Press Release - LAUNCH YOUR COMPANY INTO THE PUBLIC EYE
Extract from 'Independent on Sunday'
LAUNCH YOUR COMPANY INTO THE PUBLIC EYE
Making a name for yourself takes more planning than you might imagine. Without it, much of the media would grind to a halt. But ask most small businesses about public relations, or PR, and they'll tend to think of political spin, celebrity scandals and unscrupulous journalists.
In reality, while it's true that all of the above are elements of PR, and the highest profile ones, the vast majority of PR is much more mundane and, particularly for the small business, hugely more useful.
Ask a marketing agency or a consultant about PR and they'll talk about it being part of an integrated marketing campaign, and how you need to communicate your message to a whole variety of stakeholders, both internally and externally, not just in the press.
That's undoubtedly true. A PR campaign is obviously going to be more effective if it is complemented by other forms of marketing, while communicating properly with your employees and shareholders is good business sense. But what PR boils down to for a typical small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) is getting the business's name in the press.
Getting the business's name in print isn't in itself the objective of PR. Media coverage should serve a more strategic purpose, namely strengthening the brand of the company and/or increasing sales. It's a long-term strategy. A quick namecheck in local business magazine won't send new customers running to their phones, but regularly showcasing the business's expertise in the right magazines can significantly enhance market perceptions.
Advertising is one way of doing that, but it can be both expensive and less effective. Good PR is perceived as having three times more impact than most advertising. Because it is less direct and, by being quoted in an independent publication, more objective, it is seen as more credible.
So why don't more small businesses invest in PR? For many, it is a combination of fear and lack of resources/
There is a widespread misconception that every journalist and every magazine is looking for scandal and mischief. Fran Tindall, Development and Training Director at media training company Media First, is used to dealing with bosses who are barnstormers in the boardroom but mice when it comes to the media.
"Their main concern is that they will be caught out; that somehow, no matter how positive-sounding the enquiry, they'll be misrepresented, their words will be used out of context and they'll face challenging questions that they are not prepared for. They think that everybody who wants to interview them is going to be a Paxman or a John Humphries. The reality is that 99 per cent of journalists just want to fill the pages of their magazine with information their readers will find interesting. They want a decent comment or some useful insight. If you can give them that, they're happy." Tindall says.
If you are comfortable with talking to the media and prepared for it, you have much more control over your message and how the business is portrayed. If you avoid the calls or are unprepared, you lose that control. Perhaps worse, if you don't want to talk to the media, they'll find another business that does - probably one of your competitors.
The skill is knowing what kinds of stories are of interest to the publications you want to boost your profile in. Favourite angles to improve the chances of your press releases being used include strategic business news, such as new contracts, expansion, mergers and acquisitions; human interest stories, showing how the community is benefiting from the business or a product; or quirky stories, such as your delivery driver being a former royal chauffeur. Another tip is to piggyback on other current news items, using the Government's extension of research development tax credits to show how the company is investing in new technology for example. Above all, the business has to take an objective view on what is and isn't interesting to the other people.
"Businesses see the world through a prism of their own priorities, They often think they are a uniquely interesting organisation with hugely exciting products, and that the media should rush to their door. They need to stop outside of that and look at the wider context of what is interesting to other people," says Tindall.
It often becomes a virtuous circle. The more the media get used to receiving relevant information, the more likely they are to use it and the more likely they are to go to that business for comment.
Tindall says: "PR is based on building relationships and understanding the context of that relationship. It is a business interaction where the publication is looking for something that will grab the attention of its readers, not a sales pitch. If you can give them that in a nice package, with some good comments and examples, you're onto a winner."
By Gareth Chadwick
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