Media Relations

South Shore PR Presents: 10 Essential PR Tips for Small Businesses & Nonprofits in Fall 2024

Community Relations, Marketing, Media Relations, Online Reviews, Public Relations, Social Media /

As step over the threshold of autumn of 2024, the public relations landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace. For small businesses and nonprofits, staying ahead of the curve is crucial for maintaining a strong brand presence and connecting with your audience. Here are ten essential PR tips to help your organization thrive in the coming season and beyond

1. Look at this Past Year’s Efforts

As the last quarter of the year kicks off, now is the time to be thinking forward to next year. This is the perfect time to take a look back over your communications efforts over the past year. Did a campaign surpass your expectations, or was it a dud? Look at what worked, what didn’t and why? Knowing what resonated with your audiences is so important to spending your marketing and PR dollars wisely.

2. Prioritize Sustainability Messaging

Consumer priorities continue to shift and corporate responsibility continues to rank higher in areas of importance when consumers are asked how, where and why the spend where they do. In a 2023 study from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California, organizations’ CSR (including eco-measures) were earmarked as a leading cause of why people choose one company over another to spend their money. The study also said this trend will continue to grow over the next 5-10 years. Consumers are increasingly supporting businesses that prioritize environmental responsibility. If you haven’t already, consider implementing and communicating about your sustainable practices – it’s good for the planet and your brand image.

3. Tell Your Brand’s Story

Marketing messages are EVERYWHERE, truly authentic storytelling cuts through the noise and resonates with current audiences and audiences you want to harness. Focus on crafting a compelling narrative about your business’s history, values, and mission. People connect with stories, not just products or services. Share the passion behind your brand, the challenges you’ve overcome, and the vision that drives you forward. People will buy your story before they buy your product.

4. Master Short-Form Video Content

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels continue to dominate the social media landscape. Create engaging, short-form video content to showcase your brand personality and products. Don’t be afraid to get creative – behind-the-scenes glimpses, quick tips related to your industry, or day-in-the-life content can all help humanize your brand and increase engagement. Just make sure any content you create is in line with your tone, voice and cadence of your brand, don’t try to be something you aren’t, you risk alienating your customers if you do.

5. Consistently Engage with Your Audience

Regular interaction with your customers is key to building and maintaining strong relationships. Utilize social media, email newsletters, and in-person events to keep the lines of communication open. Respond promptly to comments and messages, and create opportunities for two-way dialogue. Consistent communication builds trust and loyalty. Remember almost no one wants to be in a one-sided conversation.

6. Cultivate Authentic Community Engagement

Look beyond your immediate customer base and focus on building genuine connections within your local community. Participate in local events, sponsor community initiatives, and engage meaningfully on community forums. This not only enhances your brand’s reputation but also creates a network of support that can be invaluable for small businesses. This is a form of CSR (Point #2) and this is important! Most customers will want to support an organization that supports their community.

7. Develop a Clear, Consistent Brand Message

At the heart of effective PR lies a clear and consistent brand message. This is a concise statement that encapsulates what your business stands for and what makes it unique. Think of it as the core idea you want people to associate with your brand. You have to know it, and be passionate about you unique selling point.

8. Examine and Understand Your Audiences

Regularly analyzing your target audiences is crucial for effective PR. Dive deep into understanding their demographics, preferences, and behaviors. Use this information to tailor your messaging and outreach strategies. Remember, your audience may evolve over time, so make this an ongoing process. Once a year do an audience audit, and don’t forget to count internal audiences too!

9. Leverage Customer Testimonials

Word-of-mouth remains one of the most powerful forms of marketing. Encourage satisfied customers to share their experiences with your products or services. Authentic reviews and testimonials can be powerful tools for building credibility and attracting new customers. Consider featuring these prominently on your website and social media channels.

10. Develop a Crisis Communication Plan for Digital Threats

You most likely have some insurance for your business, but do you have plans in place for when things go wrong online? Having a solid plan in place to address potential data breaches or social media firestorms promptly and transparently. Quick, honest, and clear communication during a crisis can help maintain trust and minimize damage to your brand’s reputation.

