PR Guide for Small Business
Searching for some guidance on how to do PR (Public Relations) for your small online business?
Surprise! PR is not just for big businesses with huge marketing budgets. Nor do you need a to hire a professional to benefit from the work of effective PR.
Even a small one-person business can benefit from some solid PR strategies.
So today, let’s learn more about what PR is as well as discover some effective strategies for doing PR on your own (or with a small team).
What is Small Business PR (Public Relations)?
Public relations (PR) is a strategic communication approach that fosters positive relationships with your audience, shaping public perception and showcasing your business’s strengths.
While advertising is paid messaging about your business, PR is organic or earned. Unlike paid advertising, PR builds trust and credibility with your target audience.
Why Does Your Small Business Need Public Relations (PR)?
For small businesses, PR offers some amazing benefits:
- Stronger Brand Image: PR effectively communicates your brand values and builds trust with your target audience. This trust is vital for long-term success and customer loyalty.
- Market Influence: Through compelling storytelling and strategic messaging, PR can shape public perception of your brand and position you as a leader in your industry.
- Valuable Connections: PR fosters connections with industry influencers and other businesses, opening doors to valuable partnerships and collaborations.
- Accelerated Growth. Getting your message out there can improve sales quickly.
- Crisis Management. Effectively navigate and mitigate potential crises.
What Are The Main Elements of PR?
Public relations takes many forms, including:
- Media Relations
- Strategic Communications
- Digital and Social Media Communications
- Internal Communications
- Crisis & Reputation Management
- Community Relations
How To Start Doing PR For Your Small Business
Define Your Goals
What are you looking to achieve from your PR efforts? Do you want to find new audiences or become better known for your expertise? There are no right or wrong answers here. But your goals will influence your overall PR strategy.
Understand Your Audience
Communication is a two-way street. At its most basic level, you must be where your ideal audience is, in order to communicate with them. Start the conversation on Bluesky or Instagram (or wherever) and start to take notes.
But this isn’t just about talking to them. It’s also about listening. It’s important to simply understand them. What motivates them? What drives them: convenience, price, brand prestige, or a lack of alternatives?
Listen to feedback or do some research into what they’re struggling with. Fundamentally, business is all about solving problems. If you want to grow your business, there’s probably some work that you can do here. Are you targeting the right problems? Are you solving those problems in a way that makes sense?
Measure Your Results
There are a lot of different PR strategies that can help boost your brand. But it’s important to start measuring your results, so you know what works and what doesn’t.
For example, you might craft an Instagram campaign that falls flat. Womp womp. (And that’s okay! It’s part of the growth process.) However, if you don’t track the data, maybe you would think that it was successful, leading you to spend more time on a similar campaign in the future. This is obviously not the best use of your time.
Conversely, if you find something that really hits, then you’ll want to consider creating some more opportunities just like it.
Measuring results can include tracking your Google Analytics data, your follows on social media, or your Google Alerts. It depends on your industry and focus.
10 Small Business PR Tactics
1. Find & Tell A Compelling Brand Story
Every small business has a unique narrative. In a small business, that’s often your personal story.
But if you don’t tell your story, you’re missing out on a major opportunity.
Effective PR for small businesses requires crafting a compelling narrative that connects your business’s journey with the lives of your customers or clients. Cohesive storytelling helps build trust and demonstrates the value proposition of your business.
You might look at your life with a certain sense of disinterest. But everyone has a unique story to tell. The better that you tell your story, the easier it will be for your ideal customers and clients to find you.
- What inspired you to launch your business?
- What fuels your continued dedication?
- What is the core purpose that drives you?
Once you’ve found your personal branding core story or business genesis story, then get it out there! Share your business’s origin story on your website, in blog posts, during podcast interviews, and on any other relevant platforms. (You might also have more than one story to share!)
2. Conduct Competitive Analysis
One of the main goals of PR and marketing is to help you stand out from your competitors.
There are a few different ways to do this.
First, I recommend honing in on your unique magic and amplifying that—especially if you’re building a personal brand. There is no one else like you. But you have to show that uniqueness through your style, words, or branding.
Second, it’s also useful to see where your competition is showing up. Which podcasts are they appearing on? Are they getting media attention and if so, from where?
You don’t have to copycat out these exact placements for yourself. But it will give you some inspiration for who you want to work with.
