The buzz for your biz: How to get
free publicity for your company
By Jenny C. McCune • Bankrate.com

The Ford/Firestone media firestorm notwithstanding, it pays to have your business bask in the limelight.

Your company won't get burned if it's presented in a positive light. In fact, getting your company's 15 minutes of fame can let more people know about your product or service. It can boost sales as well as awareness of your small business. Here's how to go about it.

To be a good source for the media, follow the four "Rs," says Marilynn Mobley, president of the Acorn Consulting Group Inc., a public relations firm in Marietta, Ga. "I tell my clients to be Responsive, Reliable, Realistic and aRticulate."

• Be Responsive by being available. Return press phone calls in a timely manner.
• Be Reliable by being honest and accessible.
• Be Realistic about getting publicity. "It's like being a farmer," Mobley says. "You'll plant lots of seeds. Not all of them will sprout."
• Be aRticulate. No matter how much you know, if you're a dud of an interview, no reporter is going to quote you.

Those are the general rules. Here are seven specific ways to get your company mentioned on the radio, in a print article or even on television.

• Tell your story to the business journals.

Local communities often have daily or weekly business journals; on the national scale, there's Inc., Entrepreneur or The Wall Street Journal's small-business section, and many more.

Small businesses usually have a great story to tell, says Annemarie Marek, president of Marek & Company, a public relations firm in Dallas. Whether you're the president of a third-generation family business or you're the founder of a startup with hot prospects, there's something about how you run or started the business, or even your company's product or service, that people will want to hear about.

• Enter a contest.

Contests about small business and entrepreneurship abound. From the Small Business Association's "Small Business of the Year" awards, which selects a businessperson from each state, to Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award, these contests are great ways to get the word out about your business, Marek says.

In addition to national contests, see what's available locally by asking your chamber of commerce.

• Conduct a survey.

"People are needlessly afraid of conducting surveys," says Marcia Yudkin, author of Six Steps to Free Publicity (Plume, 1994). "They think 'Gallup Poll.' It doesn't have to be that complicated."

Yudkin cites the publisher of an Internet stock newsletter. He conducted a survey of 100 stockbrokers. Based on the survey, he wrote a press release that said that stockbrokers on average know less about investing on the Internet than teenagers do. That finding grabbed the attention of the media. "He got mentioned or interviewed on CNN, NBC, you name it, because people thought of his survey as news," Yudkin says.

• Sponsor an event or organization.

Just be sure there's a connection between what you're sponsoring and your company, Marek warns. "I have a client that's sponsoring a golf tournament because he's a golf nut," the Dallas PR woman says. "His business has nothing to do with golf, but since his clientele are avid golfers, it works."

• Look for tie-ins between what you do and what's news.

"Find ways that you can fit in," Mobley explains. Being creative helps. When the movie Erin Brockovich came out, Mobley saw a tie-in between the title character's unbusinesslike attire and a client whose business is telling executives how to dress. Mobley wrote a press release for her client outlining why Erin would never make it in corporate life because of the way she dressed. The item got picked up by the Associated Press and was printed in hundreds of papers, Mobley says.

• Look for seasonal 'hooks.'

Mobley recommends getting a calendar that lists every conceivable holiday. Look up holidays that you can comment on or find some other connection. For example, a smoke detector manufacturer could come out with home safety tips in honor of "Fire Safety Week."

• Take a stand on a controversy.

Be prepared to get press, Yudkin says, but also be willing to alienate some customers and prospects since they may not feel the same way as you do about an issue. That can sometimes be the price of fame.

Jenny C. McCune is a contributing editor based in Montana

--Posted: Oct. 5, 2000