TASC Group

Elevate Your Business with Effective Public Relations Strategies

While a solid marketing strategy can deliver short-term gains, long-term brand growth often hinges on a well-executed public relations (PR) approach. PR has the power to shape your brand’s image and foster sustained recognition in the eyes of your audience. In this article, we’ll explore the fundamentals of PR and how it can benefit your business.  

The Foundations of a PR Strategy

1. Crafting Compelling Stories

The basis of any good public relations campaign is a clear, strong message, and at the core of every such message is a compelling story. Your brand possesses a unique story and passion that sets it apart. Effectively describing your mission and why it matters is crucial to resonating with the public. According to Forbes, being backed by trustworthy news sources can also help your business growth by boosting its brand awareness. 

2. Boosting Visibility

Visibility is a cornerstone of connecting with consumers and building brand awareness. To begin, conduct thorough research to pinpoint your target audience. Understand their behavior, interests, and preferences. This data serves as the foundation for tailoring your PR strategy. 

3. Engaging Your Audience

Once your target audience is identified, develop a PR plan that generates content to engage them effectively. Determine their preferred sources of information, whether it’s newspapers, magazines, blogs, or social media. Knowing where your audience gets their news requires an effective media list and informs the content you create to align with their interests. This is key to capturing and retaining their attention. 

4. Diverse Goals

While increasing visibility and engaging your target audience are primary PR goals, public relations can help achieve a variety of other goals. Whether you aim to boost product sales, attract event attendees, shift public perceptions, or raise funds for a cause, a well-crafted PR campaign can be tailored to address these diverse goals. Examples of campaign objectives include:  

  • reaching a new audience 
  • ensuring a business becomes known for a particular product, service, program, mission, etc. 
  • increasing sales of or engagement with a particular product, service, event, etc. 
  • improving the image of a company with the general public 
  • counteracting negative press about a company 

When to Seek Professional Help

Creating and executing an effective PR campaign can be challenging, especially for those without prior experience. If you’re unsure where to begin or lack the expertise, hiring a PR professional is a wise choice. These experts understand the intricacies of building successful campaigns and conveying your message to the right audience. 

Benefits of a PR Strategy

When executed adeptly, PR can yield numerous benefits. It can elevate conversion rates with customers, establish your brand as an authoritative figure in your niche, influence public opinion and policymakers, secure vital funding, and attract new followers and program participants.

A well-crafted PR strategy is a valuable asset for your business, enabling long-term growth and recognition. By incorporating effective PR into your marketing efforts, you can shape your brand’s image, engage your audience, and achieve a range of strategic goals.   

How The TASC Group Can Help

If you’re considering professional assistance for your PR needs, reach out to The TASC Group today. Our team has provided counsel to the nation’s most effective nonprofits, social changemakers and cause-driven organizations. We can help you create a PR strategy that amplifies your message to community members, captures your team’s unique voice and reaches millions with your impactful work.

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Survival Guide for Deepfakes and AI From a PR Perspective

Every couple of months a new AI feature goes viral. From image generators, personal assistants, note taking and audio transcription services to work out plan generators, the options were ever growing in 2023.  

With these tools and applications designed to make our lives easier, there come a few side effects to watch out for when incorporating them into our everyday lives. One of them is our diminishing ability to distinguish between what information is real and what’s false. 

AI’s Contribution to Disinformation

AI tools have become some of the main contributors to deepfakes and the spread of false news and misinformation. Merriam-Webster defines deepfake as “an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.” We’ve seen deepfakes overtake social media, especially when the world is watching major news or political events unfold. 

Likewise, AI chatbots have raised concerns as they have the tendency to give users misleading information. The main issue is that AI chatbots can’t clearly distinguish between fact and fiction. They’re simply aggregators of information available online – and as we all know, information online is not always reputable. This causes users to run into trouble when they’re fully trusting and relying on these chatbots as sources of information. 

So what can we do to avoid falling for misinformation? 

How to Manage the Rise of AI-Generated Content

  1. Review the quality of the video or image 

AI still has kinks and quirks that prevent it from being able to seamlessly create a video or image that looks 100% real. However, AI platforms are working to improve image generation, and we might not be able to tell what’s real versus fake soon. In the meantime, look for some key giveaways, including: 

  1. No-to-little blinking in videos of people
  2. Patchy skin tones
  3. Extra fingers or teeth on people or animals
  4. Poor lip-synchronization with audio
  5. Strange lighting effects with light coming from multiple directions

2. Approach information on social media with a critical eye 

Not everything you see on the internet is true. Going beyond believing what you see on the internet and backing up the information consumed on social platforms with research of your own from notable news sources and journals is how we can avoid falling victim to the spread of false and misleading information. Remember, we’re living in the age of disinformation, and social media is at the forefront of inflamed sentiment around the world. If you read something inflammatory on social media, whether or not it may be AI-generated, always double-check that it’s real before you disseminate it. 

