B Corp newsletter #41: Top 2 PR must-haves in 2025
As a B Corp since 2021, one of the first PR agencies in the UK to become certified, our aim is to help other B Corps improve their PR success rates and communicate their environmental and social impact initiatives to the right people in the right way.
Clearly PR was one of the first PR agencies in the UK to become a certified B Corp when it did so in 2021. Since 2022, we have produced the PR for B Corps Newsletter that is filled with hints and tips to help other B Corp business and brand owners, leaders, and marketers, to get more from their PR.
Issue #41: Top 2 PR must-haves in 2025
30th January 2025 – Between September and today, we have spoken with more than 60 B Corp business leaders and marketers on a one-on-one basis.
Each of them has been facing difficulties in getting greater brand awareness and media coverage for their organisation.
But there are two things they can all be doing to achieve these two objectives:
- Focus on building the personal brand/executive profile of their key people, and
- Get more ‘creative’ in the stories they tell and sell to the media.
Let’s start with the first one of these.
1. Executive profiling
The executive profile of the CEO/MD is as (if not more) important than that of the organisation they represent. If you don’t believe me, then let’s play a game of word association. Who do you think of when you see the following brand names?
- Tesla…
- Apple…
- Virgin…
- Microsoft…
- Gymshark…
- Netflix…
Answers below.
Practising what we preach
We know the critical role of the business leader as a powerful reputation and new business driver to be true, which is why we focus as an agency on ensuring that my personal profile is visible in the media too.
Indeed, in the last fortnight alone, the Clearly team have secured an interview for me with The Telegraph (see story) and The Express (see story). Hey, if we can’t do PR for ourselves, we’d be a pretty lousy PR agency wouldn’t we?!
What this does is position me as knowing my ar*e from my elbow when it comes to the topics of most importance to my business in terms of what our clients talk to us about – reputation management, branding, personal branding, media coverage.
That in turn builds trust (and our pipeline, too!).
2. Think creatively!
The second approach we mentioned is the need for businesses to rethink their approach to generating media coverage. If existing tactics aren’t delivering desired results, it’s time to get a little creative.
For example, we spoke with a B Corp organic drinks company whose media coverage in the last two years has been ad hoc at best. We challenged them to look at range of stories relating to:
- The organic food industry – where is growth coming from, how is their experience reflecting current trends
- Sustainability – could they champion the cause for businesses to become more responsible?
- Health and mental health – talk about how a healthy diet positively affects one’s mental health and well-being
- Diet and obesity – the UK is the most obese nation in Europe, so could they launch an initiative to help children in one or more socially deprived areas by providing them with access to healthier food options or run a food education programme?
There were many more ideas than this, but you get the picture.
Remember, the media are under constant pressure to come up with new ideas and stories.
So, look at everything you do as a business and consider all the topics and subtopics that could provide you with an almost never-ending reserve of great stories that the media will be interested in.
Answers:
- Elon Musk
- Tim Cook and Steve Jobs
- Richard Branson
- Satya Nadella and Bill Gates
- Ben Francis
- Reed Hastings
Insights to help boost your PR in 2025
Five ways PR packs a more powerful punch than any other marketing tactic
PR has emerged from hiding behind the shadow of its advertising peer to become the preferred promotional tactic of choice for forward-thinking organisations. So, what makes PR so much better than advertising and why should brands and businesses be focusing more of their efforts in PR’s direction in 2025?
Clearly PR MD tells The Express: ‘Meghan is doing the right thing to rebuild her personal brand.’
Not for the first time, Paul MacKenzie-Cummins has been asked to provide commentary by a national newspaper on a reputation management issue. This time, he was asked to comment on Meghan Markle’s latest attempts to rebuild her reputation: is her approach enhancing or trancing it?
How selling ‘value’ influences buyer decisions
Marketing texts galore talk about the need for businesses to add or create ‘value’ for their potential or current customers. Few, however, explain what that actually means in practice. True to form, the Clearly team has done away with the waffle and written a short piece on what we mean by ‘value’ and the practical ways you can implement it.
Visit the PR for B Corps Newsletter archive for more insights.
Services to boost your brand value and bottom line
PR Advisory support for in-house marketing teams
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Executive Profiling and Personal Branding
Give your senior people the chance to raise their profile in order to advance the organisation’s strategic goals.
To talk, email paul@clearlypr.co.uk