PUBLIC RELATIONS TIPS
by Steve Bolerjack
for your small business
In working with the Five O'Clock Club on public relations issues during the past few months, I've learned many members are associated with smaller businesses--either as owners, consultants or freelancers. As a small business owner myself with a background in corporate public relations, I'm always interested in helping such individuals learn to become their own best self-promoters, both for themselves and their businesses. I believe it's a good idea to learn good p.r. techniques whatever your career goals or job search level may be.
It's a good idea to learn good p.r. techniques Why Public Relations for Small Businesses?
whatever your career goals or job search level may be.
What comes to mind when you hear "public relations?" Most likely, your reaction is the same one I usually get from both large and small business clients. I have been a p.r. consultant for years, yet I'm always surprised that most clients think of public relations in the same outmoded way: merely old-fashioned publicity--"ink"--or worse, contrived sham productions--"stunts." I also hear the term misused as a fuzzy catch-all, meaning anything from marketing and advertising to surveys and free samples. And nearly everyone presumes a p.r. effort requires a big expensive agency.
None of these perceptions are remotely accurate anymore. Certainly, p.r. will always focus heavily on publicity, but today it includes community participation, bylined articles, public speaking, media commentary, relationships with local area reporters and development of good professional citizenship.
These elements of p.r. can be particularly effective at local and regional levels and therefore, especially useful to people in small business. Shopowners, freelancers, contractors, entrepreneurs, writers, consultants, homeworkers and others making a living at a more "grassroots" level actually have opportunities and forums beyond the usual advertising and networking options--and they can learn to be their own best promoters. However, good p.r. is still an art of sorts and requires some research, thought and planning (but not necessarily expense!) at any level.
Surprisingly, even large corporations often fail to A Modern Definition
realize who their audiences actually are.
It's always good to start with a good, clear definition: "public relations" is simply accurate, consistent and timely communications that convey the right message to the right audience. This is true across-the-board for businesses of any size.
Creating a P.R. Plan
So how can you apply this definition to your small business? To get started on a p.r. effort, there are three relatively simple steps you can take:
I. Think through your audiences
Surprisingly, even large corporations often fail to realize who their audiences actually are. I define "audience" as an individual or group who has any interest or stake in the activities of the business. This can reach far beyond just your customers. It's likely that your audiences include the local media, your neighbors and surrounding community, current/ former employees and their families, vendors/suppliers, government regulators/agencies at several levels and your competitors. And remember, audiences--friendly or not--have the power to communicate information about you.
"Public relations" is simply II. Develop a p.r. plan
accurate, consistent and timely communications
that convey the right message to the right audience.
This need not be complex. In simplest terms a p.r. plan consists of a few steps:
Once you have developed these core concepts, you can create:
- Objectives--identify your goals and what you want to accomplish for your business.
- Positioning--decide how you want to be perceived by your audiences. As the best quality personal tax adviser in town, or the least expensive business tax preparer?
- Key messages--prioritize the most important facts about your business.
- Strategy--how you can accomplish your objectives. For example, you may adopt a strategy of marketing your services only to those in a certain age group. Or create the impression that your products are more expensive, but worth their quality. Or position your business as an innovator in a technology instead of just a follower. None of these are new, but remain good illustrations of simple business strategies.
- Tactics--the tools or means to carry out your plan. Speeches, articles, sitting on advisory boards, media outreach are all good tactics for small businesses.
III. Develop a relationship with and use the local media
Small businesspersons should never be intimidated by reporters.
They may need you and what you have to say about your field.
Small businesspersons should never be intimidated by reporters. Especially at local and regional levels, the media are always on the lookout for a new story, a different angle, a fresh approach and therefore, potentially interested in you and what your business is all about. These media outlets, charged with covering their communities, do not have the vast resources of celebrities, well-known experts and satellite feeds. They may very well need you and what you have to say about your field.
When your business gets a significant new customer, moves from your home to a real office, wins a community award or comes up with a solution to a community problem, don't hesitate to call an appropriate reporter. You may not always get coverage, but you have nothing to lose by cultivating these relationships.
In your small business, what do you know, offer, produce, compile, interpret, provide, market, analyze, understand or do better than anyone else? Whatever it is, someone among those audiences wants to hear more about you.
P.R. includes community participation, bylined articles, Let's look at two examples of typical small businesses successfully applying some of these steps:
public speaking, media commentary,
relationships with local area reporters
and development of good professional citizenship.
What One Small Businessman Can Do for Himself
Kenny Dale started his roofing business in Kansas City 30 years ago, getting in on the first profitable stages of a suburban building boom. A beautiful and thriving city, KC's suburbs grew tremendously for 20 years. Competition among builders, contractors, roofers and all types of construction professionals was intense, resulting in many beautiful homes on rolling, wooded sites. All are distinctive, but they have one thing in common: thick "shake" cedar shingle roofs. Enormously popular, more than 90 percent of all new single-family dwellings built in Kansas City each year have shake shingles.
The city is noted for something else: occasionally violent extremes of weather. In every season, intense thunderstorms, hailstorms or heavy ice and snow reduce many shake shingle roofs to splinters.
Kenny had solid business, but eventually was pressured by larger construction firms who brought in whole crews under one contractor, eliminating many traditional subcontracting functions, including roofing. He was known for quality work, but it was also common knowledge that no shake shingle roof would survive baseball-sized hail or the occasional tornado.
Sure enough, an unusually violent combined tornado/hailstorm hit Kansas City a few years ago. Wind damage was significant, but it was huge hailstones that left thousands of shake shingle roofs looking like so many toothpicks.
