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Event: Affordable and effective PR strategies

SBOCTeam — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:14:40 GMT

In today's economy, credibility and media awareness are crucial to the successful growth of small and medium sized businesses. You can't just rely on marketing and advertising plans that only get you search engine ads. You must strongly consider PR.

Small business don't have unlimited resources for outside Public Relations help - many forego PR entirely because of the high cost most firms charge for monthly retainers. Join Matt Ellis, a leader in shaping the image people have about businesses, as he answers questions community members have about affordable and effective public relation strategies and media management.

About Matt:

Matt Ellis is the founder and principal of Ellis Strategies, Inc., a strategic communications firm in Boston, MA. Matt is an award winning journalist with 20+ years of experience in television news and an acute understanding of how the media works.

Matt led teams of broadcast journalists cover local news and produce Emmy Award winning programs as a News Director at WBZ TV in Boston and WPRI TV in Providence and as Executive Producer for WCBS TV in New York.

If you have a question for Matt, post it here and then join us on Tuesday February 3rd at 2PM EST for Matt's response. You can also pose a question to Matt anytime during the event hour.

Re: Event February 3: Affordable and effective PR strategies

SBOCTeam — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:07:48 GMT

Matt, thanks again for your time and very professional responses.

Community, although our time with Matt has now concluded, feel free to discuss today's event in the forums and incorporate PR into you small business.

For more information on Matt and Ellis Strategies, please visit http://www.ellisstrategies.com

The SBOC Team

Survive 2009

PR_Boston — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:02:23 GMT

All of us are thinking about how to survive this economic downturn and emerge ready to grow and prosper. Here's something to think about as you manage your business. COMMUNICATE!
It's critical to keep your customers, your stakeholders and your employees in the loop. Bad times can cause mis-innformation to circulate. You don't want to spend your valuable time and energy setting the record straight. Whether you are currently engaged in a PR program or not--you owe it to your company to be sure you are clearly and effectively communicating your mission statement, your status and your plans for the future.
Good luck!

Re: Event February 3: Affordable and effective PR strategies

PR_Boston — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:58:10 GMT

Good question. Put it this way, if you are being reactive it's probably because of bad news. The best strategy is a proactive strategy. You want to be out there providing strong messages about your business to drive awareness, build your reputation and get recognized for what you're doing. If you are successful you will store up some equity to help defray any bad news that causes you to be reactive.

Re: Event February 3: Affordable and effective PR strategies

caffeinated — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:54:07 GMT

Is PR more of an retroactive strategy, ya know like after there's been a crisis? or are there things you can do more proactively?

How do you promote your business?

PR_Boston — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:52:00 GMT

You may not be engaged in a PR campaign currently but you can start one by yourself. Think about how you want to promote your business and who you are trying to reach. You don't need a PR firm to generate results through Google or other search engines. If you're watching your budget consider spending a few dollars on ad-words to promote your company's Website. Just remember, your site should be up to date and contain the right message points.
Also, check out the blogs and see who writes what about your kind of business. You can reply to a post and get a conversation going. It not only helps you get recognized on the pages of an influential writer, it can also get you better SEO results.

Social media

PR_Boston — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:41:09 GMT

Every one is talking about social media and asking how to harness the power of sites like Facebook and YouTube to benefit their business.
One of my clients recently created a Facebook page and committed to making a donation to a local charity every time someone signed up to be a fan. This allowed them to publicize their Facebook page without seeming too self-serving and demonstrated that they are really a community oriented business.
Facebook can be a good way to promote your own message.
If you're thinking about posting a video on YouTube here are a few things to consider:
1-Be sure your video tells a story
2-If you're doing video for the first time, keep it simple. Remember, you're promoting a business not competing for an Oscar
3-Have fun. Videos that generate buzz are those that entertain and inform whether on YouTube or anywhere else

Re: Event February 3: Affordable and effective PR strategies

PR_Boston — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:34:31 GMT

Some of the best PR you can get is through your own personal and business networks. After all, where would we be without referrals from satisfied customers and friends? It's important to be known within your business circles and one way to do that is to find the people who write about your business--whether on the Web or in the mainstream media. Make contact and offer them some background or perspective about what you do--not so they will write about you now but so you can become a source of information. You never know where that will lead.

Re: Event February 3: Affordable and effective PR strategies

Tori — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:27:08 GMT

Matt,

Public Relations seems like there would be a lot of behind-the-scenes networking. Are there affiliations/groups/organizations a small business owner can join so that they can take on some of the PR themselves.

~Tori

Prorect your reputation

PR_Boston — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:27:23 GMT

In any economy, the one thing you can't afford to lose is your good reputation. If something happens that affects how the world views your business it's critical that you engage with a professional who can help you manage the crisis and protect your reputation. Sometimes the media comes calling for reasons you don't want publicized. The worst thing you can do is act like an ostrich. Don't let budgets get in the way of proper crisis management--you may find yourself in a whole heap of trouble if you do.