Become Your Own Public Relations Firm
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Whether you own a business selling products or offer your services for sale, public relations could be your ticket to increasing your company’s visibility. And with the right amount of media coverage, it could cut your advertising dollars in half while increasing your profits. But what is public relations and how does it work?

Public relations is a mixture of marketing, journalism, and management through which you promote your business in such a way that it influences your target audience to take some sort of action. That action could be a visit to your store or website, a free consultation, or better yet, a purchase!

A public relations expert, also known as a publicist, not only helps the public see your company through rose colored glasses, he also helps take the public’s eyes off any negative publicity your company may have experienced.

Let’s say you’re a restaurant owner and your restaurant gave a few guests food poisoning. Thankfully it wasn’t enough to kill them, but it was enough to put a damper on your restaurant’s reputation and slow business down to a crawl. The right publicist can help you turn that around by showing you techniques to get back in the public’s good graces, technique like: working in a soup kitchen for the poor, putting a local teenager through cooking school, or donating a certain amount of money to a charitable organization.

But no matter how good a publicist is, or how wonderful the results are, many small businesses don’t have $10,000 per month to keep a publicist on retainer.

If you’re looking for ways to use the skills of a public relations firm, without actually hiring one, the following tips should be of help:

1. Discover the true purpose for your publicity campaign.
   • What form of publicity are you uncomfortable with?
     
   • What are your objectives and goals pertaining to this publicity campaign?
     
   • What message do you want to get across to your target audience?
     
   • Who is your target market? Who are your customers?
     
   • What about your service or product can you capitalize on?
     
   • What is it about your company that is unique and stands out over the competition?
   
   
2. Prepare a publicity campaign.
   • What media outlets do you want to contact?
     
   • What ideas can you pitch to these media outlets?
     
   • What types of articles could you have written about your company, products, or service? Will you pitch these ideas to journalists or will you write the articles in-house and distribute them, for free, to various small presses and online publications?
     
   • What radio and televisions shows do you want to make guest appearances on?
     
   • What media outlets would welcome a sample of your product for review and possible coverage?
     
   • Think outside the box. Where can you gain coverage without using the media to get it done?
     
   • Will free samples to the public be beneficial and profitable? If so, how will you get the word out?
     
   • Does your service or product fix a problem? If so, what is the problem and what is the solution? How can you spin this to take advantage of free media coverage?
   
   
3. Conduct market research.
   • Hold focus groups.
     
   • Ask customers to fill out surveys.
     
   • Find out what the competition is or is not doing.
   
   
4. Develop a publicity kit and distribute it to proper sources. Your publicity kit should include:
   • Target specific press release.
     
   • Sample of your product or visual/audio of your service.
     
   • Insider secrets that make your product or service stand out from the competition.
     
   • Past marketing and promotional materials.
     
   • Sketches or rough drafts of current marketing and promotional materials.
     
   • Copies of clippings (print and video materials about your company).
     
   • Copies of past, present, and potential advertisements.
     
   • Awards won and how they can apply to your campaign.
     
   • Speaking engagement (or book signing) schedule.
     
   • Professional headshot photo in black & white and color.
   
   
5. Keep a professional contact list. Whenever you meet someone in the industry ask for a business card. When your conversation is over, jot down some specifics about the conversation so you can follow up with a phone call, email, or note card. Your notes will also job your memory months later when you need the services of that contact.
   
   
6. Stay in the media’s eye. Besides distributing press releases and making guest appearances, you can stay in the media’s eye by attending and/or volunteering at various functions and charity events—whether they relate to your business or relate to a cause you believe in.
   
   
7. Network with other professionals. Networking is more than just making contacts; it’s about building relationships so that you can turn to each other for leads, help, advice, tips, etc.
   
   
8. Host lectures, seminars, or workshops at both a local and national level.
   
   
9. Enter prestigious contests. Once you win the contest, take advantage of the title by sending announcements to the media and add a positive spin to your win.
   
   
10. Be assertive. Being assertive means being upfront, bold, confident, and aggressive without alienating anyone. Remember, you won’t succeed if you’re constantly hiding in a corner somewhere so don’t let your fears or insecurities keep you from publicizing your business.
    
    
11. Follow up with all contacts and follow through with any campaign, promotion, or project you take on.