PR consulting: Your sparring partner for successful PR

Today's PR consultancy has to cover a broad spectrum of tasks, areas and channels. To gain the trust of the target group for their customers.

‘Content is King,’ Bill Gates once said. No wonder it is the central component of every PR consultancy. Only high-quality, truly relevant content helps inform the target group and motivate them to engage.

The instruments for this are manifold and range from articles, blogs, white papers, e-books to videos, infographics and many other visual content. It's ideal when the PR consultancy has the ability to produce most of it itself.

The key role in content creation is writing the texts. They have to convey news that is relevant to the recipients. The task here is to always be new, always informative, always interesting, and of course, always relevant.

This also applies to multimedia content, which is becoming increasingly important. This is because explanatory videos, infographics, etc. can explain complex content in a way that is simple and understandable.

Once the content has been created, it has to be distributed across the various channels. It's ideal when the PR consultancy also offers media consultancy. After all, the right media selection and the appropriate channels are also key to success.

Social media is perhaps the most powerful tool for a PR consultancy. This is because social media enables direct contact with the target group – to generate interactions, comments or likes.

This calls for a sophisticated social media strategy that knows and understands the target group, defines the channels and ensures that all content – from the big event to the smallest Facebook post – speaks the same language.

In the context of social media, individuals also lose significance whereas the community as a whole gains. This means that community management is becoming increasingly important here.

To achieve this, the PR consultancy actively interacts with the community, answers questions, moderates discussions and responds to comments and messages. In short, a positive relationship with the community is established and built on to encourage engagement.

The first task, however, is to spark interest. With content that not only informs, but also involves and entertains: texts, images, videos or links to further information.

As with all tasks, monitoring is vital here as well. To evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy and make optimisations. With digital software tools such as Hootsuite, Talkwater or Swat.io.

No one plays a more vital role in a crisis than the PR consultancy, because it plays the key role in controlling public perception in a potentially threatening situation.

To achieve this, it is important to develop crisis plans that include detailed procedures and communication strategies to manage various potential crisis scenarios.

In this case, reactive communication is essential to respond quickly and effectively. To this end, the PR consultancy develops clear, consistent messages that are quickly communicated to the relevant target groups.

Another important aspect is media training. For this, company spokespeople are trained in dealing with the media. This includes interview techniques, preparation for difficult questions and dealing with critical situations.

After the crisis, reputation management comes into play, where measures are developed to restore the company's image.

To achieve this, the PR consultancy analyses the impact of the situation on public perception and develops measures to regain the trust of the public and stakeholders.

Internal communication is not just internal communication. It is imperative for employee engagement and satisfaction, as well as for maintaining corporate culture.

To this end, the PR consultancy develops information and updates for employees and makes them available via internal communication channels such as the intranet, e-newsletters and the employee portal.

Additionally, internal events such as town hall meetings, team-building events and workshops promote internal dialogue and strengthen a sense of community.

These events also ensure a good platform for communicating corporate strategies, successes and important news such as new products, processes and philosophies to a large number of interested parties.

Another important task is feedback management. To this end, the PR consultancy develops various systems to collect employees' opinions, comments and suggestions.

Another key area is management communication. To this end, the PR consultants train and support management in internal communication to ensure more effective communication and a transparent corporate culture.

Sponsorship and partnerships strengthen awareness and the corporate image. To this end, the PR consultancy identifies potential sponsorship and partnership projects that need to be aligned with the company's goals and values.

Contract negotiations are also at the heart of this task. The aim is to formulate flawless contracts that ensure that the collaboration is beneficial for both sides and that goals and expectations are met.

Furthermore, the planning and implementation of the resulting measures is also important here. They must be both creative and interactive in order to bring the collaboration to life and activate the target group.

Of course, monitoring and analysing the sponsorship and partnership projects is also important here to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign and optimise it for future projects.

To achieve this, the PR consultancy uses various methods to monitor success, such as analysing media coverage, social media engagement, participant investment and return on investment (ROI) in general.

Community management was already briefly touched upon in the chapter on social media management. To this end, the PR consultancy responds to comments and messages, moderates discussions and does everything to ‘tickle’ the community's engagement.

As well, community events and interactive actions strengthen the sense of community. These include online events such as webinars, live chats or AMA sessions (Ask Me Anything) or offline actions such as meetups or workshops.

Collecting and evaluating feedback from the community helps better understand the needs and desires of the target group. This is important for optimising the company's products, services and communication strategies.

Events are an excellent opportunity to interact directly with the target group and strengthen brand loyalty through product launches, press events or sponsoring activities.

The tasks involved range from developing event concepts, to logistics, to selecting and booking event locations, to coordinating service providers and inviting guests.

During the event, the PR consultancy coordinates all activities on site to ensure that the event runs safely, effectively and smoothly – from conducting presentations to providing technical support.

Here, too, conscientious follow-up work is essential. Particular attention has to be paid to the feedback from all participants. After all, even the best event can always be improved on.

Public relations and lobbying aim to influence public perception and the goodwill of political decision-makers. To this end, the PR consultancy identifies and maintains relationships with key stakeholders.

At the same time, it also represents the interests of its clients vis-à-vis the media and develops communication campaigns to steer public opinion in the right direction.

It also identifies the latest political developments and social trends that could promote or endanger the company's interests, and then adjusts its strategy accordingly.

In short, the aim is to improve the company’s framework conditions and social environment. The goal is always to enhance its standing, reputation and position in the market.

Targeted CSR activities are important. They contribute to a company's positive perception in society and promote sustainable action in the economy in general.

To this end, the PR consultancy develops and implements a CSR strategy that corresponds to the company's values and goals. This is done to demonstrate the company's commitment to society and to gain public trust.

To this end, the PR consultancy carries out public relations work to publicise the activities and establishes collaborations with NGOs, social institutions and other relevant organisations.

The aim of reputation management is to strengthen and protect a company's reputation. To achieve this, the PR consultancy analyses the public perception of its client and identifies its strengths and weaknesses.

The next step is to develop communication strategies to strengthen the company's image. With proactive, positive storylines and by responding to any negative reporting.

It also builds and maintains relationships with key stakeholders. All in order to protect and promote the reputation of its client. After all, trust is the most important currency in any business.

Whoever has the data has the power. This maxim also applies to every PR consultancy. Because market research and analysis provide important data for the development and evaluation of PR strategies.

To achieve this, the PR consultancy conducts various surveys and studies and collects data about the target group. A real treasure trove of bits and bytes that can be used to identify wishes and attitudes as well as trends and patterns.

Those who use this approach are not groping in the dark. Rather, they know exactly what the market and customers expect from their products and services, their communication strategies and measures, and from them as a whole.

Actually, branding and positioning are one of the first tasks of a PR consultancy. Both are vital to the long-term success of a company and its activities.

To achieve this, the PR consultancy examines the current perception of the company and its values and uses this to develop a branding strategy that clearly defines the identity and values of the client.

The next step is to develop communication measures to implement the brand positioning. The goal is to succeed in the market with strong branding and clear differentiation from the competition.

But all of this is far from being a one-time task. After all, customers and companies are always evolving. Therefore, brand perception needs to be constantly monitored to adjust the branding (less so than the positioning).