TAG - pr

For those who don’t work in the field of communications, it is very easy to assume that public relations and marketing are pretty much the same thing. In fact, you’d find it hard to come by a PR professional who hasn’t described their job as ‘similar to marketing’ to their family, friends or virtually anyone new they meet.

In the world of public relations, buzzwords can come and go faster than you can say "press release".

Entering into the world of communications, PR and media relations can be confusing for some. At first, you may wonder what the difference is between public relations and media relations? But overtime, you will begin to notice the unique factors that they each bring to the table.

Decision-maker: “Tell me why PR matters.”

In the fast-paced world of public relations, where the news agenda evolves rapidly, professionals often find it challenging to keep up with an ever-changing landscape. Nonetheless, planning in PR is crucial to success! By developing a comprehensive PR plan, you can effectively navigate the media environment, align your messaging, and capitalise on opportunities. And a PR plan does not have to underscore every last detail! In fact, in such a dynamic world, being adaptable is a huge advantage…

5 reasons why you didn’t get quoted… The bread and butter of any public relations strategy is media engagement – securing opportunities to speak directly with journalists from a wide range of outlets, across your target audiences and geographies. Sharing your voice, your institution’s values, your expertise and successes with credible media gives you a greater platform to be seen and heard, as well as actively demonstrate your worth.

Working with journalists can be daunting, especially if you are in a new position or have not done it before. However, journalists are also just normal people doing their job. Still, there are a couple of things you should consider when working with a journalist or setting up a meeting for another member of faculty. These “do’s and don’ts” are here to provide a guide for you when working with journalists.

Italy is well-known for many things; Pizza, pasta, and gelato in the culinary sense; da Vinci and Michelangelo for artists; Armani and Versace in the fashion world; or Lamborghini and Ferrari if you’re into cars.

Business desks are notoriously difficult to pitch to; they receive a high volume of pitches on a daily basis, leaving editors tasked to find the stories that are truly newsworthy. With strict deadlines, an audience to think about and often very limited resources – this can make news desks very hard to reach for PR professionals, like you and me.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you can’t have escaped talk of ChatGPT. You can’t browse any blog or social media site these days without seeing the answers to questions people have asked the AI bot, tips on how to use it, concerns over plagiarism, and fear that students will take advantage of the tool for essay writing.

Have you ever considered hiring or working with a PR agency, but you’re not entirely sure of what PR entails?

Whether at a business school, university, start-up or multinational conglomerate, the men and women that sit in the C-suite are more than just leaders.

It’s a fair assumption that many people only have a vague idea of what publicity is and why it’s useful for universities and businesses alike.

Public relations and sales are often two essential arms of an organisation; one directly drives up revenue, the other maintains a reputation people want to invest in. Whilst they may be situated in different departments, the skills and work behind both PR and sales may not always be so distinct from one another.

PR is, for the most part, a game of words. Sometimes, however, it’s necessary to crunch the numbers to work out how effectively you are writing and distributing pitches. Luckily, PR consultants aren’t always forced to whip out a calculator themselves – publications like Propel’s quarterly Media Barometer are valuable aggregators of statistics. Here are some of the most interesting trends and tips from the latest Propel report, spanning the third quarter of 2022 (July-September).

For top international business schools, understanding the media landscape in various corners of the globe is key to securing top-tier press coverage in those regions. Business schools are home to thousands of international students and faculty, and produce ground-breaking research that can be of huge relevance all over the world. One region that has one of the most diverse array of cultures and one of the most varying media landscapes is the APAC region. Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australasia and Pacific Islands. Indeed, the APAC region is home to many business schools, and many higher education institutions outside of this region now have flourishing partnerships with schools within this area. It is therefore vital that any PR and communications teams working with partners in the APAC territory understand these differences and nuances to fully unlock APAC’s potential. Below, we highlight a few key trends in the media landscape in four key markets in East Asia – China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.

While a press release can work great for the launch of a new school or interesting findings from a new research paper, some topics will be more successful if pitched as an idea for a wider article.

Ghost-writing involves writing an article or other piece of copy on behalf of somebody else who will be the named author. For example, this could involve using a research paper and notes to write an article for a brilliant professor lacking the English fluency to do their research justice or unable to reach a publication’s deadline due to other commitments. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BlueSky Education (@bluesky_edu)

Press releases are a fantastic tool for PR professionals, they can get your brand’s messaging and your business school’s research in numerous publications – including top tier. But this only happens as long as they are crafted effectively.

Results, sadly, do not speak for themselves. Make no mistake, they are still an important part of an institution’s prestige, but relying solely upon them to uphold a reputation is like constructing a one-legged chair: recline upon it at your peril.

International media coverage is one of the goals which business school PR departments can target with their PR campaigns. Not only does international recognition build a school’s brand at a much larger scale, international coverage can also be used to reach new markets for student recruitment, promote new courses, and showcase successful alumni, among other things.

Effective PR is about generating those opportunities for fruitful publicity; the proof is always in the pudding.

