PR 101 

Your business means everything to you. But the challenge is figuring out how journalists, area leaders with connections and potential clients can also appreciate that meaning.

If your marketing budget is limited, you can take steps to publicize your company. Three experts shared their public relations tips and how to avoid pitfalls that could harm your efforts, or even worse, your company’s reputation.

Who Needs to Know?

Dan Regelski, director of the Small Business Development Center at Florida Gulf Coast University, suggests that owners make a list of 10 people they know who are familiar with their venture, and communicate with them monthly. A second list of 10 people they know, such as through a community organizations, but who are not familiar their company, should be contacted quarterly. A third list of 10 individuals should contain names of those who are influential in the community, including the media.

Media relationships begin with identifying the appropriate editor, writer, broadcaster, radio personality or blogger to cover your story. Read articles to determine what publications, websites and writers focus on your industry, which will help you avoid wasting your time by sending a press release to everybody, says Colleen Reynolds, owner of Fort Myers-based Edge Communities.

What Are You Promoting?

Stick to the facts when sending press releases about a new business, location, employee, product or service, or accomplishment. (Include the five Ws—who, what, where, when and why, Reynolds says.)

If you can’t afford a professional, experts recommend reading white papers published by industry organizations such as the Public Relations Society of America or attending local PR group meetings.

You could get additional publicity for new hires or if your company or employees have received an accreditation, special honor or award, says Phyllis Ershowsky, principal of Fort Myers-based PKE Marketing & PR Solutions. For an item that would appear as a business brief in a publication, the release should not go on for multiple pages, Reynolds says. Also, stay away from writing about highly technical information.

If your business has done something remarkable or different, ask yourself why a reporter would want to cover this story before you contact the media. The media get hundreds of releases a day, all of which the senders think are newsworthy, Regelski says.

"Remember, just because it’s new and interesting to you does not mean it is new and interesting to a reporter," Reynolds says. "Do your homework."

Resist being too sales-focused in a press release. For example, it is OK to announce a new business and to describe your product. But you should not say you are opening a new business and are offering 50 percent off for every new client.

What Do You Expect?

Manage your expectations when you launch a public relations effort.

"Don’t expect a full page feature story on the fact that your business just opened. Be pleasantly surprised if you get larger than a business brief," Reynolds says.

To develop a personal relationship with a reporter, you could ask a reporter out for coffee or call the reporter (without leaving multiple voicemail messages).

"Do not harass a reporter. Keep in mind that they are professionals and they have a job to do," she says.

How Else Can You Get the Word Out?

You have the ability to publish your company’s news on your website, blog, Facebook and other social media tools. Putting your press release online can maximize those efforts by letting others see your expertise.

If your information is published in print or online, you can include that news link on your Facebook page, via Twitter or on your website. "That helps you because you have another opportunity to share that your news was published in a respected publication," Ershowsky says.