Okay-so you've got a brilliant, innovative product or service. So what? If no one knows about it, no one cares about it; it may as well not exist. The only solution, everyone seems to agree, is PR. But the best kept secret in the industry? Creating, launching, and completing a successful PR campaign is damn hard work! It takes time, teamwork, and a lot of patience. It also takes persistence-with a purpose.
First, the persistence part: It's easy to write a press release every month and tack it onto your company's website, maybe even throw it out on PRWeb.com. Or to occasionally call up a buddy at the local business journal and pitch a story. Or to buy a 30-second radio spot. But how many companies-how many of your competitors-are doing the same thing? Thousands. Tens of thousands. Sporadic PR just doesn't work. It gets lost among all the other press releases, one-time journal write-ups, and short radio spots out there. You have to be persistent-at least two press releases per month, put onto your website (preferably with an SEO strategy) and distributed online and to relevant media outlets; a monthly newsletter; a blog that is updated 3-5 times per week. You get the point.
But this is where the purpose part comes in.
Persistence for persistence's sake will land your PR efforts in the trash fast. Worse, it will turn off media figures and prospective clients so much that they will actively not turn to your company when they need the product or service you provide. So when you send out press releases, newsletters, e-mails, and sales letters-when you make cold calls to newspaper editors or prospective clients-when you update your blog-make sure it's with purpose. It's crucial to tie in your PR/marketing efforts to current events, to keep them relevant, timely, and useful. Most of all, believe in the product or service you provide. Be passionate about it, and let that passion come across in your marketing. Otherwise, it's just junk mail: annoying and easily forgettable.
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