27 Small Business PR Ideas For February

January 30, 2012 By 2 Comments

small_business_prHere are 27 ways entrepreneurs can seek out small business PR opportunities during the month of February. Download the PR Toolkit for Small Business to receive additional tips on how to write a press release, press release headline and how to build a relationship with a reporter.

Small Business PR Pitches This Week:

1: Florida GOP Primary: The Florida GOP Primary is held on Tuesday, Jan. 31. The candidates have been intensely campaigning across the state of Florida for almost ten days. Even after all the votes are in, small businesses impacted by issues of importance will still be able to pitch stories on everything from housing and foreclosure laws to job growth.

2: Facebook IPO: Arguably the most watched initial public offering in the tech world ever, Facebook is expected to announce plans for its IPO this week.

3: I-75 Traffic Accident: For the next few days one horrendous ongoing story will be about the deadly traffic accident that took place along I-75 near Gainesville, Fla. Car safety and traffic experts should weigh in on the subject, offering up insight into what happened and current legislation that impacts similar road incidents.

Small Business PR Pitches During February:

4: American Heart Month: Doctors and clinics that offer heart health can pitch stories addressing ways people can be more heart-healthy with their lifestyles.

5: Bake For Family Fun Month: Bakeries and home advocates looking for small business PR can pitch stories profiling families that take the time to bake with each other as a way to bond.

6: Dog Training Education Month: Dog trainers can pitch stories offering up the top-five ways you can train your dog in an effective manner.

7: National Pet Dental Health Month: Veterinarians can pitch a small business PR story that addresses the health risks of neglecting your dog’s dental health.

8: Exotic Vegetables And Star Fruit Month: Local farms can invite local television news crews to profile exotic vegetables, perfect for every local morning show.

9: Jobs In Golf Month: Golf courses and golf course communities can pitch small business PR stories on what it’s like to work at a golf course, or an employee with a truly inspiring story.

10: Library Lovers Month: As we discuss in the PR Toolkit for Small Business, creativity is key in generating small business PR, especially in press release subject lines. For librarians and libraries competing against technology changing the world of books and book reading, this could be a great month to pitch interesting stories on the importance of the local library.

11: National Black History Month: Local museums of black history, black history advocates and black history authors can all pitch wonderful stories that highlight the many names who’ve been a truly inspiring and important part of America and beyond.

12: National Care About Your Indoor Air Month: Services that focus on air quality can pursue small business PR opportunities by highlighting the dangers involved with unhealthy indoor air levels.

13: National Children’s Dental Health Month: Dentists and hygienists can pitch stories on children and taking care of their teeth and tips to get your child to brush their teeth.

14: National Parent Leadership Month: Local schools can work with parent advocacy groups and organizations to obtain local press coverage on stories that focus on the wonderful leadership qualities possessed by involved parents.

15: National Time Management Month: Management consultants can obtain small business PR stories by offering up tips to help entrepreneurs and all business people with their-time management skills.

16: Pull Your Sofa Off The Wall Month: Calling all Murphy bed stories and other furniture stores looking for small business PR pitches. February is filled with the chance to highlight the Murphy bed and any other space-saving furniture many people may not know about.

17: Relationship Wellness Month: Date and relationship coaches can pitch stories on ways couples can reconnect with one another for lasting relationships.

18: Women’s Heart Week (Feb. 1-7): Local women’s health clinics can pitch a story talking about the unique impact women have with their heart health compared to men, in addition to showcasing tips women can do to be more heart-healthy.

19: Children’s Authors And Illustrators Week (Feb. 5-11): Great for authors of children’s books and other literature, this week poses a great chance to get small business PR addressing today’s best titles and trends in children’s literature.

20: International Flirting Week (Feb. 13-19): Dating and relationship coaches can pitch stories that explain flirting from the humorous side to the more serious side of relationships.

21: Alzheimer’s And Dementia Staff Education Week (Feb. 14-21): Any clinics, experts or non-profit organizations, including the Alzheimer’s Association, should be pitching stories for this week for maximum exposure.

