DIY PR for Putting the Buzz into Your Business:

Written by Penny Haywood of PHPR Ltd

Publicity is the oxygen of business. If people don't know about your business, it will not survive. Yet small companies consistently neglect a free way of promoting their businesses: using Public Relations (PR) to nurture their business reputation and generate free editorial coverage in newspapers, radio and TV. It's a method that's used by all well-known successful companies and once you know how, it's relatively easy to get effective free publicity.

Most businesses rely on word of mouth to bring in news business, cross-selling to expand existing business. A few enterprising entrepreneurs will run seminars on hot topics to demonstrate their expertise and show off their products, or put up speakers at local business clubs, chambers of commerce and sector-specific gatherings. But just how long does it take an entrepreneur to talk to 1.3 million people? That’s the current morning audience for just one regional BBC regional radio station.

So many entrepreneurs say they don’t have time to deal with the media. It’s a thin excuse because dealing with that amount of communications power is scary.
Learning to deal with the media well is one of the most cost-effective and time-efficient investments you will ever make. It just needs some common-sense preparation & focus to get started.

Using press relations, you can quickly build up your business reputation and name awareness with thousands of people in the time it would take you to write a few letters.

While you won’t be able to give up on selling and marketing when you’ve had a few media mentions, imagine how much easier your sales efforts will be when people have heard about your company on the radio or read about you in the trade press. Just think how much more effective your marketing materials will be if you can include an endorsement from a major media player. That’s because the media are regarded as experts and their endorsement is a powerful recommendation: only direct recommendations from trusted contacts are more effective and trusted contacts don’t have the media’s ability to reach a wide audience.
That’s why PR is the turbo-charger that lifts good sales and marketing to the next level, whilst simultaneously building your reputation, which can be a real business life-saver if you do hit a spot of trouble.

When it comes to real business PR, you can forget all that PR stuff about spin and whitewash and torrid tabloid stories. That’s for politicians and celebs. Most business media play a straight bat and expect you to do the same – and you would be a fool to abuse their trust by trying to pull the wool over their eyes.
About 50% of the stories carried on radio, TV, in newspapers and magazines start off as a press release sent by someone wanting a free editorial mention. The more you understand what the press wants, the easier it will be to place news stories and features, so get into the habit of analysing what type of story the media you want to feature in are covering. And note down the names of the writers and broadcasters concerned and look for their email addresses. Augment that press list by looking out a good media directory in the reference section of the library or your local business advisory centre.

Currently, email is the best channel for press releases, unless instructed otherwise. So the first task is to identify the media you want to be in, see what type of stories they write on your type of business and collect the email addresses of the writers and broadcasters that cover your industry or sector. If you start doing that today, you’ll be ready for the next phase (see the next issuefor Part 2: DIY PR for putting the buzz into business: Writing Press Releases).

Don't expect every press release to be taken up, so don’t waste a lot of time on it. Editors choose the strongest stories available before their deadline and run with them. Some days, you’ll be up against a lot of strong stories so your strong story may not be covered, yet another day, a much weaker story  will get a mention because there’s not much else happening. It’s a numbers game and you're not paying for the coverage: so just keep on sending stories in.

But remember: if you don’t have a good story to tell, you won’t get free coverage. Be realistic: sometimes, there is no alternative to advertising if you are tying to shift some old stock quickly, or boost sales of something that cannot be remotely described as newsworthy.

The editorial section of newspapers and magazines routinely get ten times more stories than they can use. To get your story nearer the top of the heap write short, focussed releases that answer the questions every journalist needs answered (see example below).

For maximum effect, send out your release when things are quiet: send your release out on a Sunday in time for Monday's papers and be available for comment on Sunday afternoon. Other slack news periods when there's less competition for news space include July, when the UK Parliament is in recess, big businesses slow down and many company PR people are on holiday.

And remember to include all the media that might be interested in that initial distribution: don’t give to one publication but not its rival. Can you imagine how you would feel as an editor if someone did that to you?

You cannot put the same news out again. Once news is out, it's out ,and 24 hours later, it's cold porridge. The window of opportunity in the press is wide, but it does not stay open for very long.

THE GOLDEN RULES OF WRITING SUCCESSFUL PRESS RELEASES
If you follow the Golden Rules for press releases below, you’ll be off to a good start and with practice, you’ll be with the able to knock out a good enough press release in 10-20 mins to get the ball rolling.

Golden Rule  1: Make sure it’s News
What is news? News is the plural of new: if it's new, it's news.
News implies change: something happens - a business is started up, a product is launched, an appointment is made, a deal is struck, a contract is won.

