On our trip through the PR basics, we touched on not running out of puff too early and the importance of having a plan. Now, here are your final three steps - and the things you’re doing that are further sabotaging your results.
Being in small business, especially when starting out, often means you don’t have a lot of cash to throw at… well, just about anything. This means you end up doing almost everything yourself – from admin, to accounts, to marketing, to sales - on top of doing the work you’re actually good at.
This also means you’re likely not doing everything all that well and you end up dropping a few balls. You realise something has to give, and for many, this means marketing and PR gets pushed to the bottom of the list of priorities.
You realise something has to give...
Sure, you do your best, dabbling in Facebook ads, blogging AND networking, but it’s a slog. And while you probably think you’re saving money tackling it all on your own, there’s an opportunity cost involved that justifies tapping into the experts in those areas you aren’t good at, so you can concentrate on what you are.
Back in the day, to close a sale, it took five ‘asks’ or ‘closes’. That means getting the prospective customer to say yes five times, each time in a different way, minimising objections and pain points and following up to see if they have questions.
Unfortunately, this number has grown four-fold, with many of us more cynical and spoilt for choice.
And the same goes for pitching a story to a journalist.
Journalists are inundated with stories every day making it easier to say, ‘No’, especially if the pitch is a bit off. That’s why it’s so important to follow up!
Journalists are inundated with stories every day making it easier to say, ‘No’...
Yes, it’s ‘icky’ going back and asking again. Most of us just want to be liked and not be annoying. But if you want to grow your business using the power of PR, this is something you need to build a bridge over. Let me say it clearly. The power is in the follow up.
A great PR plan accommodates the business’ target audience and how they seek out information to base their purchasing decisions on.
As such, if your target audience doesn’t read the newspaper (even if you do), then spending a lot of time pitching to print media is pointless. Sure, getting an article in a big paper is good for the ego (and yes, it can be used for leverage), but if you’re investing time and money on PR, then you want to make sure the tools you use are effective and on point.
Generally, you need to employ several platforms to get the story out there. No one-size-fits-all approach will work for every business; and spending all your time on one platform simply limits your options and your audience. It’s far better to have a diverse plan, made easier by tapping into and repurposing your content for each (thereby avoiding having to create 100s of pieces of content).
No one-size-fits-all approach will work for every business...
Your plan should allow for about four longer-form story/content ideas per month. You’re then easily able to repurpose this content into 40+ pieces of shorter-form pieces, giving you a month’s worth of content to share across the relevant social media platforms.
But again, please remember, results take time. Whatever success means to you, it really starts and ends with your attitude and mindset.
Whatever success means to you, it really starts and ends with your attitude and mindset.
Building a business often requires us to dig deep into our heart to tap all our strengths and then (importantly), TELL EVERYONE ABOUT IT. There’s no room for modesty.
If you want to get your story out there, you must quiet that voice inside your head (that’s calling you a show pony) and know your story is worthy and people want to hear it.
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