PR Pays Dividends
Interested in the many benefits of PR for your small business? Howett Consulting Ltd. offers Dublin City entrepreneurs a how-to guide on PR.
PR Pays Dividends
Author: Desmond Howett, Howett Consulting Ltd.
Public Relations can be one of the most valuable forms of marketing for any business, especially a small enterprise where cash flow is tight. If there is the time and the inclination, a business owner or manager can do it themselves. If they have neither, they can hire someone to do it for them. Below are a number of must do’s to get started.
Firstly, a business owner or manager must decide with whom they want to communicate. Their target for purposes of communication may be their end customer or an influencer e.g. a retailer or distributor.
Compile a short list of the media most relevant to the business or product or services target. What are they are likely to read, to listen to, to watch.
Review the short listed media. Note the content and storylines. As they are being published or aired, it gives a clear indication of what the relevant editor likes.
Create a list of key contacts (email address and contact number). This could be journalists writing articles that may fit the story or the producer of a particular radio programme. Be thorough in building this list at the outset.
Create a story around what it is that needs to be promoted. Do this by asking a number of questions including:
- What is distinctive about the business, what it is selling?
- What is the origin of the idea?
- How was the business or product/service developed?
- Whom does it benefit? How?
- Who is the best person to tell the story? Is it the owner/manager of the business or somebody else?
If it is decided, that it is better to have a spokesperson, what type of person will work best? Is it:
- Someone who has benefited from the product or service
- An expert in the field who is keen to associate themselves with the business or product/service
- A personality who will endorse your product
- A colleague
Sketch out the story of the business or product/service over a number of paragraphs and compare it to other content that is published. Show it to a colleague, business partner or mentor. Do they think the content is interesting and in some way different? If ‘yes’, then that is the starting line.
If images are required by the media, recruit the services of a professional photographer. Brief them fully on what the image is for and what the business or product/service wants to achieve.
Telephone two people from the target list. Tell them the story and seek feedback. They will be busy so prepare key points in advance. They may ask for the details to be emailed to them. If so, advise them of the email address from which they will receive the story (they may get dozens per day and their spam-catcher may be effective).
If they ask for more details, make a follow up telephone call within forty-eight hours of doing so. If they are not interested, try to ascertain what type of story will interest them for future reference.
Re-edit the story taking account of this information, telephone two other contacts from the target list and repeat the process. As you progress, you will fine-tune your story to one that works for both you and the editor.
Good luck with it and remember, perseverance pays off in PR. It is like selling; every phone call or email might get the business or product/service that story.
Our thanks to Desmond Howett, Howett Consulting Ltd., for providing this article to our readers.
Desmond Howett is a PR and Marketing advisor. He has worked with some of the world’s leading brands and is currently a Mentor for the Dublin City Enterprise Board. He can be contacted at drhowett@eircom.net or (087) 2026491.