I recently wrote a newsletter on LinkedIn and was asked a question by one of my connections that was so good I wanted to dedicate an entire blog to it.
The questions she asked was:
“How can small businesses begin building their PR and ads?”
I’m not an ads specialist, and while I do have experience of Meta ads, I’m certainly not an expert on the subject, so for the purpose of this blog I’ll be focussing solely on PR
So, how can small businesses begin building their PR and ads?
You may be surprised by my answer, because it’s not going to include a checklist, or a list of 10 things you need to do before you start
This isn’t something I share very often as it’s a bit ‘different’ to what people may expect from me. And really, it’s only because of the work that I’ve done that has made me realise how important it as at driving growth.
The first time I said it out loud was during Get Featured! LIVE ‘Pitch Like A Pro’ Bootcamp in March and now it’s something I’ll be shouting from the rooftops for a very long time!
So, without further ado…..
🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
….to begin building your PR, the first thing you need to do is:
🧘♀️ Connect to yourself
Then…..
🧘♀️ Connect to your mission
Then….
🧘♀️ Fully embody what you want to achieve
Only then can you understand WHY you need PR and more importantly, WHY you need it now (or at any given moment when the time is right to start on your PR journey)
OPPORTUNITIES ARE EVERYWHERE!
There are so many opportunities now for business owners of all sized businesses to be published in the press. Once upon a time, businesses could only secure media coverage by working with a PR Agency as they had an ‘in’ with journalists. They had contact details and relationships they’d build and nurtured.
Nowadays, as a business owner you have access to journalist requests on X, in Facebook Groups and via subscription based services such as HERO and Editorielle. This means that you can secure your own media coverage without investing in a PR Agency (although there’s a massive difference between having access to journalist requests and knowing how to respond to them – and responding to requests isn’t PR in its entirety)
With access to so many opportunities, it’s easy to get carried away with the hype and feel you have to respond to everything just to get your name out there. If getting your name out there in as many places as possible is your top priority, then by all means, respond to as many requests as possible.
BUT if you want to be more purposeful and strategic, then you need to focus on the why before you spend loads of time responding to requests that aren’t actually going to deliver the results you want.
HERE’S WHY….
If you want to be known for one thing, or one topic, then responding to requests that aren’t related to that topic isn’t going to do anything for you, your credibility, your reputation or your business.
If you want to be known for one thing, or one topic, then only responding to requests that are relevant to you and your business, is going to deliver the results that you want
When you start dipping your toe in the water with PR, it’s easy to focus too much on ‘trust tags’ (a phrase that I love just as much as the word ‘visibility’ – and yes, I’m being sarcastic!). If you’re not familiar with this (awful) phrase, ‘trust tags’ refer to a collection of logos that show where people have been published.
As media coverage raises your profile and positions you in front of more of your ideal customers and clients, when a media outlet features you, you naturally earn the trust of the audience of said media outlet. Hence why the logos of these outlets are referred to as ‘trust tags’.
Many business owners focus on ‘trust tags’ as they believe it makes them look more trustworthy, or look like they’re something special as they’ve been published in the press. But if the articles you’ve appeared in have no relevance to your business, then the exercise is entirely pointless (unless of course it’s part of your wider strategy and part of your layer cake*)
FAILING TO PREPARE IS PREPARING TO FAIL
When so much emphasis is placed on the results that media coverage delivers, how will you know what to measure if you’re responding to everything without a strategy?
If you respond to everything and secure a few published pieces, but they don’t lead to new website visitors, new social media followers or consultation calls being booked, you’re going to blame PR and exclaim that it doesn’t work! (I know the drill, I’ve seen it all before!)
As a business owner, you already have enough on your plate.
You’re already responsible for creating content, posting content, engaging with content, building your email list, ‘being visible’, working with clients, attracting new clients, sending invoices, logging expenses, paying contractors, paying the tax man (and that’s just to run your business, I haven’t even mentioned raising a family, looking after yourself, your relationships and your house!)
IT’S A LOT!
Time is precious and you haven’t been gifted with an extra 24-hours in the day
It’s why I’m so passionate about working smarter not harder; focussing on the tactics that are going to work harder for you in the long run, so that you can spend less time faffing about and more time having fun and making memories with your loved ones.
This is why it’s so important to connect to what you really want. Not what your latest coach or internet guru has told you. Not what your bestie is doing, or what Sandra down the road is doing. What do YOU want?
Once you know, it makes it easier to say YES to the right things and say NO to the right things (AKA: The Wrong Things). Admittedly, this is a skill that I’ve only started to master recently. As a recovering people pleaser it’s taken a tonne of work to get here, so to avoid the pitfalls of poor decision making, keep reconnecting with what you really want.
Once you’ve connected to what you want, then you can start to focus on how PR can make it happen.
WHAT NEXT?
Connecting back to yourself, your purpose and vision is what I taught during Get Featured! LIVE ‘Pitch Like A Pro’ Bootcamp
Once you’ve reconnected to yourself, here are a few things to get ready before taking that next step in your PR journey:
👉 Decent photography – you don’t need to spend thousands on a brand photoshoot, but you do need some professional looking images that help you stand out and increase your chances of being featured. You need a mixture of images in landscape or portrait that are at least 1MB in resolution.
👉 A website – Many will argue that you don’t need a website to run a business, to which I say: you don’t need a website to make money, but you do need a website if you want to capture leads from those who want to find out more about you, how you work and how you can help
👉 A cohesive message – You want to make sure that your message is consistent across all communication channels. The last thing you want to do is secure a feature in an article and then send people to your website or social media channels when there’s a disconnect in what you’re saying.
Once you have these things in order then you’re ready to embark on your PR journey
BEFORE YOU START…..
✅ Reconnect to yourself and why you want to be featured in the press
✅ Be prepared in advance – get some great images taken that you can share when journalists ask for them
✅ Have an updated website as this is where people will visit to find out more about you and your services once they’ve seen you in the press
✅ Be consistent with your messaging across all communications channels so that there isn’t a disconnect between what you’re saying in media outlets and what you’re saying on social media or in your email newsletters
Once you’re ready to get started on your PR journey, why not schedule a Growth Audit with me to see where PR fits in to what you’re already doing, to accelerate results.
*This phrase will make no sense to you if you haven’t been a PR Bootcamp client. Sorry.
