Stanley Hurwitz, Creative Communications

So is ‘content’ still important? If you’re over a certain age, you got the newspaper delivered to your front door each day and enjoyed breakfast over in-depth articles and great photos. Yes, your fingers got ink stained and the papers piled up until trash day. You saved a few editions to catch drips for the next painting project.

It’s so much easier to get your news from other sources: Now about 90% of Americans depend on TV news; 70% read news on their computer or laptop; 65% on the radio; 60% from print newspapers or magazines; 55% from their cell phones. Why be limited to one paper (that requires a subscription) when you can get all the news free from sources that aggregate top stories from multiple sources such as Google or Yahoo News.

Although the way we obtain news is evolving and fragmented, content is still king. Somebody has to create the content. And that’s where the work of a Public Relations and Marketing pro comes in. People make decisions based on their perception of facts. A skilled PR pro knows how to manage, control and influence perceptions. For a commercial real estate owner, the right PR can attract a tenant or buyer and even help to raise perceptions about location and amenities, resulting in higher rent. For a private school, a steady flow of positive publicity can attract new families, donors, faculty and media coverage. The PR person helps answer these questions:

Who are your target audiences? What groups do you want to influence to buy, sell, lease, join, donate, etc.? Once you determine who these groups are, your PR/Marketing pro can help assess where your targets get their news: daily paper or industry trade publication, direct mail, social media or a combination of these? A proper campaign uses multiple vehicles and is ongoing.

What content is important? Why does your news deserve space or anyone’s attention? With your input, your PR person can develop a list of unique story angles that becomes the outline for a campaign. Do you have a new product/service, a new leasing assignment, an award, a company or employee anniversary, community service project? Can you tie your business in with current events or trends?

Why use this media/vehicle? Maybe it’s appropriate to reach your audiences via Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter. Maybe LinkedIn or Facebook? How about the newspaper!

The right publicity creates, changes, or reinforces opinion. To do the job properly, every business needs the right PR person.

Stanley Hurwitz, principal of Stanley Hurwitz / Creative Communications, Stoughton, Mass.