5 quick practical PR tips to help everyone

Today, we’re cutting right to the chase. Do you want some powerful, practical PR tips? We’ve got five of them!

Quick and easy to digest, take these tips on board and see how big a difference a little shift can make.

Consider the 80/20 content rule

The 80/20 content rule states that 20% of the content you share can be self-promotional, but the other 80% should serve your audience. Your content should be useful, helpful and informative to your target audience. It should be built around them and not around you.

Basically, don’t be human spam. Provide value. PR is a part of this content mix – although your news may be about your achievements, your commentary and thought leadership should be about giving back to the reader.

Think connecting not networking

Networking sounds a bit big and scary to me, personally. But in reality, all networking is is is meeting new people and having good, interesting conversations. Make the aim of your ‘networking’ simply having a good conversation with someone new. Connect with someone. Not just sending a request on LinkedIn or Twitter or Instagram. Connect on a person to person level – even if it’s virtual.

Just think about it differently and you might find it becomes a lot easier.

Less is more

PR involves a lot of writing, and in PR writing it pretty much always goes that less is more. Be brief, concise, clear. The practical part of this tip is how to go about doing it.

I’m an overwriter. I will always use more words than I needed to. When I draft, I let myself do that. I just write it.

Then I cull.

Read over every sentence and every paragraph and ask yourself ‘could I say that in fewer words?’ If the answer is yes, do that.

Take the interesting part. Kill off the rest.

Learn story structure

It doesn’t matter if you have never and will never write fiction, if you want to be good at writing anything, you’re going to benefit from learning story structure. I’m talking about the hero’s journey, the three-act structure, the beat sheet. Any resource you can find about how stories are crafted, formed and structured, read!

Humans love stories and they love stories structured in certain ways. Our brains are literally wired that way. Imagine how effective your writing could be if you tapped into that wiring.

Set boundries

Being in PR you will probably spend a ridiculous amount of time in the media, reading the news and scrolling through social media. It’s necessary to keep your finger on the pulse. It’s the job. However, and this is a big one: set boundaries.

Separate your home life and work life. Personally, I don’t read the news outside of work if I can help it. I spend eight hours a day being bombarded with current events. It’s not about staying ignorant, it’s about knowing when enough is enough.

Catch yourself doom scrolling if you can. Set screen time limits. Block websites. Whatever you need to do to protect your mind, do it. Work is work. I love my work and it’s for that very reason I can’t let it seep into my personal life. I’m a better PR when I’m not having a meltdown.

You’re a PR. You’re busy. We get it.

Go forth and do great work. Try out those practical PR tips.