Realising your PR potential

Whilst the recycling and resource management industry has perhaps been slightly slower than other sectors to realise its PR potential, the tide is certainly starting to turn. The rate of uptake was probably the result of a number of factors, including its historic tendency to have been more operationally led, its slightly chequered relationship with the media when trying to develop new facilities and coverage in the nationals where coverage has mainly focused on the threat of bin taxes, reduced collection frequencies and the inefficient use of public money. The UK economic climate has also led to significant budget cuts and those services perceived as non-critical to continued operation have born the brunt of these cuts. Having said this, we are now certainly starting to see a change of attitude towards PR across the sector and a recognition of the opportunity it presents for businesses to:

• Strengthen their reputation.
• Differentiate and cement a distinct market position.
• Build awareness of their brand and its products and services.
• Amplify the effectiveness of their sales and marketing activity.
• Influence policy makers and regulators.
• Become the voice of authority their market.

A point that is often missed, however, is that opting not to invest in an organisation’s PR does not equate to ‘not doing any PR’. The reality is that, in the same way that you cannot choose whether or not you have a reputation, you cannot decide whether or not you want public relations. It happens every time you communicate (or fail to communicate) with others. Left alone, you may achieve good or bad relations with a generally positive or negative perception – but you simply forfeit the ability to influence which one it is.

Relationships

However, by using PR effectively, you can build strong relationships and influence your stakeholders’ perception to ensure you maintain a sound reputation at all times and in all circumstances. We all understand the need to take tough budgetary decisions in order to survive in challenging times. It is perhaps ironic, however, that during difficult economic times, when you are considering cut backs in certain areas, you should be looking to invest even more in to your public relations capability.

Whether your customers, suppliers, employees and regulators choose to buy your product or service or to be associated with you depends on your reputation and, perhaps more importantly, how they rate it compared with your competitors. Public relations will help you to build the reputation you want and to differentiate it from others, to give your organisation a competitive edge. With this in mind, the argument for communicating more rather than less in tough markets appears to be a ‘no-brainer’. When times are good, there is money to go around but when things become tight, your potential customers will become far more selective about what they spend money on and with whom they spend it. When you are competing for market share, amidst the racket of competing voices, you need to be the loudest and clearest voice in the crowd. Money spent on PR is money well spent, so long as you get what you need from PR and obtain the best advice available. When planning PR for your business, there are a number of basic points you should be sure to consider:

• Take time to define your audiences, understand their views and why they think and do what they do.
• Be clear about what you would like your customers and other stakeholders to think about you.
• Involve your employees in your objectives and make them feel valued – ultimately they are your biggest communications team.
• Convey your messages in a way that suits your audiences, both in terms of language and channel/media.
• See the media as a way of achieving your objectives, not as something that works against you – probably one of the most important for our sector.
• Be clear about your objectives and make sure you can measure progress throughout the project.

The upcoming letsrecycle.com webinar will give loads more practical advice and examples on how increasing your PR capability can benefit your business. So, whether you are considering developing your capacity in-house or using a sector-specialist agency make sure you register at: ‘Realising your PR potential’.