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Public Relations InformationMake the Media Your FriendThe media (newspaper, radio, television) can be of enormous help to the small and home based business. So, it is very important that you develop a relationship with them. Building The Best NetworkIf you want to succeed, build a great team. A great team multiplies your prospects for success; it enables you to form relationships with powerful people who can make your dreams come true. A great network supports your strengths, fills in your weaknesses and allows you to d build on your teammates? accomplishments. When you have a great team, people assume that you are great and will stand in line to get to know you, do business with you, and help you. They will also be delighted to pay your price. The 7 Deadly Sins of Press ReleasesA press release is often your only chance to make a great first impression. 16 Publicity tips for RestaurantsWith a dismal failure rate of more than 75 percent among restaurants, you must be sure you do everything you possibly can do to promote your restaurant through free publicity. Here are 16 tips that will boost your publicity efforts and help you finally get noticed--even if you don't have a big advertising budget. 13 Publicity Ideas for RetailersIf you're trying to promote your store, but you don't have a big advertising budget, relax. There are lots of ways to get in front of the audience you want to reach by using free publicity. Here are tips that will boost your publicity efforts and help you finally get noticed. Dont Pay for Radio InterviewsIt used to be that all you had to do was pitch a great idea with a clever hook, and you?d be booked as a guest on a half-hour radio show. How to Work with Newspaper PhotographersThe next time a newspaper photographer takes your photo, remember the 8 things they hate: Publicizing Your CompanyGot a huge need for publicity and a tiny publicity budget? You don?t need to have a Madison Avenue-sized advertising budget to make your name known. Speak UpAnother way to really become known in your area is to speak up. Make yourself available to talk to every civic,business and educational group that will have you. Stress your expertise, and, as with writing the newspaper column,never try to sell anything-except your reputation as a knowledgeable, trustworthy professional. Advertising Is Dead. Long Live PRAlthough I still believe there is a place for advertising as a brand maintenance or brand affirmation tool, I am convinced that to build a brand today, you need PR. At one time advertising did build brands. But this was in a simpler America. That America, sadly, is no more. Dont Be IncrediblePublic relations is all about credibility and trustworthiness. If you don't practice PR, then you are likely to be incredible. Be Patient? Nah, Lets Kill SomethingThere's the old joke about the two buzzards sitting in a tree overlooking a highway. One responds to the other, "Be patient? I'm hungry. Let's kill something." Just like that buzzard, it is not in the nature of most marketers to be patient for business to grow. They want to go out and "kill something," too. Write Press Releases That DazzleWhen a reporter is wowed, intrigued, surprised or captivated by your press release, you can be pretty sure you?ll get some media coverage. And for most businesses, positive media coverage is worth its weight in gold. The bad news: Although truckloads of news releases fill reporters? inboxes every day, few of them are dazzling, or even interesting. Using Publicity As A Creative Marketing ToolPublicity is an important and often overlooked tool of creative selling; and a more cost-effective way of reaching your target audience than advertising. With the inherent third-party endorsement of the media implied in every editorial story, a news or feature article in a newspaper, magazine, or on television or radio, is an infinitely more credibly-perceived communications message than an ad or commercial. Publicists less frequently are favored with hard news stories. They are more often tasked with getting ?softer? news and feature stories on-air or in print. Here are some techniques involving creative conceptualization and application ? what I call CREATIVE FORMATTING ? and they work very effectively when carefully thought-through and constructed. GETTING YOUR MESSAGE ACROSSYou have a story to tell. Your company has developed a revolutionary new product, or an improved version of one that is known and respected in the marketplace. Most companies are media-savvy enough to take a proactive approach to publicity. Yet there are many firms that instead sit on a new development, waiting for the press to come to them because they are unsure of how to ?break the news.?