Remember, the key to successful PR is to stay adaptable and authentic. By implementing these strategies and consistently working to connect with your audience, your small business can build a strong, positive presence in your community and industry.

What PR strategies have worked best for your organization in 2024? We’d love to hear your experiences in the comments below!

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What is a media kit, and why do you need one?

Marketing, Media Relations /

TL:DR: A media kit essentially tells advertisers and potential partners how they can work with you and what you can offer them. It does not usually include pricing (that’s a separate rate card, a topic for a future post).

A media kit is essentially a collection of promotional materials that provide information about an individual or business to potential collaborators, sponsors, and advertisers. It is an effective way to showcase your work to the world and can help to attract new clients, advertisers, customers, and sponsors.

Typically, a media kit includes a variety of information, such as a biography of key stakeholders, a list of services or products offered, statistics about key individuals or business’s online presence, testimonials from satisfied customers, and contact information. It may also include examples of previous work, such as articles, blog posts, or videos, as well as information about collaborations and partnerships.

There are several reasons why having a media kit is necessary. It can be essential in establishing your credibility as an organization. Potential clients or sponsors want to know that they can trust you and that you have a proven track record of success. A well-designed media kit will help to establish this credibility by showcasing past successes, highlighting relevant experience and expertise, and providing social proof through testimonials and endorsements.

By showcasing your work and experience, a media kit can help to appeal to potential clients who are looking for someone with your specific skills set or expertise. It helps to communicate the unique value proposition of an individual or business and what sets you apart from competitors in their industry.

If you don’t have a media kit, you are missing out on a chance to share your story and celebrate your wins as an organization. Businesses are interested in partnering with individuals or other non-profits that have a robust online presence and a large following. By providing detailed information about one’s online reach and engagement, as well as examples of previous collaborations, a media kit can help attract potential sponsors and collaborators.

Finally, a well-designed media kit helps to save time and streamline the process of presenting to potential clients, sponsors, and collaborators (and crafting your pitch is something South Shore PR can help you with!). Instead of having to gather information every time you pitch someone, a media kit can provide all the necessary information in one place, making it easier and more efficient to reach out to potential collaborators and secure new business. When working with a new client, you can send them the media kit before your call so they can get some background. 

Your media kit should be on your website and be easy to find.  It will primarily be looked at on a computer or tablet, so it should be accessible on your website. Some marketers might put it behind a sign-up wall to grow an email list, but you can just provide the downloaded version as well. Your media kit should have its own page on your website. You should also have a quality printed version available to send to organizations that may want to work with you. 

Media kits may seem outdated in this fully digital age, but at the end of the day, you still need to sell yourself, and an excellent media kit is the perfect way to put your best foot forward. A well-designed and informative media kit will guide people, enterprises, and non-profits on how to best work with you (and it’s also a great way to show what you don’t do).  

Who needs a media kit:

A Publication – Whether in print or digital, a publication needs to show how it can work with advertisers and partners.

A Public Figure—If you’re doing the speaking circuit or you’re a known public figure, a media kit will help media organizations understand how to work with you. 

Start-up Business—A media kit is an opportunity to tell your story to outside investors and stakeholders; it helps sell you as a business.

Mature Business – If you’ve been around for a few years, a media kit is a great way to show who you are as a company, who the key figures are, and how people might want to partner with you.

Non-Profits—Having a media kit is essential for non-profit organizations, as it helps communicate your mission, leadership, and how outside organizations can collaborate with you.

Examples of an effective media kit:

South Shore PR Client Example:

Other Examples:

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Why Does an Organization Hire a PR Firm

Crisis Communications, Marketing, Media Relations, Public Relations, Reputation, Social Media /

If you’re not familiar with South Shore PR, chances are you’ve googled why companies hire a PR firm and stumbled upon this blog post. This is a relatively common question followed by how is a PR firm is different from a marketing company, and what should I look for in hiring a PR firm. Today, we’d like to share some information to answer these common questions. We’ll discuss some of the most common reasons why an organization hires a PR firm or firm, how a PR firm is different from a marketing firm, and what you should look for before you hire a PR firm.

