How Blogs Fit into Your PR Program

By Tina L. Pugliese, APR, Pugliese Public Relations

As competition for available media coverage tightens, a business has to consider all options to get media coverage of a worthwhile business story.  Getting someone to hear the message is half the battle.  Having the media consider it newsworthy is the other half.

There is another vehicle that can gain the attention of an already swamped news editor. That help for the publicity seeking businessperson has arrived in the form of the blog.

A growing number of journalists and news editors are reading blogs on a daily basis to find new and interesting story ideas.  Often faster and more efficient than reading news releases, blog entries may yield targeted short and feature article material.  A blog can provide an instant pipeline directly to interested media outlets.  The key to making a blog work for you as a business person is focusing on a topic that relates to your work and expertise.

Blogs also provide a unique and personal way to communicate with current and prospective customers.  By talking to people in a conversational manner, a blog seems to put a human face on an organization that is difficult to duplicate in any other way.

The more casual and seemingly unfiltered voice of the blogger creates the image of a business as being composed of real people.

The Value of Personalization. Perhaps the single most powerful aspect of blogs in the area of public relations is the personalization aspect.  The writer is a real person putting a human face on a company.   By developing trust among the various readership groups, the blog writer provides a personal link to the company.  If the goal of a public relations effort is to work in coordination with sales and marketing, a blog will establish trust with current and prospective clients.  Blogging as a public opinion medium presents a message in a conversation with the reader.  In that sense, the blog cultivates public opinion. 

Making Yourself an Expert. A successful blog offers readers a unique perspective and commentary while providing links to unique resources and news.  Add your own spin and commentary.  Your blog should bring the reader more than just facts and links.  The value added for the reader is your analysis.  Writing a blog is one way to establish yourself as a thought leader.  A blog will help you become thought of as an expert in your field.

Getting Media Exposure Through a Blog. Traditional media visit blogs and subscribe to blog Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. Much of the regular blog audience are members of traditional mainstream media consisting of newspaper, television, and radio journalists and editors. The news media are constantly on the lookout for potential news stories. 

By writing about your industry, reviewing products, providing company news, and commenting on various business and economics issues, your blog can become a source of news stories. By writing in a style that reflects your personality, along with your expertise in the industry, journalists will consider you to be an industry expert. As someone considered knowledgeable in your business area, you may be called upon for news interviews in the mainstream media.  Not only can you be interviewed about your own business but about issues concerning your industry as a whole.  Be certain to make yourself available to the media.

Reporters are pressed for time due to tight deadlines.  If you are unavailable, they will call upon other people in your industry for comment.  Provide your media contacts with a telephone number and e-mail address where you can be reached at all times. That media information should be readily available on your blog, as well as conveniently placed on your company Website.  Include a media kit with your biography and other background materials to help the journalists do their job.  Your assistance will be appreciated and your expertise sought more often.

Tina L. Pugliese, APR is an executive coach and counselor for Pugliese Public Relations, a communications firm in Boynton Beach, Florida. Pugliese is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America, and is the author of the book, Public Relations for Pharmacists, and e-books, Marketing Your Business for Success, How To Work With The Media, and Public Relations Manual — A Guide for Entrepreneurs.  She can be reached at (561) 889-3575 and by email at Tina@PugliesePR.com.  Her web site is www.PugliesePR.com. 

Article excerpted from e-book, Public Relations Manual — A Guide for Entrepreneurs, by Tina L. Pugliese, APR.