PR Strategies to Help Your Small Business Seize the Day 

The date is set. As we wait for 19th July, cautiously expectant of some shift to pre-Covid ‘normality’, many businesses are wondering how best to make the most of this time.

Capturing and retaining the attention of your target audience is crucial in these hard, uncertain times, and building that into trust and loyalty is more challenging than ever. Customers love to align themselves with brands that deliver and exceed expectations, but also that share their values. Whether you’ve been operating all throughout the last tumultuous year, or have been opening and closing along with the undulating restrictions, if you haven’t already, now is the moment to be getting your name out there.

We’re sharing some straightforward PR strategies to give your business a boost and help you seize the ‘post-pandemic’ day.

Consolidate your messaging

We’ve all been through a tumultuous period, so take this time to reassess and review what you and your business are about. This is key before you undertake any PR activity, and will benefit your business even if you choose not to go ahead with PR. If you don’t know, and cannot clearly articulate your business messaging, neither will your customers (or target customers). Get together your leadership team and brainstorm. Once you’ve agreed, write down your aims, ethos and business/product offering in a few concise sentences that are memorable, and with the aim of being understood by all.

Share and communicate this messaging internally via your preferred method whether that’s by email, a messaging app, or in a weekly meeting. You need to be assured your staff are ‘on the same page’. Now you are ready to use this messaging in your external PR.

Press releases, articles and content

Press releases take a bit of time and effort to get right, and you need to ensure you are ready to follow up on any opportunities that arise. For small businesses they are a great way to get news, information and your core messages out to your target audience. Local press, trade publications or online media will probably be the key targets here.

What have you been up to? Any good news? Challenges you’ve faced and overcome? Positive customer case studies? Do you have a specialist comment or insight into a current issue?

Any press release should include agreed business messaging (but don’t keep repeating it word for word!) and a strong story. Without PR professionals to help it can be tricky to know and articulate a good story, but getting a couple of close contacts or trusted customers to review your idea and see if they find it engaging is one way to check. Before sending anything out look at it from all perspectives and check it won’t be misconstrued. Have an external business contact or close customer read through to check for errors and ensure your message is clear.

The compelling story is key for your press release and if you don’t have any news or material you want to share, be patient. If you don’t feel you have anything to shout about yet, but know who you want to reach, get your press list ready and keep an eye and ear out for opportunities where you may want to comment.

Speaker platforms

Research or get involved with virtual or in-person events. If you have knowledge, experience or skills you can share, local business or trade events are great places to build your platform and reputation as a thought leader. Enquire at any events you will be attending or groups you are a part of, if there are any suitable speaker opportunities or panel sessions. Make sure to prepare well and tailor your presentation to your audience.

Social media

Amplify the power of your PR by making use of social media platforms. Share your coverage so your customers and contacts can read about what you’ve been up to and post about any events you will be attending or speaking at to increase your audience.

Especially at this critical time, you need your audience to know your name, your product, your service, is the one they want or need. PR can help you to achieve this, but knowing where to start if you haven’t utilised PR before can be tricky. These straightforward PR strategies are a good place to start if you are overwhelmed and we hope will help you turn this moment into an opportunity.