If you’ve ever wondered how small businesses get publicity, it’s usually not through luck. Rather, those businesses that get media coverage have taken the time to create a small business PR campaign. A great public relations strategy helps you establish credibility by getting respected third parties like journalists to talk about your business.
Any effective small business PR campaign requires courage, planning and persistence. You need courage because you will be the front-facing representative of your company and must speak on its behalf. You need planning to determine what types of press releases to send, which journalists to talk to, and how to implement your campaign. And finally, you need persistence to keep up your publicity efforts until you start to see results.
Ready to get started? Here are 5 steps for creating your small business publicity campaign.
- Create your press kit – Your press kit is a package of content about your company you can give to journalists. Traditionally, it is a folder of information, but you can also deliver your content digitally on USB drives if you prefer to be “green.” You would send a press kit whenever an editor or journalist wants to learn more about your company. A good press kit should contain: an intro letter, some recent press releases, a company fact sheet, bio sheets for key partners, copies of published articles, business brochures, and a businesses card.
- Press releases – Putting together several newsworthy one-page press release are key to the success of your small business publicity campaign. Your press releases should be written for journalists and sent to publications that would be most interested in your business. Keep them concise and on-point. Ideally, you will want to send it to media contacts you know and follow up with a phone call, but initially, you can use online press release services like PRWeb.
- Get published – Look for targeted newsletters and trade publications (online and offline) where you can submit articles about your subject area. Start small and work your way up to larger publications. With just a few published articles under your belt, you will feel more confident pitching article ideas to bigger publications.
- Start speaking – Look for public speaking opportunities and start presenting on your area of expertise. Start small and locally to get the hang of it, then work your way up to radio talk shows. The more you speak, the more opportunities will come your way.
- Pitch ideas – Once you find several targeted publications that are receptive to your articles, you can start pitching article ideas and outlines to editors. Editors love this because you save them time while delivering great content for their readers.
With any small business PR campaign, you will experience rejections, but don’t take them personally. With courage and persistence, you will build momentum and start to see great results.
