Sales & Marketing Authority, Bestselling Author & Business Motivational Speaker

Public relations is important to the success of any business, small or large. Public relations defines your relationships with the community, your current clients, potential clients, and even the medial

The art of having a good public relations plan is about much more than having a few well-written articles published in the paper or putting on a great fundraiser or “show” merely to convince the public that you mean well. A good public relations team will identify a cause that the company can relate to and use it to show how much they really do care about the community.

Sure, you want to gain publicity, but that publicity needs to be gained honestly. While you need to have a strong plan, you do not necessarily need to have a ton of money to launch a successful PR campaign.

For example, a friend in the US told a story about her growing martial arts business. They had a very limited budget and no way to get word out about their presence aside from word of mouth. They instead participated in a community run holiday event and dove right into the planning process, even calling other business owners to promote the event and solicit their participation. They not only spread the word about their business by participating in running the vent, but also earned the trust of their local township leaders and fellow businesspersons as well.

Here’s the challenge I have for you today. It’s time to define your public relations plan, no matter now complex.

• First, determine who your audience is. Are you looking to get in touch with other industry members, potential clients, vendors, family members, the government, or someone else?

• Make a plan that clearly outlines how you’ll get in touch with these people. Write out your goals, determine how you want your audience to perceive your business, and figure out what message you want them to hear. This part of the process includes creating strategies for getting your information out into the world as well.

• Finally, make friends with at least one or two members of the media. The local media is best, even if it’s a high school reporter or a small township paper. The more positive media attention you gain, the better.

Develop a strong public relations team and make sure your business is always in the public eye in some sort of positive manner. It doesn’t matter if you’re hosting a charity event or if you’ve won an award – the public should be hearing about you regularly!

Sean