22: National Entrepreneurship Week (Feb. 18-25): Entrepreneurial resources and organizations seeking small business PR can leverage this week to showcase what it means to be an entrepreneur, the struggles they face, and the realities of launching a business in today’s economy.

23: Build A Better Trade Show Image Week (Feb. 19-25): Digital and trade show marketers can pitch a small business PR story offering up ways entrepreneurs can design an effective trade show booth, as well as marketing tips in general.

24: National Engineers Week (Feb. 19-25): Engineering firms, universities and subject experts can spotlight educational programs for engineers and new trends in the world of engineering.

25: National Pancake Week (Feb. 19-25): Local restaurants can secure small business PR by planning publicity stunts like pancake eating contests or delivering pancakes to morning television and radio shows.

26: National Secondhand Wardrobe Week (Feb. 26 – March 3): Donation centers and consignment shops can pitch stories that talk about the importance of donating and some of the more interesting articles of clothing people have donated.

27: Valentine’s Day: Everyone from retailers and restaurants to relationship experts can build significant small business PR campaigns around this annual holiday. Nearly every media outlet will provide some sort of coverage to Valentine’s Day, enabling entrepreneurs and businesses the chance to generate some great news coverage.

For any entrepreneurs pitching long-lead publications and magazines, your small business PR pitches should be focused on May stories. Memorial day, high school prom, weddings and graduation are all important story themes during May. Good luck with your pitches!

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.

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5 Small Business PR Pitches Week Of Jan. 23

January 22, 2012 By 1 Comment

small_business_PRHere are five small business PR pitch ideas entrepreneurs can use during the week of Jan. 23 to get media exposure for their companies. Each of the five small business PR pitch ideas explains the story background and offers some different ways entrepreneurs can build story pitches that will interest reporters. The following ideas are part of UnderstandingMarketing.com’s PITCH series helping small businesses build publicity ideas that create headlines.

1: Weather - One of the hottest stories of the week will be the weather patterns across much of the country. Okay perhaps “hottest” may not be the best way to characterize this story. The winter cold snap finally arrived across most of the Northern sections of the U.S., with many major cities freezing from all the snow fall. Last week Alaska and parts of the Pacific Northwest began feeling the impacts (our PITCH update was tipped off to this from one of our Alaska readers). Entrepreneurs digging out from the snow and looking for small business PR opportunities will have their chance. From retailers offering snow removal equipment and weather gauges to local chains selling backup power generators, plenty of small businesses will be able to build PR pitches around the cold weather. What are some unique and compelling customer stories? What new trends are you seeing this year in how people are coping with the cold weather? Build those pitches and send them off to your local reporters.

2: Super Bowl - The two teams for the big game have been decided and there’s just one game left to decide who’s the best. For the two cities with teams representing in the Super Bowl, Boston and New York, there will be plenty of media attention on the big game – on and off the field. The next two weeks will represent a great opportunity for entrepreneurs and small businesses to develop creative story pitches that attract the attention of general assignment reporters looking for fun stories away from the locker room.

3: Economic Indicators (jobless claims, GDP and Consumer Sentiment) - This week the government will announce critical monthly data that addresses jobless claims, gross domestic product (GDP) info for the fourth quarter of 2011, and consumer sentiment across a variety of industries. For entrepreneurs developing small business PR campaigns, the consumer sentiment data is especially worth watching. This data is often used to check the pulse of American consumers, and small businesses in every corner of the country provide a great looking-glass into how the average consumer is feeling. Have you ever tried taking your own consumer sentiment poll among your customers? Try it and release your own data on Thursday, the day before the national report comes out.

4: Health Care - President Obama’s health care mandate and law are back in the news for the small business community, with a new poll out from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce revealing that the small business community is increasingly concerned about the tax implications of the President’s law. The Chamber is quoted as saying many small businesses are worried the new law is really more of a tax bill packaged and masked to look like a health reform bill.

The new health care laws will have a profound impact on the small business community. Entrepreneurs seeking out small business publicity would be wise to build relationships with their local business media and communicate how the new laws affect them. Small businesses in the healthcare industry should also be opening up the dialogue with local and national media, offering a special glimpse into the realities of how the health care law changes will affect the business side of their clinics and practices. A small business press release or tip sheet may be especially helpful for local reporters.

