Take advantage of PR

I never cease to be amazed at the number of businesses that don't take full advantage of what can be one of the lowest cost methods of generating new business - Public Relations or PR.

I recently visited a business that has to my mind one of the greatest 'Killer' products you can imagine yet it struggles to sell, even in its prime market. To be fair the market is plagued by bureaucracy but nevertheless in the last couple of years they have failed to take advantage of a total of 69 opportunities to sing the praises of their business and products and that's criminal.

To get the best from PR opportunities I must always recommend the use of professionals. It is a black art in many respects but more to the point professionals have the contacts to make it work better and can probably open more doors for you than you can yourself. Having said that if you can't find the budget to engage a pro there is nothing to stop you having a go yourself providing you take a sensible approach to it. But first why should you?

I still remember the words of wisdom my marketing lecturer used repeatedly when taking about PR. "There are three reasons" he used to say "you need always to consider when thinking about a PR campaign. Costs, Cover and Credibility".

Costs

PR is just one element of marketing activity but when times are tough it can be a very effective, low cost method of increasing interest in your products and services especially when the objective is to generate new leads. In most instances it involves writing an article, a news release or encouraging a reporter from the media to come and interview you about the exciting things you are doing. In exchange you get exposure to potential customers that you might otherwise not have and its easy to measure the effectiveness of the campaign. All it costs you, if you do it yourself, is time.

Cover

If you use a mixture of traditional media - trade or specialist magazines, newspapers and broadcast media. Plus the Internet including social media like Youtube, Facebook and Twitter your cover can become global. Such exposure builds awareness of you and your business which can significantly affect your bottom line.

Credibility

Whatever you think about the media in any of its forms in most instances its coverage is viewed as credible, objective and independent. Getting such coverage is therefore the kind of advertising you just can't pay for. Even better, once you are accepted as someone who can provide 'industry comment' you are likely to find people from various media seeking you out to get your views and that can do an enormous amount to build your credibility.

So here are my five rules for developing DIY PR.

Rule 1

There has to be a compelling story.

To be truly effective PR has to have human interest. You therefore have to present information in a way that engages with and has effect on all those people you are trying to reach. To do that you need to 'get into the customers shoes' and understand what is important to them or what they will get out of working with you not just flog them your wares.

Whatever story you are telling you must always include examples of how others have gained from working with you. Anecdotes, testimonials and direct quotes add to your credibility.

Your story will impact, in some way, on all your readers. The trick is to ensure it impacts in the right way. The 'benefits' of working with you has to improve the lot of the customer so how can you demonstrate what your contribution will do. Above all you have to leave the reader wanting to act on the information you have presented.

Do something newsworthy!

You do this far more often than you think. A quick list of newsworthy events to start you thinking includes:

New Premises, New Facilities, New Staff, New Partnerships, New Products, New Services
Reaching a Milestone, Exhibiting at an Event, New Web Site, Newsletter, Winning Significant Customer, Getting Industry Award, Getting Nominated for Industry Award - even if you did it yourself, Speaking at Event...

You know your business better than anybody else. The issue you have to get over is recognising that you have a story to tell and who to tell your story to.

Rule 2

First make a list!

Public Relation does what it says on the tin. It is designed to develop your relationship with your existing and potential customers via mutually beneficial communications. But there is more. We talk in terms of stakeholders these days. They include everybody who has a vested interest in the success of your business from staff and existing customers to suppliers, financiers and the local community. So who are your stakeholders and what are their interests in relation to your business? Once you have your list - or lists - you will be ready to take the next step.

Rule 3

How can you reach your Stakeholders?

What you need to know is how do your customers and prospects get their information. What papers or magazines do they read. Do they subscribe to social networks like Facebook and Twitter, use YouTube. Use the web to source information. Don't know - well ask them. Don't dismiss the social networks. Type a general description for your business in YouTube's search facility and stand to be surprised. As my good friend and colleague Andy Poulton http://www.andypoulton.com/, a self professed IT Geek and web Guru, always reminds me the Internet is revolutionising the way all manner of businesses do business.

Rule 4

Having found what media your customers and prospects use you need to take a close look at them to see exactly what kind of news and articles are covered. This will also tell you much about the so called 'house style' that is the way articles and news items are put together. Having that information enables you to put your material together in a way that will be much more acceptable to the editors that will review your submission. A simple and very cheap way of getting hold of copies of obscure magazines is to call them and ask for their media pack and a sample publication. You will also get a copy of their reader profile which should help you better focus you work. When looking at these publications take a note of the journalists names on articles that relate most closely to your business. You can send copies of your material to them direct as well as the news editor responsible for that section.

Rule 5

Develop a relationship with your media contacts. Check their articles and news items to see if they also have a blog or mail address then add comments to their blog or new item. Journalists are always looking for good contacts so offer your expertise and ideas about stories you are sure his or her readers will be interested in.

Even when you don't have a newsworthy story keep in touch you never know you might be able to help them with an item they are working on.

If you have your own web site then add a news page to the site and provide links to interesting articles written by your journalist contacts as well as your own work. By the way, contacting in these circumstances gives you the opportunity to massage their egos a bit.

Finally you should be ready to put your material together and pitch it to your contact list so a final list of things to remember:

Write an outline and pitch it to somebody you know will give you objective assessment. But before you start ask yourself whether your story is current, you have an interesting angle and possibly a bit of humour. Above all else does it have human interest.

Be prepared to answer probing questions about your material especially if its contra to current thinking. And always be ready to back any assertions you make.

Have a look at the media pack to see if the publication is planning any features relating to your business. This might give you a particularly opportune time to get your material published and may, as once happened to me, turn a short news release into a two full page spread plus a half page in a sister publication and ultimately two articles in national newspapers.

A good high resolution photograph will always help sent as a jpeg and even if you are promoting a particular product try to get a human in there. It not only adds 'Human Interest' but also gives relative size.