Why You Don’t Know That – You Need PR

July 18, 2011 Leave a comment

Many people still feel that Public Relations is for celebrities, politicians and professional athletes; those people are missing a huge marketing opportunity to build their business.  Do you need to sign more clients, sell more products, increase your cash flow, establish your brand, interest more prospects, or broaden your target market?  Then read on.

Do You Need To:

Sign more clients?

Sell more products?

Generate a better cash flow?

Interest more prospects?

Get in front of your target market?

Establish your brand?

Grow your business?

Establish yourself as an expert in your field?

Get in front of decision makers?

Broaden your market reach?

Separate yourselves from the others in your field?

Fill your seminars, telseseminars and workshops?

Market and sell your book?

Find a distributor for your film?

Create a buzz around your concerts and your CD?

Land more speaking engagements?

Achieve the validation and credibility that only comes by being featured in the media?

 If the answer to any of those was yes -  You need PR

Many people still feel that Media Relations is for celebrities, politicians and professional athletes; those people are missing a huge marketing opportunity to build their business.  Public relations is not primarily for entertainers or politicians.  It is one of the most powerful marketing tools available for growing your business, landing clients, finding customers and growing your brand.  PR can achieve a variety of goals.  Some clients are looking to establish their product and reach their target market, others are primarily looking to establish themselves as experts in their fields, while others are looking to build their business and increase their cash flow.  Others are looking for a way to reach their target market, or broaden their reach into new markets.

Understanding that PR is vital is particularly important in a challenging economy.  What good is it to offer a quality product or service, if no one knows it exists? What good is all of your hard work, if you keep it a secret? You could have the best product or service that there is, but if you don’t build a bridge between yourself and your clients or customers, your success is unlikely.

An effective public relations campaign is an integral and extremely necessary part of any business plan. Developing and implementing an effective public relations campaign should be as integral a part of your business as paying your bills, or buying your materials.

Keep in mind that your job is to reach your market, your customers and your clients.  Once you do decide to move forward, begin with some clear specific objectives.  Do you want to increase your business by a third in one year? Do you want to open another store or branch? Do you want to take a product national? What are your long term goals?

Keep your eye on the future. This is a long-term, cumulative process.  Write down your short-term and long-term objectives, then put together a campaign with those objectives in mind.  One client we worked with was featured in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, NPR and countless other media outlets, but these interviews did not come about overnight. They were part of a long term commitment to achieving her PR objectives. If we had stopped her campaign in two or three month’s time, she would never have been in Time or the Wall Street Journal and would never had known that her campaign was going to pay off in that way.

So even though the chances are you don’t think you need PR, if you’re looking to build your business, land more clients, generate more sales, establish your brand, give it a shot.  As they say, you’ll be glad you did

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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Media Pitching Lessons

July 13, 2011 1 Comment

To have yourself, your service or your product featured in the media, you need to effectively pith the media.  It’s an art.  By appearing in the media you create a bridge between your company and your clients or customers.  You also build your brand by establishing credibility that only comes with being featured as a news story.  Your best bet is to hire a public relations firm or PR consultant to develop, launch and implement your media relations campaign for you.  It can be a tricky business and you can often do yourself more harm than good by trying it on your own.  But, if money is tight and you’re not in a position to retain a firm, you don’t have to wait to get started.  There are some PR tips and secrets you can try.  With that in mind, the following is a pitching overview.

One approach to pitching a story is to use statistics in order to introduce your topic.  Let’s say you represent a skin care company and are doing a pitch to beauty consumer magazines or trade publications. You could start your pitch with a stat similar to the one below:

According to Skin Inc. “The markets in both Europe and the United States have seen positive gains in 2010. Europe has recovered posting a 3.0% increase following a 3.3% decline in 2009, and sales in the United States have increased by 2.7%.”

