The businesses that grew big with good PR
By Paul Green
Virtually every business that’s a household name has its own Public Relations department, or uses a PR agency. Publicity is considered an essential tool by these businesses for ensuring their name stays a household name!
Some of these brands were actually built by PR in the first place. You can pick them out fairly easily – they’re the brands you always hear great stories about.
Heard of Red Bull or easyJet?
These are companies that don’t just use good PR, they practically built their business around it.
Red Bull sponsors a series of high adrenaline events such as air races – and supports them with funny stunts such as a soapbox race through the streets of London.
Stelios at easyJet ruined British Airways’ launch of its new low cost Go airline, by turning up to the launch event in an orange Easyjet jumpsuit.
But the UK’s true King of PR is Richard Branson. He introduced Virgin Cola to America by driving a tank down New York’s Fifth Avenue, put a wedding dress on to launch Virgin Brides, and lived in a see through box to kickstart Virgin Media’s cable TV.
It’s rumoured Branson sets aside a quarter of his time for PR activities, mostly media appearances and interviews, with a few stunts thrown in.
Why? Branson is reported as saying: “Using yourself to get out and talk about it is a lot cheaper and more effective than a lot of advertising. In fact, if you do it correctly, it can beat advertising hands down and save tens of millions of dollars.”
So how can you do this for your business?
Well the good news is, you don’t have to hire tanks, dress up as characters or put your life in danger just to get free publicity. The chairman of Lloyds TSB doesn’t do these things, yet the bank gets tons of coverage each week.
All you need to do is commit yourself and your business to being famous using free publicity. The methods can be as simple as sending press releases or as extreme as using publicity stunts.
Whatever you use, it’s your long-term commitment to good PR that will boost your business and your brand.