5: Keystone XL Pipeline - Setting aside the environmental considerations of the project, the Keystone XL Pipeline project was going to create hundreds, if not thousands of jobs for all business entities – small business included. The Keystone XL Pipeline was a proposed transportation line of crude oil from Western Canada to several regions throughout the U.S. Entrepreneurs looking to generate small business PR coverage will have a great opportunity in the coming week to address President Obama’s decision to reject a permit for the project by communicating the impact felt through loss of jobs and revenue as a result of the pipeline. This issue isn’t just about big oil companies benefiting from the pipeline. Plenty of small businesses would have been given the chance to bid on special project work, boosting their companies’ bottom lines and providing for an atmosphere to add jobs.

For more small business PR ideas download the PR Toolkit for Small Business today.

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.

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9 Ways Small Business Can Get Election PR

January 17, 2012 By 5 Comments

small_business_public_relationsEntrepreneurs looking to get small business public relations coverage in the news media may want to think about jumping on the GOP debate and primary bandwagon. We’re getting hot and heavy into the campaign season and year, which means all the candidates are trying to hitch their wagon and talking points to local businesses with a story to share. You could be one of these local businesses that gets mentioned during the debates or included in a newspaper/Internet news story. And while some entrepreneurs have mixed views on the value placed in participating, the point of this website is to help small businesses get coverage in the news media in a variety of ways.

Here are nine ways entrepreneurs can get small business public relations coverage by getting included in the GOP campaign news stories:

1: Jobs/Hiring - Arguably the biggest theme in the 2012 GOP campaign and the Presidential campaign later this year will be jobs and hiring. Are jobs coming back? Are companies hiring? Your small business could be a part of a candidate’s talking points. Is your business hiring jobs? Is your business being forced to shed jobs? Either way, write a story explaining your company’s situation and send it to the candidates (contact information below). You might be contacted by one of the camps and included in their speeches.

2: Taxes - Although not as heated as jobs, taxes are still one of the main talking points in this election year. How are the current taxes and tax codes impacting your small business? Contact the candidates with your story and talk about where taxes are helping or hurting your business.

3: Economic Stimulus - Especially with construction and municipal road projects, economic stimulus is one topic that offers a great way for entrepreneurs to obtain small business public relations coverage. Is your business one of the companies that’s benefiting from the stimulus program? Share your story with the candidates and let them know where you stand. Small construction companies thriving off the stimulus spending are in prime position to benefit, but even smaller companies and local restaurants that have to feed the construction workers also have a story to share.

4: Legislative Policy - Are there certain laws recently enacted or being discussed that will have a positive or negative impact on your small business? Introduce yourself to the candidates and invite them to sit down with you to discuss. Election campaigns love to call attention to businesses that help move their talking points on bills being proposed or defended.

5: Foreign Trade - We’ve been living and operating in a global economy for years now. Because of this, nearly every company in every industry is impacted by foreign competition – even small business. What is going on with foreign trade that impacts your business?

6: Union & Labor Laws - Are there labor issues taking place within your industry that impacts your small business? Immigration policy also plays a role in this issue on the outskirts, and there have been plenty of stories over the years that have cause labor to be front and center. Does your small business deal with union or immigration issues? What are the hot-button issues and how does it impact your company?

7: Healthcare - Made a priority by President Obama during his first term, healthcare was arguably the most significant issue on the President’s domestic agenda during the last few years. The GOP candidates have strong views towards repealing “Obama Care” and a lot of this is because of the costs facing small businesses. Are you feeling any of this in your small business? National cable television media have especially been all over this issue and it would b a great opportunity for a small business to get on CNN.

8: Education - Schools and organizations that interact with children will always be a hot-button issue in any election year. Is your business impacted by education, or does it involve any area of the education system? From early childcare and secondary schools to high schools and higher education, there are hundreds of thousands of organizations and institutions impacted by the subject of education. Reach out to the candidates with your thoughts on the education atmosphere and let them know you’d like to be a part of the message.

9: Campaign Stops - Sometimes small business benefit off the campaign trail simply by being in the right place at the right time. Restaurants especially play a role here because the candidates like to stop off at small eateries on the campaign trail.

