PR Campaign Tricks for SMEs to Improve Start-up Business March 26, 2012

The prime reason behind most new businesses to fail is their poor marketing strategy. This realization has motivated many enterprises to divert their efforts into developing a strong public relations (PR) campaign, which can help them promote & advertise their business on a wider scale.

A public relations campaign can compose of many different channels including, promotional offers, broadcasting media, print media, etc. However, you must choose a public relations outlet that can best suit your kind of business.

Here are few important steps entrepreneurs may follow to help them choose the most profitable PR channel to promote their business:

Know Your Target Audience – Before you can actually go about developing a public relations campaign, you must first define your target audience. Depending upon the types of services & products of your company in relation to your target audience, you can then tailor your marketing campaign accordingly.

Identify Competitors – A subsequently important step is to define your competitors. There is bound to be strong competition in every business & in order to be able to outdo this competition, you must first have a thorough knowledge of the opposition. Identifying your opponents and seeking details like, their pricing, marketing strategies, etc can be instrumental in planning your own marketing strategy.

Calculate Advertising Budget – Once you have defined your target audience & identified your competitors, the next step is to look for means to promote your business. However, it must be noted that advertising a start-up can be a costly endeavour. For this you must have prior planning as to how much amount you can afford to spend for marketing strategy.

Self vs. Hired Promoters – Once you have your advertising budget ready, you can then make a decision as to whether you would require a public relations specialist or have the promotions done through other cheaper alternatives like, blogs, newspaper advertisements, etc. The only thing to remember here is that, while the cheaper means of promotions may not be very effective, on the other hand a skilled public relations specialist can help you in implementing more aggressive means of promotion.

If you can spend ample time on each of these steps, you are sure to have a marketing campaign that can easily outshine the campaigns of your competitors.

If you need any assistance in PR email us on media@smejoinup.com

A question often asked by SMEs – What is PR? January 19, 2012

1. PR or Public Relations means your company relations with the media which is very essential for brand building.

 

2. How does PR help you ?

In PR we have press conference or press releases where we inform 20-30 newspapers (print media) about your new product launch, expansion plans, events happening in your company, awards bagged, or any major news that you want to announce, and the press write about it. So when we do a press conference or press release the news keeps coming over a period of about 2 to 4 weeks, 2 in one paper on a given day, 3 in another day and so on. This creates branding for a month long period. If you have longterm relation/retainership with us, then we will keep you in the news every month. We will get you featured in 4 to 6 articles in different main Newspapers / Magazines / Webpapers.

 

3. PR has more credibility than an Ad

In an Ad you can talk about your company, so you will naturally talk positive and blow your trumpet.

In PR the newspaper is talking about your company, so a third party is talking good about you, which is more credible.

 

4. PR is much more cost-effective as compare to an Ad or Event.

A single quarter page Ad in the most reputed and common daily will cost you anywhere between 80k to 1.4lakhs. In less than that cost, you can get coverage in 20 newspapers.

 If you are interested in trying out PR (online as well as offline ) , we have different packages suiting different budgets for you – email us on contact@smejoinup.com

 

 

 

Media Types for Direct Marketing for SMEs December 6, 2011

There is a wide variety of media types available for SMEs to communicate their message across to the target audience. However, in order to choose the most appropriate & profitable media type for your business, it is essential that you first have a clear understanding of who your target audience is. This way you will end up choosing the media that is most popular among your target audience.

People to People Media

People-to-people media is where you directly reach out to your target audience by means of brochures, events, personal selling, etc.

Direct Mail Brochures: Whether you call it a brochure or flyer, the important thing is to ensure that it does its job well – letting the prospects know about the benefits of your products & services & compelling them to order immediately.

While brochures usually have the same format, there are certain ways in which you can improve their prospect-pulling power:-

• Maintain a Simple Cover
• Narrate the Whole Story Associated with your Product
• Restate & Repeat your Offer
• Include Subheadlines
• Ensure that Headline, Subheadline & Snipe Refer to offer
• Use Fine-Ruled Box for Additional Impact
• Make Right Use of Graphics
• Match the Look of Your Brochure to the Target Audience
• Make Brochure Interesting

Telemarketing: Also known as “Telesales”, telemarketing is one of the strongest means of direct marketing whereby, a sales person compels prospects into buying the products & services, either over phone or through webconferencing. Often times, businesses may choose to play a pre-recorded sales pitch over the phone through automatic dialling.

Community Outreach: Breaking away from the usual media’s of direct communication, many SME’s have started to opt for community outreach programs. This basically involves approaching the community members with a message of some sort that can tempt them into buying your products & services.

Personal Selling: The concept of personal selling is increasingly being considered as a strong tool for developing longlasting clientele relation. Personal selling is where, an individual salesperson sells his products & services with an aim to cater to the specific needs of the client. The reason for its strong popularity among businesses is that personal selling utilizes fewer resources & paves the way for ongoing seller-buyer relation.

Special Events – For those who can afford it, organizing special events for marketing your products & services is an excellent direct-marketing tool. Such events are especially beneficial for the start-ups planning to launch a new product or those looking forward to building strong consumer relationships. Some tips SME’s may follow to make your special events successful include:

• The event must compliment your company or product
• Ensure that the company & product name are prominent & highlighted
• Be sure to put forward a compelling reason for audience to attend the event
• Your marketing message should be clearly communicated
• Ensure that the event has some newsworthiness to generate some PR

If the Small & Medium Enterprises (SME’s) can successfully carry out these simple yet powerful direct marketing tools, then it is surely a battle half won for them.

If you are looking for any help on media email us on media@smejoinup.com

Contributed by Sushmita Kalashikar