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Customer and Client Relations
Simple Tips for Creating and Executing Your PR Plan
By Sherrell Dorsey of
LadyPR.com
You don’t have to be a public relations expert to develop and run a simple public relations campaign. As a small business owner you have the ability to connect on a personal level with your clients and customers and find ways to reach new ones. Even if your business’ marketing budget is a little smaller than the year before, you can still get creative with how you promote your products and services through do-it-yourself public relations. Here are a few tips to get you started:
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE
You have to become bff’s (that’s best friends forever for those behind the times) with your customers and clients. Get into their head by finding out what they read, what websites they like to visit, how they use your product or service and how it makes their lives easier. This will help you in identifying where to market your products or services and how to improve them as well.
You can gather this information from your audience in the following ways:
- Ask them to take a survey and give them an incentive like a discount service or free gift if they complete it. You can create and track your survey with a variety of email marketing and customer feedback programs such as RatePoint.com.
- Get feedback from your customers via testimonials and product reviews that you can post on your website. RatePoint.com also offers a product review tool that you can easily place on your site.
KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS INTERESTED
In today’s economy customers have many options to do business with more and more companies slashing their prices. You have to stick out and you don’t have to spend a lot of money doing so. Add a personal touch to your customer service and you’ll retain old customers while impressing your new ones.
- Create a marketing newsletter with tips, advice, promotions, new deals, new product announcements and any award or honors you receive. You can share this with your customers or clients once a month. It’s a simple tool that you don’t have to spend an incredible amount of time on and you can schedule it in advance.
- Host an event at your place of business such as a “customer/client appreciation night”. My fiancé’s barbershop recently hosted an event like this with wine, cheese and a few appetizers. Not only were clients able to network with each other, it also created customer loyalty. He refuses to get his shave and hair cut from anywhere else.
- Remember the bff rule: A phone call is more personal than an email. Call and check in on your customers, particularly when they haven’t purchased from you in a while. Talk to them about how they liked the service or product. Try to get their honest feedback and listen to everything that they say. Take notes! This well help you understand your customer’s needs and wants better helping you to improve your service. They may also appreciate you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to get to know them a little better.
- Send them a postcard on their birthday with a special note stating how you value their business and that you wish them well on their special day. It doesn’t have to be “salesy”. Send them well wishes and they will feel more bonded to your business.
GET INVOLVED WITH YOUR COMMUNITY
Your greatest asset is in the community that you work in. They will be your back bone for support in addition to potential business opportunities.
- Volunteer in the community. The more you network, the more movers and shakers you can meet who may turn into future clients or give you new business referrals.
- Sponsor the local little league or an event with the Boys and Girls Club. In exchange you can have your logo or brochures visible at the event.
- Create a scholarship award for a deserving high school student heading to college. No matter how big or small the amount of the award you can help a student interested in pursuing a career in your industry with their college expenses.
KEEP THE MEDIA INFORMED
- Write a dynamic press release about your company that you can use as a marketing tool for both the media and your customers. Add it as a component of your monthly newsletter or distribute it on a newswire service that will reach publications that may be interested in your story. Increase your chances of being featured in a publication by writing a compelling press release that is newsworthy and provides relevant information to the audience you are trying to reach.
- Contact magazines that are relevant to your industry and ask for the appropriate person to send your press release to. Visit the magazine’s website to view the editorial calendar which will tell you which topics they plan to cover in upcoming issues. This will help you be even more strategic in pitching your story.
- Search for popular blogs relevant to your industry that have a strong following of visitors. Get in touch with the blog owner and ask for an opportunity to write a guest post discussing your product or service. Some blogs also allow you to send a sample of your product for review on their site. Your overall goal is to generate online buzz and create visibility.
- If you get an editorial or feature placement in a magazine or blog, make sure you add it to your website in a “newsroom” which will keep all of your media coverage. When a journalist or editor looks for more information on your website they will have everything they need.
CREATE A CALENDAR
Your calendar will be the back bone to executing and managing your public relations campaign. It will keep you on time, on track and organized down to the very minute and should detail:
- The list of events you want to partner with
- Each task you plan to implement from start to finish
- List of duties involved in completing that task
- A check list of duties that were completed
REVIEW YOUR CAMPAIGN RESULTS
At the end of each month look at the results from your pr campaign. Did you get more customers? Did you get an increase in media attention? Did you generate more leads? Did your website analytics show an increase in web traffic? Do your customers/clients give you more positive feedback? You will have to see what’s working, what isn’t and change it as soon as possible to maximize your time and opportunities.
You can create a simple do-it-yourself public relations campaign that doesn’t involve spending too much time away from your business. This can be assigned to any of your employees or even an intern. It’s the most inexpensive way to manage your own marketing. Promotion is about consistency and visibility. Be dedicated but also patient when controlling your own marketing. When people can remember who you are and what you do, that is when you will begin to see results.
About Sherrell Dorsey
Sherrell is CEO and co-founder of LadyPR.com, a women-centered newswire service that helps businesses reach women one press release at a time. You can contact Sherrell about do-it-yourself public relations at Sherrell@ladypr.com or 973.900.6115. You can also follow LadyPR on twitter at LadyPRNews.
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