How can a small business do PR on their own? What is one DIY PR tip?
To help you do PR on your own as a small business, we asked CEOs and business leaders this question for their best strategies. From going where your audience is to blogging about your expertise, there are several ideas that may help you map out your own PR drive for the success of your business.
Here are 12 DIY PR tips for small businesses:
- Go Where Your Audience Is
- Establish Relationships With Local Media
- Target Your Audience and Share Content
- Use Instagram as PR Tool
- Cultivate The Media
- Connect To Enablers Through Linkedin
- Send Out PR Packages
- Source Free PR On Twitter
- Create a Press Kit for Your Business
- Embark on PR Reporter Outreaches
- Share Winning Solutions and SEO Content
- Blog About Your Expertise
Go Where Your Audience Is
Trade fairs are great outlets to practice your public relations and marketing skills. They’re also a great way to find people who could make up your target audience. Such events are perfect for benchmarking. You may see other business leaders pitching their products, those who are more seasoned at it. If you observe them closely, you may pick up on some of their best tactics. Trade fairs, or expos, are events in which businesses in a particular space come together to showcase their products and services. Participate in as many expos as you can. Get your ideas and products in front of people. You never know what kind of good fortune you may create in a setting like that. They’re always worth a try.
Joel Jackson, Lifeforce
Establish Relationships With Local Media Organizations
A small business is more than capable of doing the same things a larger company does, just on a smaller scale. That being said, try reaching out to the local businesses to collaborate on marketing campaigns to garner more attention from your local community. You can also reach out to the local newspaper or city officials to see if they would have any interest in promoting your small business. Smart small, and from there you can expand your public relations horizons to a larger audience.
Kate Lipman, embrace Scar Therapy
Target Your Audience and Share Content
Start with your audience. The first step to any kind of public relations campaign is to understand who your target audience is. Who are they? Where do they live? How old are they? What are their interests? Once you know this information, you can begin to craft a message that speaks directly to them. Once you have identified your audience, you can start creating content that addresses their needs. You don’t necessarily need to create something from scratch; you can use existing content that already resonates with your audience. For example, if you’re trying to promote a local festival, you could repurpose a blog post about a similar event from last year.;
Share your content. Now that you’ve created content that is relevant to your audience, you need to find ways to get people to notice it. There are many different platforms out there where you can share your content.
Ilija Sekulov, Mailbutler
Use Instagram as PR Tool
Instagram is a great social media platform to organically spread your brand and its message. Although a free account is useful, an Instagram for Business account will include analytics which will help you focus your PR efforts. Ensure that you are posting material that is relevant to your target audience and consistent with your brand’s image. The more you are active on social media, you are able to see PR results in real-time and tailor your efforts based on the results.
Jorge Vivar, Mode
Cultivate The Media
Long ago when I was a freelance journalist, I used to get bombarded by PR people trying to pitch stories and so on. I ignored all of it. The only incoming pitches I paid attention to came from people who actually looked like they had something to say for themselves. The principals are not their PR agents. I used to write mainly about technology and business so I loved it when CEOs or innovators reached out to me and made contact. I prized those sources. It was especially welcome if they had actually read something I wrote or made some effort to understand what I was interested in.
Matthew Stibbe, Articulate Marketing
Connect To Enablers Through Linkedin
LinkedIn is a great place for not only networking, but DIY PR as well. The platform is great for connecting with journalists, PR reps, and a number of folks who may be able to assist in getting the word out about you and your business. With a Premium account, it’s even easier to locate these individuals as well as relevant publications and put them both to work in your favor. LinkedIn is also a great place to simply build your personal brand, connect with your target audience, and perfect social skills—all of which contribute to great PR and all of which are completely free.
Gigi Ji, KOKOLU
Send Out PR Packages
Send PR packages to influencers and editors. This is a great starting point for brands just beginning their public relations plan. Reach out to influencers and editors over social media, or use a site like Cision to find contact information. Brands can build their plan of action from the very beginning all the way to execution, and monitor the posts and articles that develop from the campaign.
Natália Sadowski, Nourishing Biologicals
Source Free PR On Twitter
Many journalists source quotes from their followers on Twitter. If you’re scrolling Twitter already, following industry-specific journalists who are active on the platform will help you gain some leads in your PR efforts. Moreover, relationship-building is key to making this work. After finding some relative journalists, retweet their content and toss your opinion in the hat to spark conversation and get seen.
Amrita Saigal, Kudos
Create a Press Kit for Your Business
One DIY PR tip is to create a press kit for your business. A press kit is a document that contains information about your business that can be used by journalists and other members of the media. A press kit should include an overview of your business, as well as information about your products or services, your company history, and your team.
Eugene Chimpoy, Church Helper
Embark on PR Reporter Outreaches
Businesses of any size should consider PR Reporter Outreach as a way to increase press coverage while gaining valuable backlinks. Websites such as Terkel and Help a Reporter Out (HAR0) are platforms where journalists seek experts in all industries to comment on particular topics. Knowledgeable entrepreneurs can respond to these queries and potentially be published in online articles. Once published, the entrepreneur will receive a backlink in the article itself. The more places on the internet that link to a website, the more popular it becomes. This technique will boost a brand’s online presence, authority, and trust.
Gerald Lombardo, The Word Counter
Share Winning Solutions and SEO Content
Given that most sectors are looking forward to a rebound or working hard to improve brand visibility, digital marketing campaigns are key to improving your brand marketing strategy. You don’t have to push a big budget into marketing if you utilize the most effective tools today online. The key is to creatively use different online platforms to engage your audience and generate more deals. Capitalize on customer experience, as word of mouth is still a viable marketing strategy, and publicize the feedback. Include beautiful video marketing with social media campaigns and also create a content strategy that improves your SEO rankings.
Struan Baird, Luxury Scotland Tours
Blog About Your Expertise
Choose one topic in which you have the expertise, and start blogging about it. As you publish your articles, share them on social media, and start reaching out to other journalists and bloggers, offering to write guest posts for their sites. As your online profile grows, it will attract the attention of traditional media outlets, and you may find yourself with the opportunity to be interviewed on television or in print.
Adil Advani, MyPrep
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