HOW to build some pr buzz
What is PR? PR is insanely important for your business or idea. AND COULD BE INCREDIBLY VALUABLE FOR YOUR PITCH TO RICH. It is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your business and grow your customer base.
Instead of paying for advertising or media, PR is ‘earned’ promotion – newspapers, magazines, websites or bloggers will feature your business if you have something newsworthy to say without you paying for it! Promotion isn’t all about big bucks and campaigns. It can be achieved if you bring creative ideas, a good story and personality to the table. Add to that energy, time and the guts to put yourself out there and you’ll be well on your way to creating a buzz around your business.
Here are some tips on how to build some PR buzz. What do you need to think about? Your own personal and business story Your key messages and calls to action How to get your stories out there
your story People buy into people and a story is easier to remember than a product or service. Ask Richard Branson what your most valuable marketing and business asset is and his answer will be “you”. Whether it was selling planes, trains or records, personality and story-telling has always been one of the cornerstones of Virgin’s communications. Journalists and bloggers will only cover and promote your business if it will be of interest to their readers. You need to think about how your story will be of interest to others. Will it inspire them to start their own business? Will it give them some information or insight unknown to most?
Sometimes the backstory of the Founder and their journey building the business will capture the media’s attention. How has your personal experience and background influenced what you created? Was your business born out of personal circumstances? Is your business inspired by your life experience? Were you made redundant or driven to tackle a problem? These are questions that help build your story and find out how yours is unique. The more unique and inspiring your story is, the more likely it is journalists will cover your business because it will be more interesting for their readership.
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Know your message and how you want people to help Once you have answered these questions and nailed down your story, you need to work out the key messages you want to get across to the general public. And what you want them to do once they have read them.
A useful way to develop key messages is by finding a punchy and succinct way to answer these questions: 1 2
Your messages shouldn’t be product sales pitches, but something people will be able to relate to and resonate with. Give them something useful or insightful and they will be more likely to support your business than if you try to sell something to them.
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What is the problem? How does your business solve it? What do you want people to do as a result? What’s your call to action? (visit website, attend an event etc.) In this case, your call to action should be to vote for your Pitch to Rich campaign. For each audience, you should tailor your messages to what will interest that specific group. This way you will maximise your chances of each different group following through on your call to action.
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How to get your story out there Once you’ve identified what your story is, the messages you want to convey and the action you want people to take, you need to go out there and sell it. Don’t undersell yourself – go for it! Here are some steps to help get your story out there: • First create a press release. This should contain everything the journalist needs to know including who you are, why you are applying for Pitch to Rich, what your business story is and how people can help. Make sure everything is short, sharp and to the point and you remember important things like your contact details and any website addresses & social media handles for your business. Try to keep the media release to one page and develop a snappy headline to grab attention.
• After posting the release on your blog or website, you’ll need to seek out newspapers, websites, radio and TV shows that may cover your story. • Find contacts at your local newspaper. You can do this by visiting their website and looking for their phone number in the ‘contact us’ section. Alternatively you could look under ‘news’ or ‘editorial contacts’. You could even search for their office address on Google Maps as that often reveals a switchboard number. Do the same for other media that may cover news about your specific trade or sector. • Target the most appropriate outlets. For example, if you’re starting a phone gadget business in Darlington, you might want to lead with a story in your local paper about how the local area inspired your business. Whereas, you would lead on the innovative features when dealing with a Gadget mag. Have your audience in mind. • Always pick up the phone and call the newspaper/publication so you get an instant response on whether they’re interested in your story or not.
• Prepare for the call and ensure you have all the relevant information on your business and story to hand. Get straight to the point and explain who you are, why you are calling and the relevance to their ‘patch’: Hello, I am an entrepreneur from ................. who grew up in ................. living in [the local area]. I have applied for Richard Branson’s Pitch to Rich campaign to help me grow my local business. I wanted to share my local success story and to encourage more local people to take the leap into starting their own business. Are you interested in doing an article to help me share my story, support my campaign and encourage more local entrepreneurs to grow their business? • Journalists are very busy so you need to be able to pitch your story in a concise and compelling manner – usually you will only have around 15 seconds to secure interest from a journalist, so avoid waffling.
Journalists are looking for stories, not product pitches, so tell them your story first and talk about your business later. A good test to boil down a story into a sentence is ‘how would you tell a friend in the pub your news?’ • Don’t feel you have to answer questions you are uncomfortable answering, such as your annual turnover, but don’t give a ‘no comment’ either. Make sure you prepare answers to difficult questions in advance. Follow up the call by sending through the press release – make sure you get the email address for whoever you speak to. • Ask the media to mention you through their social media channels as an extra means of reaching their readers. If the media you’re targeting uses social media a lot, you could even try pitching them your story on social media – if you can tell your story in the space of a tweet then you’re onto a winner. For more help on how to use social media to help your campaign, read our How To Run a Great Social Campaign guide.
• Remember, nothing is ‘off the record’, so everything you say will be noted down and could appear in print. So be professional and remember you’re representing your business and your reputation. • Capture and log the contact details of any friendly/interested reporters you speak to so you can contact them directly in future. If you get coverage, email them to say thank you and keep them updated with your future news. • Publicise your publicity and share pictures of your coverage via your social media channels and blog about the excitement of being featured in the press. You should re-tweet and engage with the journalists and papers that tweet your story to get it in front of as many eyes as possible and be remembered by the journalists.
• Keep thinking about new angles to talk to the media – e.g. if you gain a significant number of votes on your campaign page, or are chosen to be a semi-finalist, then tell journalists about it for a possible follow-up story on how you’re progressing. • Don’t forget your regional BBC, ITV and commercial radio stations. If your story appears in local papers, you could try sending the story through to your local radio station to see if you could get on air! You could even suggest going on air to talk about encouraging entrepreneurship in your area. You may even become a bit of a celebrity!
Now you’ve got your PR pitch ready, hit the phones and social media and start to spread the word about your big idea. Everyone at Virgin Media Business wishes you the very best of luck. We’d love to help you #VOOM.