Also: keep an eye out for any missteps by the competition that you can sometimes use to your advantage in your marketing efforts.
Big businesses can do this by throwing more money at ad spend or hiring a bigger or better team. As a small business, you have to rely on your own smarts.
- What do you do that your competitors don’t?
- What makes your work stand out? / How can you make it stand out?
- What’s that one tiny thing that makes your product or service unique?
3. Differentiate Your Product/Service
Create brand recognition through a step-by-step process. It takes time, plenty of brainstorming and research to formulate the best approaches for your business to get recognized.
The most simple way to get in the media or news cycle is to become the news.
That means: do something bigger than the rest. Do something revolutionary. Attack your target problem like a fresh breath of air. If you can make your mission or product stand out in a crowd, the PR will almost happen all by itself.
4. Publish Your Message
A lot of brand building is simply getting your message into the world. So hop to it!
In the past, PR was all about getting your business into print media or on TV—both of which are highly competitive and difficult to achieve. However, these days there aren’t any gatekeepers to get started.
However, many people don’t do this. Why?
There are two major roadblocks I see people run into here:
First, you don’t know where to focus. Substack? A podcast? Instagram?
Truthfully, you can amplify your message on almost any platform. However, you don’t need to be everywhere. So think about how you like to communicate (writing or talking) and think about where your ideal audience might be before you make a decision.
Don’t let overwhelm stop you from putting your message out there! Pick a platform or two and commit to showing up regularly.
Second, you’re not confident in your message so you don’t feel comfortable communicating.
This can stem from a range of things: imposter syndrome or lack of clarity. However, if you have a clear idea of your company mission in mind, that will eliminate almost every excuse that tells you “I don’t know what to say.”
5. Find The Right Opportunities
Have you ever suddenly noticed a certain influencer or thought leader popping up absolutely everywhere? That’s no accident! These appearances are typically part of a larger campaign, perhaps leading up to a book or product launch.
Old-school PR would require you to pitch a magazine and hope for the best. You can still do that of course, but these days you can reach out to a much wider range of people.
Think: influencers. Podcasters. Even TikTokers!
Influencers with significant social media followings can effectively amplify your brand’s visibility. While partnerships with major celebrities may be unrealistic for most small businesses, micro-influencers, with follower bases ranging from 10,000 to 50,000, offer a more accessible and often more targeted approach.
Start by doing some research and figuring out who you would love to work with. Then get to work. If they have a podcast, send them a pitch. If you have a podcast, invite them on. If they’re big on TikTok, suggest doing a collab video if you’re in the same area. If it’s regular influencer/ microinfluencer, consider offering them a free product or service in exchange for a shout-out.
Also, consider your timing. This work is important anytime but you might want to consider booking a few partnerships around a big launch or new product release.
6. Create A Media Kit
Every small business should offer a compelling media kit: a downloadable PDF with relevant information that serves as a 24/7 PR ambassador for your business.
I always suggest to begin where you are! Don’t feel pressured to include all of this at first. But here are some elements which are commonly included:
- Brand Introduction: A compelling narrative that includes your origin story.
- Fact Sheet: A concise overview of your company.
- Bios: Brief biographies of you and/or other key team members.
- High-Resolution Headshots: Professional headshots of your leadership team. (If you don’t have professional photos yet, that’s ok! Just make sure they are clear and crisp.)
- High-Quality Product/Service Imagery: High-resolution images of your products or your team in action.
- High-Resolution Logos: Your company logo in both color and black and white, in transparent PNG format.
- Other Supporting Visual Materials: Include any other relevant graphic design elements or unique information.
The primary objective of your media kit is to equip journalists, bloggers, and other content creators with the necessary resources to accurately and professionally represent your business.
7. Use SEO To Your Advantage
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a powerful tool for small businesses to boost their public relations efforts without requiring a massive budget. When done effectively, SEO helps your PR content reach more people and stay visible longer than traditional PR methods alone.
The key is to create newsworthy content that serves customers, journalists and search engines. What are some keywords that you want to target? That might include your industry, location, or specific services. Start incorporating these keywords naturally into your press releases, blog posts, podcasts, and other PR materials.
