Articles
by Stacey Ackerman, M.A.
There is a fine line between advertising and public relations, and it's one that often gets blurred. As a business owner, it's important to distinguish these differences and maximize each one's potential.
The fundamental difference is that you pay for advertising; it blatantly gets your message across and usually has a call to action or enhances brand recognition. You also have complete control over what is said, when it's said, what it looks like and how your message is communicated.
Public relations, on the other hand is free publicity, but its message is very different. Public relations (specifically media relations) is a way to tell your story in a much more in depth way. What you are presenting is a story idea, and typically the reporter will then take your information and write what she desires, without having to get your approval.
Do not to expect your public relations campaign to sell your product or service, even if that is your ultimate goal. What you are really selling the reporter on is empathy, loyalty or something that readers can relate to with your product or service. To effectively sell yourself through PR, you need to be able to think like a journalist, not like a business owner. Journalists really despise a blatant ad campaign in a press release. They will either hit "delete" before opening the e-mail, or they will forward it to their ad sales representative.
You need to step outside your world to find out what readers want to know about your business. To find out what this story may be, think of a client that really benefited from your services, or an employee who has a unique story to tell. I find heartwarming stories or ones that jive with current events get the most buzz.
Some favorite stories that I have helped clients tell are: a fitness trainer who wanted more clients. We used his mother to tell the story, who is 70 years old and is also becoming a certified fitness trainer, to share how she is helping seniors get into better shape. This story aired on the 10 p.m. news and headlined, "Pump You Up."
Another client, a life coach in the early stages of her business, wanted to gain credibility and empathy among potential clients. Her story, headlining, "Discovering Your Path," in Best of Times, a newspaper for senior citizens, was about her personal career change at age 70 and how she can relate to her clients' life changes.
I also worked with a pastor, whose congregants hired me to get more exposure for their church. The article that came out in This Week, Sept. 16, headlined, "Building a community of open hearts and open minds," was about how this church embraces liberalism.
Public relations is an inexpensive way for your small businesses to gain exposure, credibility and to tell its story. It is one area of marketing, however, that is often overlooked because it is time consuming and often takes an outside perspective to make it work.
The key elements for an effective public relations campaign are: 1) A newsworthy hook; 2) Proper journalistic writing style; and 3) The pitch. A newsworthy hook means it has to appeal to the publication's readers just as much as it conveys your message. The proper journalistic writing style means putting the "who", "what", "where", "when", "why" and "how" in the leading paragraph and following it with less important details. There is also a writing form called Associated Press (AP) Style, which has specific grammatical guidelines, ones that are quite different than you learned in English class. Finally, journalists are bombarded with hundreds of stories each day, so persistence and follow-up is key. You need to be able to give the reporter a 10 second reason why he should publish your story.
When the power of public relations works in your favor, it instantly gives your business credibility and tells your story in a way that no advertisement ever could. While advertising is an important aspect of marketing your business, make sure to combine it with some PR spin—your campaign will go a lot further.
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