Many business people are unsure of, or unclear what PR is; is it advertising, marketing, press releases or what?
PR – #PublicRelations – is just that – what YOUR relationship and the face of your business is to the public, your existing and potential customers.
- “getting caught at doing something good”
- releasing info on awards you have won
- charity or community work putting business in the public eye.
- establishing someone from your company as an “expert” that the media turns to when they need expert opinions or facts on the subject of a story they are doing (print, radio, TV, Social Media, etc).
Having someone handling what info gets put out is generally a good idea, especially for a small business. It is better to have someone other than the owner or manager of a business, a professional at PR, telling what your business and you are doing and how you are giving back to your community. Sometimes an owner (or manager) can put the info out with the incorrect emphasis, where it may be perceived as advertising, rather than a public interest story.
A PR person also knows what is trending, what people are talking about, topics and events that are time sensitive and current, and knows how to showcase and promote your business with the emphasis on the right points. A business owner or a manager (or your marketing person) should be also involved in #localcharities or #communityevents.
Writing and distributing Press Releases in the proper format, using the buzz words and trending topics, and distribution are so important to getting your info “picked up”; showing how a business (and owner & staff) are real people doing real-life things.
Advertising and publicity just about what products or services a business offers is not always enough of a “recommendation” – you need to show the “heart” of your business.
Public relations is the practice of deliberately managing the release and spread of information between an individual or an organization and the public. Public relations and publicity differ in that PR is controlled internally, whereas publicity is not controlled and contributed by external parties. Wikipedia
So as salespeople and almost everyone in business has heard at least once – something you presented, proposed, planned got the reaction “It Didn’t Work” from your client.
Well, 99% of the time #ItDidn’tWork BECAUSE they did not follow it exactly or fully. When, as a business owner, you try to save $$, sometimes it winds up costing more or being a waste of the $$ spent.
Marketing, Advertising, Promotional and PR plans are called plans because they are not a ONE STEP ANSWER to increasing business. When a business owner doesn’t follow or implement ALL of the steps in a plan, it is NOT the plan that didn’t work – it’s the partial or incorrect execution of it that doesn’t give the results expected.
So, as a salesperson or consultant make sure you stress the importance of following your plan or program fully. IF the owner is not willing to do it right, then it is better for you to advise them NOT to do it in a partial, or pick and choose method. Because when it doesn’t work, you will get the blame.
And as an owner, if you are not open fully to the ideas, or do not have confidence in the plan or person….then don’t do it. There is no point asking for advice and then not following it or not following it fully. On the flip side, do not follow blindly, make sure the salesperson or consultant has a proven track record, has references and has a really good working knowledge of YOUR particular business and industry, not just their own product or plan.
Not following all the steps is like planning and preparing to serve a great dinner, then using the wrong ingredients or spices, or not cooking it at all and expecting it to be great.
It Doesn’t Work!
Owning and operating a business is hard, and sometimes it’s hard to spend money on a marketing and advertising plan or program that has no guarantees. Let’s face it though, there are NO GUARANTEES.
But, again if you do it right you can expect results. And if you do not do anything, most likely nothing will happen or change. Many businesses throughout the years have said “It didn’t work” – generally, they are no longer in business.
It’s like raising prices and wondering why your business isn’t making more money. 10-15% of existing customers are lost when prices go up, especially in the restaurant industry. If you cannot afford to lose them, or cannot generate enough new customers to replace and surpass that number, think about what effect raising prices will have.
There are better ways to increase sales and profits. Watch for next blog with some ideas and stories about small changes than can bring big results!
We have probably all heard of Secret Shoppers and thought they were used mostly in big retail businesses. We have all heard of corporate spies! With face masks now common, everyone looks like a secret shopper.
They can be a valuable asset to a small business almost more than to the big corporations.
#SecretShoppers come in to your business, ask questions, try or buy your products or services, and report back to you, the business owner. Just sending someone in and saying let me know what you think is not the way to do it – there are a series of questions a Secret Shopper should answer, so you, the owner, get the right info and feedback. (I have a form with a great set of questions). The way you compensate and treat the Secret Shopper is also very important.
You want the info to actually help you if changes are needed – you want to see and experience what a customer does. If you don’t use the info gathered properly, it was a waste of time and money to even use a Secret Shopper approach.
Secret Shoppers accomplish a few things, one of which is creating a new customer (the Secret Shopper) and a spokesperson. If they enjoy their experience, after you give the OK, they will then tell other people firsthand about your business, and how they helped.
But – you do have to be prepared for potentially bad feedback. When an owner or manager is on-site, staff – and their interactions with customers – are usually pretty different than when no one is watching over them.
Many owners say the info they got back was not helpful — because it was not what they wanted to hear, or it different from what they saw when they were on-site. They then do not make any adjustments and, of course, say secret shoppers are waste of time.
What you do with the info is also extremely important – if you ignore what you do not like or want to hear, and do nothing, it will accomplish nothing. Getting info to help fix small problems before they become BIG problems is so important to a small business, which typically does not have the luxury of waiting for things like the virus shut-downs and decrease in customers to get better, and go back to normal. Face it, normal will NOT be the normal we used to have, it will be a #NewNormal – and businesses that adapt and get creative will survive it.
Secret Shoppers are just one of the creative and inexpensive ways to help increase your share of the limited budgets people now have to spend. Don’t wait until it’s too late to help your business. You invested too much time, effort and money not to keep it going.
More ways to help keep your business afloat coming. Check out BestMarketingNC.com for info on our services.