Make Public Relations Work for Your Business


By Geoff Ficke

The magic word that every consumer loves to hear more than any other is, FREE! Sales promotions offering a free sample or product inducement are always exceedingly popular. Human nature being what it is, the opportunity to obtain something of perceived value for nothing is usually very desirable.

Creative entrepreneurs can craft and develop a very effective, and free, promotional tool for their business or invention. The ability to utilize public relations is a key component of any successful enterprise. The potential to create and deliver your own message, and widely disseminate this message, is very powerful.

Advertising is a wonderful sales promotional tool. It offers a product the opportunity to deliver a specific message detailing the features and benefits inherent in the item being advertised to a potentially vast audience. A business can buy advertising to custom deliver a story to an appropriate demographic. Based on a company’s advertising budget, an effective campaign can be crafted to deliver a maximum result and return on invested advertising dollar.

Nevertheless, contemporary media is a vast, cluttered world of segmentation, niche players and competing new technologies. It has become very difficult to measure advertising effectiveness owing to this maelstrom. The inter-net is now a huge advertising vehicle being utilized by many businesses that only a few years ago were exclusive users of television as the advertising medium of choice.

Additionally, advertising can be extremely expensive. A campaign designed to effectively reach the masses is prohibitively expensive for almost any entrepreneur or small business. Creative, production and media-buy are expensive if any level of quality is to be achieved when delivering a print ad, television spot, direct mail message or radio commercial.

Free publicity offers several benefits denied when using most advertising mediums. Every consumer recognizes advertising when they see it. We are bombarded every day with thousands of commercial messages, everywhere we turn the senses are being challenged. Publicity, however, does not assault our senses and cause a barrier response. Effective publicity informs, teaches and imparts useful detail that assumes editorial status and is readily read. Publicity is not framed in advertising structures where content is exclusively commercial. We change the channel when commercials come on, but we are interested in gaining knowledge, exactly the benefit proffered by public relations.

I am always amazed at how few businesses and entrepreneurs effectively utilize a public relations component in their sale promotion campaign. The ability to spread product/company specific messages to interested consumers of this information, at no expense, is a bonanza not to be missed. If you can write a letter you can write a press release. If you have access to the inter-net you have the delivery system required to implement a publicity campaign for your new product or small business. If your industry has trade journals, industry specific magazines, trade associations or affiliations you have a built in audience interested in staying current on industry happenings. Take full advantage!

It costs nothing to e-mail a press release to thousands of consumers. It costs virtually nothing to fax a press release to targeted, important decision- makers in your area of commerce. The opportunity to have a portion, or all, of your press release re-printed in a newspaper, magazine or trade journal, for free, is exponentially more important and beneficial than an ad placement in the same vehicle.

There are professional public relations firms everywhere. They perform a valuable service and can be as important to a business as an advertising agency relationship. However, there is no reason for an entrepreneur to have to pay to implement a publicity campaign for their business. It can be self-directed and achieve excellent results.

I utilize Public Relations for every client I serve. The results have proven, when measured against the time invested, stunningly positive. A cosmetic product highlighted in Mademoiselle, a tow-able float featured in Boat Magazine or a novel fire extinguisher described in Popular Mechanics are only a few of the dozens of examples of placements that have leveraged successful product launches.

When organizing a self-directed publicity campaign keep several things in mind. Your goal is to highlight a new feature, offering or extension of your business. You are not trying to sell an item in the press release. A blatant commercial appeal will not be read, re-printed or quoted. The content should be written as an informational announcement. A new product, featuring a new technology, available at sporting goods stores, will be launched by (your name/company here). Provide a contact name, phone number, e-mail address, and fax number so consumers of your press release can make contact and ask questions. This often leads to an interview or expanded quotes.

The effective press release is NEVER more than one page in length. Obviously, it is crucial that grammar, spelling and wording be correct and appropriate. Keep sentences short, one bullet point per sentence, and clear. Summarize you, or your company, in a short last paragraph. An example:

Duquesa Marketing is an international marketing and product development consulting firm specializing in consumer products. The firm typically works with inventors, entrepreneurs and small business to customize and execute sales, marketing, launch and funding strategies.

There are a number of inter-net sites that are highly efficient at broadly distributing free lance written press releases. PRWeb.com is one, and there are many more. You will need to submit your press release for consideration and review. Editors will confirm that the press release has been accepted for network distribution. You might be asked to provide key words relative to your content. This will enable the distributor to target industry subsets more likely to be interested in learning about your product.

These services are offered at no charge. However, there are optional maximization programs. Utilizing this service requires making a small investment. I usually use this service. My experience is that a $40 investment gives me an outsize return in terms of response, pick-ups and placement.

Most entrepreneurs and startup businesses face daunting financial issues at every step of development. The library, a few mentors, and not much else will be available at no cost. Publicity for an opportunity is invaluable. Take advantage of every chance to publicize any and all aspects of your venture, especially when the notoriety gained is positive and free.

Geoff Ficke has been a serial entrepreneur for almost 50 years. As a small boy, earning his spending money doing odd jobs in the neighborhood, he learned the value of selling himself, offering service and value for money.

After putting himself through the University of Kentucky (B.A. Broadcast Journalism, 1969) and serving in the United States Marine Corp, Mr. Ficke commenced a career in the cosmetic industry. After rising to National Sales Manager for Vidal Sassoon Hair Care at age 28, he then launched a number of ventures, including Rubigo Cosmetics, Parfums Pierre Wulff Paris, Le Bain Couture and Fashion Fragrance.

