This guest post is part of our ongoing Small Business Experts series, and is written by Shakira Brown, co-founder of Best Business Mastery in New Jersey.
I know of a small yet somewhat successful business that just doesn’t understand what it takes to get to the next level after 35 years. Even when someone like me, an award-winning public relations and marketing expert, advised the company’s owners to spend a little money on advertising, a resistance to spending money continues to hold the fledgling company back like a ball and chain. Instead of becoming profitable, this struggling company continues to linger on the hopes of press releases with soft news no one cares about and printed marketing letters with no real message. It is nothing more than a waste of time.
For certain companies, public relations cannot be the end all. Companies with high goals of success must spend money to make money. Before the internet, the main purpose of a press release was to share news with the press for valuable coverage. You either had to send your press release directly to journalists or pay top dollar for a newswire service. Today, if you can write and use a computer, you have the tools necessary to post a press release for free on one of the many free press release repositories on the internet, that syndicate releases via RSS feeds and the like.
As a public relations and marketing professional, I can say that there is still value in true PR initiatives such as securing a feature editorial article in a media outlet that your clients and customers may listen to, read or watch. But simple press releases are not the answer to improve the bottom-line of your business.
Best Business Mastery Tip: One of the most important aspects of being a business leader is the ability to understand what it takes to get to the top. Those who are successful today recognized the importance of spending money on strategies to garner the exposure necessary to elevate them to the next level. Even many of the greatest PR stunts in history had a price tag attached to them. The best kind of publicity isn’t free.
Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group empire, knows how to spend money to get publicity. He consistently displays a P.T. Barnum-like command of publicity and showmanship to gain priceless cachet for the Virgin brand. Many of his PR stunts are costly and quite frankly dangerous. Insuring his stunts alone must cost a fortune. Nevertheless, he gets the attention he seeks for his business.
So if you have hesitated about spending money on your business, think again. Invest in all facets of public relations and marketing to elevate your business profile in order to build a profitable enterprise.
