7 Reasons why PR is Essential for All Small Businesses.
Tags: Public Relations, Small Business Marketing, Small Business, Pr, Branding

7 Reasons why PR is Essential for All Small Businesses. ciolookindia Apr 9·3 min read

What’s about a Mom-&-Pop store that a large chain finds hard to replicate?

Bluntly put, and in the minimum of words, it’s ‘personalized relations.’

And how do they do that? By getting into Public Relations through the Personal route!

Yes, every business irrespective of size, volume, reach, and respectability need PR. And for obvious reasons including

Steady two-way communication with dedicated clients who can give authentic feedback.

Steady two-way communication about things other than products/ services to include issues like employment, CSR, subsidiaries etc.

A third-party perspective on issues be it related to products/ services, quality issues, extraneous happenings (scandals, gossip, grapevine, Chinese whispers etc) and all that which calls for information from an authoritative third source.

User-experience, more so positive user-experience, even more so when people don’t get the hang of a good product due to faulty explanations and instructions.

Influencers with the right reputation can bring better results than most advertisement campaigns.

PR as a matter of fact is the best addendum to any advertisement campaign.

Given all that’s great about PR, how does a small concern, a small business with small budgets and resources gain from it?

It does, in the following ways:

PR tells a small-business’ customers of their story of struggle (if any) and continuing victory! Ever heard of an advertisement campaign doing anything even close? This is the exclusive domain of PR, and if does correctly, can form a permanent place in a customer’s heart given that stories of struggle and that too of the ‘small chaps’ does touch the right chords.

PR bolsters an ad campaign! Small business being short on resources to mount advertising campaigns (traditional or digital) unlike bigger firms, PR as an exercise with the right firm, can help even the smallest and most modest of advertising efforts get the right traction, and as a consequence, the right output.

PR brings out the real information through user experiences! Public Relations invariably has an element of user experience (without which its existence can be doubtful) which with the right set of influencers and the use of technology (videos, online testimonials etc) can go a long, long way in creating the right impression in the eyes of everyone from would-be employees, associates, and customers.

PR can be used to influence perceptions from the enterprise’s point of view. Small businesses with limited budgets may find it hard to counter apparent oversights and wrong doings. Running full-page advertisements in prominent newspapers explaining one’s viewpoint could be very expensive for them. Instead, a carefully created video explaining one’s point that finds traction on all the right social-media sites can do the trick at a fraction of the cost- while retaining the business’s name and reputation.

PR is more malleable and adjustable to certain audiences! While an advertisement is standard to all, a PR exercise can be made to appeal to certain sections while completely excluding others. In fact, it’s for this reason that small firms with niche products and services find it better than a full-scale ad campaign which in any case, take more time, money and patience.

PR creates two-way communication instead of broadcasting which is the norm with advertisements! Small businesses invariably need more engagement because it’s thru such engagements that they create the essential relation with their clientele. It’s precisely for this reason that PR campaigns are more approachable and doable in the context of smaller enterprises.

PR needn’t always be about products, services and business. It can be about an entity’s views and thoughts about certain issues within a certain geographical area or about a particular industry. With an emotional appeal, it thus works best for smaller firms who nevertheless may have to do a lot to get themselves heard and seen.

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