Putting the R into PR

Relations, relations, relations – it’s the foundation to any PR campaign, be it consumer or trade. There’s no denying that having strong relationships with journalists and influencers will make the job of a PR professional a whole lot easier, and one way of building these relations is by hosting an event.

Hosting an event is a great way of creating tangible, face-to-face relationships with either your end user, audience or target media, and over 95% of professionals believe that face-to-face meetings are key to maintaining successful relationships. Meeting those you communicate with on a day-to-day basis proves invaluable as it keeps your brand at the forefront, builds a connection and helps form an advocacy of influencers.

A socially-led event can also result in a high level of interaction and engagement online and can raise brand awareness in a subtle and organic way – demonstrating the brand’s messages and its personality.

We’ve been busy this past month organising and hosting an exclusive cookery event on behalf of our client, dairy-free milk alternative Dream.

The event was held at Aveqia in London alongside Honestly Healthy blogger, Natasha Corrett. Food and lifestyle bloggers as well as social competition winners attended for an evening of recipe creation and product testing, allowing us to showcase the Dream range and how it can be used as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Social interaction was encouraged at the event, leading to a high level of social engagement from attendees. From the evening there were over 45 tweets, alongside Instagram posts, Facebook posts and Vine videos – reaching over 200,000 followers with the hashtag #TastetheDream.

The bloggers who attended the evening have since posted on their blogs, featuring the event and recipes as well as the Dream products, keeping the conversation going.

We regularly run events on behalf of our clients and for ourselves. Here are our top tips for throwing a blogger event:

1. Keep social at the forefront using cue cards with relevant handles and hashtags
2. Tell your brand story
3. Use as an opportunity to add value
4. Surprise and delight your attendees
5. Follow up with attendees to maintain relationships