PR agencies are experts at getting great media coverage for their clients, but not all SMEs have large enough budgets to outsource. Thankfully, setting aside some time and arming yourself with some insider secrets ?you can do your own PR and get great results.
The secret comes down to four key elements: how news savvy you are, your contacts, your timeliness and adding the WOW factor.
1) Your news savvy-ness
This means knowing the type of content that your target news outlets, publications, programs and online sites contain. Whilst one might accept editorial contributions or opinion pieces, another could do product reviews or prefer case studies or have a dedicated section for business deals.
Understanding what makes news and knowing the different sections within each outlet will help you to know what?s newsworthy in your business. It will help you craft tailored and relevant story ideas that increase your chances of getting media attention.
It also means that you can stay across your industry ?hot-topics? so you can be proactive and make a timely comment. News needs to be fresh and generally, needs to appeal to a wide audience. ?So watch, read or listen to the media you want to get your business in front of and follow journalists on Twitter to get some inside information.
2) Your contacts
A major reason why businesses contact PR agencies is to access their established media contacts. ?Typically, media contact lists have been tightly held by PR agents but now, as more business owners are doing their own PR, more media lists are becoming available for purchase online.
Alternatively, you can choose to do the grunt-work yourself and track down contact details by phoning the media outlet directly, or looking up contact information online. But this can be time-consuming and you don?t always get email addresses.
Good PR is about knowing where to place a story, rather than playing a numbers game, hoping that if you contact enough journalists, one will follow your story.
For service based businesses, having strong customer case studies is a key part of generating good news stories. ?So, ask your customers if they would be willing to talk about their experiences of your business and capture the problem, the solution and the results.
3) Your timeliness
Understanding media deadlines is crucial to getting publicity for your business. You could have a ripper of a story but if you pitch it to the media at the wrong time ? you?ve lost your opportunity.
Getting into the news is competitive and whether or not you get coverage depends on how your story stacks up to other news items or events of the day.
4) Your WOW factor
Lastly, to get the media?s attention, you need to make sure your news stands-out. This means being able to present your story idea or news succinctly and convincingly in just a few sentences. It may also mean involving a high profile spokesperson or celebrity or perhaps staging a photo opportunity that captures their attention.
Ideally, when pitching your story idea to a journalist via email, you should include it with a press release and make sure that you have an attention grabbing subject line.
Sending a product to a journalist is another way to get their attention. Because first impressions count, ensure your packaging is perfect, reflects your brand, and your delivery is timed to when the journalist is actually in the office. So contact the journalist before sending them a package ? particularly if it?s fresh produce.
Doing your own PR does get results, and in doing so, you establish great personal contacts with the media.
If you?ve done your own PR ? what was your WOW factor to getting coverage?
Author Bio:?Julie has been working in PR with small businesses for more than 25 years. She is founder of?prguru.com.au?and award winning, Melbourne-based PR agency, JMM Communications. She is a member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) and PRIA Registered Consultancy Group. To lean more about Julie, or to get in contact, view her profile.
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