They both grab your attention, that’s what… I’ll come back to this point now that I have your attention.

In this post, I’d like to talk about how effective the use of PR in your business can be.

PR is a particularly hot topic this week. This is due to the fact that we find our political world in a state of flux with a hung parliament as a result of the recent general election. Rather unusually the topic of PR in this case relates to a matter of Proportional Representation. However, that’s not the kind of PR I’d like to address here.

I’d like to highlight the incredible benefits to your business of DIY PR. That’s – “Do It Yourself Public Relations”. I believe that most small businesses have the ability to run much of their Public Relations themselves and don’t need to incur the cost of an outside agency.

So what do I mean by PR? I’d summarize PR as being the communication process between an organization and it’s target market using topics of public interest or news items that are placed without requiring payment, (now, in the voice of a meerkat) Shimples…

The real beauty of using PR to gain exposure, quite apart from there being no real cost, is that the resulting exposure will not only raise the profile of your service or product, but written or presented correctly, it is far more credible as it offers third party legitimacy to you and your company.

A recent survey concluded that fewer that 15% of consumers trust adverts, whereas 78% trust consumer or third party recommendations. Now you start to see how important it is to create a strong and consistent PR campaign as part of your marketing strategy.

As with all of your marketing efforts, you must have a clear strategy, you must know what you are looking to achieve and don’t just go for media coverage for the sake of it. For example, you might be aiming to;

• Generate new enquiries
• Reach potential employees
• Reinforce loyalty of existing clients
• Steer potential clients to your website
• Promote an event

Your next job is to draw up a list of targeted media, online and offline, that your customers, new business prospects or future employees read, watch or listen to.

Now look at your company through the eyes of a journalist working on the top publication on your list. Note anything that sets your business apart from your competitors, or is unusual, newsworthy, or that will be instructive or helpful to readers.

Note! This is not an advert. No publication will run a blatant advert without rightly wanting to charge you for the space or air time.

Write a short compelling headline that grabs attention. (OK, so this is where the sexy underwear come in). Create desire and interest in the first couple of paragraphs. Make sure that you include a clear call to action that will let readers reach you to find out more.

This is a big topic, there’s only so much I can include here, but if you would like to know more about how I managed to generate over $2.5m of editorial coverage in a year for free, for a company in the States and more importantly, how I could help you generate free publicity for you and your business just ask.

This is a topic we are going to cover in depth later this month with members of the EBA during their business growth event.

By Steve Clarke, EBA Millionaire Mentor