Entrepreneurship is all around us. Freelancers, who are also called solo or micro-entrepreneurs, are part of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises. The term “gig economy” is widely used but, unfortunately, downplays the desire to work for yourself because it implies that you’d be hustling for small gigs. The opposite is usually the case.
Public relations (which is abbreviated as PR) is the discipline which enables entrepreneurs to recognise and present their value, know-how and benefits to the public, which is necessary for sustainable business development.
In order to generate sales, you really need to boost your brand awareness, word of mouth, loyalty as well as referrals however that’s a time consuming process, and all these elements are interconnected.
SMEs Have A Very Tight Budget
As we all know far too well, smaller businesses, in addition to start-ups, have particularly tight budgets, limited resources as well as sensitive cash flows. This makes it a challenge to develop and successfully implement an effective PR and marketing strategy. However, if you don’t invest time and energy in this area, how will anyone even know who you are in addition to what you do? You’re setting yourself up for failure if you don’t pay attention to this area.
In a perfect world, of course, you would hire professionals who would support you in terms of establishing your marketing strategy. However, this is not constantly feasible owing to financial restraints. In these situations, it’s very important that business owners and entrepreneurs know enough about PR and marketing in order to enable them to initiate a strategy, or work with freelance support effectively.
Public Relations And Advertising Are Not Synonyms For Each Other
Paid advertisements are the way in which a company represents itself. A PR campaign, conversely, creates unpaid, organic contact between a business and its audience in order to build brand awareness. PR is about third-party credibility. This is an unbiased person who is genuinely saying, ‘I love this brand.’
A sponsored post on Instagram, for instance, is advertising. However when a company sends a blogger a product to utilise, and the blogger genuinely likes it and posts about it, that is termed as PR. Being mentioned as a source in a newspaper article, featured in a magazine or being on a talk show are other usual forms of PR. Sending press releases about company announcements counts.
PR is about creating the most positive image of your company which you can then share with the public. If that’s through traditional media or social media, PR means getting your name out there as well as building your business’s image.
PR Is For Anyone
The communication discipline PR is for everyone, regardless of the size or stage of your business. It’s about actively communicating what you and your business stand for in the channels where you find your target audience. This allows you to be able to attract the network you need to thrive and to reach awareness for your brand, whether it’s your personal brand or an associated brand with services or products.
Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing
Would you like to discover more about Digital PR? If you do then you need to do our Digital Public Relations Course. Follow this link to find out more.