Takeaways from Cision’s 2022 State of the Media Report As the world continues on its new path of hybrid working, entering deeper into a metaverse, our relationships are changing all around us. It’s impacting how we interact with our colleagues, our clients, and for us PR consultants – journalists.

Social media is an effective tool. Not only can you engage instantly and directly with a large amount of your customer base, but you can also shape the narrative and key messaging around your brand and have control over what is posted.

When it comes to planning your next PR campaign, you need to consider all aspects of your approach. PR is more than just media relations, it often involves all aspects of external communications and, with the increase in digital platforms to share content on, it is important that your campaigns are managed strategically.

For many PR agencies, the instinct to run a firm that appeals to as many clients as possible through generalising their expertise is common. However, at BlueSky Education we believe that the most effective form of communications comes when you concentrate your efforts on defining your ‘niche’. In other words, we think that it is important to become an expert in your chosen industry – and in our case, that is business education.

Once upon a time, you may have heard a school of thought that PR and SEO were two different methods of promoting an organisation or website, and would always remain as such. That line of thinking has now been thrown out the window following the mass migration of media to digital platforms, leading to the birth of a new concept: SEO PR. But what is SEO PR, and how can it benefit your institution?

LinkedIn boasts an impressive 830 million members in more than 200 countries worldwide. So surely it presents an opportunity for the savvy PR? However, like most social networking sites it’s overcrowded and noisy, making it difficult for anyone to make a real impact.

When it comes to approaching PR, you should tailor your media approach based on the specific goals you would like to achieve, which can be incredibly varied. You might want to increase student uptake, publications mentioning your research, or international and trade media coverage.

The role of the media relations team within business and higher education institutions is not an easy one. Straddling the worlds of fast-paced news and considered academic exploration it can be tricky to match your institution’s expertise to a journalist’s needs at the right place and time.

Would you hire a lawyer if they hadn’t passed their accreditation board exams? Would you consult with an accountant who wasn’t ACA, ACCA or CIMA accredited? Or would you seek the help from a doctor who was not approved by medical councils?

When it comes to hiring a new agency to support your business school with external engagement, the criteria can be pretty specific. After all, commissioning this agency to work with you will be an investment of sorts. The funds you allocate to paying for external PR support will inevitably be diverted from – or at least unavailable to – other initiatives or ventures.

Public relations, or PR, is all about the way organisations communicate with the public, promote themselves, and how to build a positive reputation and public image.

On the surface, PR and advertising look like similar beasts, but they’re actually quite different. Advertising gives you paid content that reaches as wide an audience as possible, but PR offers a more focused objective, targeting key publications whose readerships are more likely to engage with and act upon what they read.

Wondering how PR and marketing work hand in hand? There is often confusion if PR is a part of marketing or is it an independent function. How much do they differ? Or is there a fine line between the two?

Faculty members who are comfortable and experienced at dealing with media relations are an invaluable asset – largely because they are so rare.

“If I was down to my last dollar, I would spend it on PR,” as Bill Gates once said. When done successfully, a PR campaign is crucial to an organisation’s success, be it mopping up damage or establishing your place amongst more seasoned competitors.

Finding yourself a marketing communications agency that works for your institution will enable you to achieve wonders when working together.

News has travelled in one way or another throughout humanity, be that through word of mouth, messages written on stone or the more modern methods we use today.

So you’ve chosen a PR agency.

Hiring a PR agency isn’t a decision you should make lightly. Communicating your organisation’s goals and strategy in an effective and successful manner is a crucial part of business, and selecting an agency to accelerate and enhance this is an incredibly important decision.

Media outreach is a part of many institutions’ strategies, describing a range of activities designed to get the attention of media representatives who could be interested in your newsworthy stories and willing to share them with your target audience.

Research is important. Many universities and business schools describe themselves as ‘research-led’ or as institutions renowned for the calibre of research they put out.

It may be counterintuitive, since we are a media relations company, to write a blog telling our audience why they simply shouldn’t bother engaging with the media – or employing an agency to do it for them. Sounds a bit like we’re shooting ourselves in the foot, doesn’t it?

Photos are a really important part of every media opportunity. There are very few articles, press releases, or comment pieces that I have worked on that haven’t required a photo upon publication.

Would you like to see your name in flashing lights?

If you want to be a good PR person then you need an effective strategy. Working in the media is competitive and PR is often more of an art form than a sales technique. If you know how to use PR correctly, you can make your message stand out and boost your institution’s success. Here are my top 5 tips for PR professionals working in higher education to help you achieve your goals.

For as long as public relations has existed, the industry has needed to demonstrate the value of press coverage. At the end of the day, it showcases the value of the work, maintains interest in comms expertise, helps to justify investments in PR, and helps to prove it’s worth.

Public relations is no quick win. Though first impressions certainly do count, you might not change people’s minds, their behaviour or make them act differently on your first engagement with them. It’s often a lengthy process, which takes time and patience – at the end of the day people don’t generally jump into decisions lightly.

Here are just a few examples of how to use news trends and how BlueSky Education has earned great coverage for our clients in these areas.