Seven PR Lies Business Owners Tell Themselves

This article will give business owners ideas for publicity. Publicity is the forgotten part of marketing for most business owner. There are action items, easy steps people can take right now to create more publicity.

Lie #1 — I don’t need to do any publicity for my business

This lie is dangerous because it shortchanges your advertising budget. Publicity helps your ads go further because people will see and recognize your company name. Clients will feel good about being a customer because the media is showing them how smart they were to choose your company.  The publicity keeps you top of mind, even before people need your services. Business owners should be continuously doing publicity while marketing their services, even when they are too busy to take on new customers.

 

Lie #2 — Any publicity is good publicity

Remember that publicity will change how people see you. Deal with negative issues assertively in the media.

     

Lie #3 — Reporters don’t like being reminded over and over

Pitching to reporters is a practice that had to be done. You need to let them know that there is a good story without being pain. Reports have deadlines and a lot to choose from. Make your story seem interesting and change it up for the seasons. You never know when YOU will be the story they need. Being a resource for a reporter and reading their columns is always a plus. 

Lie #4 — All that time spent on Twitter is Publicity

So, you’ve been spending a lot of time on twitter and gathering thousands of followers because someone told you each tweet is it’s own web page. Social marketing is a great way to start relationships and find reporters. However it’s not the only way. Reporters are using twitter to put information out. Trying to pitch them with only 140 characters is a feat only for the most experienced publicists.  Sometimes a Google alert will catch your name; however, only people on twitter who follow you will see that tweet. It’s not wide spread enough to do you any good.

Lie #5 — There is such a thing as a free lunch

Everybody would like to get something for nothing. However the free online PR distribution services only place your press release or media release as I Like to call them, online. If someone comes across it fine. It is not really sent out to anyone. It can create a link and some traffic back to your site. It does not compare to the traffic you will get if there is an actual story written about you.

 

Lie #6 — I’m an expert, I don’t need to update my skills

No matter how much experience you have, how many degrees you have, or how well known you have become — there is always something new to learn. Publicity is constantly changing and you need to pay attention to what is going on. Even those who delegate PR to professionals need to know what works and what does not work, in order to avoid spending money with someone who is not effective. Take time to learn a little bit about publicity and marketing each year and how they work together.

Lie #7 — What works for [Big Name Business] will work for me.

It’s easy to believe this lie. You hear, or read about how someone else achieved success and assume that the same steps that he or she took will work for you. We all love to learn from someone else’ success. You have to realize that they rarely tell the entire story. They never tell you about the connections they already had in place, or the amount of money spent on their grass roots campaign. Take the ideas and cut them down into something you can afford to do. Keep in mind that you do not know the entire story, so when something does not work, you will realize you may have missed a step that you were not aware of.

 

 

Action Items

 

Action Item: Create a publicity calendar for the remainder of the year.  Plan and financially budget to do something everything month.

Action Item: Read your local newspaper online and make a note of the reporter who would be perfect to write about you.

Action Item: Take Twitter off your list of publicity and place it on your social marketing to do list.

Action Item: Invest in a media release that will be sending out to media.

Action Item: Create PR from big ideas. Do something you can afford to execute.

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