You've probably heard this phrase a couple of times. Today, I'll write a short recommendation which I learned from my own experience.
If you want to strengthen your business plan in the USA, you need a professional and well prepared Public Relations plan. I am sure that if you are a business person, you have already thought about this or even put into action many activities that are considered pure PR actions: Contacting Industry mavens, Identifying press leaders and media, Assist to industry events.
What's critical to recognize here is that your public relations plan, must be exactly that: "A Plan"; not isolated actions you think about or develop at the beginning of your business plan or during a certain period of time.
Let's review some of the actions and deliverables that may be included in a PR plan:
- Media relations
- Specialized Fact Sheets ( give your customers and audiences the information they need about your products)
- Annual Reports (have your team learn about what’s going on in the company)
- Press Kits
- Press Releases for specialized media, and stakeholders
- Announcements (as many as possible)
- Feature story releases will lead you to become a source
- Speech Writing (become an industry maven!)
- Special Events (organizing events and attending)
- Trade Shows (sponsoring opportunities)
1.- Gather all the written information you have about your company
2.- Start writing your company's mission, vision, profile, product and service description, business goals, philosophy. You'll soon have a media kit.
3.- Think about your most important recent goal and write your experience. Was it a new product launch, a new sale, a new client? a new service? a new alliance? Write it and make it "media friendly". Post it and distributed through the free wire services such as www.prweb.com
4.- Buy your domain name, choose a hosting service, create a simple website.
5.- Distribute the press release you wrote to your actual customers. Ask that they share the information with people they know would benefit from the products or services you sell.
6.- Identify a list of journalists and media that would be interested in receiving information about your products / services. Prepare a presentation letter for them. You can eve send samples. Do not push for publication, just follow up on the information or products you sent.
7.- Attend as many industry events as possible and you'll soon be included in the data bases of your competitors and providers.
To execute a PR plan is key to succeed in the US market. It may be difficult, obvious, exhausting, but it will definitely build the basis for a strong organization.
The relations you build today will grow with you over the years.