Visibility creates credibility !
When there’s budget cuts, marketing and PR can seem like a frivolous option compared to rent and rates, but really if you’re not marketing your business and continually re-inforcing your message you run the risk of lessening your brand.
Note that I’m not talking here exclusively about advertising, rather a mix of advertising and other PR activities that don’t need to cost the earth.
Building a strong brand isn’t an activity reserved for the big brands in this world any longer, small businesses can really see a return on investment for a bit of brand building.
How can you market your business effectively? There are two questions you need to ask yourself…
1. Who’s my target customer (don’t say everyone) break this down into different stratas or types if you can, it will make this process easier for you.
2. Identify your message – or your USP ? What’s different about your store ?
There’s lots of ways to market your business, local press, local radio, direct mail to your customer database, through your website, local events, online marketing, sponsorship and any other profile lifting activity you can think of… including the new social media that’s so much in the news at the moment.
PR which is a fancy name for giving information to journalists who might be interested enough to print your story is pretty much free if you do it yourself. Ok, so you may not get into Vogue, but with a few well thought out press releases you should be able to get into your local magazines and newspaper.
PR really consists of building a strong relationship with local journalists so that when you have a story to tell you can get some good local coverage, you can build a relationship by being reliable, interesting and timely with your news.
Free editorial coverage is your goal here, and the old maxim visibility creates credibility should make this an activity worth considering…
If you’re not sure where to start, download our free e-book – a crash course in PR from the e-book section & the sample press release template from the downloads section to help you on your way.
PR has a reputation as one of those “black art” ideas, rather like web design, search engine optimisation or garages for women drivers, but once you know how it works it can be a real advantage in getting some great press coverage for your business
Remember : Visibility creates credibility !