Most small business owners have never been featured in the press; and getting that coveted spot in a newspaper, magazine, business journal, or expertise website will not materialize overnight. Publicity, though, can be attainable, and will reap rewards for any small business owner; provided that there is, of course, consistent effort.

It may have happened for some businesses, but for others it will normally take weeks or months before a single glimmer of hope of getting that media spot becomes visible. This also depends on some factors like how simple your story is to cover and how consistently you get in touch with the media.

I recently interviewed a business owner regarding his use of PR. He owns a clothing range which he started with just fifty dollars of capital. He was able to grow the business by selling seven thousand dollars’ worth of t-shirts a week; and within a few years, he was able to transform a small business into a multi-million dollar enterprise.

I asked him what were the secrets to his success. He mentioned that one of the secrets for his success was that he maximized the potential of free publicity.

It was unknown to him at the time, but his company had a great media catch: his business was unique. When it comes to business knowledge, he honestly said that he didn’t know much; but yet he was able establish a multi-million dollar clothing brand. Furthermore, he went against every known business model, but sales were still pouring in. His uniqueness made his business newsworthy, and that’s what made him appear as a guest at a very respected radio program.

It was right then that he discovered the biggest benefit that free publicity can give his business. Media people often look for their next story by paying attention to what’s headlining elsewhere. Hence, within a few days after the interview, he got an invite to guest on a television talk show to discuss his clothing brand in front of a very wide audience.

He then received hundreds of calls from retailers wanting to sell his products the very next day.

What he’d attained was a classic example of using public relations momentum and publicity as leverages  to build up business. The radio show took him from a very small audience, which opened the door to a television appearance that made his business known to millions of customers. The best part was that it cost him nothing.

If you want to be like him, you can build a similar PR strategy to gain you that momentum you can leverage for your business.

Persistence is Key

Like in any business endeavor, a PR campaign needs a dedicated  investment of time and effort, and not necessarily money.  This therefore means that, as a business owner, you must continuously develop new story angles to spark media interest. Regular follow-up on the media organizations you’d like to work with will also be advantageous.

Take ‘Baby Steps’

The media universe is such a broad place to start, and attempting to get in touch with all of the media elements can feel very overwhelming. You might want to start within your local market first. The reason behind this is that you’ve already establish some credibility in your local market.

Another tip is to focus on a certain niche like a business journal or a trade publication that covers your industry.

Define your Goals

Always make sure that your PR goals are written down where you can always see them. Define your goals and your expected outcome of each and take an action step each day that will lead you closer to  attaining that goal.

Always allot PR time into your Business Operations

Allot at least an hour a week to focus on public relations; even though it’s only about fifteen minutes a day. In those fifteen minutes you could’ve already sent an email of your media pitch out to five journalists, placed three follow-up phone calls, or researched on a new PR opportunity thru a new media outlet. Don’t make an excuse of not having enough time.

There are valuable opportunities for any business owner in attending, speaking at, and hosting events. Not only are they good exposure for your business, but they are also good practice for your PR skills.

Always Find time to Attend Industry Events

Attending events are great opportunities for any business owner to promote his or her business. Not only that, these events are also great opportunities to practice and further improve your public relations skills.

My own motto is that PR should encompass everything  you say, you do, and what you are; this also includes how you present yourself at these events. Always remember that the people you meet and talk to are potential business partners and probable customers; so the way you relate with them reflects on your professionalism as a person and as a business.

One thing to always take note of is that these events aren’t just card-collecting opportunities; but they are also excellent venues to build new business relationships. Pay full attention to a person you’re talking to, create a relationship, and learn about them and their business. Like any other form of public relations, it takes time and practice; but the connections you build through networking can support you in the long run.

Get a Speaking Engagement at an Event

Being able to share your opinions during events provide a great boost for you and your business’ profile and credibility.  When you’re starting out as a speaker, you may not be paid to speak at such events or conferences, but organizers can offer you other benefits like posting some articles in their newsletters and allowing you a short ‘plug-in’ time for your business at the end of your talk.

