PR is important to succeed for any business worldwide. No business can survive without good PR and smart firms that understand this and want to go big spend a lot of money on publicity to improve their PR.
However, the effects that traditional advertising has on PR are negligible compared to PR stunts. Like stunts in real life, PR stunts have pros and cons and can work for and against you. Let us discuss PR stunts in detail.
PR in Simple Words
PR literally stands for Public Relations. For big brands, it’s the relationship of trust and satisfaction of clients with the brand. PR is the backbone of any big brand as it helps them attract more customers and increase their brand values. Many big brands monopolise the whole market due to their insane PR.
What are PR Stunts?
PR stunts are stunts like real-life stunts. Just like real-life stunts have great, they share excessive risks and rewards.
PR stunts are acts or events made to incite a spark among the public and raise interest and awareness in the brand or company. They are the most effective in increasing a brand’s PR by leaps and bounds over a few hours.
The Motive of PR Stunts
PR stunts have only one motive: to increase the company’s PR by any legal and ethical means necessary. This is to become the talk of the town. Social media stars frequently perform such stunts and often make headlines. However, the PR stunts they often perform are rather controversial and, most of the time, end up working against them.
Are PR Stunts Necessary?
PR stunts are unnecessary, but they have a high reward that makes them worth it.
Proper planning and execution of PR stunts can raise brand awareness and drastically improve your brand identity. These stunts can prove helpful in boosting your brand identity and attracting more potential clients to your business.
Traditional Methods of Raising Awareness Vs PR Stunts
PR stunts are the least used method for raising brand awareness and identity. Most brands prefer traditional methods as they are safer and more secure than PR Stunts.
The Following are the traditional methods of raising brand awareness:
· Advertisements
These are the common advertisements that a brand pays for, such as on billboards, TV, and social media platforms. Proper and planned advertisements can play a huge role in raising brand awareness.
· Other Methods
These methods include media coverage by providing newsworthy, interesting stories and press releases. These methods are also a good way of increasing brand awareness.
· PR stunts
These are the best approach to getting an instant popularity boost. However, you might need to use other traditional methods to get the most out of your PR stunts.
How to Perform an Effective PR Stunt?
A PR stunt is not about randomly pulling off a big or controversial move and waiting for the results. PR stunts have way more to them. For an effective PR stunt, you must plan, choose the perfect time, coordinate with all parties involved, plan for engagement, execute the stunt, and follow up after the stunt for audience retention.
· Plan The Stunt
The initial step in planning a PR stunt is simply planning it. Excessive planning is mandatory for its success, as it will help you weigh all your options and allow you to pick the best one. The marketing team is responsible for this planning, which will weigh all the possible options and plan the best PR stunt.
· Choose The Perfect Timing
Choosing the perfect time to execute the stunt will majorly impact the success of the PR stunt. Time your stunt to align with an event related to your brand, and you will get the most out of the stunt.
· Coordinate with All the Parties Involved
A single person can not perform an effective PR stunt. It involves multiple parties, and for the stunt to succeed, all parties should be well coordinated and know their role in its success. Clear communication and effective coordination are determining factors in the stunt’s effectiveness.
· Audience Engagement
Before you perform a PR stunt, you must also plan for audience engagement. Social media and advertisements are the most effective ways to do this. Creating a sense of mystery and hype will help keep the audience engaged until the big reveal of your PR stunt.
· Execute The Stunt
After planning, choosing the perfect timing, and gaining considerable audience engagement, it is time to execute the stunt. Proceed with the stunt as you planned, and hope for the best. Also, remember to keep a backup plan in case something goes wrong. The backup plan is there to save you.
· Post-Stunt Follow up
The most important step after the successful execution of the stunt is post-stunt follow-up. You will need to maintain audience retention by keeping the memories of the stunt alive. Again, leveraging social media will be helpful and the best way.
Guidelines For Ethical PR Stunts
While planning for PR stunts, to get the most out of the stunt, the planner might get astray by planning something controversial to get the most engagement. It is common, however, that such stunts fail most of the time, either due to public backlash or legal issues. So, it is better to stick with ethical PR stunts.
· Make Sure the Stunt Aligns with Your Brand Identity
First and foremost, the stunt should strictly align with your brand values and identity. A stunt that leaves behind your brand values and identity is bound to fail. So, plan the stunt so that it aligns with your brand identity and value.
· PR Stunt Should Be Within Legal Boundaries
While planning stunts, there are bound to be some parts that may require special permissions. For these parts, make sure that you get all the permits necessary. Thorough research will help to find any legal troubles involved with the stunt you are planning and will help you avoid them.
