How To Do Your Own PR Priced out by PR companies? Can't afford freelancers? Paula Gardner explains just how to go it alone

And whilst the PR industry may be booming there are many companies that can't afford, or just don't want to pay, the fees demanded by agencies and PR freelancers.

The alternative is to plan and do your own PR. The beauty of this option is that as well as keeping your budget low, the contacts you make are not a closely guarded secret by your PR practitioner, but yours to keep. Despite clients' initial reservations I often find cutting out the middle man and talking to the media directly makes it easier for them to grasp the passion behind your business, and often it's that spark that initially interests the press.

Over the past five years my team and I have coached literally hundreds of businesses in how to do their own PR. Sometimes it was easy - such as the jewellery designer www.bobangles.co.uk whose fantastic bespoke heart-shaped pendant was picked for the GMTV wedding and thereafter on the cover of OK magazine. But sometimes it's not so easy. Every business is different, but the core of the process of doing your own PR often remains the same, whatever the business' size.

PREPARATION

Whether you are a start up just beginning to think about PR, or a larger company looking for a fresh new approach, there are some vital things that need to be done in preparation.

Your website
It should go without saying this needs to be press and customer ready - there's no point in PR-ing your latest product if you haven't sorted out the technical gremlins in the online shop. You might also consider creating a page especially for press where you can post past articles, press releases and display photographs ready for downloading.

Pinpoint your target market
If you're in the process of market research make sure you also find out what media your potential clients use and respect. This can even include industry newsletters -
on or offline.

Putting together a media list
Your market research will help with this but another good resource is The Guardian Media Directory (available from Amazon). Larger companies with a bigger budget might consider signing up to a service such as www.romeike.com, which should give you up-to-date contact details and names. Anyone working from an annual directory though will almost definitely have to call each and every publication to check
contact details.

Read and digest
It's important to understand how different publications differ from each other in terms of tone, language and even readership. Two running magazines may look alike from the front cover but read further and you may find that the emphasis on one is running for overall health and enjoyment, whilst the other's focus is very firmly competitive.

Use your team
Assign particular titles to each person. They are then responsible for reading them regularly, clipping out and passing on any articles that might be of interest and bringing them to everyone else's attention.

TAKING ACTION

I like to think of PR as a blend of a number of activities, and I have listed the ones I consider to be the best performing ones here.

The press release
A press release is a one-page news alert that goes out to the press in paper or email form. Note the word "news". Journalists get a huge amount of press releases landing in their in-boxes every day and the main criteria they use to sort these, "Is it newsworthy to our readers?" So a story about your company's second anniversary is unlikely to make the grade. A story about the signing of a huge multinational client might well though. Other favourites are completely new products, as well as releases mentioning celebrities or tied into larger news stories of the day.

The main thing to remember is one press release will not change the future of your business. It is a continuous drip feed of releases that will make the difference.

How They Did It: www.redundancyhelp.co.uk sends out press releases whenever there is a large story about redundancy in the news. Using these tactics the site has been covered in press as diverse as Steve Wright's Radio 2 show and Prima magazine.

FOLLOWING IT UP

What boosts your results is really that human contact with the press. And that means picking up the phone.

The aim is to build up a relationship with journalists so they understand what your business does and will think of it - or you - for any relevant pieces they are writing. However, just like making friends, this relationship can't be pushed or forced.

Hints:
• If you do get through to a journalist who isn't currently interested don't look upon it as a failure. Take the opportunity to ask them what stories would they like in future - ones based on lots of statistics and figures, or more human-interest stories? Find out what they need and next time you'll be able to give it to them.
• Never phone to ask if they've got the release. Have something up your sleeve to offer, whether it's a sample or an invitation to a special seminar.

Photographs
My product-based clients have often found their most important tool has been fantastic photographs. Additionally, providing your own photographs to accompany a release can also sometimes mean you get more editorial space. Just make sure you initially send them low resolution so you don't bung up their inbox.

How They Did It: Lucie Storrs, owner of www.periodfeatures.net has had her period interior products featured in everything from Good Housekeeping to The Telegraph on the strength of her photographs.

TV and Radio
They key to this is keeping your finger on the pulse of what's happening so when you see something relevant to your business you can jump in on the back of the story. For instance, phoning into a radio programme manager or researcher and saying, "There's a story on property development legislation in the news at the moment. We are a wealth coaching company running workshops on that subject and we'd love to come on air and give our point of view/explain the changes."

How They Did It: Wealth coaching company www.themoneygym.com did just that with Radio 5 Live. But instead of going on themselves they got one of their happy clients to talk about her whole experience of the practical side of investing in property and how she, as a young mother-of-two, has found it. They had new sign-ups the very same day!

Online PR
Whilst traditional publications bring more credibility, the beauty of online PR is the process is quick and easy - no need for people to remember your name, they just click and there they are. There has been a lot of talk about online PR moving into new realms such as podcasting, video newsletters etc, but my clients have seen the biggest successes with the following:

Websites:
There are so many websites out there - where do you start? The first thing you can do is to take a look at your own web stats. Ascertain where your visitors are coming from and try and build up relationships with those sites first. At the same time look at other, similar sites to broaden the field.

Hints:
• You can approach websites just the same as offline press with press releases
and photographs.
• Another effective move can be to offer content in return for a link and a blurb about your business. Just think about the efficiency of one article placed on a number of different websites!

Blogging:
A blog, short for weblog, is an online diary you can use as a promotional tool for your business. Blogs vary from the "what I had for breakfast" type to the expert comment on contemporary news and views. Choose the approach that suits you best.

Hints:
• Whilst your website designers should be able to set you up with a blog, you can also play around with a free version at www.blogger.com. I always suggest to clients they do this first, partly to find their voice and partly to see if they have the time and discipline to keep it up.
• Blogs need to be kept up to date and full of new material. Some clients love the discipline of writing every day, or every few days, and just run with the idea. Others start in an enthusiastic spurt and then find interest peters out after a while.
• You can help yourself by recycling newsletter and article material in your blogs. Sometimes just a couple of lines of what's going on in the outside world can be enough.

How They Did It: consultant to the NHS Colin Jervis of www.kineticconsulting.co.uk put up his online blog on robotics and the health service. In our next coaching session he told me that within days press were visiting his site and getting in touch with him. Of course this is a very niche area and anyone visiting his blog would be likely to share his passion for the subject but it can work with less niche businesses. Software trainer Karen Roem of www.roem.co.uk regularly writes a blog on her training work and work-related travels around the world. It was picked up by a major training magazine and is now reprinted there regularly.

THINGS TO CONSIDER

• Because PR is very much self motivated it's easy to put it to one side for that fantastic day when you don't have anything else to do. And we all know that day never happens. You need to spend at least an afternoon or morning a week on PR to see results. Any less and it just won't be worth it.
• You need to have a fail safe method of contact, or at least someone else that knows what you are doing and doesn't turn away The Observer. One client kicked himself after taking the afternoon off and forgetting to check his mobile. The next morning there was a message asking him to get in contact about coming onto Working Lunch that day. Of course, by then, it was far too late. Remember, unlike the postman, the Press rarely knock twice.

• www.doyourownpr.com PR founder Paula Gardner coaches enthusiastic business people who want to get their company noticed.