Food for Thought
Geraldine Hennessy’s Recipe for PR Success

Building relationships is the most effective way to build great PR. It is not to be dismissed in our age of social media, email newsletters and push notifications. A robust brand is well supported and expressed across all brand touch points. This includes all the digital channels above, but also in print and press. Brand storytelling and conscious positioning can truly drive your business forward. Geraldine Hennessy of Resident PR taught the room of food and beverage producers how to get their brand on pages. (At the Dublin Food Chain “Tools for Brand Building” event).

So how do we do it? 

Who Do We Need to Know?

Food PR doesn’t stop at dedicated food publications like Food & Wine. Geraldine reminded the room that all food producers are business owners too. The business section is as much your section to shine as the rest. Outside of this, lifestyle sections and weekender supplements are ripe for food PR. Food is in all our lives every day, and many of us seek better food to introduce into our every day. Supporting your brand with clear storytelling will go a long way to winning you those juicy PR slots.

Sending the Right Thing

What you want to say or show is one thing, and what your audience and the publication want to see or hear is another. The key is preparation. This includes professional photos (more on how to achieve this on a budget in a future article). You want to supply photos in a variety of styles and formats to suit various kinds of features. This includes standard product shots, lifestyle shots without any packaging and production shots. Remaining on brand and consistent across this content will make your brand recognisable. Appealing, engaging and inviting to the publication and your audience amongst their readers. “Irish people are nosy,” Geraldine reminds us, “they like to know who’s behind it all”. So, maybe have a couple of shots of yourself in there too!

Hook, Line & Send Her!

Not overwhelming publications with long and uninteresting PR is about honing your brand story. This way you stay “on brand” and remain engaging at all touch points, even when your brand identity can’t help. The subject line of your email is also crucial to capturing attention and giving a synopsis. After that, keeping it short and to the point, your PR should never surpass a single page. That’s not all, your key information needs to unfold in the first paragraph. Attention spans are shorter than ever. We need to define and tell our brand story with clarity and quickly.

PR is less daunting now with Geraldine’s insider knowledge and brand storytelling. What’s the first PR slot you’re going to tackle? And what are you going to send those publications?

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