It may or may not be the right stat to lead with because it entirely depends on the specific angle or pitch you want to present. If you’re pitching a story about how the skin care arena is growing, look for statistics that back that up.  You can use one of two angles, one being that more and more people are using skin care and your product is at the leading edge of this boom, and the other being that your product or services are unique within this growing field.  Lead with the statistics to grab the media’s attention then follow with you particular pitch or angle.

It’s now time to make your specific pitch.  Remember you are not pitching a product or a service, you are pitching a story.  Don’t approach it from your perspective, but from that of the media.  Sure you want to sell more products and land more customers, but the media wants to tell a compelling story that interests it’s readers and helps it’s ratings. So when pitching, appeal to the media’s needs.

Now that you have the media’s interest, let them know that you have an expert who can address their needs.   Give your qualifications and explain why you are indeed an expert. Even it you’re pitching a product; it helps immensely to present yourself as an expert.  Remember, you don’t want to present a product spokesperson, but a true expert in the field of beauty and skincare; one who can talk about the product but can also discuss the latest trends, ingredients and changes in the field.  If you’ve been featured in other media outlets, let them know.  It makes the media feel more confident in your abilities if they realize that you’ve been in the media before.  If you haven’t that’s fine, but establish why you are an expert.

Finally, close with other topics and angles that you can address or comment on. Who knows, they might pass on your original pitch, but book you for one of the other suggestions.  More importantly the media will begin to see you as an expert in your field.  Those are the ones that get placed in the media rolodex, and that’s just where you want to be.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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To Phone or not to Phone (pitch) The Media

July 12, 2011 Leave a comment

You’ve come up with your story ideas and pitch angles, you’ve written your press release,  you’ve sent out the email pitches and you’ve placed your release on one of the paid wire services and… nothing!  Not one editor or producer has called  to interview you or write a feature on you.  You’ve done everything right and everything’s gone wrong.  What now?

Time to turn to that small hand-held device that blinks and buzzes and rings (in an endless variety of tones).  Yep, the phone.  While you could pick it up and see if that editor or producer ever read your emailed press release, I can already tell you that chances are 99.9% that your release was never read.  Don’t be discouraged, however. Instead pick up the phone and interest the media in your story, not to try and sell your product or service, but to offer the media a compelling story idea that appeals to them.  There’s an idea.

An effective phone pitch is rarely jazzy or funny (although it can be both) but one that is real and genuine. Your objective is to briefly and succinctly let the media know how and why this story idea will work for them and their viewers or readers.  It’s not the time to try to sell.  Be you when you present the story. It’s best to pretend as though you are not calling someone who’s in the media when presenting this pitch.  It’s important that your enthusiasm is evident in both your voice and your delivery.  You don’t want to sound like a salesperson but like someone who is truly interested in the topic and wants to share it with others.

Review your press release and  break it down into the most important bullet points.  When you’re doing the phone pitch you won’t have time to pitch the full release and you definitely don’t want to read a pitch verbatim  from your release.  You’ll sound like a robot, which will make you less believable.  But do use your bullet points from the release as an aid.  Have them  in front of you and let them guide what  you want to say.  Don’t insist on sticking to a scripted approach.  It’s a conversation and as with any conversation it will ebb and flow and have its own rhythm.

Come up with the most compelling aspects of the story and lead with those.  Introduce yourself and let the producers or editors know that you’d like to give them a story idea.  Be polite and respectful.  Before starting your pitch, ask them whether or not it is a convenient time for them to talk. If they say it’s not a good time, thank them and ask if you can email a release and call at a later date.  Find out when would be a good time, thank them and get off the phone.

