Top Tactics of Public Relations for Small Businesses
The tactics of public relations are different for small businesses than they are for larger businesses. If your small business is working on growing brand awareness and increasing customer engagement, you’ll want to make sure to employ all of these tactics of public relations in your business plan:
- Establish A Strong Social Media Presence
One of the most important tactics of public relations success for small businesses is establishing a strong and trusted social media presence. That involves not only posting to social media frequently but also establishing yourself as the go-to expert in your field and in your area. A great place to start is by posting graphics to your social media platforms with answers to questions you frequently receive from customers. Additionally, don’t forget to post your successes to social media. For example, pictures of completed projects with positive customer testimonials can quickly draw in new clients!
2. Start Sending Out A Monthly Newsletter
Keep your business at the top of current customers’ minds with a well-designed newsletter. In your newsletter you can highlight any discounts or deals your offering, tease your most recent blog posts, and encourage your customers to follow you on social media. However, it’s important to keep in mind that while newsletters are an incredibly useful tool for maintaining customer engagement, it is also one of the tactics of public relations that frequently gets misused by small businesses. In order to avoid your customers marking your newsletters as spam, it’s important to make sure you give customers the option to sign up for your newsletter rather than automatically signing them up. It’s also vital you keep your newsletter engaging and offer material that your customers will truly be interested in reading.
3. Publish Monthly Blog Posts
Well written blog posts can shoot your website to the top of Google search results and provide you with plenty of material to fill your social media and newsletter with. One of the most important tactics of public relations to keep in mind when writing blog posts is choosing relevant keywords. For example, if your local business is a pet store in Bozeman, Montana then you’ll want to use phrases that people searching for pet stores in Bozeman, Montana might use in a search engine. That means your blog post keywords will be phrases like “where to buy dog food in Bozeman” or “best pet stores in Bozeman.” A strategic communications firm, like 406 Strategic Communications, can assist you in choosing the best keywords for your blog posts to grab your customers’ attention and rank highly on search engines.
4. Keep Your PR Presence Consistent
These tactics of public relations will only be successful if you use them consistently. For example, If you post a few blog posts and then get busy and don’t post again for another 6 months, you are unlikely to see any positive results. One way to ensure consistent PR presence is by hiring a strategic communications firm to assist you in creating and posting content consistently. That way, if you get busy, your small business’ marketing and PR efforts won’t fall to the wayside. To learn more about hiring a strategic communications firm to assist in meeting your PR goals, contact 406 Strategic Communications.