Every business can and should be making active strides in public relations (PR). Public relations is all about amplifying your message by getting featured in other publications which will further boost your online reputation. The four main goals of public relations tactics are:
- Getting featured in the local news
- Getting featured on a popular blog in your industry or a related industry
- Getting featured on a social influencer’s social media page
- Winning awards
Let’s take a closer look at each of these four goals and how small businesses can accomplish them.
Tactics to Achieve Public Relations Goals with Limited Resources
1. Getting Featured in the Local News
Appearing in the local news is a huge accomplishment and very important and beneficial to your business. In order for a local news publication to take interest in your brand, you have to do something big, meaningful, important, or significant. Events considered news-worthy include:
- Grand opening
- Opening a new location
- Hiring a well-respected figure in the industry
- Hosting an event (PR stunt) such as a carnival outside your business during the holidays
As soon as you have scheduled your news-worthy event, alert the press by publishing a press release that is sent out to local journalists. If you need help, you can contact a publicist or a PR marketer to help spread the word. The goal is to make contact with a journalist and get them out to the event. Have a plan for the journalist when they arrive with people to be interviewed and certain highlights of the event to cover. Be sure there are people at your event and that it looks busy.
The event is a perfect place to offer a special for your products or service, because the article will feature this promotion. Journalists will be more likely to feature the event when you have a valuable offering for their audience.
The upcoming grand opening of this water park in Katy, Texas was recently featured in the local news.
2. Getting Featured on a Popular Blog in your Industry or Related Industry
There are several different ways you can get your business featured on a popular blog in your industry or a related industry, including:
- Develop partnerships with companies that also have a blog and once you have built that relationship, it’s then easy to ask them to feature you.
- Create a link baiting post where you feature other people’s business/website on your blog and hope that in return they link back to your website or social media because you have shared them in a positive light.
- B2B link baiting works easily and naturally by writing about a company you have recently done business with and highlight some information about their business and a brief description of the work done. Let them know you have featured them in a blog post and oftentimes they will return a link by sharing the blog on their website or social media.
- Writing guest posts for another person’s blog where you are the author of an article and the post links back to your website and offers value for their blog.
A Houston business, Newborn Lifestyle Photography, wrote a guest post on the Houston Mom’s Blog.
3. Getting Featured on a Social Influencer’s Social Media Page
Essentially, the strategies to get featured on someone else’s social media page will be the same as those mentioned above in number two, only the target is social media and not someone’s blog. Engaging with someone on social media is the best way to get them to share your content. Do this by sharing their content that is relevant to your business and commenting on posts that you find valuable or meaningful.
Blog posts make great shareable content, and if you can get someone to share your blog post – that is a great public relations tactic.
One Houston business mentions another on social media to recognize them for their recent collaboration.
4. Winning Awards
Search for awards relevant to your industry. Start submitting your business to as many awards as possible, even the bigger awards you don’t think you could win because repeatedly submitting your business will increase your chances of winning the award.
Meaningful partnerships with other businesses will be beneficial to your chance of winning certain awards because oftentimes you need a sponsor or endorsement. Ideally, you will sponsor the other business for an award relevant to their business and in turn they will sponsor you.
Before you submit your business for any type of reward, be sure you are presenting yourself in the best possible light. Have your website up-to-date and looking its best with your work presented in a digestible format. Once you have entered your business for an award, always follow up and be sure you are nominated and that all criteria have been met. Once you have won an award, brag about it. Post it on your blog, share it on your social media pages, and then send out a press release to the local news in hopes that they will feature your accomplishment. Contact whoever issued the award and see if you can get a link back to your site.
Webb’s Automotive and Maid Brigade were recently featured in a publication in recognition of a recent Award they received.
Managing Public Relations for Your Small Business
The most common reasons small businesses fail to manage public relations are:
- They don’t realize they should be doing it
- They don’t know how to do it
- They don’t have time to do it
If your business falls into any or all of these three categories, we can add value to your business. We have team members with experience in journalism and public relations and we couple that with our expertise in digital marketing to be sure businesses are featured in the best light on the internet which ultimately will drive more sales and increase revenue. We’d love to talk with you about your business’ unique needs. Contact us today for a free consultation.
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