PR key rules
Having secured 1,000s of press articles, here’s some tips from our founders on how to approach getting PR for your small business or startup:
No-one cares
This is a harsh one and it usually shocks people when we say it and we understand why.
For us as small business owners, our businesses are our babies – they are a culmination of our passion, blood, sweat and tears. For many of us, it is / was a huge risk and it plays a major part of our lives. We are probably also dedicating 60+ hours a week to it too (and have for a while).
You probably can’t stop thinking about your business – in the shower, on the commute, on holiday; and you probably can’t stop talking about it to anyone who will listen (my family, friends and taxi drivers just glaze over at this point).
For us – our businesses are a huge deal.
But the press doesn’t care about that.
When you email a journalist, you’re one of hundreds of emails they received that day, from business owners just like you.
Yes your product is the best on the market – the cheapest, the best quality, you give the best customer service. But they don’t care.
They have an inbox flooded with emails, they have 10 articles to write today and their editor is breathing down their neck.
Leave your ego at the door and remember, they don’t care.
It’s your job to get them to care – to give them what they want – and that’s where rule 2 comes in…
Give to get
Here’s the good news – you can make the press care about you – just by giving them what they way – content.
As a small business owner you have tons of the stuff! News stories (yours, your customers, your employees), expert tips, tricks and insight, products / services to review and feature … give it to them and you’ll get what you want – exposure (and those three benefits we talked about earlier).
All you have to do is ‘give to get’.
PR is a journey not a destination
This means two things to us.
Firstly, as we’ve already mentioned, one article isn’t going
to transform your business (if it was that easy PRs wouldn’t exist – and we’d have retired by now). PR is a long-term activity where the results grow
exponentially.
Secondly, you can’t stick to one strategy for your PR.
Sometimes you’ll try something and it’s a flop; sometimes you’ll try something
and it’s great and then it stops working. It can be a lot of trial and error –
don’t get complacent and don’t give up..
Watch the video:
