The Blog on Branding

Valuable PR Strategies for Everyone

When determining how to organize an effective PR campaign, businesses often focus on tailoring it specifically to their needs. While this is doubtless critical to the success of any PR campaign, it is important to remember that there are some things everyone can–and should–do to improve their PR. This article will review a couple of these, discussing:

• Visual PR
• Follow-up

“You’ll be surprised by these simple, yet effective approaches.”

Visual PR

Over 2000 press releases go out on the web every day on PR Newswire and BusinessWire alone. For anyone attempting to gain some new recognition online, this number seems incredibly daunting. Because of the sheer numbers, PR representatives are struggling to find solid new ways of making their clients more visible. One emerging tactic is to become (you guessed it!) more visual in the PR realm. This decreases the word count and increases the effectiveness of campaigns. A business can attract a customer in a fraction of a second if an image sticks in his/her mind. This is not to say that there should not be written content as well, but becoming more visual will allow PR firms to cater to the type of people that otherwise would never have taken the time to read up on a company.

Follow-Up

Any Intro to Marketing class preaches to its students about the power of retaining customers as opposed to finding new ones. Unfortunately, many small businesses concentrate so intensely on finding new customers that they neglect existing ones. Studies have shown that is about 7 times cheaper to build a long-term relationship with a customer as opposed to searching out new, one-time buyers. This results from the saved time and effort that you would have spent on finding new customers and convincing them to hire you. If you maintain a good relationship with your customers then if all goes as planned, you’ll be the first person they call when they are ready to do business again.

Stacy Karacostas of SuccessStream provides a simple checklist for building long-term relationships with customers:

1) Say Thanks

Handwritten cards are always appreciated. And you don’t have to write them personally. Dictate to an employee with better penmanship. Or use a handy service like SendOutCards that prints cards in your own handwriting and mails them on demand.

2) Give ‘Em a Jingle

When was the last time you called your clients? If it’s been more than 6 months, pick up the phone, say hi, and see how they’re doing. They’ll appreciate and remember your thoughtfulness, and may even hire you again on the spot because they’ve been meaning to call you.

“It’s always nice to keep in touch with old friends, right?”

3) Write Regularly

Every small business should be publishing print and/or email newsletters. The key is making sure you send information that’s helpful or interesting at least once a month. Otherwise, too much time will pass and they’ll forget who you are. Send e-newsletters sporadically at your own risk. People unsubscribe if they don’t remember you or why they wanted your e-newsletter in the first place.

4) Surprise ‘Em

Everyone loves getting more than they expect. So send clients an unexpected and useful gift or bonus whenever possible. Avoid the generic branded pen or calendar and choose something they’ll really appreciate—a favorite book, audio, helpful guides, articles, or tools relevant to what you do for your clients. Chocolates, gift cards for movies or restaurants and other thoughtful items can also work.

5) Do Something Special

Hold an event or give away a product or service as part of a client appreciation day, week, or month. Then let your clients know you have something special going on that’s just for them. Who doesn’t appreciate that?

While some of these suggestions may not be feasible, based on the size of your company and your customer base, it is important to attempt to integrate them as well as you can. These tips will improve the PR campaign of any company, whether it is small and strapped for cash or large and spending millions per year on a highly-developed PR campaign.

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