PR is great, it’s not free, it’s earned, but when it is, it packs some very nice ROI.
One strategy that small business owners should employ is to take their PR message online and directly to the prospect by consistent use of the age old tool, the press release.
Creating and distributing press releases was primarily a PR firm function in an attempt to generate interest from journalists. The web has certainly changed that, putting the press release in the hands of all marketers and making it available as a direct to customer and prospect marketing tool.
Use the 3 step process and free tools below and commit to creating one press release a month announcing new hires, new certifications, new products, new customers, new locations and other tidbits and you will start to see traffic to your website, links to your website and direct inquiries start to climb. (You may even get lucky and attract the interest of a journalist or two as well.)
This Triple Threat approach is not meant to replace the PR outreach you need to be doing for the true big news and feature stories you need, this is just a great way to consistently start getting small mentions and links and developing a PR habit.
- Instant Press Release – use this tool as a guided template for creating and formatting your press release properly
- Press Release Grader – Take your written press release here and run it through a process that can help tell you how to make it even better.
- PRLog – with a strong release written, you can come here and to get your release distributed to thousands of news sites and feeds.
