Written by: Annette Densham, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The question to ask when things are not ‘normal’ is, do you want to remain the best-kept secret, struggling to get attention?
Many have reduced their marketing and PR budgets as the uncertainty reigns supreme. It is an easy way to save money at a time we are all looking to cut costs. But will this approach cost more in the long run? For some industries and niches, things have slowed down, and now is a good time to pull the proverbial finger out and get to work on the marketing actions you put off when things were busy. Act in areas you have been avoiding because you don’t know how — not sure why — and just a little bit afraid of what might happen if it works.
With things go slow, it’s time to focus on building your online presence, focusing on lead generation, and rejigging your offering, if necessary. It’s time to ramp up your marketing and PR.
Don’t wait until the status quo improves; by the time things are back to ‘normal,’ the business that took advantage of getting their marketing in order will leave you in the cluttered space as one of the crowd.
Here are five things PR-wise you can do now to be more visible. They are simple, easy to implement, may make you a little uncomfortable, but they’re effective profile-building strategies.
1. Create an editorial calendar
Grab a piece of paper and brain dump all the problems you solve in your business – how do you help people, make lives better, inspire, motivate, or fix things? The list then becomes your story list – you should have approximately 10 to 15 - from these, you can write a piece you can use as a blog, convert to an article for a business publication or do a Facebook live.
You can also go to the publications you want to be featured in and ask for their advertising calendar where they published the themes for each edition, so you can match stories to their themes.
Or go to https://www.ourcommunity.com.au/calendar/, where every significant day for the next 12 months is listed. You can use these days to align with what you do. It is a great tool for inspiration.
2. Newsjack
Newsjacking is the art of taking a story from the current news cycle and adding your flavor, voice, or opinion to it. Every morning go through the Google news or your news site of choice to find stories you can add to the conversation. This PR strategy means you must act quickly – we live in a 24/7 frantic news cycle. To send your angle, find the journalist’s name and contact them with your take on the story. It may or may not be picked up, but if it is, this is a great way to get attention.
3. Get your news in front of a journalist using video
The good old media release is not dead and is a great tool to get a story angle across to the media, but what if you took it one step further? It takes approximately three to five minutes to read an email pitch and a media release; we live in a time-poor world where every second counts. Instead of sending a written media release, send a video on. You can share your news in under 60 seconds via video. Keep it light, bright, and tight – stick to the facts – upload it to YouTube or another video sharing platform and send it to your contact with a short pitch email.
4. Facebook Lives and Instagram Stories
With likes gone from Instagram feed content and Facebook feeds always changing, using stories and video to reach your audience should be a bigger focus. The key to good social media marketing in the new decade is to keep it real – yes, authentic (I groaned when I wrote that, but there is nothing more engaging than posting genuine, real stories that people can relate to). Do not forget LinkedIn. It is no longer just a professional networking site; it is a rich feed of interesting and useful content…and video is going to play a bigger part of this platform in 2020. You may not think your ideal audience is there, but they are; if they are human, have problems, and need solutions, they are waiting for you to show up consistently and authentically.
5. Livestream radio and independent TV
Ahron Young hit the airwaves in 2019 with his take on TV programming with Ticker TV. Featuring a range of programs, Ticker TV is a professional and ad-free unconventional news channel broadcast live on Facebook and Twitter with a focus on technology, innovation, aviation, business, and breaking news. For people sick of mainstream news, with a bit of nous and drive, this is an option (but you must do it well). People are hungry for good old fashion storytelling without clickbait drama and fake news. Or, if you are not up to starting your own channel, approach those who have and offer yourself up as a guest.
Next steps
What do you do with all this content you are producing; the media stories you appear, the interviews on radio and TV? You share the daylights out of the links to get as much exposure as possible. Repurposing and leverage are your friends. The worst thing you can do in business is not share – your wins, achievements, losses, challenges, hiccups, and hurdles. People want to know. When people know, like, and trust you, they do business with you, but you must be out there, so they know you exist.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Annette!
Annette Densham, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Multi-award-winning PR specialist Annette Densham is considered the go-to for all things business storytelling, award submission writing, and assisting business leaders in establishing themselves as authorities in their field. She has shared her insights into storytelling, media, and business across Australia, UK, and the US speaking for Professional Speakers Association, Stevie Awards, Queensland Government, and many more. Three times winner of the Grand Stevie Award for Women in Business, gold Stevie International Business Award, and a finalist in Australian Small Business Champion awards, Annette audaciously challenges anyone in small business to cast aside modesty, embrace their genius and share their stories.
