No matter what industry and micro-niche your Small Business belong to, you won’t be able to reach the desired result, grow,

and more clients unless you develop a clever PR strategy.

In order to gain wider exposure, your Small Business needs an online promotion that is more effective than simple advertising. Stats show that a well-thought-out PR is 10 to 50 times more effective than targeted ads. Why? People are tired of banner ads showing up here and there on a web page. Moreover, users install extensions to their web browsers to disable ads and get focused on the content that brings them the biggest value.

A modern-day web user is more likely to trust reputable media sources than targeted ads. That’s why it’s vital to consider the implementation of effective PR strategies when you present your small business on the web. 

Success doesn’t happen all of a sudden. Even if your brand offers unique and valuable service, all effort will be worth nothing if you do not invest in PR.  There is always a great PR strategy standing behind every great brand. In this article, we are going to discuss how to make your small business more visible using the most effective PR strategies.

Why is PR Important For Your Small Business?

Good PR can help you build a favorable image for your small business. The first impression matters a lot. The first thing a user hears about your brand plays significant importance for their further decision-making. The way you present your new project in the media is a deciding factor for the number of customers you will attract and the number of sales you will generate later. 

You need to keep in mind that it always takes time to build a foundation for your small business  in the press and the leading media channels. Whether you decide to work on the PR strategy with your team or hire a PR agency to get the job done for you, please consider the following points. 

• When you decide to hire a PR team, you should be ready to welcome them into your inner circle and communicate with them. The PR agents are the ones who are the closest to taking your small business project to the next level. 
• While hiring a PR team, you should trust their professionalism and high level of expertise in the services they provide. Yet, you should also understand how they operate. As a rule, it takes about 6 months to obtain the first press hits. Knowing the process from the beginning and how everything is running is one of the keys to your future success. 
• Be always accessible to your PR team. Your PR agents may need your expert advice on everything related to the promotion of your small business. They may ask you for materials for a story or an interview with the founder of your brand. 
• Do not put off small business PR. The most common mistake that new businesses commonly make is making startup PR the last priority. However,  it’s one of the first things that you should consider to achieve better exposure for your project. 

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PRNEWS will help you effectively promote your project. It is the world’s first brand content distribution service that lets you publish PR materials on news sites worldwide, create a positive image of the company, reach a wider audience of potential clients, and take full control over your PR strategy. The platform lets you reach new contacts no matter where in the world they are located. Distance is not an obstacle. You will get your PR materials distributed in 200+ countries with just a few steps. Sign up for free and take the first step in the effective promotion of your small business.

Win-Win PR Strategies for Small Business

With that said, let’s get straight to business and consider the most effective PR strategies to become more noticeable and successful.

Find a few topics that your company can happily talk about

Interview yourself about starting a business, approaching work, and living in a team (or ask someone to do it). In your responses, try to notice those things that you could easily retell with interest to your friends and acquaintances to make them envy your work. For example:

• The human factor when founding a company
• Why did you start the company and what problems does your business solve?
• How does the company affect the industry and human lives in general?
• How is the company different from others?
• Why does the market need what you offer?
• Where do you see the development of the company?

These are basic questions for your business to start telling a story about itself – in the media, blogs, social media, and at various conferences. Sketch 600-800 words to begin with to highlight the key elements of your story. Write, then re-read and delete from the text the words “innovative,” “breakthrough,” “leading,” “new generation” and “best.”

Collect data

Specific data and numbers are probably the best content you can offer to the media. Data on investment, business growth, business impact on the consumer and the industry – these are the numbers that will tell everyone that you are here for a long time.

Your observations of market trends may also be interesting. For example, buyers’ behavior is also a very interesting topic for most of the media.

Create brand advocates

It is always better for someone else to tell the story about you. Investors, buyers, partners, employees – this is a small network of potential brand advocates whose impressions can be offered both to external media and broadcast on their channels (website, blog, social networks).

The first thing most people interested in working with your company do is browsing your site. They are more likely to believe your brand when your site features the words of people whose lives your company has changed.

Help a journalist create a story

Journalists are looking for inspiration, news, or quotes everywhere. It includes posting requests on specialized platforms. When you target an English-speaking audience, the Help A Reporter Out (HARO) site is popular. 

Commenting on HARO is a great way to raise the reputation of a project and declare the founders’ expertise and the entire team as a whole. Also, as in the case of co-marketing, journalists will make a mention of your brand, they can post a backlink to the site.

Monitor questions that are directly or indirectly related to your startup or industry. Both you and the team can comment. So, you get a free mention of your brand in the media (perhaps even the Washington Post or Forbes).

Become a podcast guest

The demand for audio podcasts has grown over the past years. Every day, millions of people listen to them in the car and on the go.

It’s always good for you to have your resource for posting content. But for publicity purposes, do a few popular podcasts that are relevant to your industry and experience. You and your team can act as experts and comment on what they are good at.

Generate valuable content

People are always looking for interesting and useful content. Check which sites and blogs are popular with your audience and find out the conditions for hosting your content with them.

While working on content marketing to benefit your project, choose topics that you really understand. While working on the text or script of the video add a mention of the product/service you promote and the fact that it appeals to the users’ needs. When posting material on the guest resource, do not forget to indicate the authorship and add a link to your site. This strategy will attract additional targeted traffic and increase your website’s SEO reputation.

Bottom Line

Never procrastinate on small business PR. Whether you decide to promote your business on your own or hire a PR team for this purpose, pay attention to every step of the PR promotion strategy and establish good communication with the PR team. Start working on the small business PR when you start working on its construction and every next step of the way. A good PR strategy is vital. Pay attention to every detail and the success of your business will follow.

If you haven’t yet started your business, have a look at our company formation package that includes accounting and tax registrations. Estonian e-residency enables to start a company and run it from anywhere in the world thanks to a digital identity.