With the economy fighting its way back after the recession, the main focus of most businesses is to keep their heads above water. A critical way to promote your brand without costing your company an arm and a leg is by making use of Public Relations (PR).
When it come to promoting your business and gaining new leads, hiring an expensive PR company is not necessarily the right answer. Believe it or not, managing a successful PR campaign in-house is actually quite easy.
What is PR?
PR is the practice of managing the spread of information between a company and the public at large. Companies can gain valuable exposure to their target audience by using topics of public interest in blogs, news, magazines, newspapers, tv and radio interviews.
The beauty of using this avenue of exposure is the majority of these outlets require very little payment if any – great news for your wallet. The differences between PR and advertising vary even further than just the cost. PR is the way that the media portrays you, rather than the way you portray yourself, making it a less biased (and therefore more trustworthy) avenue.
How can I incorporate PR with my business?
There are various PR practices available to gain exposure to your business, such as speaking at conferences, winning industry awards, and gaining media contacts. Try starting small – reach out to larger blogs in your industry and pitch an idea for a guest blog post. Upon acception, this will not only allow you to boast your expertise to a much larger audience, but you will also be able to link back to your own website, boosting its pushing it up the search engine rankings.
The most important PR avenue, however, is is communicating your company message to all your employees and equiping them with the skills to go out and spread the word in a holistic manner. Afterall, the best way to get others to believe in you is first to believe in yourself.
Any time dedicated to starting your PR campaign is time well spent. What are you waiting for?