Public relations serve as the voice and public image of your company to the marketplace, media, and most of all, to potential consumers. This is especially important for small businesses and entrepreneurs because it gives them exposure to tell the company's story and what they are trying to market.

A dramatic evolution has been witnessed in media in the past few years. Reaching the big media houses of yesterday is no longer the challenge. Now the challenge is effectively reaching the audience that will be interested in hearing your story and engaging with you. Fortunately this new media environment has had great benefits for small business PR, giving small business owners more power to spread their message and reach their target audiences cheaper. PR also helps small businesses look bigger in terms of scale and size than it actually is and also helps in building credibility for the business. However investment in PR can be a failure if not planned or understood properly. Some guidelines are listed below for a small business looking to use PR:

Objective:

Clearly lay down the objective of your press release. Would it be used for launching a new product, sharing general information with the public or sharing specific news related with your company. The overall goal of the PR campaign should also be understood clearly by everyone handling the PR campaign (internally and in PR agency). The goal could be create curiosity around the brand, project company's promoters as experts in their area (useful for niche consulting, product and service companies), enhance the company profile or promote a product/service concept. The goals can also be limited to a new product/service launch or for promoting a campaign.

Target audience

Know your target audience. Find out who are the people will be the most interested in your news. This is very critical as it's very costly and difficult to reach a general audience for a small company given the fragmented nature of media today. Also given the short attention span of most people to content, it's critical that you get maximum bang for your PR buck.

Targeted Media

A press release should always be done on selected industry journals, think about which media outlets your target audience get their information from. A press release is of no use if it does not reach to its intended audience. Currently there are many magazines/websites that reach out to a niche audience such as entrepreneurs, bankers, engineers or a particular age group. Understand your target audience and the media they consume information or entertainment from.

Avoid selling

PR is not an ad or a commercial. Since PR is different from marketing, your PR campaign should not emphasize on your product or service (as readers will then view it as a marketing campaign, thereby reducing the credibility of the PR campaign). You need to offer something to your audience- Don't talk about what your products and services do. Instead talk about how you solve problems for your customers. This will give you credibility and make them feel the need to learn more about you. Also spend time in researching the buyer's needs and solving their problems so that your PR campaign has effective and relevant content. A major objective of the PR campaigns is to educate so your content should emphasize universal solutions rather than just seeming like a company product/services brochure.

Invest Consistently in PR

If your objectives for PR are meet medium term and long term company goals of enhanced brand visibility, increased company reputation, projection of company promoters as experts, then make consistent and regular investments in PR. A mere short-term PR burst will not help at all. Such a strategy works only if it tied to a product or service launch. So it's better to make small and consistent investments in PR rather than a PR burst if your objectives are long-term. PR takes time to work!