Five Ways to Use PR to Build Relationships

How can you authen­ti­cal­ly engage with deci­sion mak­ers who may be good advo­cates, influ­encers, prospects, part­ners or employ­ees? While it can be a major under­tak­ing, the good news is that pub­lic rela­tions – includ­ing many ini­tia­tives that may already be in the works – can play a major role in build­ing and strength­en­ing relationships.

In his lat­est piece for Business2Community, Bell­mont Part­ners Pres­i­dent Bri­an Bell­mont out­lines five tips for using com­mu­ni­ca­tions to build rela­tion­ships that last, including:

Under­stand and seg­ment your audi­ence. If you’re look­ing to engage with busi­ness deci­sion-mak­ers, is the C‑suite real­ly the right place to tar­get, or does it make more sense to start build­ing rela­tion­ships with peo­ple in oth­er departments?

Pro­vide some­thing of val­ue. Demon­strate your thought lead­er­ship. Share your exper­tise with­out ask­ing for any­thing in return by con­tribut­ing to a media out­let, pod­cast or blog, or on social media.

Diver­si­fy your mar­ket­ing mix. Strength­en your abil­i­ty to cre­ate and build rela­tion­ships by imple­ment­ing a diverse, mul­ti-faceted com­mu­ni­ca­tions effort. Con­sid­er every­thing from tra­di­tion­al and social media to trade shows and newslet­ters to indus­try events and awards.

Lever­age your net­work. Cre­at­ing and shar­ing con­tent in an authen­tic way can help deep­en rela­tion­ships with peo­ple you already know – and who may con­nect you with peo­ple in their networks.

Be con­sis­tent. Pro­vide a con­sis­tent thrum of use­ful infor­ma­tion to help build or deep­en rela­tion­ships – and trust.

For more details on how to con­nect with the right peo­ple and build stronger rela­tion­ships using PR, check out the full arti­cle on Business2Community.