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