Selling PR internally - top 5 tips

published 2002

Despite the growing recognition of the value of PR in recent years, it can sometimes still seem as though you need to justify your role within the company.

Here are 5 tips on how to sell PR within your own organisation:

1. Work with business divisions - set up meetings with the representatives of different business units to ensure that you understand their objectives and goals, and that they understand how you can help them achieve these.

2. Think like a PR agency - treat your divisions and departments as if they are clients. Develop a regular reporting procedure to communicate what you have been working on, what you have achieved, and what you are planning to achieve in the immediate future.

3. Be proactive in providing information - the best defense is a good offense.  Share with the organisation an article that covers your industry that you weren’t mentioned in.  Identify the reasons that you weren’t included, talk about what you could have offered to the journalist who wrote the article, communicate your plans to ensure that you will be mentioned the next time.

4. Share success with everyone - find a way to provide a regular update to everyone in the company on PR achievement, and be sure to praise all of those involved in the success.  It will let others know what can be done.

5. Manage expectations - management needs to be aware that not every lead you follow will result in coverage.  No matter how long you spend chasing a journalist and developing information, sometimes you just won’t get the desired result.

Note: The author of this article is a senior Sydney-based independent corporate PR consultant who advises, coaches and mentors PR Managers and undertakes PR audits of PR Department structures and programs as well as helping review or select PR agencies. In addition he also provides specialist corporate PR and communications advice where issues or change are impacting on an organisation. He also blogs regularly on PR and communciations topics similar to those in this article.