You know your business, you know your market, you know your customers, you even have friends that work in the media and usually publish the press releases you send them. You write your own press releases, you have a press room in your website, you attend local events, you organize your own booth space in the events!
You answer media requests, prepare media kits, send gifts and samples to media leaders.
You post your blog articles, you take pictures in your events, you answer calls from people abroad, you prepare corporate materials. You analyze the industry’s main events and you send speaking proposals.
Or don’t you?
Which of these aren’t you performing?
Why?
Maybe it’s because you feel there’s too much work to be done and publicizing your work is not exactly one of your goals, not even what you like to do.
Get help then! Because you are not performing key business development activities that can bring you exposure, which equals: SALES.
You do not need to hire an expensive PR agency, or a PR consultant, nor even a new employee! You need some help to guide you through the things you do not want or do not know how to do. Or do not have time, or simply because you believe that publicity is good for your business and do not know where to start.
I read some great articles about PR in small and medium companies that I would like to share with you not only because they bring tons of good ideas but because they talk about the same thing: “To PR or not to PR” but from many different angles.
Dave Austin gets the idea when he writes about PR without the agency and all the great stuff and articles that entrepreneurs can submit to the press as long as they send the media exactly what they need: newsworthy information.
Eric Pfeiffer gives examples of the importance of a blog for your company. You need a blog simply because you need to communicate with your audiences wherever they might be, and the internet is “the place” where the audiences are today. And not only that. The internet is the place where people search and exchange information about lots of things and compare rankings of products and define their choices, their buying choices. So not only the decision makers has chosen the web, but the people they trust and they get advice from are on the web. You need to be there with YOUR message.
Guy Kawasaki wrote a great post about why you DO NOT need a PR agency but you still need PR. He says in his post that there’s no one in the world that would be passionate enough about your company, your services and your products as…. YOU! So take out your laptop and start doing your homework: make a list of media leaders, you’ve got plenty of platforms where you can get data from, starting from any chamber or association you might belong to, and including social networks as LinkedIn and Facebook. Then write about your company, your products and yourself! A passionate, sincere and professional text is better than a press release stating your company’s profile. Media needs flavour, and no one will ever put spirit and heart felt feelings in an article more than the company’s owner.
For a list of everything that a PR agency can do for you read Victoria Sheridan’s blog and website, because this is a professional that really understand what comprehensive PR is all about. She includes a list of activities and techniques that your PR agent, PR manager or the PR agency you hire, should do: News releases: Feature releases, Story pitches, Photographs, Interviews, Columnist or Commentator, By-lined stories, Special Events, Promotions, Sponsorships, Press kits.
I do this with my clients a lot! And they often tell me: “Why I am doing your work?”. They believe that a PR consultant should write everything for them.
This leads to many misconceptions in the PR – company relation.
My answer is simple: I can only help you write YOUR story. But I really need that the soul and spirit of your company comes alive in what I write so there’s no one better than you to help me through these ideas.