Public Relations-Creating Newsworthy Material
In order to market your goods or services, you have toeffectively communicate to the public (your target
audience) with compelling news about your organization.
Bigger companies have a better handle on this kind of
public relations than do the small business owners. It is
not uncommon for an entire department to be entirely devoted
to getting information out to the public. A small business
must find its own ways to accomplish this same task which
can become tedious after time.
Larger corporations are better suited for this task as
some of them have entire departments dedicated solely to
the production and release of news stories to help sell
their products. A small business owner must accomplish
this same task with significantly fewer resources or the
expertise to do so.
Generating real news is not always an easy thing to do.
There may be only one or two hot ideas worthy of attention
in the course of an entire year. Newsworthy achievements
and new product launches are rarely an everyday occurrence
in business.
Generating genuine news is a lot harder than it sounds.
Most companies do not have product launches every other
week or make significant advancements in how they conduct
business.
The 'Hall of Fame' is a classic publicity stunt. Creating
a public relations Hall of Fame is the first step towards
generating newsworthy stories. Find some people within
your field that are experts and send out a press release.
There are websites such as www.publicityinsider.com/Hallof
Fame.asp that are great for learning more about using the
Public Relations Hall of Fame as a public communication
outlet.
There are websites on the Internet like
www.publicityinsider.com/HallofFame.asp that can help you
get started towards using the Hall of Fame for your public
relations needs.
The Internet offers some wonderful resources for businesses
to create and start their own petition. If you have a hot
topic in your industry or something people would like to see
take place, a petition may be the source of "getting the
news out" for your business.
PetitionOnline.com (http://www.petitiononline.com/petition.
html). You can begin the petition process free. Yes, a
free petition! Surf through the web site and learn from
what others have placed on the petition site. There are
petitions from all types of industries.
If funds are limited, fret not because you can initiate a
petition drive free of charge. Visit
www.petitiononline.com and scan through the site to find
out how and be sure to see all of the industries that take
advantage of petition drives for raising awareness.
Draw Up a List
What is so impressive about a list? Honestly, it is a
wonder. The media just adore lists. They are the most
publicized year after year. So make yourself a list. The
Most Annoying People of the Year from AmIAnnoying.com is a
perfect example of a newsworthy list. Lists like these are
partially to blame for the growth of people columns in
newspapers today!
Tips
While you may loathe the expense, you may be best served by
hiring a professional to tackle your marketing issues.
Perhaps press releases are not your thing so letting an
outside source handle them may very well be the best idea
because they will be more likely to be able to get results
and increase business. Time constraints are another
possible motivator for letting others tackle tasks you are
not ideally suited for.
Once you've made that God Awful decision to create a press
release of your own, here are a few tips you can use as a
guideline.
Simple is best. You are going to need some kind of angle
on any piece you expect a paper to print. Journalists are
savvy people and they will know precisely where you are
heading with your request. It is natural to think of our
ideas as brilliant and earth shattering, but keep that ego
in check and don't try to impress that journalist with
your brilliance. Keep it simple.
Stay positive. There is plenty of gossip out there so don't
turn your news into trash. Positive comments will lead to
better results. Don't concentrate on criticizing the ideas
of others and instead remain positive because it will look
better for your business.
Remain relevant. The story must be related to your business
or else you are wasting your time. When crafting your list,
try to think of things that will tie back into your
business. Your story must always be in line with your
marketing strategy.
This is only a small part of creating a storyline and
finding marketing material. There are several public
relation options available to small businesses through a
variety of web sites and business oriented e-books. Take
advantage of all of the information you can inquire and use
some of the suggestions listed. Tell a true story about
your business.
Ken Bidgood runs a very interesting website at
Advertising XP,
there's a wealth of knowledge on the website, plus
while you're there sign up for the free newsletter.
If you want to read more Business articles go to:
http://www.advertisingxp.com/articles
You can also find out where to get the cheapest,
most profitable pay-per-click traffic on the net.
