I’m delighted to invite Tina Fotherby, Founder of PR agency Famous Publicity to share her top 3 PR tips. Over to you Tina!
Why put time and effort into PR?
Public relations is one of the most effective forms of ‘marketing communications’ because publicity naturally appears in publications, so caries the third party endorsement of the title involved.
If you are a small business owner, you may well wonder how on earth you can get a piece of the action. So many people say that Public Relations is good because it is free. It is only free in that you do not pay a media owner to carry the information.
The effort involved might not be free but at least you will not have to pay for the media space, which is the basis of advertising.
Good results come about due to the imagination and efforts involved by those who get the message across. And it is perfectly OK for companies to try and do it themselves.
The explosion in social media has shown how many small business owners are great communicators.
With a bit of luck, many enterprising people will feel more confident about approaching media titles directly in order to achieve publicity in print and online.
TIP #1 – You need to start with the message
What are the three most interesting points about your business that you are crying out to communicate?
Think of things that make you different to your competitors and make you stand out. To make it easier, get a blank page and write down all of the points that make you proud of your business. Then review and highlight your top three messages.
TIP #2 – The headline and first sentence
Now take a deep breath and attempt your first press release. Write a headline that summarises your key point and says it ‘as it is’. The simpler the better.
Sub editors at newspapers will be far more skilled at fine-tuning a snappy headline.
A great place to see many examples of press releases is at the UK-based Source Wire www.sourcewire.com which provides value for money media distribution.
Ideally, the first sentence of your release should include information about ‘Who? What? Why? Where? and When?
TIP #3 – Ideal length for a press release
The ideal length for a press release is 400 – 500 words and should be written in the ‘third person’. Write succinctly. Mark the information as ‘Media Information’ and always date it and have your point of contacts at the end which must include a phone number and email address.
Finally…
If you are bad at picking up messages, include contact details of a colleague. If you struggle with your grammar and spelling, get someone else to read and sense-check your copy.
Just go for it and you might well be thrilled by the results!
You can find out more information about Famous Publicity on their website.