Mr. Ficke and his consulting firm, Duquesa Marketing, Inc. has assisted businesses large and small, domestic and international, entrepreneurs, inventors and students in new product development, capital formation, licensing, marketing, sales and business plans and successful implementation of his customized strategies. He is a Senior Fellow at the Page Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Business School, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.


More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More PR Information:

Related Articles


How To Write A Press Release: The 10 Commandments Of A Great Lead Paragraph
How to write a press release is a major challenge facing both experienced and aspiring PR professionals.Press release writing is a learned skill.
All Youve Got To Lose Is Everything
Everything, that is, if you ignore those folks whose behaviors have the greatest effect on your business.What those people see and believe about your enterprise, pretty well determines what their follow-on behaviors will be - for example, do business with you, or move on to someone else.
Effective Media Relations - You Won't be Talking to the Media Without It!
The media's role is to package and spread news, current affairs and public interest information to the public. They have great power to shape and influence public opinion, to target and exploit audience reactions, emotions and opinions.
Photographs - Ten Tips For Getting Good Shots
Photographs are essential for getting good publicity in the print media, especially magazines, newspapers, internal newsletters and even websites. Taking effective photographs often requires patience and practice but is a valuable skill to acquire.
Passion with Purpose - The Winning Combination
The power of PassionPassion is an extraordinarily powerful spring. Without it religion, history, romance, and art are useless.
How To Write A Press Release: The Seven Deadly Sins And How To Avoid Them
How to write a press release that generates free publicity is a great skill to have.This analysis, of the seven deadly sins of how to write a press release and how to avoid them, contains press release sample writing and a how to write a press release sample.
Whats Important About PR?
Quite a bit, actually. Public relations helps business, non-profit and association managers achieve their managerial objectives with results like these.
How PR Makes a Managers Life Easier
Things are pleasant for many business, non-profit or association managers when their public relations people deliver newspaper and talk show mentions, informative brochures and videos, and special events that attract a lot of people.But things could be much more pleasant for those managers if their PR teams were to deliver the kind of behavior change among their key outside audiences that leads directly to achieving their managerial objectives.
Press Kit Elements That Work
Considering how fundamental they are to the publicist's trade,it's always amazed me how lousy almost all press kits truly are.Your typical press kit is a bloated folder filled with puffery,hype, irrelevant information and worse.
Publicizing Your Company
Got a huge need for publicity and a tiny publicity budget? You don't need to have a Madison Avenue-sized advertising budget to make your name known. Here are five ideas to help you promote your company: 1.
PR Failure Defined
I define public relations failure this way:key audience perceptions are not monitoreda realistic, corrective goal is not setan improper, or no real strategy is selecteda persuasive, compelling message is not preparedcommunications tactics are selected mostly by hunchand no follow-through perception monitoring is done to determine progress.Failure insured! Similar, in fact, to the artillery commander who tells his gunners to point their cannons in any direction and fire them when they feel like it!No plan, no results!Why not deal this way with those external target audiences whose behaviors really have an impact on your organization?Who are they? List them in order of their impact on your operation.
10 Tips for Tantalizing News Releases
Want to get radio interviews and coverage in print publications to sell more books? Master the art of writing magnetic media releasesthat attract attention of editors and publishers. A media release (which also goes by its former name, the press release) is a one page, double spaced, single-sided document designed to transmit news about books, products, and people.
How to Master Communication Even if you failed High School Grammar
Does the thought of knowing your verbs from your adjective scare you? Can the word syntax send you running for cover? Or perhaps putting two words together in front of a crowd sends your body into complete melt down. If so, there is help for you.
Getting to Know Your Local City Council Members
The easiest way to meet city council members is to meet them at an event. Usually city council members have a phone number that is listed.
How To Share Your Success Story Without Sounding Like You Are Bragging
A great way to celebrate your achievements and capitalize on your successes is to share them with your clients, members, community leaders, and other influential decisionmakers. But how can you do that without sounding like you are bragging?Tell the story of your success using one of these five approaches, which will work for newsletter articles, website content, and press releases.
Underestimating the Power of In-House PR
Do small-business owners always have to rely on large PR agencies to get attention from the press? An entrepreneur recently asked me this question during a networking event for women business owners. Of course my answer was, "No," but not for the reasons one might expect.
Radio Interviews - How To Get Them!
Getting on the radio can be a great tactical move as part of your overall publicity effort, but you do need to have a story idea or an angle to present on a particular topic. Selling yourself as a guest on a talk show is a great way to raise your profile and if your subject relates to a topic that is currently in the news your chances of getting on is clearly improved.
How to Get a Story About You or Your Business in USA Today
I am often asked by clients to target USA Today for media coverage, and with good reason: USA Today coverage can have a significant impact on businesses and organizations.Here's why:1.
If I Were Coaching You
If I were coaching you as a business, non-profit or association manager on how to get the biggest bang for your public relations dollar, I would sum it up for you this way.Use the fundamental premise of public relations to produce external stakeholder behavior change - the kind that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives.
Five Great News Stories You're Sitting On Right Now
Smaller companies don't always have the budget - or inclination - to retain a PR hotshot to tell the world about their business success, but that doesn't mean they aren't a ready source of news.The problem is it's often dull news which is ignored by all except the industry press and quite rightly so in most cases.