Why Hire a PR Firm?

  1. Brand Building: We like to think of branding as your organization’s opportunity to begin, reestablish, or enhance your identity to a new or existing audience. Whether you are opening a brand-new venture or introducing a new product or service to your ideal customer, branding begins and eventually solidifies this relationship. Branding your business is so much more than simply sharing your name and logo; when done correctly, it is what sets your organization apart from others and builds loyalty with your ideal customers.
  2. Media Relations: The function of most public relations work is building strategic relationships with media for your brand. These relationships are working partnerships where your brand is featured in a favorable light organically (non-paid placement), and if need be, these relationships can be leveraged in a moment of reputational crisis. As in any partnership relationship, a public relations professional will be a resource for the media, and in return, the media will be a resource for the PR pro person wanting to share their organization’s story.
  3. Reputation Management: Reputation management is about supporting a brand so that the positive aspects of your organization are shared far and wide to build brand loyalty with your ideal customer. Skilled reputation management can also lessen or avoid reputational damage for a client. PR is most known for crisis management, the reputational repair part of reputation management, when you ask most people what PR pros do. The goal of reputation management is to keep your brand and organization in a positive light and, if needed, repair any damage with critical stakeholders to rebuild trust and regain loyalty.

Marketing is not PR, but when the two practices are combined, magic happens:

The function of public relations is to build relationships for your organization, whether it be with customers, media, or other key stakeholders. These relationships propel your brand forward and ultimately help you achieve your communications, marketing, and branding goals. Public relations is most beneficial when an organization needs to build, maintain, or repair relationships with key stakeholder groups. Common public relations activities would include but not be limited to media relations, branding, brand building, social media management, and content creation.

Meanwhile, marketing is used to drive sales and entice people into buying your product or using your services. Marketing will not typically cover media engagement or relationship building but tactics such as advertising and promotion. Marketing is about proposing a problem and creating a solution for the intended audience. Typical marketing activities might include creating content such as fliers, brochures, or advertisements.

Marketing and public relations can be combined to create integrated marketing; this is an extremely powerful way to launch your business communications goals. An integrated marketing firm will help you sell your product, goods, or services while building and enhancing the key relationships needed to support achieving your strategic goals for your organization. The benefit of an integrated marketing firm is that all of your communications needs can fit cohesively, ensuring the story your organization is telling is seamless and reaches its intended target audience.

What you should look for in hiring a PR Firm:

Hiring a PR firm is just like hiring any other services your organization might need, like a bookkeeper or a vendor that supports the goals of your organization’s objectives. Doing your homework on any potential PR partner is essential; you are, after all, putting your organization’s “voice” in their hands. To tell if a PR firm is a good fit for your organization, be sure to look at a list of the services the firm offers. If, for example, you are launching a brand and you want to throw a party, but the PR firm doesn’t provide this service, then you may want to choose a firm that has more experience in this area. Some PR firms only specialize in one type of PR, such as branding, crisis management, or public affairs.

The second thing we would recommend is to look at the firm’s past and current work. If you see great PR work, this is a great way to find a firm. The beauty of this approach is that you see the results in real time, and you can see the firm in action. An excellent PR firm can take aspects that you like and feel will fit your organization and make it unique to your brand and voice.

Last, ask questions, lots of questions. PR practitioners are communicators by trade, and that is what we do. Asking lots of questions not only helps you assess if the firm is the right fit for the services you need but also allows the PR firm to ensure that they can perform the work you require.

We hope that this post has shed some light on some of the most common reasons why companies hire a PR firm, some of the functions of a PR firm, and what you should look for when hiring a PR firm. There are lots of different types of firms out there, each with its own personality, portfolio, and way of doing business. We suggest that you take your time, if possible, and choose the firm that is the right fit for your brand.

