It’s All About the Relationship: Public Relations w/ Corine Lafont

This week, we’re sitting down with Corine Lafont, host of the Between the Lines podcast, business owner, speaker, author, and outstanding PR consultant. She’s here today to share her thoughts and practices when it comes to all things public relations.

It’s important to know that public relations and marketing are not the same thing. Often, companies and businesses will merge the two into one working position, but this leads to things slipping through the cracks.

PR is about building relationships and the image you’re putting out there. What message do you want your company to represent? How do you want people to speak about you? It’s really crucial to attract AND retain that audience, one that you’re proud to have. Remember, the public includes your staff. Both your internal and external communities need to be satisfied to get a symbiotic relationship.

Public relations is CRITICAL for small businesses. Realize that when you ignore a comment on social media, graze over feedback, whether that person has paid for something or not, they are impacting your image and that is reflected to potential and possibly current customers. You need to put yourself out there.

When you’re putting together a PR plan, there are a few important aspects to consider. It comes back to what your messages are and what the experience is you want for your customers. It’s all about the individual experience–there’s a reason why seemingly identical stores have diehard supporters for one or the other. Word of mouth is powerful, don’t underestimate it!