If you’re a brick-and-mortar or in-person service-based business, local SEO is particularly valuable. Ensure your Google Business Profile is complete and updated regularly with news, events, and photos. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews, and respond thoughtfully to all feedback. Local news coverage, community event participation, and partnerships with other local businesses can generate valuable backlinks, which boost your search rankings and create positive brand associations in your community.
8. Write and Send Press Releases
Press releases are a more old-school PR tactic that still has a place in the modern world. They offer a swift and direct channel for communicating with local media outlets.
Many blogs or news outlets will just publish your press release as is. So think about how important that can be for building your brand and creating backlinks!
News outlets are constantly seeking compelling stories. If you help to do their job for them, they will love you for it. We live in a content-hungry world, so you might as well get good at feeding the machine yourself.
When should you consider issuing a press release? Here are some ideas:
- Business Launch: Announce your grand opening.
- Rebranding: Communicate your updated brand identity.
- New Offerings: Highlight the launch of new services or products.
- Location Changes: Inform the public about new locations or relocations.
- Local Events: Promote upcoming events within your community.
- Charitable Initiatives: Showcase your support for local causes.
- Innovative Technology: Introduce groundbreaking technological advancements.
- Other Significant News: Announce any other noteworthy developments.
It’s also important to build your own list of press contacts, journalists, or influencers so you have people to message when the time comes.
9. Learn How To Pitch Effectively
Many opportunities won’t just fall into your lap. You’ve got to go out there and make them happen.
Enter: the art of the cold pitch.
As someone who gets cold-pitched somewhat regularly, I can tell you that no one needs another copy-and-paste pitch in their inbox.
This type of message is mostly a waste of time. I’ve gotten countless emails from people who have clearly never googled me or listened to my podcast—and it shows.
Instead of sending a quick non-targeted message, make your offer easy to say yes to. For example, if you’re pitching to be on a podcast, what do you have to offer this potential new audience? Don’t just tell them who you are. Start selling what you can do for them.
10. Nurture Relationships
Relationship building is the backbone of PR. That includes relationships with your community, customers, colleagues, influencers, and more.
It doesn’t matter if your business is big or small, local or international. Your relationships are a valuable source of support. But you have to nurture those connections over the long term.
You never know when you might need a favor or a connection in the future! So start building those connections now. Think: participating in local events, reaching out to influencers, and having a virtual coffee date with a “competitor”.
Don’t discount the power of the personal touch. Soft skills are everything when it comes to PR.
Free DIY PR Tools For Small Businesses
Small businesses don’t always have the resources for a formal in-house public relations team. But the good news is, there are a myriad of free or cheap PR tools that can help you. Here are some suggestions:
1. Google Alerts
Google Alerts lets you monitor your small business’ online presence for free. Simply create an alert — such as the name of your business, competitors, industry and other related keywords—and sign up for updates. These Google Alerts are then sent directly to your inbox at your choice of frequency.
If you’re launching a new campaign, your alerts can help you to figure out how effective your strategy is.
2. Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is great for monitoring the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your website. It will suggest new SEO opportunities and you can use it to both do some research on your competitors as well as search for new SEO opportunities. The free option gets you quite a lot already.
3. PR Web
PRWeb publishes press releases across the web on search engines, blogs, major news sites and websites. They also offer a library of resources to help you write an effective press release, including free tutorials and press release examples.
4. Muck Rack
Muck Rack allows businesses to search its database of journalists and media contacts, and offers features such as media monitoring, inbox alerts, direct email pitches to journalists and media list creation and organization. This is a paid option but they also offer some tools for free.
5. Social Media Automation Tools
If your goal is to become a thought leader in your industry, social media should be high on your priority list. However, no one has time to sit online 24/7!
That’s where automation tools come in. Tools like Hootsuite (my former neighbors in Vancouver) allow you to manage multiple social media accounts in a single dashboard. This will help you to appear to be online all the time, without actually spending your time there. Setting yourself up as an industry leader requires you to put yourself out there and this is one of the easiest ways to do it.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’ve recently launched your brand or you’ve been in the industry for hot minute, creating effective PR is a worthwhile use of your time. As you’ve learned today, you definitely don’t need a big team or a large investment in PR to achieve your business goals! With a solid strategy, you can take your small business a very long way. (And if you need some digital PR help, please reach out!)


Read this next:
Digital PR Basics or check out these tips to build your personal brand.
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