· Try To Make the PR Stunt Non-Offensive
Try to make the PR stunt non-offensive. Avoid any discrimination or anything that can raise controversy. Public Relations are sensitive and can go down the drain over a small issue, so try to plan the stunt to keep it shielded from any controversies.
What Can Go Wrong with PR Stunts?
As discussed, PR stunts come with risks that perfectly balance the risk-to-reward ratio. Here are the major things that can go wrong with PR stunts.
· Backlash From the Public
The backlash from the public. Public relations stunts are made to improve public engagement, interest, and awareness, but sometimes, due to some controversial and offensive point in the stunt, instead of boosting your PR, it will go down the drain.
· Legal Issues
While planning a stunt, you should never think of yourself above the law and regulations and ensure that your stunt aligns completely with local laws. On top of that, if some parts require special permissions, get permits for them beforehand.
· Risk of Damaging Your Brand Reputation Permanently
If a PR stunt fails and receives a negative reaction from the public, it can prove extremely difficult to bounce back. Instead of improving your PR, a failed PR stunt can permanently damage your reputation.
How to Avoid Getting a Negative Impact?
As stated, that PR stunt can leave a deep and negative impact on your reputation if they fail, but a permanent scar can be avoided by not letting it fail. You can perform the following preventive measures to ensure your stunts don’t forget.
· Thorough Planning
Thorough planning that considers every aspect of the stunt and its possible outcome can greatly increase the chances of its success. So, take your time and don’t hesitate to perform the stunt. Taking time to prepare is better than losing everything in haste.
· Don’t Go Big at Once
Don’t perform the full-blown version of the PR stunt at once. First, do it on a smaller scale. Gauge and analyse the reactions, then make changes in your plan to make it perfect so the larger audience receives it well.
· Try To Make a Positive Impact
It’s easier said than done, but after following all the steps, you can create a positive impact for your PR and brand, which is the actual goal of the PR stunts. Try to stay away from any sort of controversy, and it will help you to make a positive impact on your brand.
Some Examples of Successful PR Stunts
When discussing PR stunts, it is fair enough to consider examples of successful stunts. Analysing these stunts will help you understand what a successful PR stunt looks like.
· IHOP Rebranding To IHOB
When they launched their new menu, the International House of Pancakes temporarily rebranded itself as the International House of Burgers. This move was an example of a safe PR stunt, but it incited curiosity among the public, attracted many people, and made them aware of the new menu.
· The Stratosphere Jump of Red Bull
Red Bull, a drink that has always associated itself with extreme sports, mixed a stunt and a PR Stunt simultaneously. They used their brand identity of extreme sports and perfectly mixed it with the stunt. They made a record-breaking jump from the stratosphere, breaking several records and the sound barrier. The event was streamed and watched worldwide, creating a strong and positive impression on the public.
What is the Role of Media in PR Stunts?
The media plays a vital role in the success of PR stunts. The media is responsible for spreading information, so it is obvious that how far the publicity goes depends upon the press.
How to Get the Most Media Coverage?
You will need to perform the following actions to get the most media coverage. These actions will help you get the most media coverage, making your stunt far bigger and more popular.
· Make Connections with Journalists
Journalists are the backbone of the media, and making positive and strong connections with them will help you greatly improve media coverage. They are always looking for stories; provide them with something new, and voila, you have a connection with them. If can’t do this by yourself, OK DIGI WORLD PR can help you to build a strong connection between your brand and Journalists. So, book a meeting with us today!
· Make A Visually Striking Event
The media will only be willing to cover an event that seems reasonable. To get the media to cover your event, try to make it visually striking. Also, create hype surrounding your event, and it might attract the attention of the press without you needing to do anything special.
· Give a Press Release
A press release about the events and briefing will help the media create a story. The media likes compelling stories, so making a press release and giving a briefing to the media will ultimately help your cause.
· Timing is the Key
Time your PR at a time when an event related to your brand is taking place. This will give you easy access to media coverage, as the PR stunt will align with the event already taking place.
· Use Social Media
Leverage social media whenever you can. Create live events and broadcast them live over social media to increase viewers. Use social media to create hype by actively posting about the PR stunt event, which will help achieve a better response.
Conclusion
So, PR stunts are a great way to improve the PR of a brand or a company. Although there are risks involved, the benefits outweigh them easily. PR stunts help you create better PR and brand identity, which will ultimately help you achieve a new height in your business.
