Public relations marketing is no laughing matter. You have to know your audience, and since there is almost no scope of mistakes, you need to learn from someone else’s. So, what can be better than gaining knowledge with an element of entertainment?
Shark Tank, a reality TV show, promises a realistic experience for entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams. Because when you watch Shark Tank, you can decode the PR marketing techniques that lead to a formula for success.
What Is Shark Tank?
Shark Tank features up and coming entrepreneurs who pitch their ideas to five “Sharks”: Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Robert Herjavec, Lori Greiner, and Barbara Corcoran. Even if you do not watch Shark Tank online, you may know them as leading personalities in their respective fields of business.
Shark Tank receives applications from aspiring businesspeople. The production team screens in the best ones and invites them to the show. The show’s premise is simple - Convince the sharks, and they will become investors in your enterprise!
Here are a few successful Shark Tank products that made the cut:
Scrub Daddy
LollaCup
Tipsy Elves
Squatty Potty
Wicked Good Cupcakes
Ten Thirty-One Productions
Public Relations Marketing: What Can You Learn From Shark Tank?
Ready to learn PR Marketing 101 through Shark Tank full episodes? Here they come:
Prepare Your Pitch
The crux of Shark Tank relies on the innovator or entrepreneurs’ ability to convey key details about the business. Similarly, PR marketing relies on a business’s ability to capture its audience and media’s interests, and present itself as the ultimate solution.
Your pitch should be the ‘hero’ of your interaction. Hence, to make it stand out, you need to:
Pour in all your creativity, starting with the headline.
Draft, proofread, redraft, and repeat to eliminate any errors.
Weed out all the fluff until the crucial details remain.
Numbers Speak Louder Than Words
In Shark Tank, you may have noticed the panelists repeating questions about sales, marketing, profit margins, etc. The same trend is visible in the world of PR marketing. You need to crunch those numbers and be prepared with all the facts to answer the tough queries. Stay up to date on the market trends and align your business’s progress.
Always Be Prepared
“Do your homework” is one of the top golden rules of PR marketing.
Not knowing the target audience and their preferences is a fatal mistake. Naturally, a half-baked Shark Tank application will not make it to the show, and neither will your pitch if it does not reflect a high level of research!
You need to prepare a pitch that resonates with the media, and for this very reason, you need a strong understanding of the reporters’ beats and interests. Building a long-term relationship with key media persons lays the foundation for success in PR!
Harness Your People Skills
Speaking of relationship and image-building, Shark Tank is a classic example of how customers invest in people as much as they invest in their ideas. Along the same lines, public relations marketing experts attempt to attribute a human persona to make it more relatable. Dip into your soft skills to evoke an emotional response and build a deeper, personal connection.
Keep Your Cool
The Sharks are known for grilling the participants on the show. Anybody who has worked in public relations marketing will relate to and empathize with the kind of pressure that the contestants face! If you manage to keep your cool even in the middle of a crisis, you can always find a unique solution like some of the Shark Tank success stories.
Final Thoughts
At the surface, Shark Tank appears to be quite simple. You could walk away with a full bounty or face humiliation on national television. However, when you deep dive into the program, you realize that it is a blend of several elements coming together to help a business flourish.
Naturally, the goals of a small business must align with strong public relations marketing to achieve success. Hence, it’s safe to say that the show offers insightful nuggets of information on PR marketing. Consider watching Shark Tank, yet?