Underestimating the Power of In-house PR

Written by Carolyn Moncel


Underestimatingrepparttar Power of In-house PR

by Carolyn Moncel Do small-business owners always have to rely on large PR agencies to get attention fromrepparttar 104974 press? An entrepreneur recently asked me this question during a networking event for women business owners. Of course my answer was, "No," but not forrepparttar 104975 reasons one might expect.

Ultimately, I do believerepparttar 104976 time comes when a company needs professional guidance from a PR agency -- be it a large or small one -- to secure media coverage. But I also believe that a really media savvy small-business owner, or a two-person marketing team can do a fantastic job in promoting an organization. Here's how I know it can work.

A few years ago duringrepparttar 104977 dot.com boom, I worked for a small online publishing company. We had a terrific technical team and staff, two great products, but no one knewrepparttar 104978 company existed. As a start-up, it was crucial forrepparttar 104979 company to gain awareness through media exposure because advertising was too expensive.

Since our marketing department only consisted of two people --repparttar 104980 marketing director and myself, there was a bit of concern withinrepparttar 104981 organization as to whether we had enough in-house resources available to successfully getrepparttar 104982 company much-needed ink. Sorepparttar 104983 company's executive team hatched an interesting plan. They offered our in-house marketing teamrepparttar 104984 chance to bid onrepparttar 104985 company's PR project as if we were an outside agency.

My experience had always been in public relations, rather than product marketing. My boss' experience had always beenrepparttar 104986 opposite. We seizedrepparttar 104987 opportunity to combine our knowledge, skills and research.

Our tiny two-person team matched PR wits squarely against four established pros - including one former White House aide. Guess what? Our ideas prevailed, andrepparttar 104988 company decided to ditchrepparttar 104989 notion of hiring a big PR firm in favor of keepingrepparttar 104990 in-house team.

Before long we were generating some memorable press for our company. Over a two-year period we placed stories on our company in more than 100 media outlets - from MSNBC and Forbes torepparttar 104991 Wall Street Journal and Wired News online. We did it by studying whatrepparttar 104992 big PR agencies did well, and also by using our department's "smallness" to our advantage. Here's how you can do it, too.

Research your company.

Forget that you own or work withinrepparttar 104993 organization. Really investrepparttar 104994 time in understanding your company's structure,repparttar 104995 executives and their backgrounds,repparttar 104996 products and technology,repparttar 104997 industry in which your company belongs, competitors and experts, and most of allrepparttar 104998 target audience --repparttar 104999 people who stand to benefit most from your product or service. If you know all of this information, then you'll be in a better position to brainstorm ideas on how to getrepparttar 105000 media's attention. Doing this also helps in flushing out your overall marketing plan -- which PR is only a part.

What to Say When the Media Calls

Written by Carolyn Moncel


Ifrepparttar media were to call you today for an interview, would you know what to do or say? That question was posed during a recent conference on small-business ownership and micro enterprise creation, which was held here in Paris. I watchedrepparttar 104973 reactions aroundrepparttar 104974 room, and it occurred to me that for most small-business owners,repparttar 104975 only thing more frightening than conducting a follow-up phone call with a reporter is having that same reporter actually interview them.

There is only one way to overcomerepparttar 104976 fear. You have to simply adopt and apply an old U.S. Army recruitment slogan, "Be Prepared." Don't get caught without an answerrepparttar 104977 next timerepparttar 104978 media calls. Follow these quick tips for success:

Askrepparttar 104979 reporter to describerepparttar 104980 subject and story angle forrepparttar 104981 interview.

Establishrepparttar 104982 medium forrepparttar 104983 interview (i.e. live or taped television, print, radio, etc.)

Discover when (date and time) and where (by phone, e-mail or in person)repparttar 104984 interview will take place. Also try to determine ifrepparttar 104985 reporter will need additional information from you, as well asrepparttar 104986 story's deadline.

Researchrepparttar 104987 reporter's past articles so that you'll be comfortable withrepparttar 104988 story's tone.

Create talking points. These are brief positive statements about you and your company that you will want to be included inrepparttar 104989 story.

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