It was said in the beginning that if your business is not online you are nowhere. Then came the saying, if you are not on social media, then you are invisible.
Most start-ups find themselves in a bind when it comes to publicize their product or services, especially in this day and age of blogs. There are too many platforms to be on top of these days.
There are ways you can stand out and chart your own narrative by maintaining a blog of your own or contributing to a highly visited blog on issues that would interest your targeted audience. The free advice or tips, without tying to push your product or service down the audience’s throats will help you in subtly spreading your business online.
This is what we call, Online PR. Here are some questions you can ask yourself before launching into online PR.
1. Identify what’s unique about your business. What do you offer that’s new to the marketplace and differs from your competition? Are you the only company to offer something like this? This would include educating the public through blog posts or interviews on exactly you are doing. It is an inexpensive way to get the word round especially for a new product.
2. Understand the needs of your target audience. Your audience doesn’t want to hear how “wonderful” your business is, they want to hear about the solutions you provide to their problem. Giving free tips and observation will make you not look too selfish, which most people love.
3. Become a thought leader. Establishing “street cred” is a proven technique to reach the right audience. An expert point of view can also help to drive more traffic to your site. If you are well known in the field, people will believe what you are selling. Simple? Not really. It takes a lot of effort to become an authority in a certain field. Blogging about the business on a regular basis will elevate your status.
4. Distribute press releases. A well-written press release that is distributed to the proper channels can entice the media to share news about your business. Editorial coverage goes a long way toward driving brand awareness. When doing a press release, think of what the majority of the public would want to hear. How does it make sense to them? Editors hate “blow your trumpet” kind of pressers.
