5 Tips to Get Publicity for your Business

Why do people call All Points PR? Because they want to gain media coverage, publicity and in the end, sales and business for their company. There are many ways to generate publicity for your business though. Take a look at the following tips, and then contact me for more information. With a little help, All Points PR can get your business the success it needs to stay strong for years to come.

You need a hook
When sharing an idea with a member of the media, you should have a hook that compels them to move forward with doing a story. For starters, it should be timely and local. Additionally, elements of prominence (i.e. surpassing historic records or community leadership) and originality (i.e. oneof-a-kind product or service) can help convince the media to do a story.

Determine who you want to target
Just like your customers, you need to decide which media outlet, reporter, producer or blogger you
want to report on your story.

Practice your pitch
With your hook and target decided upon, now you should practice what you are going to say when
you call the media.

Call in the morning
If you want to speak to the media, the best opportunity is first thing in the morning. This is when
they plan their coverage and by the time the afternoon hits they are too engrossed in their work to
talk to you.

Follow-up
Similar to advertising and other marketing elements, it takes multiple reminders to get the person
you are targeting to take action.

Be persistent
Following up once, twice, even three times probably won’t be enough. If you wait for the reporter to
call you back, you’ll be waiting a very long time.

Want to know the rest? Download the PDF document on our website by requesting information!

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PR Success = Media Training

PR success can only come from creating and cultivating healthy relationships with the media. From the very beginning you'll need to connect with the media in such a way that proves to them you're a unique expert who can provide their audience with a fresh perspective. When it comes to connecting with the media you need to make it clear you can offer the media something that no one else can.

Here's a few ways to connect with the media to guarantee PR success:

Brand Your Messages

When you connect with the media you'll need to speak about your brand succinctly. It's imperative to talk about who you are and what you do in no more than three sentences, making sure those short sentences sum up your brand powerfully. Double-check what you say so you distinguish yourself powerfully from your competition. In your pitch start with an introduction on who you are as an expert and then follow-up with more news and story angles created specifically for their beat.

More Tips after the Jump!

Get Local with PR

For entrepreneurs, "going local" is an important aspect of your public relations. For many small businesses all PR is local market PR.

The three keys to community PR are as follows:

1. Get local: target your PR efforts down to the neighborhood level
2. Get involved: participate in the community to generate visibility and good will
3. Get personal: as much as possible, market on a one-to-one, face-to-face basis

Use local city-specific websites and local portals
City and town websites, as well as local versions of major portals, are growing in number and popularity. Maintain a presence on local sites by providing content or by advertising. In addition to local versions of AOL's Cityguide, community-oriented Web sites like Yelp.com and Judysbook.com (which has the added advantage of covering suburbs and small towns in addition to major cities) are becoming more common.

Quick Analysis of Costa Concordia Crisis Communications

The images from the sunken Costa Concordia send chills up my spine…they are flat-out frightening.

The deaths and consequences are too much to comprehend for those of us who couldn't hear and feel the tremors of a massive structure sinking into the sea.

We are left only in our own thoughts and conversations with others about the situation.

Costa Concordia itself is shaping our perspectives they've made some bold moves and statements since the horrifying accident. One thing I noticed immediately was their public relations stance placing blame directly on the captain it was "human error" they said.

And, it very well may be. For Costa Concordia, that course of blame has led to headlines blasting the captain…and he'll be in court to discuss the disaster.

I came across a well-written PR analysis of the how Costa Concordia has handled the crisis thus far from a communications stand point.

I know this is meaningless compared to the loss of life, but when company crises happen, the communications plan is critical. I've seen the impact in the travel industry as well, from my days at Hyatt Hotels. I've also worked on crises communication plans for restaurant companies, gyms and many other industries.

If crisis communications is a concern of yours, have a plan in place and put it into action when the unexpected occurs. All Points PR can help.

Using Public Relations to Market Your Business Startup

Marketing a startup is one of the biggest struggles for any entrepreneur. You need to increase sales and grow your customer base, but effective advertising is expensive. While the internet provides significant opportunities for low-cost and no-cost marketing, many business owners overlook the value in establishing an in-house public relations system.

What is Public Relations?

Public relations encompass the work that needs to be done to get your company in the news. The efforts should include building relationships with appropriate news editors, writing effective press releases, and planning how to best use press relations to enhance your marketing plan. Of course, it is possible to hire a PR firm to do this work for you, but they can be expensive and do not have the same stake in seeing your venture succeed as you do. In addition, a PR firm will have to be taught about your company -- what you do, how you do it, what will be newsworthy, and who should be targeted. You will be charged for the hours it takes to get them up to speed. A better entrepreneurial option is to teach yourself all you can about effective public relations, then assign the tasks to your key employees as you grow.

Using a Blog for Public Relations

As a sponsor of the 2006 World Cup soccer tournament, Coca-Cola devised a public relations campaign that merged the common reality television concept of strangers living together with the growing world of blogging. The company hired professional bloggers to live in a flat in Germany, where the tournament was being held. Then, fans participated in a contest to live and work with the bloggers for the duration of the month-long tournament. Everyone would blog about their experiences -- and share their entries and photos with the world -- with no editing or influence from Coca-Cola.

“You have to engage your audience through whatever means necessary,” says Petro Kacur, senior manager of Coca-Cola’s marketing and communications group in Atlanta. “More of our audience is using blogs and spending time online.”

The Web currently has 15 million active blogs read by 57 million people, says Rhoda Weiss, chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America. “Blogs are here to stay,” she says. “You can’t put your head in the sand.”