5 PR Tips To Turn Your Business Around

Is your company’s PR effort dead or dying? Sometimes we all need a kick in the head to get new ideas flowing.  Is this one of those times for your small business?  If you are running out of ideas, try some of these:

1 Adopt a charity (local or online) that has some connection to your business or that will get your business recognized in the community.  Offer to help sponsor an event for the charity or run a membership campaign. Be the spokesperson for the organization, or get on their board of directors. In other words, get yourself identified with a good cause.  Your efforts can be tax-deductible (ask your tax adviser about this) and the goodwill you create in the community will bring lots of people into your business.

2 Become the local expert. A dentist friend of mine did this very successfully.  He went to the local media and got on talk shows (radio and TV) talking about dental subjects.  Evey year, he did a gig on the local talk show about “National Dental Health Month” (or something like that) and soon the media were calling him any time there was a story related to dentistry.  If you can find a catchy slogan or name, it will add to your recognition (Like “Doctor Tooth!”  Ouch!) Or this lovely skeleton talking about chiropractic care.

3 Create a survey and publicize it. Combine forces with others in your field, use your mailing list or the mailing list of your association (every field or kind of business has an association).  Create a questionnaire asking people how they feel about your type of business.  For example, the local dentists could get together and ask people how long it’s been since they went to the dentist and why they don’t go.  Use Zoomerang or Survey Monkey to create an online survey.  Then publicize it on the web and in your local newspaper. To encourage people to participate, give them something as a reward, like a coupon or a free report.  Andrew Lavin (Lavin Communications) suggested this one.

4 Cultivate professional ties to the press. Your goal is to get the press to think of you first when they need information about your subject area, a quote from an expert, or a good story to tie to something going on in their area.  If your business is local, get to know the local media – TV, radio, newspaper journalists. Offer to be a source for stories, make sure they know you are available to talk with them, take them to lunch and ask their opinion on how you can get better PR.  If your business is on the Internet, learn about bloggers in your field and connect with them.  Comment on their blogs, ask them to link to  your web site.  Of course, using social media like Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn is always a good idea.  If you get your name out there, it will be easier for you to get publicity when something niteresting happens with your business (something you have created, of course).

5 Let your customers tell the story. Find people who have been helped by your business and let them tell their story directly – on YouTube, in local TV ads, on your web page.  Social proof (using opinions of others to influence your behavior) is powerful; most businesses are built on referrals.  Make sure you get permission, let people tell their own stories (don’t try to put words in their mouths), and get the message to people who need to hear it.  Here is one great example of how an acupuncturist used customers to tell about their experiences on YouTube and on his website:

For more PR ideas, see the list of 54 Best PR Tips for Entrepreuenurs by The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

Image: Skeleton Talk Show by AnnGav @ Flickr