• Personal Branding - BrandSelf from Zise
  • Personal PR - BrandSelf from Zise
  • Reputation Management - BrandSelf from Zise
  • Personal Branding - BrandSelf from Zise

10 Steps to Personal PR

If you’re new to the concept of personal PR and how it all works, we’ve compiled a handy 10 step guide to getting started below;

1.    Identify your objectives

A personal PR campaign without objectives will be doomed from the start so it’s worthwhile thinking about what you really want to achieve out of it and why those things are important to your business.

2.    DIY or outsource?

Running a personal PR campaign can be a full time job and also requires a lot of specialist skills such as search engine optimisation, media management and copywriting for articles and press releases. If you don’t have the time or expertise to do it properly, it’s advisable to outsource it to a professional.

3.    Who are you targeting?

As well as identifying your objectives at the beginning of the campaign, you also need to know exactly who you’re targeting and why. Targeting the wrong people can be very costly in terms of money and time invested in the campaign as well as not achieving the objectives that you set out to.

4.    Writing for your audience

One of the most common mistakes in personal PR is to write articles and comments based around what you want to say, rather than what people actually want to read.

5.    Dare to be different

When we say dare to be different, we don’t mean causing controversy just for the sake of it. However, if you can find a unique angle when giving comments to the press or writing for your blog, it can definitely help you get noticed, particularly in a fiercely competitive industry.

6.    Choosing the right media to get your message across

Once you have identified your target audience you then need to reach out to them using the right media channels. This will require a lot of initial research into the best publications and websites to promote yourself on.

7.    Monitor your objectives

There’s no point in setting objectives initially if you’re not going to monitor them as your campaign progresses. It’s important you have the right tools in place to evaluate the activities you’ve undertaken.

8.    Make the most of every opportunity

As a result of your personal PR campaign you may receive unexpected opportunities as a result of your promotional activities. It’s important to seize any of these opportunities such as radio and TV interviews with both hands and strike while the iron is hot.

9.    Use your own media to promote yourself

There’s no telling what opportunities and publicity may arise out of one of your blog posts, so using your own media such as a blog is definitely advisable as part of your overall personal PR approach.

10.    Keep your campaign going

In order to get the most out of any personal PR campaign, you need to persevere with it and stay proactive.

Many people start out on this path and fall by the wayside when they don’t get instant results. If you have a well thought out and organised personal PR strategy you will reap the benefits if you stick with it.