Myth: PR is complicated, confusing and costly – and only the experts know how it works. Truth: these days, it’s easy, effective and economical to do your own PR. Read on for some empowering hints and hacks…
Once upon a (relatively recent) time, PR companies could enthral you with promises of their ‘little black book of journalists who owe me favours’ and ask for huge fees to pull strings with their contacts in high places. It doesn’t work like that anymore. Today there are numerous platforms for reaching your audiences directly. It’s perfectly possible, and often more fruitful, to do your own PR yourself.
Some advantages of DIY PR:
- Rather than pay a PR agency or consultant, you can save thousands by upskilling yourself and your team, to learn the tricks of the trade.
- If you then hire a consultant at a later stage, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to work in partnership with them, rather than give them all the power to make decisions.
- When you approach journalists, they’ll be happier working directly with you than via a middle person (they like to get authentic facts straight from the source).
To debunk another popular myth: PR isn’t just about getting into the national papers. It’s about how you interact with your community on social media. It’s about putting yourself out there, telling your story and raising your profile in ways that work for you. It’s about you, the DNA of your business and your brand. And of course, it might also be about appearing in the papers and glossies, if your story and timing are right.
So let’s look at some hacks for handling your own PR…
How to make the journalists you love, love you back
Always remember that journalists are people too. Busy people. Their jobs are pressured, their deadlines are crazy and they’re constantly being bombarded by pitches from people like you. So what can you give them that’s fascinating? Why should they and their readers care about what you’re doing? How will you hook them in so they open your email? Here’s how:
- When choosing journalists to work with, research the topics they like to cover, to check your brand is a good fit.
- Make their life as easy as possible (the more polished and ready-to-print your story is, the less work for them).
When submitting images:
- Use Dropbox not WeTransfer (if a WeTransfer link expires before they download your file, this could wreck your chance of being published).
- Don’t keep sending journalists the same images. If your photos have a tired feel or they’ve already been seen, your story may be bumped for something fresher.
- If you’re hoping to be featured in certain dream publications, only submit images in keeping with their look and feel. Don’t send gritty street-style photography to Vogue magazine (but do send it to Vice magazine)!
- Be sure to provide a clear packshot of your product, photographed against a white background. (A packshot is a close-up picture of your product including its labelling and packaging.)
Put relevance above glamour
Be sure you’re not chasing a journalist or opportunity out of sheer vanity. It might be your dream to be on BBC Breakfast, but are you really right for that audience? If you don’t reach the right people with the right message at the right time, your piece will fall flat.
It’s far better to remove ego from the equation and concentrate on relevance. You may get your story into a trade paper that only has 10% of the circulation of a big national – but this could have a huge impact if the audience are all potential buyers of your product. So don’t discount any level of publication if it’s relevant to your audience.
Top tip: journalists often look for inspiration in trade publications to find ‘real’ stories. So they may spot you in an obscure publication and invite you to appear in their glitzy one.
The importance of being topical
When you share your story, be aware of what’s happening in popular culture, otherwise you could weaken your impact by getting the timing badly wrong. For example, launching artisan pork sausages on World Vegan Day could be a disaster.
If you’re clued up with current affairs, you’re more likely to spot a chance to ‘newsjack’. Newsjacking is when you hitch a ride on the back of something that’s currently trending and is related to your product. These opportunities are golden but you need to be up to speed with the news to spot them (and act fast to seize them).
Top tip: once your brand is big enough to be appearing in the press regularly, set up Google Alerts (it’s free) so you’ll know immediately if anyone’s mentioning you (or your competitors).
IMPORTANT: be on the same page as your team
PR is a whole-company effort. If your business is a team of ten, that’s ten brand ambassadors who can shout from the rooftops about your product every day. But you must be aligned with your facts and stories, or you’ll be starting out on shaky ground.
Similarly, if you’re a company of two, you and your co-founder need to have the same views about PR, otherwise you’ll be in conflict. For example, if an opportunity arose (e.g. for an interview or podcast) and you thought, “This is our big chance,” but your partner thought, “This is a big waste of time,” you could lose that opening forever.
Even if you’re a solo entrepreneur, it’s important to get clear about your PR expectations. Decide what you want to focus on, how much time you want to spend – and set your own parameters.
Make the most of social media
As recently as a decade ago (before Facebook and Instagram) celebrities never communicated directly to the public. Today, we know what’s in Kim Kardashian’s closet and what Molly-Mae Hague made for breakfast, because they tell us themselves. Similarly, fans of your product will be interested in what you’re doing. If you’re eloquent and confident in front of the camera, these are powerful tools – so why not use them to tell people what you do? There are numerous platforms out there and eager audiences ready to be your cheerleaders. This is your opportunity to own that little piece of the internet.
Be sociable, not salesy
A word of caution: don’t use social media solely to broadcast and sell your product, otherwise people will just switch off. You need that lifestyle element to create rapport with your audiences and keep them engaged, informed and entertained.
Ideally, you need to get your social media audiences to fall in love with you as a person (and eventually buy from you). You’ll do this through your heart-warming stories, intriguing case studies, rave reviews, social proof… all these things add up. Always be authentic, interesting and respectful of your audience’s time and needs. Before you know it, you’ll be PR-ing like a pro.
This how-to guide was inspired by one of our Zoom Dives with Jessica Barlow, who provides relevant and actionable PR training for startups via her company, No Agency Method.
Our Zoom Dive events are deep-delving discussions between our founder, Carolyn Dailey and a handpicked creative business expert. You can listen to Carolyn and Jessica’s full discussion here.
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Meanwhile, feel free to plunder our Knowledge bank for more advice on marketing and promoting your business.