Small business owners have choices when it comes to marketing and advertising. Public relations agencies offer some creative ways to help small business owners create buzz about their products and services. For many businesses PR is not typically on the marketing plan radar. A PR agency, however, has tools unique to them that, when used effectively, produces serious brand recognition and audience reach that everyday advertising just can’t match. Wonder if PR is a good branding option for your business or organization?  You need PR if you say yes to these 3 questions.

Do you have a new product or service to launch?     

Are you already well known for products and services, but are ready to add new ones?

Diversifying is key to expanding market share and can take the business to new heights. Well planned and executed PR campaigns introduce new products and services to audiences, uniquely touching problems and creating solutions to those problems. Not well known to your target audience? 

PR provides a way to get the right kind of attention and create widespread brand awareness. A professional agency like Chemistry PR and Multimedia helps get to the heart of the vision for your business and create strategies that are often more affordable and more effective than traditional advertising strategies. PR can be more effective at projecting the story behind the business, thereby creating legitimacy for the business and credibility for the products and services represented. For new product launches, you need PR. 

Would a crisis seriously impact the bottom line?    

There are tons of examples of poor crisis communication on the part of large corporations that has, or nearly has, cost the business everything.  TSB, an otherwise trusted bank in the UK, is an example of this mistake. For its surplus of 1 million customers, a poorly communicated system updates and associated glitches left a serious impact on business. Read about it in an article by Laura Sutherland. I use this example because the author, a fellow professional in crisis communication, recounts a story especially well because she herself was part of the story.

The TSB example is one that illustrates the potential consequences of a poor crisis communication plan, or the lack of a plan altogether. It would take a lot more research to determine the actual ‘cost’ to this organization’s bottom line and time will tell. The point to make here is that this cost is certainly greater than it would have been had a well-planned crisis communication plan been formulated.

Turning the spotlight toward an organization that did it well.  Starbucks made headlines with the incident of alleged racially motivated actions on the part of a location manager. This story is still getting attention today, but more of the attention is being drawn to the positive actions on the part of Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson. The immediate and positive action was driven by an effective crisis communication plan.  Read the article by Jeremy Story here to view the quick and positive actions taken by Starbucks.  To the PR professional, it is easy to see which of these actions steps were included in a crisis communication plan and resulted in this organization being well prepared for virtually any crisis given the high visibility of this company.

Need to reach a wider audience?

PR for small business opens doors of opportunity to drive more visitors to a website or business location than traditional advertising. Advertising has its place – make no mistake. It is often overlooked, however, when a person is reading a feature article digitally or in print form. When a reader latches onto one of these great feature articles that include inbound links to a business website, click rates skyrocket. The difference can be as simple as this; a person reading a feature article or watching a feature story during a news segment is already interested in the subject matter. Today’s buyers are more likely to be influenced by a blog or social media post. Studies cited by Content Marketing Institute and Demand Gen Report show that more than 80 percent of business decision makers turn to articles to gain information before initiating a relationship or pulling the trigger on a purchase. Additionally, more than 90 percent of B2B purchasing decisions start with online searches. Well-crafted PR campaigns aim directly at where audiences can be found and how to reach them – digitally.

   If you have answered any or all of these questions in the affirmative, then we want to hear from you. Our team of diverse professionals can help you formulate your       message and get your business noticed with a specially formulated PR strategy. Call us today to schedule your consultation.

More about Chris Kuban: 

Chris Kuban started Chemistry PR and Multimedia with a vision to effectively formulate corporate and non-profit brands across the country. In doing so, he has become an expert in Media Relations, Event Management, Social Media implementation and video production. He engages, coordinates and oversees a diverse team of local and national suppliers, vendors, employees and consultants, allowing him to successfully coordinate over 120 national events focusing on overall logistics, media relations and his clients’ expected ROI. Follow him on Twitter or connect with him on LinkedIn.