A PR strategy can make a big difference to the success of your business, whether you’re a small online business or a large law firm. Even if you have no marketing budget, you can make PR work for you. Use your PR know-how to get free publicity and gain press coverage to help market your business.
PR is free, which gives it an advantage over other marketing methods. It’s not just about media coverage. PR can also be speaking at events, sponsorship, and entering awards. If you want to sell, people need to know that you’re there. You could manage your PR yourself, or bring in an agency, like elitelawyermanagement.com, who manage PR for law firms.
- Be clear about your positioning. You need to know who you are, what you stand for, and what value you offer. Concentrate on how you want the world to see and remember your business. When you know this, you can shape your PR messaging.
- Identify your target audience. Who do you need to reach? Who do you want to sell your products or services to? Identify a narrow niche, and target it, as this is better than a scattergun approach and trying to sell to everyone.
- Decide how to reach them. When you’ve identified who your target audience is, you need to know which newspapers, magazines, and websites they read. What TV shows do they watch? Do they listen to the radio or to podcasts? If you can answer these questions, you will know where is best to target your PR efforts to reach the right people.
- Target the right journalists and bloggers. If you send a press release to a general email address, it properly won’t be read. If you’ve worked which publications or blogs to target, find out which journalist covers your sector. You can usually find email address online. If you can’t, ring the publication and ask, or seek out the contacts on Twitter in order to start building a relationship with useful contacts.
- Have a good story. A journalist won’t share your story just to be nice. They’re looking for a good story, whether you’re sending them a press release or pitching an idea. Offer something interesting, new, or different. Don’t be tempted to pack too much into your press releases either. Instead, aim for three key messages that have a good story, and add in some interesting quotes.
- Get the timing and approach right. An editor needs enough time to plan in a story. For a glossy magazine, this can be up to three months. A journalist will also need time to write the story before their deadline, so don’t pitch too late. If you pitch your story by phone, some journalists won’t give your much time. Instead, try to get a direct email for your contact, and send your press release with a brief pitch for the story. After a few days, politely follow up if you haven’t had a response from them.