Hosting Events are Great Opportunities for Public Relations

Hosting an event, seminar, or workshop is also a great way to reach out to customers and potential business partners. For example a pet shop owner and a landscaper could run a free seminar together on “How to Utilize Garden Space for your Pets ,” and promote it to their targeted niche. It’s also a great way of getting pre-qualified people added on to your list of potential customers. Likewise, it can also be promoted in the local paper.

Moreover, you can also share your expertise and train other people to attend your workshop for a fee.  Just a tip though, don’t get stuck by paying non-refundable venue deposits only to not hit the targeted registration numbers in the end. What you can do instead is to ask those who pre-register to give suggestions on their preferred venues. Once you’re seeing a good showing when it comes to the numbers of registrants, then you can start booking venues in the suggested areas.

These seminars and events need not to be expensive either. They can also be facilitated online or even over the phone. This would also bring a great advantage to you and your attendees. Not only do you get to save up on costs, but you and the attendees can actually attend at the comfort of home, in pajamas.

When small businesses open, local community groups, more often than not, look to them for donations. All of these non-profit organizations have worthwhile aims; but is there a way to choose which of these local community groups to provide sponsorship to?

To answer this question, if the local community provides the lot of your customers, then definitely, you should be associated with that group.

Here’s a short checklist of things to consider and questions to ask when deciding what organizations to support. The list is  going to make deciding for you much easier; and will also bring benefits to both parties.

• Is it a local group? Supporting your local non-profit organizations is usually preferred rather than issuing donations to the umbrella group that handles them.

• Will I make a difference? Remember that a two hundred dollar donation would mean more to a local women’s refuge rather than a local hospital. The donation to a local hospital would probably disappear into a million dollar profit and loss statement. On the other hand, a two hundred dollar donation to a local women’s shelter will go a long way as this can cover for food, shelter, and clothing for a person for a few days. Small amounts of time and money can make a bigger impact to smaller organizations rather than the big ones.

• Can I include it in my business profile? Unfortunately, not everyone has the same views when it comes to what type of activities are done by the local groups in the community. Some people may have some prejudices about some group’s actions and cause. One thing to consider before putting a sponsorship of a local group as part of your business profile is to ask yourself if you would be proud for people to know that you’re sponsoring a certain cause.

• Can I also give time and effort? Some organizations will benefit not from monetary donations, but from your time, skills, or products instead.

Categorise your Sponsorships

It would also be very helpful if you can split your local community sponsorship contributions into two categories: local and hyper-local.

Take a good look at your customer demographics and if a significant number of customers come from a certain geographic are, then you can consider supporting organizations within that community. You can group contributions under this as local.

Another situation is that when you have a few local futsal teams asking for your donations, then perhaps supporting the local futsal league would be the most beneficial. Contributions that fall under this category can be classified as hyper-local.

Be Practical

Another suggestion is that you put emotions aside first and treat sponsorships as business decisions. Personally, you can make any donation to your preferred organization anytime, but if your business will be involved, always make decisions based on the best interest of your business.

Be a Proud Contributor

There is no shame in letting everyone know that you’ve done the community some service. You can put up signs or include in your marketing materials that you’re a proud supporter of a certain community group. Furthermore, you can also put a link to their website on yours. And if you’re supporting an event, then make sure to get all the publicity and exposure that you can so that you can use this as leverage for your business.

Public relations has always been misconceived as a marketing strategy that doesn’t generate tangible returns on investment; but unknown to almost everyone, this is exactly the opposite. It is now time to debunk the myth that public relations is more of an expense rather than an investment.

Most business owners believe that PR is all about changing and influencing others’ opinions. Hence, a common misconception borne from this belief is that public relations will take a lot of time to measure because its main objective is change in behavior. This in turn, has brought about another myth: PR will take even longer to show tangible results.

As a business owner, it is always important to get a return of investment for the time and money you spend in marketing and promoting your business. In running your business, it is always necessary  to know how much return you will get given an X amount of marketing expenditures.

