The April 20, 2005 meeting of the New Jersey Entrepreneur's Forum featured a panel discussion on public relations. Every growing company needs to take advantage of good PR, since it can be your most cost effective form of customer communication. The panelists were:
The highlights of the discussion, in no particular order, included the following:
When considering an article about your company the press is looking for a unique story angle. What is it about your company that's interesting? Why should they write a story and why should they write it now? Why is it timely? They know you want to get your story out. Why will your story interest their readers? The press is on the lookout for new, exciting, compelling stories. If you want to get written up you need to be new, compelling, or exciting. Preferably all three.
When giving an interview, consider tape recording your conversation. Your interviewer will likely tape the conversation. You might as well tape it too. In this way if there is any question about what you said, or whether you were misquoted, you will have some backup.
When beginning a public relations campaign be sure to target your media and plan on a minimum six month campaign. A twelve to eighteen month campaign is more realistic. It will probably take at least six months to figure out how best to reach your target audiences. If your company is a young startup, your audiences will include not only potential customers, but also potential investors, and industry analysts.
Be sure you do enough research to know your audiences. Research your audiences. Learn how they want to be told, and how they want to be sold.
Focus your PR and marketing. Your company should be about one brand, and one image, and everyone in the company should know the message.
Your PR budget should be about 20% - 50% of your marketing budget. A good campaign is going to cost anywhere from $60K/year to $150K/year. For young companies, internet advertising is the most cost effective medium. Startups should probably avoid print and television advertising. Your ad has to run at least six times before it makes an impression on a viewer. You are better off building a top ranked website. Other efficient methods of reaching customers include trade shows, trade ads, and direct marketing. A key factor in your campaign is the reach frequency. How many times do they see you? That number needs to be more than six.
It can be very helpful to have a media trained spokesperson for your company. If you are facing a crisis, you want to rely on a professional.
Have a crisis communications plan in place before you need it. Dealing effectively with a crisis can build credibility for your company over the long haul. The classic example is Johnson & Johnson's handling of the Tylenol® tampering crisis. They addressed the problem forthrightly, changed their packaging to prevent tampering, moved forward, and rebuilt the brand. Whatever you do don't lie to the press. Also don't say "no comment." No comment is a disaster. Everyone will think you are guilty. If you don't have an answer to a tough question, ask for some more time (1-2 hours), and then get back to the reporter with your answer.
Don't spam reporters with your press releases. One press release per quarter is plenty. They don't want to hear about every new hire and new promotion.
Creating an event can be an inexpensive way to generate good public relations. An event gives the press something exciting and timely to write about. In addition, the event can be rewarding for the participants.
Finally, another inexpensive way of generating good public relations is to become a quoted expert. Become the go to person in your field. Make yourself available to answer reporter's questions about your industry. Every time you are quoted in print you raise the visibility of yourself and your company.