5 essential tools for bringing PR in-house

With increasing numbers of small and medium sized businesses bringing PR in-house, we look at five tools that will help you make the most of your do-it-yourself PR plan.

Keeping PR in-house is a great way to reduce marketing costs. PR Agencies and specialist professionals might be able to provide access to certain media, but they are expensive and many of the tasks they perform can be replicated by your own team.

There are also tools and platform solutions available to help smaller businesses handle their own public relations strategy. Arming yourself with the right ones will make it easier to engage media and other target audiences, create professional-looking content, and monitor the success or failure of your plan.

Here are five tools that are essential to any company looking to do their own PR:

Media Contacts Database

– The first challenge for any PR plan is gaining access to media. A comprehensive contacts database will allow you to maintain lists of media and forge relationships with key journalists. There are many commercial contacts databases, and they often contain details for thousands of journalists all over the world, complete with profiles, traditional contact information, and social media handles. You might think you only need access to a few key journalists in your industry niche, but a database will also make it possible to reach new markets outside your industry – or target national media for your bigger stories. You will also be able to segment your lists according to publication type, industry sector or news focus ensuring your content is always reaching a relevant audience.

Content Production Support

– A PR strategy is all about making the most of the budget and resources you have available. If you do not have access to dedicated content writers, you should look at ways to optimise what you do have. Your most authentic content comes from your own people, and there may well be hidden talent lurking within your company! Then you can refine your content using press release templates, tutorials and writing guides to ensure it is hitting all the right notes.

Monitoring Tools

– A lot of PR is about knowing what is being said about you and adapting your strategy accordingly. Monitoring news outlets and social media effectively is an essential part of any PR plan. Dedicated monitoring tools will comb through thousands of sources to find mentions of your company, brand and products, delivering results based on keyword searches. Learn everything you need to know about media monitoring in 2021 here.

Measurement and Analytics

– Once you have found the evidence of any coverage you might have received, you need to measure the impact of that coverage. Powerful analytic tools can measure the sentiment of any pick-up – identifying whether it is positive, negative or neutral. They can tell you what you are doing well and what you need to change. They will also provide useful metrics and KPIs that you can use to identify the best channels for different types of content.

Bringing it all together

– Some platforms offer all of these tools in one place, while others might provide dedicated focus on the areas that are most important to you. Either way, gaining a holistic, ‘helicopter view’ of your PR will help you refine your strategy over time.

The main thing is that bringing your PR in-house gives you a freedom to express yourself, and helps you to stay in control of your messaging, your channels and your overall direction. Investing in the right PR tools can end up being much more cost-effective than outsourcing your PR to third parties. It will also help you empower your people and make them feel they are contributing to the public image of the company you all work for.

In our piece How to Create a PR Plan, we look at other ways smaller businesses can make the leap to bring your PR in-house.