DIY PR by Penny Haywood Calder

Generally, the high value sales “follow the face”, especially in the early stages of generating business-to-business service sales, even if the sale and most of the service delivery happens online.

1-2-1 networking and building relationships and referrals is key at this stage.
But you can accelerate a business relationship in between seeing people face to face by staying in contact in a thoughtful and helpful way. For example:

1) Provide personalised news snippets – maybe send a link and a note - like a personal Tweet?
2) Keep them up to speed with e-newsletters if you have contact permission and know they'll be interested
3) Hang out online and comment on their blog, answer or comment on their forum posts - that's really good for generating feel-good as many blogs don't generate much feedback.
4) Ring if you have news that could be very useful – keep it light. No pressure.

It's worth keeping in mind when you are desperate for a sale that they tend to come when you don't push. Not everyone is immediately ready or able to buy immediately, so these contact efforts are never about in-your-face selling. It's about being a familiar and trusted contact - and being at the front of their mind when they are ready.

This is the fifth in a series of posts re-visiting some of the 30 low cost or free publicity techniques featured in PHPR's founder's best-selling book: DIYPR, the small business owner's guide to 'free' publicity by Penny Haywood.

The 30 techniques are a mix of digital and offline sales, marketing and PR tools because you need to work all three disciplines (sales, marketing and PR) to effectively boost a business.

That's because:

PR raises awareness.
Marketing describes the features and benefits of your offerings and decides how to position them in the market (positioning for price, gaps in the market, distribution etc versus your competitors).
Sales matches the benefits to an individual buyer's particular needs and handles the mechanics of the sale and after sales service liaison.

As the series develops, choose a few to trial for a few months.

The aim is to work up to 10 varied publicity techniques that work for you and your business to create a rolling PR Plan for success.

Your feedback is most welcome and may be included (with proper attribution) in the forthcoming revised edition of DIY PR.

Labels: boosting your business, business promotion, DIY PR, ecommerce, online sales, PR, public relations, publicity

Small budgets rarely stretch to the really effective levels of advertising. Unless you already have strong design skills, you'll need to buy those in. And ads need to be repeated often to achieve impact. That's the bit most small businesses forget. Many small businesses stop at one insertion, but most people don't notice the first three times an advert runs in most publications.

But what do you do when you need to shift, for example, loads of beds in a hurry? Unless Mary Queen of Scots slept in all of them, they will need to be advertised in the local media on and offline. The clever PR alternatives would just take too much time.

TIP: Google sometimes gives away vouchers for £30 of free AdWords. Mine arrived by post after I registered my business on Google Maps, but sometimes these offers falls out of business magazines.

It helps to have a well-written, optimised site that anticipates the information a buyer might need, and answers that, ending with a clear call to action on every page.

You'll save a lot of money if you think about who you need to reach. Can you reach them any other way?

Would an in-store event work, with treats and discounts for invited existing customers? Or a leaflet drop? Can you ring round guest houses and hotels offering a bulk deal (and take away the old ones to minimise the hassle?). Can you offer matching bedside tables and wardrobes?

Advertising does work if you have a large budget and top creative skills. It can be an expensive first resort for those with smaller pockets.

This is the fourth in a series of posts re-visiting the 30 low cost or free publicity techniques featured in PHPR's founder's best-selling book: DIYPR, the small business owner's guide to 'free' publicity by Penny Haywood. The 30 techniques are a mix of digital and offline sales, marketing and PR tools because you need to work all three disciplines (sales, marketing and PR) to effectively boost a business. As the series develops, choose a few to trial for a few months. The aim is to work up to 10 varied publicity techniques that work for you and your business to create a rolling PR Plan for success.

Your feedback is most welcome and may be included (with proper attribution) in the forthcoming revised edition of DIY PR.

Labels: advertising, DIY PR, ecommerce, PR, PR Edinburgh, public relations, publicity, small businesses, SMEs