If you’re an entrepreneur with a SME, you’ve probably spent a lot of your time focussing on how to start and maintain your business, but not much time considering how to take it to the next level.  It’s easy to get side tracked by the daily grind with things like orders and invoicing, client meetings, HR and payroll, to name but a few.  As a small business or sole trader it also means working within limited means, and without a large marketing or advertising budget it can be difficult to get noticed.

So how do you stand out from the crowd, and how can public relations help you to do this?

Here are our 5 quick tips to boost your SME’s PR activity:

1. Be Strategic

If you have a clear set of objectives and know which services you want to promote it’s much easier to refine your key messages and ensure you’re not delivering a confused agenda.  Focus on one thing at a time to achieve the best results.

2. Target Your Audience

If your objective is to get more customers then find out what your ideal customers are reading, watching or listening to so that you can reach them effectively.  Similarly, if you want to attract sponsors or forge links with other businesses you’ll need to do some research and find out which publications have a good business section or if there is any specialist media you should be contacting.

3. Find Your Hook

If one of your objectives is to get into the local or regional news, then you have to have a decent story to start with.  This could be anything you feel is relevant to your business or customers.  As a general rule, human interest stories, charitable links and community stories are a really good starting point for getting your name out there. 

4. Be Social

We’re not just talking about social media here, although it is important in the digital age to develop an online presence (more on this later).  We mean get your face out there, attend events, enter awards and speak to as many people as possible.  Sometimes good PR is showing that you’re passionate and good at what you do, and you never know who you might meet.

5. Evaluate and Repeat

Did your PR efforts work? What did you achieve? Would you try anything different next time?

Taking a step back and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your activity will help you to understand what will work well in the future,  because the best PR activity is continuous and sustained.

For more PR hints and tips keep following our blog where we’ll be posting regular updates.