Any marketing strategy doesn’t guarantee a return every time it is employed; but PR has one of the highest returns of investment. Moreover, public relations, more often than not,  generates more revenue than advertising. There are also numerous studies that have directly related public relations and  tangible returns on investment. The case study below is such an example.

A recent study published by the Institute for Public Relations measured PR against other forms of marketing. In this instance, they used a case study of a beverage brand. Data showed that for each dollar spent on television advertising, a dollar and ten cents were returned thru sales. On the other hand, trade advertising delivered a return of twice as much as television advertising. Finally, public relations returned eight dollars for every dollar invested. Public relations has, by far, the best results compared to the other marketing strategies. As a matter of fact, this beverage company credits four percent of their sales to their public relations strategy. Initially, the numbers may not look that impressive; but think of this on a scale of tens of millions of dollars.

These studies are common, and their findings almost the same. We are hoping that these figures will encourage business owners like you to take another look at how public relations can be used to maximize your return of investment. Moreover, we hope that, as a business owner, you also get to consider PR when evaluating your next marketing campaigns.

Don’t forget that studies show that effective public relations is a form of marketing that can positively affect all other marketing strategies. When positive and catchy news breaks out about a business, every other marketing tactic has proven to be more effective; therefore creating a beneficial ripple effect across all marketing efforts.

It truly is great that PR has the best return of investment in terms of sales, but it will also be advisable to look into the other advantages that it can bring to your business. There is always that opportunity to make your story known. There is also that opportunity to establish yourself as a credible source to gain more customers. You can even find that getting a high-profile, publicized reputation will get you to charge higher among the competition, regardless of the business environment.

Success in attracting media attention is always dependent on a business owner’s ability to put themselves in the journalists’ and readers’ shoes. This recognition in publicity campaigns is something that businesses can leverage to get more customers and, ultimately, more sales; but how does one get securing publicity?

Being knowledgeable of The Industry’s Trends

If you can identify the main reasons that bring clients to your business, you can begin to create story angles that you can use to attract media attention.

As an example, if you had a sudden remarkable increase in sales, find out the reasons why. If you can pinpoint the reasons why there is sudden influx of customers, then you’ve found something newsworthy.

Potential customers might be seeking specific services or buying a particular type of product; as a business owner, find out why, and develop your material from there.

Innovations are Always Newsworthy

Innovative products or services are also newsworthy. If you have something new to introduce to the market, rather than letting the features and benefits go in one presentation, think of something that makes your innovation unique and create your news angle from there.

Remember to Appeal to your Niche

One example is a mobile dog grooming service that caters to show dogs. If this is your business, don’t simply advertise your service in the hope that it will stand out among the other dog grooming businesses. Instead, create a story about the certain pressures that dog-owners go through on a dog show.

Doing this will make you come across as an expert and readers in your targeted niche will make connections based on that. Taking on this perspective also allows you the chance to mention that a specialist like you can help alleviate this pressure from the dog-owners.

Involve yourself with Charitable Institutions

Being charitable is another news angle. The importance of engaging in charitable institutions is the authenticity of your involvement and commitment. You can approach your local paper to get some local coverage if you’ve donated. During the coverage itself, focus on providing stories about the charity and the work that they do; only mention the donation in passing.

Focus on Why your Product or Services Benefit Customers

Don’t focus on the features of your product or services. Instead, get publicity for customers who are doing something amazing with your product or service. Focus on why this product has helped them and not on how. You can also feature your customer’s achievements in an industry magazine, and always remember to keep the story focused on the customer. This will not only foster client relationships, but your product or service will also be shown in a way that will attract new customers.

Find and Leverage Existing Opportunities

The products and services that you offer aren’t necessarily unique. You might offer the same products and services as anyone in the industry; but this doesn’t mean that you can’t get media exposure. You can do some background research on the target audience and get in touch with media organizations and ask for upcoming features. You can also try placing products as a part of a wider feature or buyer’s guide.