Advertising your business on social media or search engines will not quite get you there. In most cases, you would have to spend more than a third of your business’s gross income on advertising to gain the awareness you need for your product or service to become profitable within a year. For most businesses, that is more than their net income. What you and your business need is a story. Better yet, you need a profile feature in a publication or other media outlet about you and your business that takes people on a journey through how you came up with your product or service and the trials and tribulations of getting it off the ground. A research study conducted by Ohio State University showed that having profile articles along with advertising can give a business almost six times the return on investment (ROI) than just advertising alone.
We live in an era of instant information gratification, which means that if someone is interested in purchasing a product or service, they will not be swayed by bland web pages, a few listings, and advertisements; instead, they will move on to something that will grab more of their attention with insider information about a “better customer provider” – and that’s when they come across a business story that goes far beyond their ad messages.
The human condition wants to be swayed by a story. These stories are typically handled by public relations firms that create publicity for the company and its owners. If you can’t afford the amount of money it costs to hire a PR firm, then read below for tips on what and how to do impressive PR work for yourself and your business to reap the benefits of a great story.
The Shark Tank Effect – We’ve all seen Shark Tank, or at least a few outtakes from the NBC network show where entrepreneurs demonstrate their products or services to a group of celebrity investors, hoping that one or more of them will become investors in their business venture. What most people don’t realize is that a good portion of these entrepreneurs are not really interested in having a celebrity investor mentor them or guide them in the supply chain.
Most of these savvy entrepreneurs are pretty confident about what they have already accomplished, so watching them ask for outrageous deals that get them booted from the show is actually part of their plan. Standing their ground is part of their story. These entrepreneurs paid a PR firm to get them on Shark Tank, only to fail to close a deal. This happened to Ring Doorbell. It went from being an obscure camera gimmick to being the most popular security camera in the world for the past several years with Amazon purchasing it for $1 Billion. Yet they were shunned by every celebrity investor on their Shark Tank debut.
The Millennial Way To “Gloat” For Success Another show that entrepreneurs clamor to get on is CNBC’s Make It. A cable network show with a popular YouTube following highlighting stories that are mostly about millennial entrepreneurs and how they’ve become independently wealthy against all odds with a product or service they’ve cultivated. It’s much easier to get on this show than Shark Tank, but you must have a certain amount of accomplishment in your business for them to consider you. Here’s their casting application.
Ads Are Just Reminders Of A Great Story – Now, most businesses may not have a glamorous story like Ring Doorbell but they do have a story when it comes to why they want to service their customers. A PR campaign is great for creating a storyline and inserting these stories in magazines, TV shows and websites. Potential customers and clients are reminded about the business’s story subconsciously when they come across their ads later, giving them more authority than their competitors who only advertise.
How to Become Your Own PR Rep If you can’t afford a public relations firm to help you with your story, you can reach out to online magazines and websites on your own through their social media accounts or their contact page on their website. Send them a well-written introduction about your business and why they should interview you. Depending on the publication, they may treat your inquiry as a press release and will charge a fee ranging from $250 to $4,000. Others will interview you and set up an interview. Our parent company, RelyOnPros, offers free interviews via their Q&A page. Depending on the response to your press release or interview, you may end up in one of their print publications or even on one of their magazine covers.
In summary, continuously “gloating” about your business may be the one strategy that keeps you from overspending on advertising and leaning on becoming the lead authority for your product or service. May it be locally, nationally, or worldwide. PR and advertising both support brand development and audience communication. The primary distinction between the two is that public relations outcomes earn trust and can build your authority with consumers for years, while advertising is a continuous reminder of your authority that is paid for on a regular basis.
