Creating an In-House PR Campaign – How to get the word out about your company on an ultra-low budget
by Carrie Hinkel on November 8th, 2007
Every business, new or old, large or small, loves good publicity for their company. It helps to spread the word about their products or services, bring in new customers and create sales. The problem is getting that free publicity. It can be hard getting the right types of media interested in your company. Here’s what you need to do first:
Figure out your target audience - These are the people who are most likely to buy your products or services. For example, if you are selling baby carriers, then perhaps your main audience is pregnant women aged 22-38.
Find your target audience - Make a list of magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs, product reviews, etc. that cater to this audience. This will be the core target of your PR campaign.
Shape your website or store to cater to this audience - Before you get traffic to your site or store you want to make sure you are ready for them. Make sure your website’s content reads in a tone that will be well received by your target audience. A website selling crazy dog toys should have a fun and energetic tone, while a website offering legal services should have a professional and serious tone.
Once you are prepared, it’s time to begin your campaign. Here are a few tactics that can work wonders in the PR department, if executed correctly:
Send out a Press Release - The problem with most press releases is that they are completely self-serving. If you are a company that sells dried food, do you really think anyone, besides you, cares that you added peaches to your product lineup? It’s amazing, but 99% of press releases contain information that is only interesting to the company that wrote it. The key to a successful press release is that it needs to be newsworthy – meaning that it should have a story that is interesting to people outside the company and not be solely focused on the company. Instead of focusing on the fact that the company added a new product, try using a different, more interesting angle – perhaps the health benefits of peaches or that school children’s love of junk food has lead to a growing obesity problem. Then, slowly add in information about the product and company. To really get the press release right, you might decide that hiring a professional copywriter is best.
Send your press release to:
* Your PR campaign’s core target
* Press release submission service (like www.PRWeb.com )
Create a 20-30 second video - The best way to explain your product or service to someone in the media is by showing them a short demonstration video. The video should look professional and quickly demonstrate or describe your company’s products or services. Having the video readily available for interested media outlets will prove to be beneficial by easily explaining what your product or service is. To be proactive, you can call or email media outlets in your core target and ask permission to email them a short video about your company’s offering. You can also put the video up on your website and place it on video sharing sites like YouTube.com .
Send Emails - This is not an email campaign or spam, this is personalized emails to your PR campaign’s core target. You should have a short boilerplate message that can be tailored to each media outlet. The email message should include a brief description of your product or service, and the attachments should be: 1) a photograph of the product or service and 2) your press release. If you have a video, you should also have a link to the video in the email message. You are trying to convince them to run a story on your product or service so make sure your test is short and enticing–definitely not long or pushy.
Of course, those are just some of the ways to get your company’s name in the news. There are plenty of others, but the ones listed here will give you a good start, if done correctly. Just remember that with a PR campaign, you are trying to sell a story, not your product or service.