As a smaller business in competition with large corporations boasting vast marketing budgets, the average SME is clearly operating at something of a disadvantage when it comes to getting their voice heard, but a successful PR strategy can actually help to turn these disadvantages into plus points. An SME may be smaller, yes, but it is also much more flexible, lacking the structural complexity which tends to slow down decision making within larger businesses and thus able to react much more quickly and nimbly to changing circumstances. As the owner of an SME with a coherent PR structure in place, for example, you will be able to react quickly to topical events and news stories which might impact on your business offer, reaching out to customers and prospective customers and creating a two way conversation which larger businesses often find it hard to replicate. The right PR can turn a disadvantage – your business is small and runs on relatively low budgets – into an advantage – you can interact directly with your markets and target markets and build genuine relationships.
Anyone in any doubt about the need to adopt a rigorous and thought through PR strategy should bear one simple fact in mind; all of your competitors will be doing precisely that. In a global marketplace and online connectivity these competitors include some of the biggest companies in the world as well as those operating on a smaller scale. Whilst the PR effort of the larger companies is plain to see all around us – in the media we read, watch and listen to, and the social media we consume – the PR strategy of those companies which are competing at the same level and for the same market share as your own will be based upon ensuring that, when the topic of your particular field of expertise comes up, it’s their name which is being discussed, mentioned and evaluated rather than yours.
Developing a PR strategy, and working with the professionals who can deliver that strategy, will mean two things above all else; the message which you convey through every communication and piece of marketing is consistent, honed and aimed at transmitting a clear image of who you are and what you do, and that message will be reaching audiences which have been researched and targeted with the maximum impact and return on investment in mind.
Your PR effort shouldn’t be an addition to your business, it should be an integral part of it, both reflecting and informing the way in which you deliver your goods and services and the value which you aim to provide for customers. When you sit down to draw up a PR strategy for the next year take a long hard look, firstly, at what you did this year, analysing the actions which were effective in cutting through and taking a step back to ask yourself exactly what you can say about yourself which will catch the interest of those with no investment in your success. Again, this is something which an outside agency, bringing a degree of detachment and wider PR experience in general, will be best placed to deliver and implement. The idea that no publicity is bad publicity is a cliché and also incorrect, but it’s doubtless true to say that no publicity whatsoever, as in no PR effort, is definitely a bad thing for any business aiming to get noticed, compete and grow.
