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.
Ultimately, I do believe the time comes when a company needs
professional guidance from a PR agency -- be it a large or
small one -- to secure media coverage. But I also believe that
a really media savvy small-business owner, or a two-person
marketing team can do a fantastic job in promoting an
organization. Here's how I know it can work. A few years ago during the dot.com boom, I worked for a small
online publishing company. We had a terrific technical team and
staff, two great products, but no one knew the company existed.
As a start-up, it was crucial for the company to gain awareness
through media exposure because advertising was too expensive. Since our marketing department only consisted of two people --
the marketing director and myself, there was a bit of concern
within the organization as to whether we had enough in-house
resources available to successfully get the company much-needed
ink. So the company's executive team hatched an interesting plan.
They offered our in-house marketing team the chance to bid on
the company's PR project as if we were an outside agency. My experience had always been in public relations, rather than
product marketing. My boss' experience had always been the
opposite. We seized the opportunity to combine our knowledge,
skills and research. Our tiny two-person team matched PR wits squarely against four
established pros - including one former White House aide. Guess
what? Our ideas prevailed, and the company decided to ditch the
notion of hiring a big PR firm in favor of keeping the in-house
team. Before long we were generating some memorable press for our
company. Over a two-year period we placed stories on our company
in more than 100 media outlets - from MSNBC and Forbes to the
Wall Street Journal and Wired News online. We did it by studying
what the big PR agencies did well, and also by using our
department's "smallness" to our advantage. Here's how you can do
it, too.
Research your company Forget that you own or work within the organization. Really
invest the time in understanding your company's structure,
the executives and their backgrounds, the products and
technology, the industry in which your company belongs,
competitors and experts, and most of all the target audience
-- the people who stand to benefit most from your product or
service. If you know all of this information, then you'll be
in a better position to brainstorm ideas on how to get the
media's attention. Doing this also helps in flushing out your
overall marketing plan -- of which PR is only a part. Research the reporters who cover your company's industry and
study the types of stories that they like to write
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Carolyn Davenport-Moncel is president and founder of Mondave
Communications, a global marketing and communications firm based
in Chicago and Paris, and a subsidiary of MotionTemps, LLC.
Contact her at carolyn@motiontemps.com or by phone in the United
States at 877.815.0167 or 011.331.4997.9059 in France.
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