Golden Rule 2: The Essential 5 Ws
Include the 5 Ws.
Who?  What?  Where?  When?   Why?  

WHERE? For example: Manchester-based WHO? XYZ company WHEN? today announces a
WHAT? new waterproof addition to their range of best-selling stationery products. (The rest of the release will go on to say WHY?)

There's another useful question to answer that will help you develop the story:

HOW? It’s a good idea to get a quote in from a named source such as yourself, and explaining HOW is all came about is an ideal opportunity for that.

Golden Rule 3: Strip Out Superlatives
Once you've written your text, strip out the superlatives: adjectives like 'wonderful' and 'brilliant' are your (biased) opinions and will irritate fact-driven journalists. Superlatives don't belong in the world of news and they're so over-worked that it's unlikely that people pay much attention to them anyway.

Golden Rule 4: Personalise the Release to the Target Media
A local newspaper serves a local community and rarely carries news that can't be related to their readership area. That's how a famous apocryphal headline came about:

ABERDEEN MAN DROWNS: Titanic Sinks

Local media know their audience. Local radio stations, for example, find that their listeners get irritated if they carry news of offers or events outside their local area, so they don't.

TOP TIP: Turn the media's thirst for local connections to your advantage. If you want local press coverage give them a local connection right up front in the headline and first sentence.

Don't bury your impeccable local connections at the bottom of the release or expect the press to make the connection for you from your address. An average press release gets a 3 second scan from a busy journalist and they rarely read past the first sentence. 

In the same way, the trade press are looking for something in their specialised field. If you're wanting coverage in the Biological scientific press, get the fact that it's a Biological breakthrough into the headline.

Golden Rule 5: Lay it Out Professionally:
Keep your release down to a single page including the contact details at the foot. That means an upper limit of about 150-200 words per release. You can add more details on a separate sheet called Background Notes.

Keep sentences short and to the point.   Use the word 'ENDS' when the release finishes.
Always include details of who the press should contact for further information at the foot of the main press release including home & mobile numbers as well as work contact details and be available for at least 24 hours afterwards.

EXAMPLE. New Business Wins:
Notes
If you win a major piece or new business, send out a release about it. If you are appointed a dealer or given a licence for a well-known product or service, let the press know!

People like to deal with people who are successful. American businesses are good at shouting about their successes, but small British businesses can have a tendency to hide their light under a bushel.
If you are mentioning a client company by name, make sure that you have their agreement to do so. A new business relationship could fall at the first fence if you take their name in vain!
If the client or customer is willing to give you an endorsement comment, include it as a quote: third party recommendation is better than blowing your own trumpet.
With new business wins, it's particularly powerful if you can answer the WHY? question with a quote from the customer: WHY they bought your product or service? WHY have they appointed you as a dealer, licensee or franchisee?

When developing the rest of your release with your answers to the WHY? question, bring out the aspects of your product or service that make it different from anything else.
Why is it different?  Why is it better?  Why is it new?   Why is it innovative?
What gives it that extra spark that no-one else has? 
The last sentence of the release should wrap up the 'How do I get it' details: price and where it can be bought, or who to contact for sales.
Keep releases down to a few short sentences (4 or 5 is ideal). Any further information you want to include can be wrapped up on a note at the foot called "Technical Specifications" or "Background Notes", depending on the subject matter.

SAMPLE: NEW BUSINESS WINS PRESS RELEASE: 196 words

Newcastle-based XYZ Company has today announced the signing of a £250,000 deal with Wellknown Car Co. to supply XYZ's customer care software, NiceDay, to every branch of Wellknown in Europe.

NiceDay is XYZ's unique computer program that analyses the non-verbal signals we all give out. It works in conjunction with video cameras and analyses body language and facial expressions, measuring individual salespeople's performance against top sales performers. The software produces a printout showing the areas to concentrate on developing.

The deal is a breakthrough into the automobile sector for XYZ. XYZ is a leading supplier of sales-related software to the banking and financial sector.

Jim Smith, Wellknown's Sales Director said, "We chose NiceDay because we believe it will significantly improve our salesmen's relationship with customers. Quite simply, there's no other product like it. "

For more information about NiceDay, contact Julie Brown at XYZ, on 0123 445566.

For further details contact:
Joe Bloggs, XYZ's MD direct on 0123 445678 (day) or 9876 54321 (evening) or on 0321 321321 (mobile)
or
Jim Smith, sales director of Wellknown Car Co. on 0234 555555 (day)
(Technical Notes enclosed)

For further information, assistance or advice, please contact Grapeviner, Penny Haywood:  

PHPR Ltd
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