If the answer is yes, start your pitch and keep it concise.  Remember you don’t have to tell your whole story.  You want to hit the highlights, the points that make it interesting. And you want to illustrate why this story is a great fit for the particular media outlet you’re pitching.    When to make your pitch, how to pitch national versus local and how to leave a voice mail pitch will be covered in my next article.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

 

Filed under Build Your Business, business, Marketing, Media, PR Campaign, Press Release Writing, Public Relations Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Build it And They’ll Come? – It Helps to Have Some PR Signposts Along The Way

July 7, 2011 Leave a comment

Build it and they’ll come is a theory quite a few businesses go by.  Heck, it worked in the film “Field of Dreams,” so why shouldn’t it work in real life?  Probably sometimes it does, but that’s generally luck and who wants to leave the success of their business to luck.  You can build the best product in the world and if no one knows it exists, it’s going to be the best product in the world that no on has ever heard about.  And that would be a shame.  Yes, you need to build it, but of equal importance is making sure that your customers and target market know it exists.  You need to make the signposts and build the bridges.

Let’s say you have the essentials: you love your business, and are passionate about taking it to the next level; you have a basic business plan (it could be just a handwritten page), you believe you can succeed and you have surrounded yourself with supportive people.  Let’s even take it a few steps further, you’ve developed the service, or created the product.  You have your offices.  Everything is packaged and ready to go.  Now what? How do you expect to spread the word about your business?  How is your target market, your prospective clients, or the public at large going to find you?  Remember, reaching your potential customers is as important as creating your business, because without your customers, there is no business.

So, what do you do? Take out ads, make cold calls, send out direct marketing pieces, launch an online marketing campaign?  What are your best choices?  Look around you. Your greatest marketing tools are sitting in your living room or bedroom, lying on the coffee table and resting on your night stand – your TV, magazines, newspapers, radio and the Internet.   How do you utilize those tools?  Effective PR, a campaign that melds traditional public relations, social media and blogging, is the single most effective marketing tool available.

Imagine picking up Newsweek or People or The Wall Street Journal and reading an article about you, your company, or your product, or turning on the Today Show, or CNN and seeing a segment profiling you and your company – that is effective media relations and that is the bridge and the signpost that will bring your customers to you.   Through the media, you can validate your business, establish yourself as an expert in your field and watch your dream grow – that is the magic of effective PR.  Combine that with a social media and blogging campaign and you have a truly effective marketing campaign. 

We all know that the cornerstone of any business is positive referrals, or word-of-mouth. TV appearances and magazine interviews are some of the most amazing forms of referrals available. Hundreds, thousands and potentially millions of people will learn about and talk about you and your business. That type of exposure positions you as an expert in your field.  You can then take that media coverage and post it online via your blog and social media, further magnifying and amplifying the impact.

So by all means build it.  Next launch an effective media relations campaign for you and your business.  Now, they will come.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, Marketing, Public Relations, Your Target Market Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Difference Between Publicity and Public Relations

June 30, 2011 Leave a comment

To be honest, there are a slew of different definitions regarding what publicity is and how it differs from public relations. Publicity and publicists are generally viewed as being connected solely with the entertainment world.  Actors and actresses have publicists.  Feature films have publicists.  In a way the term has become archaic.  Whereas not only actors and singers have publicists, basically a traditional publicist is the Hollywood rep we’ve all come to know.  They place their clients in the media, take them to events, do red carpet walks, set up press conferences, etc.   Whereas companies in any field need media coverage, most need the services of a public relations firm, as opposed to a publicist.

Public relations is a unique marketing approach.  Unlike advertising where an ad firm can control the content and the placement, a publicist can control the content that he or she delivers to the media he or she cannot control its placement or how the media presents the story. There are different ways of getting stories placed.  There is the proactive approach where you pitch an editor, writer or producer a particular story or angle and there is the reactive approach where a journalist contacts you looking for someone to interview for his or her story.  There are also times where you see that a particular story is being covered.  Then there are different types of stories, there are those that feature you as the main focus.  Those are features that spotlight you, your product, your service or your story.  Then there are stories or segments where you or your company or product are included in an already existing story.

