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Next Read: A Small Business Owner’s Guide to Event Marketing
You’re eager to make a name for your business, but getting in front of the right people (or, honestly, any people at all) can feel like a challenge.
That’s especially true for small business owners who don’t have large teams or endless resources to dedicate to marketing or public relations, commonly abbreviated as PR.
The good news is that reaching new audiences doesn’t need to be an overwhelming task—especially if you follow this expert advice for small business owners who want to handle their own PR.
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines PR as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”That definition can feel a little formal. Ultimately, think of PR as the efforts you make to spread information about your business to an intended audience. In practice, that could include:
Does that mean PR is the same thing as marketing? Not quite. While marketing is focused on promoting your business or products for the sake of increasing sales, PR is about establishing trust or expertise and cultivating a positive reputation for your entire company.
While PR will require some effort on your part, getting started doesn’t have to be daunting. Get started with the following steps.
Ultimately, you have two audiences in PR: journalists and potential customers who read what the journalist writes. Start by composing a list of newspapers, TV stations, podcasts, magazines, and other media that cover topics that are relevant to your industry and that your customers also read, watch, or listen to.
Not sure where your target audience spends time? You can learn a lot by surveying your existing customers about where they get their information and the type of media they consume.
A lot of PR involves proactively reaching out to journalists or other media contacts to pitch a story about your business. That’s an important distinction—you need to be pitching a unique angle or newsworthy information, rather than a general rundown of your business.
“When pitching, always ask the question ‘How will access to this story [or] information help the journalist I am contacting?’” advises Mandy Menaker, the global head of PR at ClassPass. “If you don’t have fresh data, useful insight, or a launch that is interesting to that journalist’s intended audience, wait until you do to reach out.”
Some examples of potential newsworthy pitches for small businesses include:
While crafting an impressive and targeted pitch is crucial, many business owners also run into problems finding outlets to reach out to. There are a number of resources to help you do that, with some of the most-recommended options being:
PR is a long-term effort. Even if you don’t find opportunities or requests that are the right fit for you today, it’s worth continuing to check.
When you’ve got your story idea, remember the following before you start contacting reporters.
Congrats! A reporter got your pitch and is interested in interviewing you. The work doesn’t stop here. Remember the following after agreeing to an interview.
You did it—maybe you landed an interview during a local news broadcast or were quoted in an article about thriving downtown businesses.
Sure, it’s time to celebrate—but don’t stop there. You can make the most of the new exposure and strengthen your relationship with that specific media outlet by promoting that feature to your own network.
In addition to sharing on social media, you can also add links to any media mentions to a press page on your website to give your business some added credibility.
As you’re developing your PR strategy, there are several missteps you will want to avoid.
People want to be helpful or impress the media, so they make promises they can’t or don’t intend to keep. This can be as simple as promising to get back to a reporter with follow-up information and failing to do so. It can include promising to provide them an exclusive on a story or provide them with industry data and statistics, only to not follow through and give them what you’ve promised.
The media is driven by deadlines. It’s what makes or breaks their success. If you are given a deadline or know a reporter has a specific deadline and you fail to meet it, you cost the reporter a story, success, and prestige. You also damage your reputation and quickly become somebody the media knows they can’t trust or rely on to deliver what they need when they need it.
An inability to arrive on time is a sign of laziness and demonstrates that you don’t care, that an interview or meeting with the press is unimportant. When working with the media, it can destroy your brand and reputation.
If you’re ready to expand your PR strategy and bring on a PR agency, remember that an agency can be effective only if you are dedicated to working with them to achieve your goals. An agreement with a PR agency should not be a relationship where the company hires the agency and expects the results to just magically appear.
The most effective approach is to view your relationship with an agency as a partnership.
Here are four steps to ensure that you’re PR relationship is a true partnership:
Getting started with PR for small businesses can be a game-changer when it comes to building your brand, generating buzz, and attracting new customers. Remember, PR is not a one-time effort, but a continuous process of building relationships, telling your story, and showcasing your unique value proposition.
Jeremy Kartchner is a Partner at Snapp Conner PR and has more than 15 years experience in both technology and sports PR. In addition to his responsibilities with Snapp Conner PR, Kartchner also works with the Utah Jazz as a member of its Game Night public relations staff where he is responsible for tracking and providing game time statistics for local, national and international media and conducting pre and post game player and coach interviews. He’s a sports fan, golfer, father of three, husband to one hottie, partially bionic, cavity free, Olympics junkie and wanna be blogger.
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