Using clever ways to advertise your business can change an organization’s reputation, but it does mean a commitment to change.
It can be tempting to stick to the same marketing strategies for small business year in year out, but this isn’t wise.
PR for small businesses is a way of gaining a following that is often overlooked because many don’t really get what it is.
It’s understandable as PR can sometimes be seen as a dark art, and whilst many in the world of public relations wax lyrical about their job, it never ceases to amaze us how few of them ever really get across what they actually do.
In essence, it can be explained in the old saying: “Advertising is what you pay for; publicity is what you pray for.”
It’s also a good way to get to the heart of it, and whilst the web is awash with information on the topic, there are many in the business that can’t really see the line between where one becomes the other.
Simply put - advertising is paid for media, which you control, whilst Public Relations is earned media from a third party. So, if editors and journalists write a positive story about you, it appears as news rather than the placed advertising.
How to advertise your business is a big question and sometimes using PR that’ third party is the most powerful method. It is advertising and not advertising and marketing strategies for small businesses an integral part of the marketing mix.
Simply put, when PR works, it’s one of the most effective marketing strategies for small business, because, after all, the big difference with PR is that your story has more credibility because it was independently verified by a trusted third party, rather than you having purchased an advertisement to tell the world how great you are.
Depending on the credibility of the media outlet, it shows why advertising is a far weaker proposition.
For instance, if the BBC breakfast was to talk about your business in a positive light, how much more powerful is that than even the most expensive advert?
Good public relations specialists tell a story, which your audience will engage with. For instance, a blog or an article about how a family fell apart over the father not making a Will rather than a law firm just saying, Come to Dolittle and Son to make a Will in an advert.
In this day and age, the power of Public Relations is even greater too and one of the best, most effective marketing ideas around if you do it yourself. Most reporters are now more desk-bound than ever with editorial teams reduced; there are a lot less journalists working today than a generation ago. So journalists now rely more heavily on getting straight to expert sources, or using press releases and social media to create stories.
Another massive difference between PR and advertising is price. A company who now work with PressPlugs told us that they recently purchased a full-page advert in one of the country’s best read broadsheet newspapers - it cost him £18,000 with a discount! They expected calls galore, but got nothing in return.
Most advertisements need to be repeated on many occasions before consumers can be influenced.
In this social media era, a great story in a newspaper, magazine or online can last a long time with the added oxygen of emails and social media to keep pushing the message out to relevant audiences.
So summing up, PR is when you’ve influenced the influencers. PR for small business is possible and it’s gold dust for pretty much all businesses and should be part of every marketing plan because done right it will transform your business’s profile.
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