Originally written by Stephanie Spicer on Small Business
Building a small business reputation needs good public relations (PR) yet all too often smaller businesses think PR is the preserve of their much larger rivals. They argue that Bill Gates may well have said “if I was down to my last business dime, I’d spend it on PR” but he’s not that poor. Gates has lots of money, whereas in many smaller organisations the marketing spend is tight and PR feels like a luxury.
It’s extremely unfortunate that they feel this way, as one thing PR does incredibly well is make smaller companies appear bigger. That’s partly because we are conditioned to assume only larger organisations are doing PR. However, it’s also because of its amplifying power.
PR is a crucial tool in an organisation’s marketing armoury. Among other things, it helps establish a business’ reputation. It reinforces whatever it wants to be known for – its expertise, authority, market leadership, innovation, quirkiness, the things that make it special – plus, of course, it promotes the features and benefits of its products and services. PR brings to life a company’s personality and proposition among the audiences that matter to it. It shapes hearts and