On the other hand a well placed news story can be much more valuable than an ad or a commercial because of the validation and credibility factors business people and entrepreneurs generally feel they don’t need publicists.  In point of fact they do need publicity, but that is simply one part of an overall public relations program.  Public relations is a much broader topic.  It encompasses publicity but publicity is only one piece.  Public Relations is an umbrella term that can include investor relations, crisis communications, media training, special events and sponsorships, and other activities.

In fact many people use the terms interchangeably what one calls a PR consultant another will call a publicist, and what one person refers to as publicity another will call a media relations campaign.  The terms don’t matter as much as the ways the campaigns are structured and the results.  The bottom line in any PR or publicity, or media relations, or public relations campaign is creating effective compelling stories.  Effective PR is the art of good storytelling.  For a campaign to work it’s important to define the story, develop written material that tells that story, understand the target market, and find the media that communicates with that market and present that story in a compelling manner that meets the media’s needs.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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Why PR & the Pet Industry are a Perfect Fit

June 23, 2011 Leave a comment

Although this economic crisis has been one of the worst in our nation’s history, the pet industry is steadily growing.  Spending increased 6.2 percent in 2010, and is expected to grow another 5.1 percent in 2011, topping $50 billion, according to a study by the American Pet Products Association.

Pet owners are constantly looking for different ways to improve their pet’s quality of life with food, treats, toys, services; the list goes on and on.  And new and different companies are continually springing up to meet those needs.  Veterinary care alone grew by 8.1 percent in 2010.

Pet-related services is a category that has more than doubled in the past decade. From mobile grooming services to high-end salons, luxury pet hotels and specialized day care centers, the array of pet services seems endless.

If you’re in the pet industry, you’re well positioned to market enhance and grow your business.  PR and media relations are ready-made marketing approaches for the pet industry.  Public relations is all about effective story telling, and the media (and the public) love pet stories.  Whether the story is about a new line of pet furniture, a new exclusive pampering service, or a new veterinary procedure, there are stories that will interest the media and the public.  In turn those stories can help grow your business, build your brand and establish you as an expert in the world of pets and pet care.

The media loves human interest stories and there are no better human interest stories than those that include pets.  YouTube is a prime example of our pet obsession; the site is filled with clips of pets being cute, funny, silly and different.   Fact is, people love their pets and if you can utilize PR and the media reach those consumers and let them know about your new product and service, that is going to pay off in a big way.  Unlike advertising or other forms of marketing media relations not only builds your reputation in the field it also builds your business.

Once you decide to launch a PR campaign for your business, study the media outlets that reach your target market.  Now develop a number of different stories to pitch to a variety of different media outlets.  Each media source has needs and interests that are specific to it.  The primary secret to a successful PR campaign is to focus on what the various media outlets need, and pitch each outlet accordingly.  For example, pet trade publications will be interested in a business angle, whereas your local media will respond to a pitch with a local slant and a national TV show is going to be more willing to run with a story that has a strong visual component.  
 
So if you’re in the pet industry, utilize your strengths.  Your pet business, service, or product is the ideal candidate for a successful media relations campaign.  Then combine your traditional media campaign with a social media campaign and watch your business soar.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Pet Industry, pet-related services, Pets, Public Relations, Veterinarian Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PR: The Play

June 22, 2011 Leave a comment

An office.  Two men are sitting at a table.  One is talking very animatedly.  The other is listening and occasionally taking notes.  

Client:  You don’t understand, this is a story that the media will pay you to pitch them.  Listen, I know PR.  I could probably teach you a few things.

PR Consultant:  I’m not quite sure about the way you want it presented.  I mean the fact that you can change people’s lives is great.  But we need to show the media how you do that.  We need to offer them transformational stories with a strong narrative.

Client:  Just tell them to read my book.

PR Consultant:  You can’t always count on them reading your book.  We need to give them short, concise easy to understand pitches that will offer them a good story.  We need to pitch a story that meets the media’s needs.