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PR Hot Take: Where There is Smoke, There is Fire

Community Relations, Crisis Communications, Media Relations, PR Hot Take, Public Relations, Reputation /

Recently, an organization I follow announced made a significant announcement about the staff that would significantly impact their daily operations. I will not be naming the organization or giving any identifiable details in this post. While this announcement may have been in the works for months, the news distributed to the public seemed abrupt and came with very little forewarning that this transition would be happening. To add to the abrupt nature of the announcement, was that this change would occur before the allotted schedule that this organization routinely follows. All in all, the announcement caught me, an invested stakeholder, off guard.

Fast forward ten days later, and I happened to be on social media and read a story about alleged missing funds within the same organization. My PR intuition was initially aroused at the announcement; then, with the following news, I acknowledged I was watching a communications crisis develop in real-time. As a crisis communications professional, I had to know more, so I began digging. What is in the public discourse, social media, and press stories leaves more unanswered questions and severe gaps in communication with general stakeholders. For this organization, where trust is paramount, I am deeply concerned about the reputational damage being done in real time.

I share this PR hot take today because, number one, it interests me, and I am interested to see how these issues will resolve as a whole for the organization. I am also sharing this because it is an excellent case of how not to communicate with stakeholders. Below, you will find my perfect recipe for a full-blown crisis communications episode:

  1. Make a significant announcement with little to no warning to the general public that will profoundly impact your organization forever.
  2. Hold closed-door meetings where stakeholders who are usually involved have been shut out or have the perception that they’ve been shut out.
  3. Do not correct accusations of missing funds and or make any statements to clear the record on this matter.
  4. Do not communicate a plan for transition, stability, and transparency.

When an organization goes through a transition with public stakeholders, communication efforts should be ample and provide transparency. The lack of transparency is not good. I was talking to a friend about this organization and the situation, and they said to me the adage, “Where there is smoke, there’s fire.” My friend’s thoughts on the situation illustrated that with the lack of communication from the organization, there is a vacuum for information where stakeholders will be left to make their own conclusions, and that is not good. Reputational damage is being done in real time.

As a communications professional and an interested stakeholder, I find this painful to watch. The point that I am trying to make is that communication is powerful and, when done strategically, makes the difference in building trust and protecting an organization’s reputation. I understand that this organization may not be able to communicate specific details, but the lack of communication as a whole lends stakeholders to feel that the organization is intentionally vague out of wrongdoing or guilt. In my conversation with my friend, I asked what led them to believe that there was alleged wrong-doing in this situation, and they remarked to me, “They’re just not telling us enough, and the way in which things have been communicated doesn’t help matters, it all just feels like a sloppy mess.” I could not fault my friend’s assessment of the situation; the communication, what has gone out publicly, has been sloppy from a strategic point of view.

Communicating ad-hoc to the general public when your organization is heavily public-facing and requires trust at the highest levels from your stakeholders is a bad situation. I hope that this organization realizes what is happening before the reputational damage gets any worse, and if they don’t know how to communicate what is happening within their organization, they seek help from a communications professional immediately.

Examples such as this one can be found easily in business or anywhere where there is public interest within a community. I also want to make clear that I am not criticizing this organization; I am simply using it as a teachable moment. Reader, if you take only one thing away from this post today, take this: communication is key! Don’t leave your stakeholders to come to their own conclusions about the inner workings of your organization; it never ends well. Trust me on this one!

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What are the Different Types of PR and How Are They Different?

Crisis Communications, Marketing, Media Relations, Product Launches, Public Relations, Reputation, Thought Leadership /

As the premier PR firm in Northwest Indiana, South Shore PR takes pride in being the torchbearer of effective public relations, mastering the art and science that influences opinions, fosters goodwill, builds relationships, and elevates organizations to new heights. Today we want to share some of the different disciplines of public relations and what they focus on.

