DYI PR – Saving Money During a Tight Economy. Self-Managed PR & News Distribution.

Mark Karmond  /  October 10, 2023 13:09 EDT

^{Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash}

 

Don't get us wrong, using a PR / Marketing Firm has benefits, especially with their industry expertise.

Unfortunately, cutbacks can't always be avoided during a down economy when sales are slow and the economy is tight.

Unfortunately, one of the first places businesses cut back is PR and Marketing, which doesn't always seem to make sense. Wouldn't changing your messaging during these times be more effective than cutting out your marketing or PR?

Writing your press releases and managing your PR basics is not overcomplicated for a small business, particularly for smaller businesses and organizations. All you need is a bit of time and an idea. We aren't talking about 'reputation management' and putting our fires using PR; we are keeping this basic and talking about writing a press release to garner some attention for a smaller business. 

Here is a 10,000 ft view.

It would be best to think of a unique angle of the story you will send to the media.

Write your press release and send it to them.

There is more to it than that; these are the very high-level basics.

When you think of a unique angle of your story, depending on your industry, it will reflect what type of news you are trying to get out there.

For instance, if you are a local ski organization talking about a community member who just won a ski race, that would be considered a value add for a journalist to write about.

Let's go back roughly 12 years ago and pretend you are a local bike store that is the FIRST to carry an e-bike. This story would be fantastic, particularly if you do not try to write the press release like a sales pitch and talk more about the benefits of an e-bike and how e-bikes can open a whole new world to those either partially disabled or physically challenged.   

Nowadays, writing a press release about an e-bike would fall flat on its face because every bike store carries e-bikes, and there is no unique angle to the story.

The key to a press release is finding what separates you from everyone else and why your audience should care.

Once you figure that out, writing a press release is not that difficult. Check out this article on 'How to Write an Effective Press Release.' Or this article: 'Tips on Sending a Press Release'

About PR Karma
PR Karma is a self-managed public relations platform that makes sending press releases to journalists within your region easy and affordable. We also include a full blown newsroom to make it easier for the media to get the information they need to write a story.