as a PR company from the inside out.

3. Encourage Social Media Everywhere – Most PR gurus are very social media fluent, but few agencies have a social media policy in place. In other words, it’s important to work with your staff to give them the tools to promote everything that is going on in the agency. Their social channels do not need to be for personal matters or a client’s publicity only. Everyone can help each other in this way. Make sure that what is going on with staff members is known to all so that they know what to tweet and how to share.

Any business will tell you that it is important to formulate a solid staff and business environment before the company can grow. A great product is nice and a popular brand helps, but it is the way the office operates that determines whether the company grows up or shrinks down. The world of PR is no different.

Consider talking with your employees about internal PR and ideas they may have to improve the PR in the office. After all, their job is about publicizing. If they can do it with a client, they can do in within the agency.

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on social media topics
for Business.com, giving advice to small businesses and entrepreneurs.





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