As a marketer, you are expected to know how to stay on top of PR tips and tricks that
make your brand stand out. You’re expected to be able to know the ins and outs of a brand/client that you are working on, any trends they can jump on to help maximise coverage and opportunities for them, who their competitors and what they’re doing. You’ll need to be able to juggle a whole bunch of tasks while
continuing to grow and learn within yourself.
Luckily many platforms can help you along the way. Here are
some of our favourite people/accounts with PR tips and tricks, examples and truths; all of whom we’d highly recommend you connect with on LinkedIn and follow on Twitter!
Tools of the PR trade
As previously mentioned,
working in PR you need to be able to do multitask to the max. But that doesn’t mean you have to use all 24 hours in the day for the hard graft, you just need to know some tools that can
help automate and streamline various aspects of the job:
Buzzstream
One of THE tools that agencies love to use for outreach is
Buzzstream. You can research influencers and media contacts, manage your relationships with them and conduct personalised outreach/follow-ups. It’s easy to use and has a Google Chrome extension, which means you can use it without having to leave the page you’re on to add another contact you may have just come across.
It’s one of the
more affordable tools at £24/month should you be doing some freelance work!
JournoRequests
Signing up to the free version of
JournoRequests means you’ll receive a ‘daily digest’ email of media requests from Twitter. You can also follow #JournoRequests for real-time requests from media contacts.
It’s perfect for
reactive PR opportunities!
Grammarly
Grammarly is the perfect
free tool to help make sure your grammar, spelling and punctuation are all up to scratch for both client work, sending emails and writing press releases. Again, this tool has a Google Chrome extension so you can work seamlessly while everything is checked as you go.
Create an account
here (then add the extension to Chrome!)
Google Trends
A free feature created by the search giants.
Google Trends analyses search data for different phrases in a variety of countries. It can help you plan a PR story to coincide perfectly with
peak search volume, and also help you see how searches for a certain topic or type of content has changed.
Google Alerts
Another free Google feature to definitely make use of is
Google Alerts. This tool allows you to “monitor the web for interesting new content”, by
sending you an email notification any time there’s a new result on the topic that would be of interest.
For PR, you’d want to set up alerts for your client/brand’s name, relevant keywords and key competitors.
Twitter
Twitter is a social media micro-blogging site, which grew to become one of the ways most people consume news and media. The site is still one of the best places to
see a story ‘break’, do reactive PR, find potential contacts to reach out to by using the search bar and in some cases even email addresses (which you can then add to Buzzsteam).
People and accounts to follow for PR tips and tricks
Many people within PR are amazing, and to list them all would take a lifetime. That being said, here are some amazing
accounts that you should follow straight ASAP:
Carrie Rose (@CarrieRosePR)
An absolute PR Queen and a co-founder of rapidly growing Rise at Seven. For most people working in Digital PR, when you think of PR and who to follow
Carrie is one of the top 5 people most would suggest. Her Twitter is full of examples, her own experiences and just casual chit chat showing this lady is both one of the greats and a normal woman.
Digital PR Examples (@DigitalPREx)
As the name suggests, this account is a one-stop-shop for some
amazing Digital PR campaigns and Content Marketing work from the industry. Founded by Carrie Rose, the account also shares some must-reads and tips.
Famous Campaigns (@famouscampaigns)
Formerly known as PRExamples, Famous Campaigns’ tag line is: “Inspiration. Creativity. Branded Brilliance” and that’s exactly what it showcases. Like Digital PR Examples, it’s a great place to see some of
the best the industry has to show.
Jessica Pardoe (@jessicapardoePR)
Jessica has a PR and Communications blog, which won her a
top 10 place in Vuelio’s rankings for PR Blogs. She is one of those people in PR/Comms who you should follow because she is always on top of the latest thing on the scene.
The Relatable PR (@PrRelatable)
As PR girls, this is the type of account that is frequently shared between us at Girls in Marketing. It is one of the most
honest accounts that shows the BTS life as a PR specialist, and lets you know that you’re not the only one going through something. It’s a light-hearted take on some real-life PR.
Emailers you don’t want to miss
One of the best things about PR is that there are so many great things happening all at once. In this industry, there are always people building up others, giving them a shoutout and highlighting some amazing work. Below are just
three emailers that you’ll want to see in your inbox for inspiration and insight.
The Weekly PR by Bethanie Dennis
Published (and emailed) every Tuesday, The Weekly PR is a curation of some of the best Digital PR
campaigns and articles for you to catch up on.
Work in PRogress by Abi Bennets
On a bi-weekly basis, Abi highlights some of her favourite campaigns, tips and learnings. She also has a small interview with some of the most talented people within the industry, which is a great way to
discover new people to follow!
Content Curated
A
monthly newsletter created by Mark Porter at Search Valley. Designed to help inspire ideas, Content Curated highlights some pretty cool content and articles from around the internet and gives you a small summary before pointing you in the direction of the full piece.
We hope these powerhouse resources will help you with their PR tips and tricks. We want you to excel in your marketing career, so this is a useful way to keep moving forward.
Written by Juanita Wyght