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Let's review what publicity ? particularly publicity in business and trade publications - can do for your business. � Provides Neutral Third-party Endorsement. Even though many think the media are biased, consumers still cling to the belief that people who are quoted by the media have something worthwhile to say. � Boosts Your Competitive Advantage. Positive publicity confirms for your customers that they made the smart choice when they elected to use your products or services. � Enables Referrals. Your "smart" customers become evangelists by handing out articles about you to their business contacts. � Shortens Your Sales Cycle. Media coverage often does a better job of explaining what you do than an ad can. So, readers will have a level of knowledge about you before you meet. � Builds Your Marketing Library. Print and web-based articles can become excellent marketing material that costs little to develop. � Positions You. Publish or perish is the academic motto. Experts from outside the world of academia also know that by being quoted by the media they can improve their position as industry experts. � Builds Value. For every speaker like Tom Peters earning thousands of dollars for appearances, there are hundreds who are paid a pittance for speaking engagements. Can you guess the difference? � As you can see, there are a wide variety of reasons for you to be publicizing yourself and your business. Just this once, don't listen to Grandma. Go get your name in the paper. Dont Use PR ?lose the confidence of your key target audiences? discourage them from taking actions that lead to your success?fail to achieve your department, division or subsidiary objectives. 16 Publicity tips for Restaurants With a dismal failure rate of more than 75 percent among restaurants, you must be sure you do everything you possibly can do to promote your restaurant through free publicity. Here are 16 tips that will boost your publicity efforts and help you finally get noticed--even if you don't have a big advertising budget. Forget the Press Release - Heres How to Pitch Like Roger Clemens Stripped down to its core, publicity is little more than oneperson persuading another. You, the publicity seeker, mustpersuade a journalist that your story is worthy of receivingprint space or air time. Your ability to sell your story to ajournalist is what it's all about. Managers and PR: One Thing Is Clear As a business, non-profit or association manager, you have a clear choice when you set up your public relations. Arrange your resources to generate a variety of product and service plugs on radio, and in newspapers and in magazines. Or, use a broader, more comprehensive and workable public relations blueprint to alter key external audience perceptions that lead to changed behaviors ? behaviors you will need to reach your managerial objectives. Get Write To It The toughest thing about writing a news release is getting started. But writing doesn't have to be hard. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you beat writer's block. Marketing-Minded Financial Planners, Its Not Who You Know But What You Know Almost every day, I hear the same question, over and over, from motivated, well-meaning financial planners who want to use publicity in their marketing mix. It goes something like this: PR Failure Defined I define public relations failure this way: The Right Hook Have you fantasized about spreading word of your business on a top-rated TV show like The Today Show or Oprah? Dont Need No Stinking PR? Almost assuredly you do, especially when your most important external and internal audiences behave in ways that stop you from achieving your organizational objectives. Writing A Press Release News releases (also called press releases) are an important part of a public relations campaign. They are also an important part of marketing your business. They are the primary means of "selling" your story to the media. All press releases are structured the same way. Make sure youanswer "yes" to these key questions when writing your next press release: Marketing-Minded Financial Planners, Create Your Very Own Story to Get Free Publicity One big mistake that many marketing-minded financial planners make when contacting the media is to drop what's called an "information dump." 10 Secrets to Get Your Press Release Noticed It's difficult enough running the day-to-day aspects of a business, let alone trying to drum up new business as you go. But according to Shannon Cherry, APR, even if you have additional staff helping to get the word out about your products and services, location and prices, delivery and sales support, news releases can make your company grow faster. Meet The Media Although media relations is not all there is to PR, it is a darned good, low cost way to spread the word. So here are a few media contacts to help you out. In PR, You Pay When You Stray Don't let yourself be diverted by communications tactics playtime. You know, straying from the main Public relations game plan by juggling a press release against a radio interview, or a brochure against an op-ed. Media Training: Stop Talking, Already! THE TWO MINUTES UNDERDOG Media Training: How to Avoid Being Misquoted I often begin my media training sessions by asking members of the audience to raise their hands if they've been interviewed by the media. Almost all of the hands in the room go up. I then ask them to keep their hands up if they've ever been misquoted. Not only do virtually all of the hands remain up, but the usually nod their heads vigorously, followed by laughter.
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