5. Be creative
The best bit of the publicity process - coming up with killer ideas.
Journalists are constantly looking for new ideas. Filling a newspaper or radio station with fresh content all the time is quite hard work. So if you can stand out by being different, you're onto a winner.
Don't worry if you think you're not a creative type of person. You don't have to have a world shattering idea to get publicity, it's just got to be a bit different.
Here are some ideas to spark your creativity:
Tie it into a current news event
When there's a big running story, journalists are always looking for new angles to keep it fresh. So give them an easy one. When there's a new Bond film coming out, a garage should offer free sports cars for the weekend to anyone who comes in dressed up in a tux. If there's a general election, a pizza delivery business should say it's trying to get youngsters to vote by offering a free pizza to every 18 year old who proves they've voted. Incidentally, it doesn't matter if only one 18 year old takes up this offer - as long as you've got publicity for it, that's the goal.
PUBLICITY HEALTH WARNING: Be wary of trying to tie your business into an inappropriate news event, i.e. a tragedy. It's very tricky judging the public's mood and getting your timing right. In our opinion you should steer well clear
Tie it into something seasonal
Some journalists dread annual events like Christmas and the summer holidays, because the pressure's on to come up with even more new material... just as it was last year. Sounds like an opportunity for you. A sweets company can produce a set of five trick or treat safety guidelines for Halloween. A local newsagent should offer an emergency delivery service by someone dressed as cupid, for men who've forgotten to get anything for their partner. You get the idea
Do an exchange or reward
Restaurants could let kids who've got their exam results this week eat for free. Sports shops could get bored kids in the summer holidays to swap chocolate bars for new trainers and a football. Promote the virtues of reading (and your bookshop) by swapping old DVDs for new books.
Do something that makes you laugh, or seem a bit cheeky
Promote your new healthy fast food shop by giving away free meals to anyone who pledges never to eat at a national burger chain again. Get people signing up outside the local branch of that burger chain, and that's funny!
If it makes you or the public laugh, it'll probably make the media laugh - and be interested in your story.
Do a survey
These are so simple to do, yet generate great news stories day after day. All you need to do is think of a good angle that's related to your business - for
example, if you're a pizza restaurant, what are people's favourite topping? If
you sell books, how much does the average person spend on books? How much does
the average car cost to run each year? How many blue cars crash compare to red
cars? Pick something, then survey your customers to get the results. There's
more on exactly how to do this here.