The changing landscape: traditional PR vs. community comms
How can you get the best of both worlds? I'll tell you.
In today's rapidly evolving business environment, the lines between traditional public relations (PR) and community communications have become increasingly blurred. As startups and established companies alike seek to establish their brand, the need for effective communication is critical. You could have the greatest product, but if your customers don’t understand it and don’t know where to find you, it doesn’t matter.
This article highlights the five major differences between traditional PR initiatives and community communications, providing insights on how businesses can optimize their outreach strategies.
Goals and objectives
Traditional PR: PR professionals focus on managing a company's image and reputation, typically via media relations and publicity efforts. This can include press releases, pitching reporters, media events, op-ed articles and social media strategy. The primary goal of traditional PR is to generate positive media coverage and enhance the company's credibility and showcase it to the highest value audiences: those with potential customers.
Community communications: This approach centers around building a strong relationship with a company's community, such as customers, partners, and stakeholders. Here, the emphasis is on creating trust, loyalty, and engagement through open, transparent communication. Startups should prioritize community communications to establish a solid foundation with their target audience before scaling their PR efforts. Think of it this way: you speak to your family in a different way than you speak to the outside world, but you would never want your family to be caught off guard with anything you say to external audiences.
Channels and platforms
Traditional PR: Conventional PR initiatives rely heavily on mass media channels such as digital and print newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio for distribution. These channels are effective for reaching broad audiences and convey a certain level of credibility—a Wall Street Journal mention of a company certainly makes us all think it’s more legitimate—but they can be expensive and may not always be the most cost-effective (or even effective) approach, especially if it’s not properly targeted. Good PR firms focus on getting coverage in the most important and relevant publications for the client’s particular audience and community, not necessarily the biggest or fanciest names.
Community communications: This method utilizes digital platforms like social media, blogs, and forums, allowing for more direct and personalized communication. Startups should leverage these platforms to connect with their community, gather feedback, and offer support, ultimately fostering brand loyalty and advocacy.
Messaging and tone
Traditional PR: Traditional PR messaging is generally more formal and polished, aiming to present a professional, sophisticated image to the public. This approach is useful when targeting traditional media outlets and maintaining a consistent brand voice, where editors with more traditional tastes still make a lot of decisions.
Community communications: In contrast, community communications often adopt a more authentic and conversational tone, encouraging open dialogue and relationship building. Startups should strive for transparency, addressing challenges and acknowledging feedback to demonstrate their commitment to the community. I can’t stress enough how important it is to humanize your brand. When community members feel like actual stakeholders, they become even more brand loyal and everyone wins.
Measuring success
Traditional PR: Success in traditional PR is typically measured by media placements, reach, and advertising value equivalency (AVE). These metrics can help quantify the impact of PR initiatives, though they may not always accurately reflect the depth of engagement or long-term relationship building, and they often have little to nothing to do with true return on investment (ROI). In fact, some of the highest ROI PR usually does not come from the fanciest publications, but through tactics like a mention in a smart industry newsletter that ends up in the inbox of a potential trajectory-changing customer or investor.
Community communications: Metrics such as engagement rate, sentiment analysis, and customer retention provide a more comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of community-focused communications. Startups should pay close attention to these metrics to evaluate their efforts and make data-driven decisions.
Adaptability and responsiveness
Traditional PR: Traditional PR initiatives often follow a predetermined plan, making it challenging to pivot quickly in response to changing circumstances or feedback. While this approach provides consistency, it may not always be the most agile. The exception is firms that also provide crisis communications, and are experienced in responding to urgent needs. However, this is often the most expensive segment of traditional PR.
Community communications: The nature of community communications allows for real-time adaptation and responsiveness. Startups can utilize this flexibility to address community concerns, adapt to feedback, and maintain an ongoing dialogue with their community.
High-level tips for effective communication
Know your audience: Understand the demographics, preferences, and expectations of your target audience to tailor your messaging and platforms accordingly. For example, a startup targeting younger consumers might focus on engaging, informal content delivered through social media channels like Instagram and TikTok, with messaging that’s more conversational and personal. On the other hand, one focused on security or finance might want a more authoritative, formal tone that lets customers know serious people are in charge.
Bottom line: know where your people hang out and show up there with an understanding of the scene.
Be transparent: Open and honest communication is vital to building trust within your community. Share updates on company developments, acknowledge setbacks, and demonstrate how you're working to improve. We’re all human here.
Encourage interaction: Actively engage with your community by asking questions, soliciting feedback, and responding to comments. This fosters a sense of connection and makes your community feel heard and valued. It also makes your messaging and outreach sharper, because you have a much better handle on what current and future customers are looking for.
While traditional PR and community communications each have their distinct advantages, an integrated approach can help startups create lasting relationships with their target audiences. If you’re looking for an agency that gets modern day PR and community building, look no further than hype lab and feel free to get in touch.