What is Public Relations (and why is it important) - YouTube

It's a lot.

There's a lot under the PR umbrella.

So, in this video I'm going to break down what public relations is and why it is so

important.

And if you want to earn media exposure without spending money on ads, which is a big part

of public relations, then please subscribe to this channel where I post videos just like

this one every Thursday.

Hi, I'm Christina Nicholson and I help people all over the world earn media exposure without

spending money on ads so they can reach more people, spend a lot less money, and make a

bigger impact… and public relations is a huge part of that.

So I'm going to break down exactly what it is and why you need it in this video because

it can be a lot, especially today when the media industry is always changing.

So first let's break down what it is.

Public relations is just basically creating and maintaining a favorable public image…

and obviously there are a few different ways that you can do this.

There's the good side, which is the fun storytelling, creating content, getting your message out

there, and then there's the bad side, which is doing damage control and in the industry,

this is called crisis communications - when something bad happens and you kind of need

to cover your ass.

So when it comes to storytelling and getting your content out there, there's a few ways

that you can do this.

One is writing press releases and using a press release distribution service.

I do not recommend this.

Lots of people in the PR industry recommend this.

I do not because I've been on the receiving end of it and let me tell you, most people

who actually work in the news business will tell you they don't look at what the press

release distribution service is sending out and they don't want to read your press release.

I recorded a video on this.

I will link to it in the description of this video so you can check it out.

Another option is media training.

So you want to be in the media, you want to be on camera?

Maybe you want to shoot a video like this and put it on YouTube.

If you come across as boring and you're not educating people and you're not entertaining,

then people aren't going to watch for very long.

So getting in front of the media and doing it well is one way that you can get your story

out there a little bit more.

Another way is social media management.

We're all on social media today, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, YouTube can be considered

social media.

It's also a search engine.

You have the same thing with Pinterest.

There's Twitter.

I mean the list goes on and on.

It's never ending and more are probably coming out tomorrow, so social media management is

a big one, but you have to do it strategically because there are billions of people on social

media and because anybody can post anything at any time, you do need to know what you're

doing and be strategic about it so people actually pay attention.

You can also do some article writing and blogging.

I'm a big fan of this, not just on your own platforms but on other platforms.

So I have my own blog, I have my own podcast, I have my own YouTube channel, but I am also

writing articles for Inc. Magazine and Fast Company.

I'm also appearing on as a guest on other people's podcasts.

So you want to do both because if you just focused on your platforms, you're only reaching

your audience.

So you want to focus on other people's platforms as well so you can reach a new audience and

grow that way.

Then of course there's email marketing.

You should always have a way to get in touch with people who follow you.

Social media is great, but what happens when Facebook goes down?

What happens when Instagram shuts down your account?

You want to be able to reach people who enjoy learning from you and enjoy reading, watching

or listening to your content.

So that's why you want to bring them onto your email list so you have a way to reach

out to them and then you can email them different promotions that maybe you're having for your

services or your products.

Events are also a big part of public relations.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm not an expert on this topic.

I don't do events in my public relations agency.

My public relations agency focuses on media relations because it's all about earning coverage

in the media.

I am a former and current member of the media.

All of my team are members of the media, so that's why we focus on that.

But if events is your jam, if having events is something that you want to do for your

brand or something you want to take part in for your business, then there are just event

focused PR agencies that could be able to help you.

And then finally there's advertising.

As you know by now, if you follow me and my channel or listened to my podcast, I'm not

a big fan of advertising.

I think it is way overpriced and I think it's less effective.

We just naturally, as humans today, tend to not pay attention to ads because we know people

are just trying to sell us something and we know they're paying to get in front of us.

Maybe they're not really worthy of being in front of us.

They don't have that authority.

They don't have that credibility when they're paying for our attention.

So if you want to go the advertising route, all power to you, I just can't help you with

that.

Obviously there's a lot more.

I told you there's a lot under the PR umbrella but those are the big ones.

So I'm wondering, in the comments, let me know what you think your angle would be if

you had to pick one or two of those for PR - get your story out there, build your brand,

have people think of you in a positive way.

How are you going to do this?

Let me know in the comment section.

Before I go, I do want to touch on that bad part of PR, the damage control in the crisis

communications.

This is something that I do not offer.

It is not fun for me, but let me tell you, people offer it because you have to pay a

pretty penny for this cause this is hard.

Like, you've already done something bad or you've been accused of something bad so somebody

has got to come in and do damage control.

It is a lot more work than promoting your brand with a clean slate.

You have to, like, not start over, but like you're already in the hole and you've got

to dig yourself out of it.

It's not fun for me.

I don't do it.

My team doesn't do it, but if you are in a pickle and you need some help, there are people

who can help you with that.

I can also help you earn media exposure if that is what you are looking for.

Again, that's my jam all starts with the TV stuff that I started doing 12 years ago, 14

years ago, however long it's been.

So if you want to learn a little bit more about that and make sure you check out my

free video class, it's called Pitch, Publicity, Profit at PitchPublicityProfit.com and you

will learn exactly how to earn media exposure without spending any money on ads.

If you liked this video, make sure you give it a thumbs up like it and subscribe to this

channel because I post videos just like this one every Thursday.