New PR Tools Are Effective for Small Business Marketers
It’s easy to understand why small business marketers can feel overwhelmed when it comes to marketing their firm. A lack of marketing knowledge, time and budget can all be valid reasons. However, the value of marketing and specifically public relations has been proven over and over again. The good news is that there are now more options tailored to small businesses that want to start marketing their companies, without investing a lot of time and money up front.
Here is a great article, published on OPEN Forum, that talks about two public relations platforms that are both affordable and easily accessible to small businesses. the article by Alexander Hotz talks about two websites, HARO, which stands for Help A Reporter Out, and NewsBasis. Check out the full article at: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/managing/article/are-press-platforms-worth-it-for-small-businesses-alexander-hotz?cid=em-smartbrief. I subscribe to HARO, which provides daily emails of reporters requests for topics and experts interviews. It’s pretty easy to scan through the requests and identify a relevant topic that you can reply to. Check them out, and feel free to provide comments with your experiences or tips.
Engaging in public relations for your small business does not have to be a huge endeavor. With some helpful marketing templates and tips, you can quickly get on your way to issuing press releases regularly about your small business. It’s important to create a simple calendar, or list of news you would like to publish and also to commit to a target, or a number of announcements to issue each quarter. For example, start out by targeting two announcement per quarter, and then work your way up to 1-2 per month.
Remember, having fresh and relevant content on your website is a key search engine optimization strategy. Additionally, if you published your releases over the wire, or on news directories, your website will also benefit from the inbound links that are created. You can also optimize your press releases for search by including keyword phrases that are relevant to your business, as links within the body/text of your press release. For more marketing tips on how to use press releases to market your small business, check out our free article downloads at: http://www.smbmarketer.com/featured-articles/
A good public relations strategy begins with a solid message. See my previous blog post on this subject, https://smartmarketingbasics.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/smart-marketing-starts-with-a-solid-message/.
At SMBmarketer.com, our mission is to provide easy, actionable tools and marketing advice to help get you started. For a minimal investment, you can get some fast tips on creating a basic marketing plan, as well as templates to help you create your message and content. The Press Release Tutor is our featured template – this interactive tool that takes your answers to basic questions about your business, and turns them into a professionally written press release. With the Press Release Tutor, small business marketers can create a press release in five easy steps:
1) Select an announcement template (new product, event, promotion, etc).
2) Develop your company message using our questionnaire.
3) Create a boilerplate description.
4) Complete and edit your template.
5) Preview your draft and download your press release.
You can learn more about our templates by going to: http://www.smbmarketer.com/
Small business marketers can create professionally releases in five easy steps
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