Written by Yuru Tang, input with Rich Kahn
If you are running a small business, it is unlikely to spend too much money on hiring PR professionals or cooperating with PR agencies. However, you can do PR by yourself by following the simple do-it-yourself PR tips.
Keep up with your industry
The first thing you need to do is to read a lot of information about your industry, which can keep you informed with the newest industrial knowledge. This knowledge can help you to impress the people you are reaching out to. You can start with following the industry influencers and set up Google Alert and Twitter Mentions to remind you as soon as they update. In addition, it is beneficial to often search and read the articles or blogs which contain your industry keywords.
Build a network with top influencers and reporters
Once you pay attention to what the top influencers and reporters are focusing on, it will be much easier to reach out to them and build networks. In the beginning, after following these influencers and reporters on social media, you can regularly engage with them through post likes and comments in order to let them remember your name. Afterwards, you can talk to them about the content they write through private chats. Remember, it is important to keep authentic all the time and avoid self-promotion when commenting on top industry influencers and reporters’ posts.
Be perfect before reaching out to the press
It is dangerous to put your name out there before your product or service is fully ready because it will lead to negative reviews from customers, which can damage the small companies fatally. Before launching your products or services, you should first show them to the people you trust and get feedback. Then keep improving until all these people consider the products or services are perfect enough to release to the press.
Create creative and compelling brand stories
When creating pitches for your brand, you should be objective even if you think your products or services are the best in the industry. At the same time, you should make sure your pitches are attractive and creative since the top influencers and reporters have read thousands of similar content and they are unlikely to pay attention to reading another boring one. The secret to win your pitches is to tell your brand stories, which should be short, interesting and compelling. Also, you need to send the stories through emails with eye-catching subject lines to avoid mistakenly being ignored.
As a small business owner, it is possible to do PR by yourself to cut down costs. The key tasks when developing PR strategies by yourself are to create excellent pitches and reach out to the right people. Understanding your industry trends, creating compelling brand stories, and building networks with top influencers and reporters are the three most effective approaches to make your brand under the spotlight.
Headquartered in New York City, Bao Communications is a full-service bilingual PR Agency specializing in social media, media relations, content creation, and influencer marketing. We serve local, national, and global clients in the United States and China.