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When most businesses hear the words public relations and communication the only thing that seems to manifest in their mind is getting column inches that glowingly praise their products and services.
Unfortunately, this is a very narrow and misguided view of what public relations can achieve, and approaches the issue from completely the wrong angle.
If you focus solely on your products and services as the core of your communications, rather than the needs of those receiving the messages, the likelihood of you missing the mark completely the majority of the time is very high.
Whether you are communicating directly with your database or you are trying to secure media coverage, making your products and services the focus is doomed to fail.
Instead, you need to work out what your story is. This may sound simple, you make widgets and sell them to a clearly defined target market, right? However, that's not the story that the end user wants to hear. If it's direct communication with clients and prospects, you need to identify an issue or problem that they may have and let them know how you can solve it.
If you're trying to connect with the media, you need to work out the kind of stories that the readers of a particular media outlet like to read. In other words, you need to find out how you fit into their world, not the other way round.
A great example of finding a story to gain coverage is a piece that appeared about a client in the SMH last year. This client is a printing broker but the story he appeared in was about legal issues that small businesses may face, and how they have dealt with them. This topic has absolutely no relevance to my client's service offerings at all, but it just so happens that he had experienced legal issues with previous business partners and could give a personal account of what the journalist was covering.
Following the article, he received phone calls requesting information about his business and also asking him to present at a business networking meeting.
When you're trying to get the attention of the media and your prospects or existing clients, thinking of quirky or left of field anecdotes and experiences that make up the fabric of you and your business is far more interesting than banging on about how great your widgets are.
At a recent Working Women's Network event featuring Angela Vithoulkas, Julia Bickerstaff and Charmaine Papallo of www.babybuds.com.au, our attention was held when the panel related a story to back up their views, and they did it very well.
Try some circular thinking when you want to connect with the media and they may just show some interest.