PR isn’t just about pushing out company announcements or ‘fluff’ pieces about your products to targeted publications, it is a vital, multi-purpose tool that every small to medium-sized business should use.
As we move into 2025, PR will be more important than ever, predicts Northamptonshire PR agency, Ballyhoo PR. As the business landscape continues to evolve with AI, cashflow challenges, changing consumer expectations, and increasing competition, it will be more important than ever for brands to tell their stories through PR – and there are lots of ways to do this.
Shout about your credentials
Demonstrate what you are doing from a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) perspective. Organisations are increasingly looking for their suppliers to be environmentally conscious and show how they are reducing carbon emissions as this, in turn, is a quick way to reduce their own carbon by switching suppliers.
Use PR to shout about investments you have made in this area – for example purchasing a fleet of electric vehicles or installing solar panels. Perhaps you have set up an internal group which focuses on reducing carbon year-on-year. Tell these stories and enter awards to showcase your credentials over potential competitors. These stories will also come up in Google searches when someone is researching potential suppliers.
Boost SEO efforts with digital PR
Links to news websites can be very powerful. Securing online media coverage about your business on credible websites with high domain authorities is areally cost-effective SEO practice. When you combine this with a keyword strategy and ensure you are regularly using the words and phrases you want to rank for in Google within your PR pieces, it will naturally see you rise up the Google rankings and drive organic traffic to your website. A word of warning though, don’t keyword stuff press releases and articles as this will affect your credibility and turn editors off using your content.
Be an expert in your field
This is an ‘oldie but a goodie’ when it comes to PR but will be truer than ever in 2025. People buy from people and trust those with years of experience and knowledge in a particular field or industry sector. This year has seen time-poor MDs and business leaders turn to AI to generate thought leadership pieces, LinkedIn articles and blogs, just to get them out there. The problem with this is that they lose their own authentic voice and their USP – the wealth of knowledge and personal experience they could be sharing instead. Think carefully in 2025 about the stories you can tell and lessons you have learned along the way that could be useful to others. Through sharing these through PR, you will naturally attract more followers and customers who are increasingly demanding transparency and authenticity.
Product launches and awareness campaigns
If you are releasing any new products or services next year, think about how you could do this differently to spark interest and gain press coverage. Could you do a multi- platform campaign that integrates PR with videos, social media and billboard advertising? Could you liaise with your local paper or radio station and run a competition? Could you host a press launch or ribbon cutting event with a VIP? Use PR to create a stir and be memorable.
Make yourself the go-to employer
Any stories you can share that get across your business culture and how you value staff could see candidates choose you over another organisation. Think about announcing new appointments as they happen, any promotions or training/qualification successes, highlight apprentices during Apprenticeship Week or enter Employer of the Year awards.
Emma Speirs, Managing Director of Ballyhoo PR, said:
“As we move into 2025, PR will be crucial in cutting through the noise of AI generated social posts and getting across what you are doing as a business that makes you different. Companies are competing with each other to raise brand awareness, generate leads and attract new talent. PR does all of this and more.”
If you would like to embrace PR in 2025, contact Emma Speirs on her email emma.speirs@ballyhoo-pr.co.uk, or to find out more about Ballyhoo PR, visit their website.
