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Public Relations 101 For Small Business

Written by: Kristin Marquet

Article Overview: The practices of public relations boost a company's profile more than advertising does.

Public Relations 101 For Small Business

The practice of public relations is the creation of a positive image for businesses or individuals who are looking to raise their profile. It is free, whereas advertising space is paid for in newspapers, magazines, and electronic media. The best techniques often used are: press releases, press kits, pod casts, web casts, product launches, press conferences, media seminars, and event planning, amongst a variety of other techniques.

The tricky part to getting free publicity is grabbing the attention of editors and reporters with your news. Editors and reports want to provide newsworthy information to their audience. Most of the time, the information that is sent out to editors and reporters by businesses is garbage, which ends up going right into the trash. To help prevent your news from going into the garbage, read on.
Follow these steps to an incredible press release:

1. Make sure the top of the press release says: "For Immediate Release"
2. I know many businesses that forget to include their contact information. Make sure that you include the date, your name, business, address, city, state, zip, phone number, web address, and email address.
3. The title should be really captivating. It should not be boring and dull. A good way to start generating headlines is by filling in these blanks ______ is announcing the launch of _____. Be clear with what you want to make newsworthy.
4. If your business is a professional service such as a law firm, doctor's office, engineering company, or accounting firm, be sure to include a quote from one of the managing partners, principle owners, or shareholders.
5. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling must be correct. No editor wants to read something that looks like it was written by an amateur, or better yet, a child.
6. Always remember, there must be a hook to story that makes it newsworthy. Editors are interested in news. They don't want to hear about you. 7. Remember, press or news releases cover who, what, when, why, and where.
8. Give editors information that they will have a field day with, which results in publishing your press release.
9. Develop relationships with editors and reporters. When something significant is happening in the news and you are an expert in that area, your editor or reporter will most likely turn to you for your opinion.

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Article Tags: accounting firm, address city state, business address, city state zip, electronic media, engineering company, event planning, getting free publicity, grammar punctuation, launch, managing partners, news editors, number web, positive image, practice of public relations, press conferences, principle owners, professional service, web casts, zip phone



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