PR Tips For New Businesses

Any brand new company that’s serious about getting the attention of potential customers and other industry professionals will find PR extremely useful. However, not many business owners make public relations a priority – some due to the small budgets, and due to not realizing how important it really is. Fortunately, there are a small number of PR strategies that are extremely useful for new businesses that don’t ask for a big Public Relations budget.

Attention-grabbing Stories

Plenty of new businesses tend to feel a lot of pressure to come up with newsworthy announcements that warrant a press release for media outlets. However, coming up with a newsworthy announcement sometimes ends up with the company looking like it’s trying too hard, which means there’s a risk for the business to get a reputation for being irrelevant.

Instead of looking for worthy announcements, new businesses should use the customer-first approach and think about what the consumers are going to look forward to reading. The skill of creating an attention-grabbing story is a great PR asset, and it can start with how the company is solving a problem with its products or services. The story can center around how the business is a hero in people’s lives and its solutions are bringing great value to the consumers.

Media Relationships

Creating an effective media PR effort also means putting in plenty of effort in creating and nurturing relationships with media outlets, specifically, relevant journalists and reporters. In our digital world, most relationships tend to center around transactions and results that benefit both sides.

That means that companies should be communicating consistently and promptly to all press members. Otherwise, they risk losing potential connections that result in positive media coverage. Taking the time and effort to provide value to media outlets will frequently result in better media coverage over time.

Press Page

An incredibly useful tool that plenty of new businesses don’t utilize is the press page that can help the company in building its credibility and brand authority. The press page can include previous press releases, the company’s bio, the history of the brand, as well as relevant stats and facts about the business. It’s a useful page for maintaining and cultivating a professional brand image, as having a good press page means the website visitors are going to take the company a lot more seriously.

Influencer Relationships

Finally, one of the key things that plenty of new businesses overlook, which is a big advantage when used correctly, is cultivating relationships with industry influencers. When considering influencer marketing, the first thing that many business owners think about is the most popular influencers that have millions of followers and a big reach.

However, new businesses should be focusing on creating relationships with micro-influencers, who, although don’t have a large number of followers, the audience that’s already present is going to be a lot more interested in the brand, compared to the audience of a big influencer.

Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR, one of America’s leading pr firms.

Ronn Torossian

Ronn Torossian is the Founder and Chairman of 5WPR, one of the largest independently-owned PR firms in the United States. With over 25 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America’s most prolific and well-respected Public Relations professionals. Since founding 5WPR in 2003, he has led the company’s growth, overseeing more than 275 professionals. With clients spanning corporate, technology, consumer and crisis, in addition to digital marketing and public affairs capabilities, 5WPR is regularly recognized as an industry leader and has been named “PR Agency of the Year” by the American Business Awards on multiple occasions. Throughout his career, Torossian has worked with some of the world’s most visible companies, brands and organizations. His strategic, resourceful approach has been recognized with numerous awards including being named the Stevie American Business Awards 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year, the American Business Awards PR Executive of the Year, twice over, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalist, Metropolitan Magazine’s Most Influential New Yorker, a 2020 Top Crisis Communications Professional by Business Insider, and a recipient of Crain’s New York 2021 Most Notable in Marketing & PR. Torossian is known as one of the country’s foremost experts on crisis communications, and is called on to counsel blue chip companies, top business executives and entrepreneurs both in the United States and worldwide. Torossian has lectured on crisis PR at Harvard Business School, appears regularly on CNN & CNBC, is a contributing columnist for Forbes and the New York Observer, and has authored two editions of his book, “For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations,” which is an industry best-seller. A NYC native, Torossian is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO), and active in numerous charities.

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