  1. Double check information chatbots provide 

When using AI chatbots for research, it’s important to ask the chatbot where it sourced the information it’s providing you with. This allows you to double check to see if the source is reliable and can provide you with a sense of security. 

When you make a query, and if you’re content with the response provided, ask the chatbot “What source did you get this information from?” The chatbot will return the name of the source since it cannot pull direct links. You can then independently vet that information. 

  1. Protect your data

Remember that while AI can be a powerful tool, many privacy and security issues stem from broader online practices. Being mindful of your digital footprint and adopting good cybersecurity habits can go a long way in protecting your data from various threats, including potential misuse by AI.  

  1. Read privacy policies before engaging with AI technology to understand how your data will be stored and used.
  2. Avoid sharing private or personal information. If possible, use generic or anonymous information instead of providing personally identifiable details. This can help maintain a level of privacy while still allowing you to interact with the chatbot.
  3. Ensure that the platform hosting the AI chatbot uses secure and encrypted connections (look for “https” in the URL). This helps protect your data during transmission.
  4. Consider using the incognito or private browsing mode of your web browser when interacting with chatbots. This mode often limits tracking and data storage.
  5. Be aware of suspicious activity. If the chatbot is asking for personal information that is unrelated to its services make sure to verify the legitimacy of the platform. 

Ultimately, Remain Vigilant

As AI technology advances, the AI giveaways could be resolved in the near future, making deepfake media more believable and therefore a bigger threat. The only true way of avoiding falling victim to AI-generated misinformation and deepfakes is to do your own research and ensure the information you’re given is coming from a reliable source. In the current age of digital media, you can never be too careful. 

Five Ways COVID-19 Has Changed the PR Industry

As PR professionals we are well accustomed to working with fast news cycles, adhering to tight deadlines and putting creative spins on client news to secure the media attention that they deserve. But due to the pandemic, the challenges we face when competing for limited airtime or print space have intensified, and we are faced with a new set of issues to navigate. As the ways we communicate have shifted, we compiled five ways in which media relations has changed and why some of these adjustments are likely permanent.

1. Standing out in crowded news cycles

Over the past two years, we have lived not only through a global pandemic but also felt the effects of climate change through multiple natural disasters and have witnessed a powerful social justice movement. During times when all news is breaking news, it is more challenging than ever to garner meaningful media coverage for our clients’ projects and initiatives. To stand out among an onslaught of pitches that reporters receive, tailoring, targeting and timing are key. Be sure to do your research, get to know each reporter’s beat and time your pitch around news cycles.

2. Adjusting to longer lead times

With COVID-19 related coverage taking up a lot of airtime, space for other news has become more limited. While securing media placements for an announcement could be easily accomplished on a two-week timeline pre-pandemic, longer lead times are preferred in this crowded space. Between coordinating interviews, handling follow-up questions, fact-checking and other logistics that go into each article, journalists are often unable to devote the necessary time on a short turnaround when there are multiple breaking news stories they have to prioritize.

3. Shifting to virtual interviews

Setting up face-to-face meetings and interviews between clients and reporters to get one-on-one time is crucial for building relationships and is a big part of media relations. As we’ve had to adapt to new safety protocols and varied comfort levels with in-person interactions, the majority of interviews has shifted to being virtual. While this has slightly altered the way we prep for meetings, it can often increase clients’ level of comfort when speaking to reporters. Since virtual meetings not only provide increased flexibility for scheduling but also save commuting time, we believe that this change is likely here to stay.

4. Adapting to a changing media landscape

The media landscape was evolving long before COVID-19 started to spread, with many print publications shuttering and moving to online-only formats. This shift has only been accelerated by the pandemic and, with a smaller number of traditional media outlets and a larger amount of news coming out each day, reporters have to be more selective than ever with what they choose to cover. The expectation of having a client’s announcement reported in multiple top-tier publications is no longer realistic, and many PR professionals have adapted by seeking out exclusives or more in-depth coverage in a select target outlet instead.

5. Working around sensitive news

Being mindful of what is happening in the world each day has become more important than ever. As PR professionals we have always had to keep our finger on the pulse and yield to significant news but, when the world as a whole is going through challenging times, pitching a non-life-altering story on the wrong day can be perceived as anything from out-of-touch to downright offensive. Monitoring news cycles and tailoring our timelines and strategies around world events is key to maintaining strong relationships and attaining key press coverage for our clients.

The tumultuous events of the past two years have represented challenges in all areas of our lives and, as PR professionals, we’ve had to rethink many tried-and-true strategies we’ve relied on in the past. These times have shown us that, as an industry, we have the capacity to pivot quickly and continue to serve our clients in meaningful ways even during turbulent times.

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