PR for Small Business

By Alexi Boyd |

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
Small Business Bookkeeping Tips
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: November 2014

We’re very excited to be welcoming this week an extremely experienced professional; Jaclyn Bold from Bold Connections.  Jaclyn is professional Business & Personal Brand Strategist and PR Consultant and has been working in the field for *** years.

Today’s topic is going to empower our listeners to utlise PR to help grow their business and help us all to understand why PR is so important for all businesses, big and small. We’re going to look at why it is important, the difference a good PR strategy can really make and how to grow your PR as your business grows.

Welcome Jaclyn and thanks for being on the show!

Part 1 – The Importance of PR for Small Business (and the difference between this and sales/marketing)

  • In researching for this interview I came across a simple article which stated “When done right, public relations is about much more than just getting “ink.” Smart public relations is about sharing impactful stories that lead to meaningful connections and opportunities. It’s about clearly understanding what you want your business outcomes to be, and using communications to help you get there.” Can you please discuss this definition; and just so we can all be on the same page, can you explain exactly what PR is?
  • What is the difference that a good PR strategy can make to a small business?
  • What sort of growth experiences are small businesses missing out on if they lack a good PR strategy?
  • Can you explain the difference between PR and marketing, or maybe where they overlap?
  • What about those lists you can buy? Are they worth it to small business?

 

Part 2 – How to build a basic PR plan/strategy

  • What exactly is PR and how is it delivered? (list the different types of strategies)
  • Would you agree that PR is the same as telling a story or personalising you and your business?
  • When is the best time to start developing a PR strategy?
  • Lets face it; small businesses have no budget and no time. Aside from the obvious solution of budgeting, can you give us some tips and tricks on PR on a zero budget?

** This is info I found online from a really basic article about how to approach PR. I’m no PR expert AT ALL but I thought this might provide some framework for discussion? Feel free to complete delete if you don’t think it’s appropriate.

  • Make yourself relevant
  • Control and coordinate your message
  • If holding events, offer special access to media
  • Don’t be afraid to experiment; Go guerrilla!
  • Can you give some examples of some PR ideas that are a bit left field which would work for small businesses?

 

Part 3 – Growing your PR with your business

  • As your business grows, I guess it’s important to grow your campaign too.
  • Can you revisit old campaigns which were successful?
  • In what ways can you tie in real value to your campaigns? Nowadays we are bombarded with so may “offers” how can you make it stand out from the crowd?
  • If you do manage to develop a relationship with a journalist or another PR platform, how can you best foster that relationship?

 

Thanks Jaclyn for being on the show! 

(Image courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/78447097@N03/)