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PR for Small
Business: How to Use the Media
Effectively
If
you’re serious about getting great results from your PR you may
find that you have to severely challenge your current reading
habits. A recent client completed her PR assessment form with a
comment about the how that she had always read a certain paper
because her parents had and she’d just fallen into the habit
too. She now realised that she had to read a lot more widely to
understand the amount of opportunities that are out there, and
which ones would work for her.
I
wonder how many of us are also guilty of falling into media
comfort zones? And what can we do about it?
But
before, I spill the beans; I thought I’d remind you about the
importance of knowing
The Sun
from The Daily
Mail, or
Arena
from Loaded.
There are 4 main reasons why being media savvy will help your
PR.
1. You will be aware of what publications are out there and
therefore aware of all the opportunities open to you.
2. Different publications, even in the same niche, require a
different approach. Both
Woman
and Good
Housekeeping appeal to women in roughly the same age
group but the language they use, and the subjects covered, in
each of them, is so different that they may even need a
different press release to reflect both the differing reader
concerns and language.
3. As you read more widely you’ll come to spot more and more
opportunities that you weren’t aware of, perhaps even before
your competitors.
4. You may spot publications that you could write for and, hey,
even earn a second income!
So, how do
you get to grips with all the possibilities that are out there?
1. Let’s start by making a list of all that you usually read
(and you can do this as a team if there are more than one of
you). Include things that you read for fun as well as business,
things that you regularly read whilst sitting outside your
client’s/MD’s office, and websites that you usually visit.
2. Now go through that list and cross out anything that you
wouldn’t want your business to be seen in, or wouldn’t do your
business any good to be seen in anyway.
3. Now, looking at your remaining titles and suss out any gaps.
If you’ve only covered one trade magazine, what about the other
five that barrage you with requests for subscriptions? If you
religiously read
The Guardian can you accept that you really
should start to become more aware of the opposition? So, here's
list two – make a note of all the publications you need to get
to know.
4. Now comes the difficult part, fitting them into your daily
routine. Understand that you are going to have to move away from
your comfort zone. I love to curl up with the Sunday magazines
and wallow in materialist lusts (Gotta have those shoes/Nigella’s
new book/a kitchen like Jamie Oliver (yeah, as if!) but I make
myself read the newspaper first. One way that you can do this
might be reading through a publication each week on the train
before you allow yourself to relax and settle into your novel.
5. If you work in a team you can assign particular publications
to particular people and each of you can be responsible for
reading your own publication and the giving a brief run down of
what you think is important along with possible press
opportunities in a weekly press meeting.
6. Does your trade magazine have a website? If time is really
strained then this is a fall back. Send yourself regular
reminders via Outlook or whatever to go and take a look and
catch up on the latest news.
7. Make catching up on your reading a little bit of “me time” -
disappear for fifteen minutes with a publication and a
cappuccino and make it into a daily ritual that gives you a bit
of time to breathe. If anyone queries it, you are working after
all!
8. Once you really get into it, you’d be surprised at what
possibilities are out there. You’ll spot your major competitor
being interviewed in a golfing magazine and sneakily dropping
his business name in there. You’ll see interview on mothers who
run businesses in a women’s magazine and notice someone from
your local networking group on the page.
Think outside the box. I was once interviewed for a mobile phone
magazine (years ago, when they were pretty clunky!) about how
vital it was to carry my mobile with me in case a journalist
wanted to contact me urgently. And it was a double page spread
with a picture of me and my (clunky) mobile phone and Tower
Bridge in the background. It did my business wonders (even
though I had changed phone companies by the time it came out!)
9. You can’t afford to be smug once you feel everything is under
control. New titles open all the time. Make regular trips to the
newsagents (big station branches are great for this) and check
for new titles. Read what’s sitting around in the waiting room
of your dentist or your clients and don’t be afraid to ask if
you can photocopy something if it looks vitally important!
10. Finally, and this is something I urge you to continue doing,
always ask your clients what they read - for pleasure as well as
work. And, if Dog Lovers International keeps cropping up, you
know what you’ve got to do!!
Copyright © Paula Gardner and Do Your Own PR 2004. All rights
reserved.
Paula
Gardner is a PR and Media Coach. You can sign up for more PR
advice and information at
http://www.doyourownpr.com/subscribe.asp, or check out her
website at
www.doyourownpr.com.
For
Paula's range of e-courses
visit this page
at Small Business Success.
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