Client:  (Irritated) What do you mean they won’t read my book?  Do you know how long it took me to write that book?  Do you know how much time, effort, money, blood, sweat and tears went into creating that book? (Raising his voice)  And now you’re telling me they won’t read my book?

PR Consultant:   Some will, but our job is to get them to talk about your book, to get them to interest the public in buying and reading your book.

Client:  Well that’s your job.  Do it.  And besides, I’m telling you, it’s easy.  As soon as they hear about my book and read it they are all going to be begging me to go on the show or to do interviews with me.  I’m telling you.  This is basically shooting fish in a barrel.  You should be paying me.

PR Consultant:  Believe me no campaign is easy.  What we need are stories that grab the media’s attention.  The way we do that is by pitching them stories that will appeal to their readers, viewers or listeners.  We need to think backwards from their perspective.  Once we meet their needs, we’ll meet yours.

Client: (Starting to lose his patience) I’m telling you; just explain to them that I change lives.  There’s really no one else out there like me.  I can’t believe Oprah went off the air.  She would have begged to have me on

PR Consultant:   What we need are specifics.  We need specific stories that we can pitch to women’s magazines, news publications, talk shows, etc.  That’s what I wanted to go over today, specific stories on how what you do changed the lives of people you’ve worked with.  Their transformational stories are your best stories.  For example, when representing a physician, I’ll focus on patient stories, that way you can see the impact, the transformation and people relate to that.

Client:  You don’t get it, this isn’t about my clients: it’s about me!  I don’t see why you just don’t send them my book and then call them and get me on national TV.  You’re making this much more complicated than it needs to be.  I tell you once they read my book, it’s a done deal.  This is easy; I should have my own TV show by next season, right?

                                                                                                Lights Fade: End Act One

Yep, true story.  He wasn’t a bad guy, he simply didn’t understand the process or the media’s needs.  More importantly, he didn’t want to take the time to learn how the process works, educate himself and pitch towards his strengths.  What I needed were short, concise, transformational stories.  I needed to be able to show the media how he transformed people’s lives.  To him it was obvious.  It was all about him and it was all in his book.  But the story was not about him, it was about how he changed people’s lives.  His client’s stories were his best story.

As to having the media read the book, the trouble is that nine times out of ten the media’s not going to take the time to read it.  They’re going to look at the cover, read the back page and read a press release.  And you have to sell them on the story then and there.  It had a second act and a good ending.  We met again and were able to come up with some specific story ideas that grabbed the media’s interest and his PR campaign was a successful one.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, PR, Public Relations, small business, traditional media, TV Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How PR Can Help Your Small Business To Succeed

June 20, 2011 Leave a comment

Public relations is the most effective and least expensive way to build your brand, grow your business and establish yourself as a go-to expert in your field.  Whether or not you should launch a media relations campaign should not be the question, because the answer to that is a no-brainer; yes you should.  The real question is how are you going to do that? Your best bet is to bring on a firm or media consultant who can chart your marketing course for you and launch your campaign.  But whatever avenue you choose, the following points apply.

Don’t think that a PR, media relations or publicity campaign comes down to spamming the media with press releases and pitches.  The media is inundated with press releases.  They’re not looking for releases; they’re looking for good stories.  Simply sending out a release is not going to do the trick.

Press releases do have other uses now a days.  They are no longer pitches that you simply send to the media.  With blogs, forums, social media and online press release services you can now use your releases to directly reach your customer.  In fact that is probably the biggest value that a press release posted online has for a small company.  Chances are slim that the traditional media will react to an online press release, but it will help with your SEO and it is a direct way for you to reach customers.  One note of warning, do not post a press release on a blog site or forum in a press release format.  You might want to take some of that information and post in it a conversational way.  But posting a standard press release on a blog or social media site will generally backfire on you.  Your best bet is to comment on blogs, forums, social media sites or forums, but don’t pitch your product or service.  Talk about your field in general. Educate, give some tips but don’t try and sell.

