"The more you put your business on hold, the more you stop moving forward and developing your brand and your reputation and the more you stop communicating with the one aspect that will guarantee your survival, your customer," says Justine Smith, PR consultant at Advance PR & Design and member of the Chartered Institute of PR.
Evidence gained from previous recessions show that engaging in marketing during economic downturns can sustain businesses, providing a competitive advantage and can even help find new markets.
"PR becomes more important than ever in a recession, and when your competitors have pulled the plug on PR what better way to stand out in the marketplace than for your company to appear regularly in front of your target audience," comments Justine.
Effective public relations can boost your company image, generate sales, improve brand awareness and even attract new employees. To help companies maintain a PR presence in this current economic downturn Advance has some simple steps SMEs can take to sustain awareness for a service or product and maximise the profile of their company:
1. Understand your market
Good PR is about reaching your target audience with a message that is appropriate and meaningful to your customers. There is no point aiming to get into the Daily Mail if most of your customers read the Financial Times.
2. Learn about the media outlets
Whatever publications or broadcast media you are targeting, ensure you have got copies or listened to the programmes before targeting them with your stories.
Evidence gained from previous recessions show that engaging in marketing during economic downturns can sustain businesses
3. Ensure your press releases are newsworthy
This is the mistake that many small businesses trying to do their own PR can make. Often it is because you are too close to your business. It's easy to think something that's important to your business as being something journalists will care about, e.g. a new product or service or an office move. Try to think out of the box, brainstorm ideas with colleagues and people not connected to your business. Gauge the sort of stories that are hot, such as green issues, current events, breaking news and then tie your business in with them. Every journalist and publication is looking for a different spin on the latest story
4. Write a feature article
Often journalists are very open to the idea of an article on a subject that relates to your business or a more general topical business related issue. If the article is well written, not overtly self-publicising and specifically targeted to the readers of the publication then a local newspaper or trade publication will often be happy to print.
5. Get to know journalists on your local paper/trade publication
If you have not yet got a relationship with the local press or news editor on a trade publication, take the time to read the publication, find out what they write about, who writes about what and give them a call to introduce yourself. Relationships with journalists take time to develop but should be viewed as a long term investment.
6. And finally...
- If a journalists calls you, always return their call immediately
- Never ask to see editorial copy before it is printed
- Be persistent, journalists are busy people who get inundated but don't give up; building up a good relationship with target journalists could be a lifeline to your business.
For more information and advice regarding PR Justine can be contacted by emailing justine@advancepr.co.uk