Public relations can be costly for low budget entrepreneurs. If you are a struggling single mother running a home business, doing your own public relations makes sense.
If you are a female entrepreneur who has been disappointed when hiring a PR agency, this may also be a cheaper and more effective way to do public relations.
There are two ways of doing public relations, which include a number of pros and cons.
Public relations for women: The old fashioned way
The old-fashioned way to publicise your business is through the press. Decide which one of your brands you want to highlight. Is your item on a specific product or a service?
Revisit your business plans, then focus on the one which you will use to do your own public relations.
Make sure that you focus on a brand that will work after being published in the press.
Then, determine the target audience of your brand. Google or Microsoft spreadsheets are handy to list all your options.
Although you can include multiple target audiences, make sure that the ones that you actually keep are the ones who you can reach most effectively.
That will turn out to be more profitable for your business and give you a higher chance to succeed.
Next, determine three publications that will be effective for attracting your targeted audience to your brand.
Try to be as open-minded and unique as possible. Make sure that your product or service is actually worthy of your chosen media.
Choose a publication that reflects your brand values
The stronger the relationship between your brand and the publication, the more successful you will be in pitching them to write about you.
The next step is to look at each one of the three publications and analyse them carefully.
Make sure that you’re analysing with care. A wrong analysis can lead to a dismal result.
To begin with, find the segments of the media where your product or service is the best fit. Do some research on the writer by using the bio section of their website.
You can either Google or look through the writer’s LinkedIn profile. Take note of what you enjoyed in their articles.
Finally, contact the writer. Tell them what you find so intriguing about them and invite them for a meal.
Share your vision and ideas regarding your business with them. You can give your product to review or give them a demonstration of your service in order to convince them of your quality.
Keep repeating this process with different publications for different brands.
Public relations for women: The modern way
The modern way to promote your business is through social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Engaging with other entrepreneurs through social network groups for business tips is a good idea. One social network that’s very handy is LinkedIn.
Ensure the ideas come from reliable and trustworthy sources before you actually implement them.
You can also join networking communities for female entrepreneurs.
Create posts, videos, slides and articles which are linked to your brand so that you can share them with the appropriate hashtags with the rest of the world.
This will help your brand to stand out in the virtual world as you attract attention to your brand and engage even more with these platforms.
Monitor your social media data and adjust accordingly
Monitor your progress so that you know whether you should invest more in this venture.
If your PR efforts are not working, don’t start investing, but if your PR is effective, start investing in a permanent domain and several free or subscribed tools/applications.
Keep updated with the latest trends and changes around your product. If any changes take place that are relative to your brand, use this opportunity to be interviewed and let your brand be known even more.
It’s important to invest wisely. There are many apps such as Unicycle, which guide you to work selectively so that your brand is widely promoted through Twitter.
Free tools like Google Analytics are essential so that your data is carefully monitored.
Use the free limited trial period before you purchase any tool or app to ensure its efficiency and productivity.
This article first appeared in The New Savvy.
The New Savvy is Asia’s leading financial, investment and career platform for women. Their bold vision is to empower 100 million women to achieve financial happiness. They deliver high-quality content through conferences, e-learning platforms, personal finance apps and e-commerce stores.
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