The 5 Minute PR Trick

I’ve used loads of PRs in the past. I always remember sitting with three lovely PR girls in a swanky bar in Soho a few years back – all flicky hair and silky home county accents – we were drinking martinis and one of them kept touching my knee and I remember how perfect it was. I felt special. Like Tom Cruise but without the sinister cult thing.

And at the end of the month I got their £3K invoice. And they sent me an expenses claim for the martinis! And this sums up much of PR. It’s a lot of money to make yourself feel good. So, what’s the point, I hear you asking?

Well, publicity does make us feel good, but PR can also really help your business so it’s worth spending some time on it. It is important to remember though that good PR doesn’t need to be a splash in the Daily Mail or the opportunity to become a talking head on Channel 4 News to work.

There are thousands of busy websites out there that are fighting for good content to show their readers. Because with websites, traffic = money. And good stories get traffic.

And this PR certainly doesn’t have to cost £3K a month.

Did you know that hundreds of specialist journalists subscribe to a brilliant website called www.sourcewire.com that is designed to connect them with stories that are relevant to them and the publications they write for. It’s cheap to use and gives you a toe in the water to generating your own publicity.

Remember, you have to have a good story. Just telling them that you did a lower bleph on Mrs Babcock last week ain’t gonna cut it. You either need to be doing something that nobody else has done or have a story that has a human interest element that people can identify with. And here’s the key to unlocking this.

You need a case study. A patient whose life has been made better is PR gold and your story will certainly get picked up if you can include this.

I suggest you send the release to journalists interested in [womens beauty] and [health].

One final important point on this. Once you’ve got in with a journalist make sure they mention your website in the copy. Make this contingent on doing the piece. A link to your site not only will alert potential clients to your existence but is also the best sort of SEO link you can get.

Costs start at £50 to transmit a press release to their journalist database which is about the same price as 5 martinis in a swanky Soho bar!

If you try this do let me know how you get on – Gavin@BHMMedia.com – good luck!

All the best,

Gavin
Partner, BHM Media

* PS – We are in no way linked to Sourcewire before you ask!