Give your business visibility a jolt with public relations
You know your services are valuable, but without a big-corporation advertising budget, how do you let your target market – your ideal potential clients – know? Public relations is the art and science of aligning yourself with your publics’ interests and communicating your unique brand and value to them. It’s also the most cost-effective way to promote your business success. Here are four proven public relations strategies to give your firm’s visibility and credibility a jolt:
Give away your expertise
Offer a free monthly e-newsletter or tip sheet with your top business tips of the month. Promote this on your website, your business cards, whenever you’re out meeting people. Offer real value in your newsletter, and make it available to everyone, not just clients. This is not a sales gimmick, although it will lead to sales.
Blog your expertise
Few tactics will be more powerful in enhancing your visibility and driving your firm’s website higher in online search results. Blog as regularly as you can; in the online world, content is king. Your blog provides a free platform for communication of your know-how and background. Yes, the operative word is FREE. WordPress at www.wordpress.com allows you to construct a quick and elegant blog foundation that easily can be linked to your website. Building and maintaining a blog requires knowledge and time, but it’s a brilliant investment for any business on a budget.
Add testimonials about your expertise
Ask your best clients to tell their stories about how you helped their businesses. Take them to lunch and interview them; you’ll be thanking them for their business at the same time. Add a photo and company logo to each client’s testimonial, and it becomes a win-win promotion of their own success along with yours.
Promote your expertise in your local media
Position your business skills in your hometown media. This includes your daily newspaper as well as local business publications, free suburban weeklies found in many markets and local radio and television outlets. Send brief news releases and photos announcing your firm members’ promotions and recognitions, firm innovations and new services. Write guest columns on business topics; the current economic tumult provides opportunities for anyone with credible advice for small businesses. If a current event comes up for which you have background and information, send a brief news release with your perspective and offer to be available for interviews.
Remember that you have valuable intelligence, skills and background that are highly prized commodities in business, especially in a challenging economic environment. Communicate your value, make a consistent public relations plan part of your business growth strategy and your business will garner results.