When you do decide to give PR a shot, remember you’re not Google or American Express.  Don’t try to impress the media by trying to launch a campaign or a story the way a huge corporation would. For example, unless there is a truly compelling reason, my suggestion is that you stay away from embargoes and exclusives.  Those are only utilized in certain situations and if you don’t understand the process it can end up backfiring on you.  To clarify, an embargo is an agreement with certain media outlets where they agree not to publish or release a story before an agreed upon date and time.  An exclusive is an agreement to give your story to only one media outlet.  There are times these are important arrangements to make with the media, but chances are you’ll rarely run into one.

Remember that the media world has greatly expanded.  Traditional media outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Today Show and CNN still offer you the type of exposure, validation and credibility that no other form of marketing can offer, but that not where PR stops.  Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, Digg, blogs, all of these are now a part of the media landscape and ignore them at your peril.  For example, if your local newspaper runs a story on you or your company, post a link to that story on the various social media sites.  This is a way for you to turn a local story into a national story.  Also utilize the power of YouTube.  Shoot a short video about you, your company or your service.  But don’t make it a sales video.  You’re not trying to run a commercial here; your job is to communicate with your prospective clients and customers.  Make a video where you illustrate how to solve a problem, answer questions, add value to the lives of those who watch the video.  If you’re going to use PR to sell anything, don’t sell your product or service.  Sell your value.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Marketing, Public Relations, small business Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Marketing You

June 16, 2011 1 Comment

Sometimes it just seems as though we should market whenever and wherever possible, particularly during tough economic times.  And now with the array of marketing venues available things can get more confusing than ever.  The promotional choices seem endless including traditional advertising, direct marketing, public relations, online marketing, SEO, social media… the list just keeps growing.

But don’t simply make knee-jerk choices, when picking a marketing program, or building a personalized marketing machine.  When it comes to marketing, you can’t separate yourself from your business.  You want to reach your target market and increase sales, but you also want to present yourself and your company in a specific way.  With an organic marketing campaign, you’re not only marketing your business, you’re marketing yourself. You want your brand to illustrate who you are and what your company stands for.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

One the of reasons I’m such a strong advocate of traditional PR is that it is the best marketing tool available for branding your business.  Nothing offers you the validation and credibility of being featured in the news.  You are positioned as an expert in your field.  Your product or service is presented, not as an ad or a commercial, but as a news story.  But even within the PR arena, it’s important that you figure out:

How you want to be presented
Whether you’re comfortable being the spokesperson
What media you want to approach
What type of media angles you want to use, etc.

Even once you pick a marketing approach, such as media relations, you need to tailor it to meet your specific needs.

ADVERTISING & DIRECT MARKETING

So, let’s say that PR is part of your promotional mix, an integral element in your marketing machine, what other forms of marketing are you going to utilize?  There’s advertising, but that can get expensive, and if you’re going to give it a shot, you need to commit to giving it some time (actually you need to commit some time to any form of marketing to see if it actually works).  If advertising is in your marketing mix:

Where are you going to advertise?
What image are you going to put out there?

Direct marketing is another avenue, but again, does that type of marketing truly suit your type of business?  If you have a restaurant or a spa it very well could.  It might not suit another business as well.

INTERNET MARKETING

Finally, we come to the wild world of the internet.  Here you have article marketing, online advertising, blogging, social media, ezines, etc.  The trouble here is often it might look like you’re moving forward, where in fact, very little is happening.  You could have a couple of thousand followers on Twitter, but is that converting into actual business?  Also, with such approaches as article marketing or blogging, are you comfortable writing?  Is that one of your strengths?  On the net content is king.  If you are posting information, you want to make sure that it’s accurate and that it says what you want to say, how you want to say it.  There are those who will write and post for you and that can often work, but make sure that you are keeping your voice and your point of view, otherwise you’re losing control of your message, which means you’re losing control of your brand.

