Whether it’s labor or rent, like most small business owners you want to see a return on your investment. Publicity for your small business may feel outside your comfort zone but here’s why it is essential: Every story told about your business earns the trust of your customers, your suppliers and your employees. Be reassured: With our Pay Per Interview® pricing model, you are guaranteed media coverage for your money. We can also show you inexpensive ways to extend the reach and longevity of each media story we secure for you.
If you’re making less than $5 million in revenue, many business experts recommend that you allocate about 7 to 8% of those revenues to marketing. Part of that budget should go to making sure your website is visually appealing, functions well and answers typical customer questions. Your website should also have a blog section where you can house and promote your earned media coverage.
A large chunk of your marketing budget should go toward publicity because it’s the foundation for everything else. When the media does a story on your business, it’s an endorsement on steroids. It gives you instant third-party credibility. Reporters and producers have their choice of businesses to feature. When they choose your business, it tells audiences that yours is a story worth hearing. It also provides you with positive, shareable content that can exist forever on the internet.
Build your loyal following. As each media story runs, use your blog and social media channels to call even more attention to it. Creating a library of one positive story after another, from multiple markets and media types, will give customers plenty of good reasons to feel good about buying your product. Housing the stories on your website will also funnel people to your online store, if you have one.
You probably already work long hours and you’re stretched in multiple directions. Media Relations can show you how to simplify your marketing tactics, so you don’t have to take your eyes off your primary responsibilities for very long.
- Preparing your website. Visitors should be able to easily find links to your media coverage. If your site doesn’t already have a blog or in-the-news section, our web support team can do that for you. We can also assess your existing blog or news section to help ensure it meets your audience’s expectations.
- Setting up your social streams. While Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn remain top social media platforms, many product marketers are also choosing to use Instagram and Pinterest. Our social media team can recommend the best social media platforms for your product based on your target audience’s demographics.
- Creating shareable content. Compelling content encourages visitors to view your media stories. Our Media Grade Content® process, based on the media’s preferred AP Style, helps give your content as much credibility as the media story itself. This keyword-rich content – called wrapper copy – can also fill in messaging that may have been omitted from the story. We’ll also write social media posts and digital ad content.
- Now it’s time to brag! It takes just a few clicks to post the wrapper copy to your website, along with the story itself. Link to that post in your social media, digital ads and in your next newsletter to customers, suppliers and prospects.
There are publicity opportunities out there that are ideal for your business. Let’s discuss how we can arrange for your business to be included in this media coverage. Call us at 952-697-5269 or complete this form.