Demand for roof repairs far exceeded local contractors' abilities to meet them quickly. As roofless homeowners besieged insurance adjusters, they learned it could be weeks before they could get a contractor. Dale Roofing got more than its share of immediate repair business, but Kenny also realized here was a longer-term opportunity to distinguish himself from the large, impersonal firms he had been fighting for so long.
The day after the storm--in a watershed moment for his business--Kenny called all the local television news programs. He described his operations and credentials, indicating he could provide information for homeowners on what to do until permanent roof repairs could be made. Two of the three stations interviewed Kenny at his facility, (with Dale Roofing signs in the background) as he expertly instructed desperate viewers how to use plastic sheeting, heavy wood staples and plywood to create an effective temporary roof.
Without resorting to high-priced agencies, Kenny had become his own very effective public relations consultant. Results? First, while still struggling against larger firms for original roofing contracts, he is now known as the premier shake shingle roof repairer in the city; second, his interviews resulted in new status as an "expert resource" on storm damage prevention and repairs--both in subsequent tv interviews, and in several home repair columns in local newspapers and magazines.
Kenny is a prime example of a small business owner's intrinsic ability to combine his own resources with basic public relations techniques to achieve terrific results.
Let's look at exactly what he did: first, he realized he could provide important information to people far beyond his regular customer base, i.e., the entire shake shingle roof homeowner population in Kansas City--literally tens of thousands of people (increased his audiences); second, he knew he could provide this information where his competitors would not or could not (developed a strategic plan); finally, he used the media to convey his message--in this case, the immediacy of the Six O'Clock News--and was the first to do it (timely and effective media communications). In effect, he positioned himself as a long-term expert, an astute businessman and a provider of solutions in his field.
Kenny's ongoing "expert resource" quotes--particularly in storm seasons--constitute free advertising for Dale Roofing. He remains not only a profitable and successful competitor in the roofing industry, but a well-known and respected local personality.
People in small businesses actually have Law Practice in a Small Town
opportunities and forums beyond the usual advertising
and networking options--and they can learn to be their own best promoters.
Another success story is from my own midwestern hometown. John Bolling Sr. had practiced law in an old building in our sleepy downtown area for 40 years. It's still a vital community, but a bypass highway built around the western side of town took most of the downtown traffic, business and professional offices with it. As with many other small midwestern cities, the old business district slowly decayed into a collection of mostly vacant buildings. John Sr. made no moves to update the office and eventually did little else but write wills for an elderly, declining client base. Younger clients moved to two newer firms on the highway or to other nearby towns.
When John Jr., at 33, took over the firm, he inherited dwindling profits, cramped, outmoded quarters in an all-but-dead business district and his father's two aging law partners.
John Jr. was essentially a small town guy and immediately dismissed suggestions that he move the firm to a larger city. He wanted Bolling & Bolling to be a dynamic town institution once more, not just a relic from another era. But he had to assess his options quickly.
He first considered building a new office on the highway bypass, but found the best sites already taken. New zoning and environmental restrictions combined with rights-of-way problems virtually eliminated such a move. So it came down to working with the existing site--or nothing.
In addition to site issues, John needed to reach younger clients. Certainly he had excellent professional credentials, but he needed to overcome the outmoded, stuffy reputation the firm had developed. What could he offer? Life in a small town had taught him how important reputation and commitment to the community could be. He hit upon his strategy.
First, he upgraded the old Bolling building, keeping the best of the old elements (it was an historic Art-Deco structure) while modernizing signage, access, parking and interiors. John invited reporters from not only the town newspaper, but from surrounding counties as well, to monitor the progress of his restoration (nothing gets greater notice than construction in one's own back yard). Resulting headlines read "New Life at Bolling Building," "Bolling Law Firm Bucks Migration Trend to Bypass Locale."
What do you know, offer, produce, Second, John Jr. began to raise his profile in the region. He joined several high-profile community organizations, speaking out for preservation of historic buildings in small towns, arguing that such vision could help improve area towns' ailing economies, foster tourism and even build the tax base.
compile, interpret, provide, market, analyze, understand
or do better than anyone else?
Third, John added political power to his speaking opportunities by successfully running for City Council. The result is that John Bolling Jr. is known throughout five counties as an astute lawyer and businessman committed to the survival of small town economies. If not the largest, Bolling & Bolling is among the best-known small law firms in the region, comfortably profitable and holding its own against the larger firms on the highway.
John succeeded by employing the same three basic public relations tools that Kenny Dale used: in becoming a small town business preservationist he developed a strategic plan;by shrewdly inviting reporters from several papers to watch him renovate his offices and rebuild his firm, he used media communications effectively; and by reaching beyond his existing client base to create a public platform for himself in his community he increased his audiences.
* * *
These examples of small business public relations success are neither complicated nor expensive. Their only real cost (other than John Bolling's renovations)was the time, thought and access that the small business owners expended or provided. Yet they are perfect examples of the types of effective public relations strategies and tactics that virtually any small business owner can adopt--if one takes the time to think, to identify and tap existing resources and attributes, and to develop a simple plan to communicate key messages about one's own expertise and the attributes of the small business.
Steve Bolerjack, Communications Director for the Five O'Clock Club, is a business writer/editor and public relations consultant, specializing in small business clients. He developed his expertise in corporate public relations during eight years at Hill and Knowlton, Inc., one of the oldest and largest full service public relations agencies in the world.
As a senior vice president at H&K's headquarters in New York, he managed large accounts, directed editorial teams, wrote and edited a wide variety of documents and publications, and counseled on marketing, media, crisis holds a J.D. from Catholic University and a B.A. in English and Communications from George Washington University. He is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, the New York Advertising and Communications Network and several journalism and service organizations.