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PUBLIC RELATIONS
Your Key to Business Growth in the New Year or Any Time of Year
The New Year is here and we all are making our resolutions.
What about yours? What's your business resolution for the
upcoming year? Taking stock of where a company is and
where it's headed is always good to do a couple of times a year.
Businesses that want a leg up on their competition need to focus
on boosting their public relations (PR) efforts. This keeps them
from going under when the economy is weak, and gets them ahead
of their competitors when sales start picking up. With the
economy emerging from recession, now is the perfect time to get
a fresh start on your PR strategies.
So what exactly is public relations? It's a strategic form of
communication that's used to obtain positive exposure for your
company and keep key publics informed. It's news releases,
feature stories, interviews, analyst meetings, application
stories, speaking engagements, newsletters, websites, product
launches and events. It's also developing a key message that
differentiates you from your competition and selecting the mix
of tactics that will get your message to the marketplace with
the most impact.
PR is different from advertising. Advertising and promotion are
about salesmanship. Consumers know it and are on the defense
against being sold something they don't want or need
especially when moneys tight. Public relations is about
conveying information. By providing information to consumers
directly or through trusted third parties, PR is a
cost-effective marketing effort that has a big-payoff:
credibility and visibility. That's why PR should play a key role
in your business plans in the upcoming year.
So what are the best ways to use PR to kick-start your business
into high gear?
Think of more than just a press release.
Media coverage can be an excellent way to influence public
opinion, but today's media includes more than newspapers and
television. Think outside the box to find the right medium for
your message and your target audience. For example, handing out
small gifts bearing your logo, maintaining a presence at trade
shows or getting more links to your website are all wonderful
ways to generate public relations.
Keep messages simple.
People in the US get bombarded with more than 4,000 marketing
messages a day. Who has the time and energy to decipher
complicated jargon? Stick to one message, and learn to tell it
in various ways to make your point.
Position yourself as an expert.
Give advice on your business topic freely. Write articles for
online publications, business journals and magazines.
Participate in online forums and speak to local groups. When you
consistently provide information of value in these outlets your
reputation as an expert will make itself.
Focus on people, not products.
Make the product the hero is an old expression that's not right
today. The product can play a role in allowing a person to be a
hero, but the product itself probably isn't heroic, and it
shouldn't be portrayed that way. People long for stories they
can identify with, small achievements where an obstacle is
overcome or a person does something surprising. People want to
connect with somebody, not something.
Today's successful companies make public relations a priority.
Whether selling direct, through distribution channels or via
e-commerce, a successful company must achieve and maintain a
strong market presence through a continuous and effective public
relations program.
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