Publicity is one of the best ways to gain exposure for a brand. Not only because you get a chance to present to a potentially larger audience, but because it allows you to be specific with your targeting, tell your story and give updates about your business. One of the best ways to gain exposure for a brand, if not the best way, is to have someone else advocate for you.
1. Brand Awareness
Well, one of the main reasons to use Public Relations is to build brand awareness. What good is a great product or service if only a small group of people actually know about it. Considering that not everyone who hears about your brand will actually patronize it, you want as many people to know about your business as possible. Even just someone being able to say they heard about your brand could encourage another person to consider buying into your product or service. Being brought up in the topic of conversation surrounding the market you’re in is imperative to your success in grabbing a sizable market share.
2. Target Marketing
Sending out a press release with a media outlet that engages a similar audience allows you to be specific about who you target. For example, if your business is health-related, you can choose to submit a press release to health-related media outlets such as websites, magazines and radio shows. This increases your chances of reaching the right audience. Plus, it gives you a bigger front print of market share. Not only that, it allows you to identify yourself and your brand as an expert in your market.
3. To tell your Story
Aside from hearing about your marketing campaigns and what you have for sale, people also want to know your story. Distributing a press release gives you the opportunity to give people an inside look at your brand. Press releases are meant to be newsworthy information, so you’ll have to do more than just mention what you have for sale for it to be accepted by the media. By telling your story, you have a better chance of someone actually patronizing you, because they’ll have a better understanding of your brand and why it exists.
4. Give Updates
In addition to utilizing press releases to tell a story, they can also be used to give the community updates about your business. If you have an event coming up or you’re working on a new project, distributing a press release is arguably the best way to announce it to people. It can also be used to promote the release or launch of a new product or service, however you want it to be more focused more on how that product or service will benefit the community than the actual product or service itself.
Ultimately, if you want to maximize your reach, you want to make sure that Public Relations is in your budget. It’s one of the best ways to build brand awareness and trust, it gives you a competitive advantage in your market, and it allows you to tell your background story and share updates with the community.
-Marsha
Marsha Guerrier is a bestselling author, speaker, trainer, business analyst, business coach, and CEO of HerSuiteSpot®, a MWBE and SBE certified small business consulting and coaching agency that provides online and in-person support to early stage female founders looking to accelerate their business.