Public relations, isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to a client’s needs. We like to use the example of a medical professional. While a doctor has a general understanding of the body, some medical professionals specialize in certain areas of the body, such as a neonatologist, psychiatrist, or gerontologist. A public relations professional works in exactly the same way, there is the general knowledge of public relations, but some PR professionals specialize in an area of PR, thus making them more skilled in a particular area of PR. Today we going to look at the six most common disciplines of PR practiced today.

What is Media Relations or Media Relations PR?

South Shore PR Work Examples
Photo Credits (top to bottom) People Magazine, Eyecare Business Magazine, BBC News, and The Today Show

A skilled media relations professional can transform innovation into a global sensation. By strategically pitching the story to the correct influential journalists and media outlets, PR professionals can ensure that the narrative resonates far beyond, ultimately reaching your intended audience. Media relations specializes in working with the media, and often PR professionals that focus on media relations may do so within an industry, such as tech, healthcare or banking. Knowing how to be a great media partner, while being savvy about the angle of the pitch, and when, where and how, will make all the difference in securing great coverage and reaching your intended audience.

What is Crisis Communication PR?

Photo Credit: Sprout Social

Crisis Communication and or reputation management PR is perhaps the most easily recognized, and the most skilled of all PR disciplines. When an organization or individual has run afoul of stakeholders, resulting in a public and potentially damaging reckoning for the instigating party, this is where crisis communications and reputational management come into play. A skilled public relations professional that specializes in this type of PR will come in and mitigate reputational damage, provide guidance for stakeholders, and eventually begin to repair relationships with the general public and any other wronged parties. You can look at some great examples of crisis management here: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/crisis-communication-examples/

What is Government Relations & Public Affairs?

Photo Credit: The Pan American Health Organization

This discipline of PR focuses on building relationships between an organization and government entities for the goal of strategic communication for the greater good, influence and the ability to make a positive impact on stakeholders. Examples of a public affairs professional would be a communications Director for a local police department. Examples of a government relations expert would be a lobbyist or government liaison within an organization. Examples of a public affairs campaign could be the Covid-19 vaccine campaigns, a local area government communicating an upcoming infrastructure project, or an industry lobbying for policy changes at the highest levels.

What is Product Launch PR and Branding?

Photo Credit: Gizmodo via Warner Bros./ Universal

An agency or in-house person or team that specializes creating interest and generating positive coverage for new products or services works in product launch PR, reputational practice and even branding. These individuals are key in developing strategic communication plans, organizing launch events, and securing media coverage for a product unveiling. A great example is of this type of PR is the phenomena known as Barbenheimer at the box office last summer. The two films combined as two distinct, yet cooperative marketing campaigns created box office gold in the summer of 2023. Read more about this magic here.

What are Consumer Relations?

Photo Credit: Time Magazine via Dove/RaiseTheBeautyBar

This area of public relations is very similar to customer service, however, the focus here is to protect and enhance an organization’s reputation while building a robust and positive relationship with stakeholders to enhance brand loyalty. Examples of this type of PR would be managing customer feedback on public forums, addressing concerns, and promoting positive customer experiences through various communication channels.

One of the most significant examples was Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign. You can read all about it here.  

What is Integrated PR?

Photo Credit: Apple

Integrated is where public relations concepts and tactics are combined with marketing campaigns and exercises. This is the most powerful way for any organization to create their brand, tell their story, and build long-lasting, loyal relationships with their customers. A great, recent example of an integrate PR campaign would be Apple’s Shot on an iPhone Campaign. Apple cleverly shot and advertised that this campaign was shot entirely on an iPhone, then encouraged fans to share their own films shot on iPhones on social media. You can read more about this innovative campaign here.

These are just a few of the most common areas of PR practice. At South Shore we specialize in many of these areas of public relations. We hope that this article is informative and has shared some of the complexities of public relations practice. No matter the discipline of PR, one goal remains the same, to build, and enhance a loyal relationship with key stakeholders.

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