Many small businesses make a huge mistake by believing that they cannot afford a good PR campaign or that they cannont reach the attention of potential customers.  They are doing something that one small business should never do – they compare themselves with big and international companies.

Don’t think this way. Public Relations, Press Releases and well designed PR plan can and will make a difference to your business success. Energy, time and money invested in this will certainly not be wasted.

As you probably already know, when starting or reorganizing a business, the first thing to do is to make a good business plan. If you have already accepted this concept, then you have a valuable habits of good organization and realistic analysis in running a business.

So let’s follow this path when talking about your business public relations.

1  ) The first step is to review your past PR activity.

* If you have already worked on exposing your business in media or in public, make an analysis of the results of your activities. If your business received media attention last year, review the resulting coverage with an analytical eye. Determine the angles and pitches that worked well and resulted in positive coverage. Look at the overall amount of positive, negative or neutral coverage you received. If you subscribed to a media measurement service, assess the results of your campaigns and, if possible, compare your progress against your competitors.

* If you don’t have experience in this area, consider your overall business objectives, and use them as the basis for developing your key media message. Review your business plan through the eyes of a journalist–what would be of interest to your customers or investors? Identify potential media opportunities that could occur during the year, such as product launches, expansion activities and new service offerings, and develop a calendar that lists the events.

2 ) Your PR plan should have a written form – if you put your goals and objectives in writing, you can refer back to them throughout the year and evaluate your success. Now that you have made sketches and defined some basis of your PR plan, it’s time to consider the activities that will enable you to achieve your objectives.

3 ) Media outreach: The basis of any PR program is a solid media list. Spend some time researching and creating a database of key reporters. Inform yourself about the publications and journalists which pertain to your industry. See how valuable they really are in reaching your target audience-your potential customers. Then start contacting them, one by one. Introduce yourself and arrange informal meetings where you can discuss chances for your company in the way of public presentation.

4 ) The media loves case studies and it could be very valuable to you. That way you directly present your products or services and the real world examples of your business benefits and professionalism. When you decide to develop case studies you are facing the new challenge: active customer participation. This means you need to talk to your customers and let them talk about you. It’s not that complicated as it seems. Talking about your service, your customers talk about their own experience as well, and we all know how people actually love talking about themselves. On the other hand, the most effective kind of marketing or promotion are satisfied clients.

5 ) Living in the era of Internet and virtual communication, we are privileged to use the net for so many things, including presenting one’s business. Never underestimate the power of social media, websites and blogs.  Social media networks offer a chance to have an active discussion with motivated audience, websites are important sector of marketing and promotion, and blogs are a great way to present all the aspects of your business, but also your own competence about the industry you are in. Via Internet you can connect with other experts, but with many potential clients as well. That’s why social network forums, groups and sites exist. Use them.

Before you start your public relations campaign, be sure that your message is clear, concise and brief. That should be reflected in every piece of promotional material you send out to the media. At some point, members of the media will respond, and you need to be ready to answer all their questions and to explain why they should cover your story. This also means that you have to be available to the media and make their job easier. Your relationship with journalists is very important and it takes time to develop, so do your best to make an impression, prepare all the material they might need to get introduced to your business and your products/services.

In order to find out what kind of opportunities for publicity there are in your particular market, you will need to do some research. A good media list is a starting point for spreading the word about your business to a wider market. To get the right media to cover your story, you need to find reporters who cover stories like yours. For example, to find a reporter from newspaper or a magazine who can be interested in your story, read through their website. There you will see which reporters cover particular stories. You will also know the style in which they write, so when you send them information you can even reference the article that led you to them. Call the reporter and deliver a short, effective message on why your story will be interesting for their audience.  After that send a press release including Q&A page and your business bio. Make sure each release you send to members of the media has a newsworthy edge, and if you get them interested, your presence in the media will be guaranteed and you will reach your goal of getting the buzz for your small business.

Call local radio stations and ask to speak with the hosts of talk shows or the news. Explain what is interesting about your story and send your press release. When you get some media coverage, collect quotes from the members of the media who have worked with you. Make the list of stations and written media that covered the story on your business; media  love to work with experts who have already been featured elsewhere. Many television stations also have local business owners as guests on their programs, so you should add producers of  TV shows that are reaching your target market on your contact list.

Write a press release when something newsworthy happens at your company and distribute it to the chosen media contacts. Things that can help you get publicity include: new product or service introductions, employee promotions, new hires and so forth. If you have an opportunity, give talks about your profession or business to local groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, or at industry trade shows where members of  media are present.

When it comes to public relations, persistence is the key element to success. If you have a good plan, and spend enough time and energy on realizing  that plan, you will get a lot of positive publicity for your business at  little cost.