02 Jan RESOLVE TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS THIS NEW YEAR

It’s the season of New Year resolutions and for many Chamber businesses and charities this month will be all about planning for growth.

If your resolution is to focus on your business then boosting the profile of your organisation will be key to your success – and doesn’t need to cost a fortune. Here are a few tips and some guidance from Jessica Pilkington, director of Northampton-based Pilkington Communications …

• RESEARCH: If your aim is to get some publicity then research is key. Start by drawing up your media wish list – those journalists and  publications/ TV or radio stations you want to target. Then, get in touch, make sure you have a list of all their deadlines, publication dates and whether they have any forward planning calendars.

• THINK STORY ANGLES: Write a story about your own business and send it to your media wish list. The aim is to be published, so go for a punchy headline, clear messages, jargon free text and precision. Do not mistake your press release for an advert. To get published you will need a newsworthy story. Forget promotions and sales. Think anniversaries, new launches, expansion, events, awards.

• AWARDS: Research local, regional and national awards that you could enter and spend some time pulling together your application. Awards are a superb PR opportunity if you are shortlisted so it is well worth the investment of time. Sponsoring awards can also be an excellent opportunity, but only if you maximise the PR potential of your sponsorship. Your logo, for example, should be pasted across all awards literature and in on-the-night presentations and programmes. If you ask you might be also given the opportunity to judge the awards and be included and quoted in press releases.

• USEFUL TOOLS: There are masses of free (or very low cost) online tools that can make promoting your organisation so much easier. Our favourites are: social media scheduling platform Hootsuite, design package Canva, online media coverage tracker Google Alerts and Google Analytics, which will help you keep an eye on your website traffic.

• GET SOCIAL: Plan your social media at least a month in advance and use a social media scheduling platform to make life easy. Think carefully about who your target audiences are when you decide which channels to focus on and don’t forget to link almost all your messages back to a relevant page on your website. That way all your social chatter will push people to your brand.

Time and time again business leaders rate a company’s reputation as its most valuable asset – enabling organisations to gain advantage over their competitors, attract the best recruits, open new markets, launch new services and even protect themselves in times of crisis.

Focused PR is the key to effective reputation management, and all businesses – local, national or international, big or small, private or public – can benefit from planned public relations activity and clear messaging.

For the New Year we are launching our all new PR Toolkit – packed with tips and advice to promote your organisation. To request a copy simply fill in our online form HERE.