What it takes to make a national campaign land
November 11, 2025
WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN LAND: How we turned a love story into a national headline, and how you can too. Not every
The Power of PR: A Guide for Sydney Businesses
A segment on Sunrise, or an article in The Sydney Morning Herald, can instantly legitimise a business and send thousands of eyeballs straight their way. Anecdotally some of our Sydney clients tell us that they see a surge of web traffic by ten times thanks to an awesome piece of public relations coverage our team has secured for them. There’s no doubt PR has the power to be the push that a business needs to ride the wave of momentum. However, navigating the landscape of media, influencers, PR agencies and considerations in the Sydney market can be challenging.
So, we’ve put together some top reasons and how-to’s in this PR Guide for Sydney businesses. Let’s get into it:
1. What is PR and how does PR work?
In essence, public relations is about creating a story between a business and the media or influencers. There are two main types of PR: proactive public relations (either B2B or B2C) and issues management.
Proactive, consumer PR is often done by an agency who tells good success stories to their network of media and influencer contacts. The objective is to get their client mentioned or featured in news stories around a particular milestone. This could be a product launch or business story.
Issues management is often, but not always, managed by an in-house team as they are best placed to respond quickly to media in the heat of a crisis. This is very specialised work and skilled crisis professionals often have many years of experience to equip them with the skills to navigate reputational difficulties that can make or break an organisation.
2. Practical tips for those seeking to do PR
- Pick the right agency. In Sydney there are a huge variety of agencies that are adept at selling their services. To push past the BS, look for an agency that showcases a tailored and pragmatic solution to your brief. Ask for case studies and references or reviews to establish the value longstanding clients have secured from them
- Do PR at the right time. We often send clients away if their product has little to no distribution because we believe that their return on investment will be sub-par. If you are selling an FMCG product in Sydney, it may better to invest in a retail strategy before PR; and if you are a restaurant turning 3 years old, there may be a better suited milestone. Every restaurant, bar and pub has a birthday every year, Sydney media can’t cover them all.
- Get an agency that cares about your money. At the end of the day PR should make your business money, however that can depend very much on the savviness of the agency director. Creative ideas can be wonderful, but are they strategic? The sweet spot is at the intersection of creativity and strategy underpinned by a pragmatic respect for the client’s money.
3. What results can PR achieve?
PR can help sell out a product. Exposure from well placed PR with the right influencers and media can help generate a sharp uptick in sales. We’ve seen this work with both products and venues who have experienced big business from features in media like Broadsheet and Sydney Morning Herald.
PR can help build brand equity. The third-party endorsement driven from PR can give major credibility to a brand. Our clients have been featured for their sustainability efforts in media like The Guardian and their thought leadership in the Australian Financial Review. This immediately has given their brand a step up over competitors to be seen as the authority in the space.
PR can help generate awareness cost effectively. At just a fraction of the cost of an advert in Sydney media, business can experience all the benefits of increased awareness to their target market without the astronomical cost that can be out of reach of many small to medium size businesses. Additionally, consumers have become adept at discerning between legitimate editorial and when a business has paid for their space meaning that PR coverage has more impact and better retention than an ad in general.
4. What PR doesn’t do!
Desperate to stand out in cluttered Sydney market, businesses often reach out to us because they believe they have an awareness problem; however this is not always the only contributing factor. PR can’t solve a lot of issues, including:
- PR can’t solve a poor product market fit. If you’re getting heaps of media attention for a novel, new product but no one in Sydney is buying it, there may be an issue with the product market fit. If this is the case, don’t flog a dead horse. It’s better to take a step back, readjust the issue then revisit PR when you have a better proposition.
- PR can’t solve a bad customer experience. If you have a poor product or a lack lustre restaurant fit-out, PR might generate a first visit, but your customers won’t be returning.
Often agencies are unfairly blamed for a lack of sales from frustrated founders despite great media coverage and storytelling. The founders are asking: “why hasn’t your work delivered me a return on investment?” Unfortunately, this passion and connection to their product or service means that they are not seeing the glaring and disappointing truth. The issue is with the product, experience or service and not the PR agency promoting it. If you ever find yourself saying ‘PR didn’t work for me’, please consider all the options and contributing factors including both the agency and the product experience you deliver to your customers.
If you need a red hot, savvy PR or social media agency in Sydney, please contact Papaya and we’ll help guide you through the challenging realm of doing PR well in Sydney.
Featured Posts
LinkedIn, the most underrated platform in your marketing mix
September 8, 2025
LINKEDIN, THE MOST UNDERRATED PLATFORM IN YOUR MARKETING MIX While we usually write for businesses or brands, this one’s for the people behind the scenes, the
When Your Brand Is A Category
September 8, 2025
WHEN YOUR BRAND IS A CATEGORY Some brands compete in a category. Others are the category. At Papaya, we’re bloody proud to work with brands that