Starting a new business? Five essentials to get publicity
By Paul Green
One of the best times to get publicity for your business is in its first year. Journalists love things that are new, including businesses. Especially in a bad economy such as this, a new business starting can send out a welcome burst of optimism. And while bad news sells newspapers, it’s the warm good news stories that keep people reading them. All media titles need a balance of news and you can help provide that balance.
But there are hundreds of businesses starting up every day, and many of them will be clamouring for PR. So you need to make sure yours stands out.
Here are five essentials to get publicity for your new venture.
1) Know who will buy what you are going to sell and find out what media titles they consume
If you can do this PR exercise at the start of your business, it will give your overall marketing efforts a huge boost. Because when you know exactly which audience you are aiming at and how to reach them, it will allow you to focus your marketing.
Most businesses are too general with their marketing. They are aiming for too many people at once, and that dilutes the results they get. Think of it this way… some commercial laser beams are powerful enough to cut through materials such as wood and metal… but if you took the same amount of light and put it into a torch, you would no longer be able to cut anything. The light is totally unfocused and loses its power.
Same with your marketing. And actually, journalists are a pretty good filter for figuring out who your audience is. When you send a press release to a journalist, the very first thing they ask themselves is “will my audience find this interesting?”. Most press releases fail this test and get binned as a result.
So spend some time thinking about who is really going to buy what you sell and tighten your focus down. If you really can sell something to, for example, “every business in the UK”, then start small and look at smaller niches within that big group. The smaller the niche the easier it is to reach them. And the more likely you are to get publicity.
When you know your audience, find out what media they consume. That means which newspapers and magazines they read, what they listen to, what they watch on TV, what blogs and websites they read, which marketing lists they subscribe to, etc etc.
2) Figure out what makes your new business different from all the rest
Again, this will help your overall marketing. If you tell a journalist about your new business to get publicity, and they say “so what?”, how will you answer that question?
Are you the very first to do this? Are you the biggest, the smallest, the slowest, the fastest, the cheapest, the most expensive? What’s your USP, your Unique Selling Point? What makes your business special and different?
The answers to these questions will help you develop Standoutability – the thing that makes a journalist sit up and realise they should write about your business.
3) Be able to summarise your business in 10 seconds
New businesses change quickly. What looks like a good plan on paper might not work, so you need to adapt. Find out what people want and give it to them.
You also need to be able to tell people what your business does and what makes it different, quickly and succinctly. This is often called the “elevator pitch” – you’re in a lift with Bill Gates and have 10 seconds to pitch your business or idea to him… what do you say?
Journalists will give you the same amount of time. They’re too busy to spend minutes on the phone trying to understand what your business does. If they don’t get it quickly and easily, you’ll lose them. Same as your prospects, actually.
4) Look for the right opportunities to promote your business
As the owner of a new business, there are a number of quick wins available to you. For example, some local and regional newspapers run a “new business” column. Or they may run some other kind of column answered by business people, such as “out of my suit”. You’d be surprised how often journalists struggle to fill these columns… so when someone turns up willing to help they are often welcomed with open arms.
Don’t do PR just to get publicity for the sake of it. You should only do PR for one of two reasons – either to drive leads and sales, or to boost your reputation and increase credibility. If your new business is aimed at consumers, there may be little point in appearing in the local paper’s business section. It makes you feel good but doesn’t really help you move the business forward.
5) Persist
You won’t get publicity regularly by trying once then stopping. Like all marketing, you need to keep doing it again and again and again.
Not every press release will generate publicity. There are too many factors at play to see every piece of PR work every time. But typically, those businesses that keep trying – always testing and measuing – get more PR coverage in the long-term than their competitors. Good luck!
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