Some people thrive online and have fun posting blogs, commenting on other’s blogs and posting on the various social media sites.  Others find it intrusive and intimidating.  If you are one of the latter, that doesn’t mean you should avoid blogging or social media, but that you should either have someone do it for you who you can carefully supervise, or that you should come up with a system that takes no more than an hour a day.  So although social media is the buzz-of-the-day maybe you’re someone who hates the net, but loves the phone.  Cold calling could still be your most valuable marketing tool.  This entire marketing puzzle is best solved by focusing on your strengths.  Yes, there will be marketing arenas you’ll be leaving out, but that’s okay.   You’re life will be simpler, your approach will be streamlined and, you’ll find, your personalized marketing machine will work much more effectively.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Branding, Business Strategy, Marketing, Public Relations Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Small Business Marketing Success Secret

June 15, 2011 Leave a comment

The biggest problem that most small business owners have with PR is that they don’t fully understand the process or how it can help build their business or establish their brand.  Most think that public relations is only for large corporations or those in the entertainment world and that it has to do with stunts and smoke and mirrors.  None of those perceptions are correct.  PR is a multi pronged process that includes traditional media, online presence including blogs, sites and social media,  byline articles, public speaking and establishing yourself as an expert in your field.  PR can and should be utilized by entrepreneurs, authors, contractors, service providers, business professionals such as physicians and attorneys, home workers, as well as any and all small businesses.

It is inexpensive compared to other forms of marketing and the only marketing avenue that can offer you and your business credibility and validation and position you as a go-to expert in your field.  Although effective media relations is an art, it need not be mysterious.  It is in essence the art of effective storytelling.  Sounds strange, but it’s true.  It is a way of communicating to the media and the public that is compelling, accurate, and valuable.  Defining your story and your message is the first and probably most important step in any campaign.  Whether you’re a veterinarian, florist, restaurateur or hair stylist, you need a clear effective story that is interesting to the media and to the public as a whole.  This is where many companies make their biggest PR mistake, they develop stories that are of interest to them, but not necessarily stories that interest the media.  Most business owners go with the obvious story, which is telling the basics about the service they offer or the product they sell.  That is an important part of any story but very rarely is that enough in and of itself.  Your story is how your product or service transforms the lives of your customers, clients or patients.  Keep that in mind when developing your media pitches and you’ll generally remain on course.

The Small Business PR How-to Guide:

Once you’ve defined your story, you need to define your core audience and then your secondary audiences. Your story needs to speak to and resonate with them.  The next step is to define the media outlets that communicate with your various audiences.  You can have the best story in the world, but if you pitch it to the wrong media, it’s not going to get you far.  For example if you’re selling a revolutionary skin cream, pitching that story to Maxim or Spike TV most likely won’t get you very far, whereas pitching Allure, Vogue, Marie Claire and the beauty trades could be the ticket that establishes your brand and sells your product.

Once you’ve defined your story, message and defined your target market, you’re ready to move forward with your campaign.  Defining your target market is important, but don’t simply think of your overall audience as your customers or prospects, think in broader terms.  Your audience can include can include the local media, your neighbors and surrounding community, vendors/suppliers and anyone who would in any way have a connection to the story you’re telling.  For example, someone who sees a TV segment might not have any particular connection to the story, but could know someone else who does and pass the information on. Always remember, audiences—target market or not–have the power to communicate information about you

Focus on what you know.  What is your expertise? What do you know, offer, produce, provide, market, or understand or do better than anyone else?  Position yourself as an educator.  Your information might seem obvious to you, but to those outside of your field it could be valuable information, or simply an interesting story.

Through PR you reach your target market, separate yourself from the competition, establish yourself as an expert in your field and gain the validation and credibility of being featured as a news story.  So why should entrepreneurs and small business owners use PR?  Because it can build your business and establish your brand.  Because it works!

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Marketing, PR, Public Relations, small business, Target Market Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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