PR is one of the best ways to promote your business. Being featured regularly in the newspapers and magazines your target audience reads is invaluable.
Editorial coverage and radio/TV airtime gives you a huge amount of credibility. It’s an independent trusted person talking about your business – the total opposite of an advert, where you’re delivering your message.
Here are some ideas on what makes the news:
- Photos with children, animals, glamorous women or celebrities are good – so if possible think about whether there is a photo opportunity with your story
- Human interest stories – stories about people, even if it’s just someone’s hobby that they do outside work but it relates to work
- Be the first, the newest, the oldest, the biggest, the smallest: Different is great. Journalists get sent a constant stream of ‘average’ all day long – so make sure you stand out, this is our job too
- Introduce something new or improved: Make it clear what’s better and why, and what problem it solves
- Mark the passage of time: Has it been a year, five years, 10 years since something significant happened?
- Announce a new member of your team
- Win an award
- React to a current story: Give your opinion on something in the news (national or local) that’s relevant to you
- Offer free information: Free advice can be incredibly valuable to readers. The years of experience you have in your industry makes you an expert. Journalists and readers appreciate an expert’s opinion
- Survey your customers: Find out what people think about specific issues (related to your business). Ask enough of their target audience and the media won’t be able to resist
- Get involved with a charity: Don’t just give cash. Instead give your time, products, or better still use your staff and resources to do something exciting and different that will also raise cash for an exciting charity
- Solve a problem: What’s everyone talking about? What can you do to fix it?
- Spot a trend and comment on it: Turn yourself into a commentator on a specific problem or industry
- Attempt to set or beat a record: A publicity classic, for a reason. Everyone loves a record attempt. And there are plenty of records to go for. Ensure your record is relevant in some way to your business.