Here is how you can connect with each of the remaining GOP candidates:

Mitt Romney

For scheduling inquiries, please contact scheduling@mittromney.com.
Please note that all scheduling inquiries must be submitted in writing.
For press inquiries, please contact press@mittromney.com.
For all other inquiries, please contact info@mittromney.com.

Mitt Romney for President
P.O. Box 149756
Boston, MA 02114-9756
857-288-3500

Newt Gingrich

Contact: (678) 973-2306

http://www.newt.org/contact

Events: http://www.newt.org/events

Ron Paul

Headquarters Phone (Toll-Free): 855-886-9779
Headquarters Phone (Local): 703-563-6620
Store Phone (Local): 979-297-5414
Headquarters Fax: 703-563-7330

Mailing address:
Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee.
8000 Forbes Place, Suite 200
Springfield VA 22151
Events: http://www.ronpaul2012.com/category/events/
Contact: http://www.ronpaul2012.com/contact-us/

Rick Santorum

PO Box 37
Verona, PA 15147
888.321.6675
Info@RickSantorum.com

For Press Inquires, please contact:
Matt Beynon
Matt@RickSantorum.com

South Carolina Office:
311 Johnnie Dodds Blvd
Suite 141
Mt. Pleasant SC 29464
855.206.RICK (7425)
Fax: 843.856.2449
SouthCarolina@RickSantorum.com

Florida Office:
1680 Fruitville Road
Suite 102
Sarasota, FL 34236
Fax: 484.229.0062
jesse@ricksantorum.com

Contact: http://www.ricksantorum.com/contact-us

Rick Perry

You can reach us by calling 1-855-8US-JOBS (855-887-5627).
To donate by mail, please download, complete, and send this form to RickPerry.org, Inc., P.O. Box 28890, Austin, TX 78755

What other ways can small business public relations coverage take place through election publicity?

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Consulting, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.

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5 Small Business PR Opportunities Jan 15-21

January 15, 2012 By 1 Comment

small_business_public_relationsHere are some of the biggest news stories impacting entrepreneurs seeking small business public relations during the week of January 16-21. The following stories are part of the UnderstandingMarketing.com “PITCH” series, helping entrepreneurs and small business owners generate Publicity Ideas That Create Headlines.

1: Martin Luther King Jr. Observance - Always a very significant holiday for everyone to remember the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this day offers minority business owners a chance to talk about their mission and journey in becoming a small business owner. Reporters all over the country will spend the day covering everything from parades to feature stories on what the day means to local businesses and organizations. Minority entrepreneurs looking for small business public relations can reach out to their local media outlets and invite them to the store for perspective on what the day means for their business and how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has inspired them.

2: Concordia Cruise Ship Disaster - A horrible story that unfolded before the world’s eyes over the weekend, any business that plays a part in the billion-dollar industry of cruising will want to pay special attention to this ongoing saga. A lot of the industry players will be on crisis PR mode, but smaller cruise travel agents will want to go in the opposite direction and take this opportunity to do damage control by giving updates to the local media and serving as a local cruise resource ready to answer all kinds of questions to members of the local press doing stories and updates on the Costa Concordia ship disaster and rescue. This week will be filled with questions of “is cruising safe?” and local travel agents need to be as proactive as possible to address these issues in order to keep their business from plummeting as a result of the hundreds of thousands of images and videos being paraded over the Internet.

3: Get To Know Your Customers Day (Jan. 19th) - Turning to the lighter side, January 19th is annually “Get To Know Your Customers Day.” This is one of those soft story ideas giving entrepreneurs and small business owners a chance to host events that celebrate their customers. Entrepreneurs looking to generate small business public relations around this day can develop story pitches that focus on the significant stories of their customers and why their customers shop from them.

4: Housing Starts and Existing Home Sales Data - Always a great way for builders, remodelers, realtors and designers to get small business public relations coverage, the business media will be watching this week with a close eye to see the latest trends on home building data. The industry publishes data each month addressing the number of homes that started under construction the previous month, as well as the latest figures on home sales. Any entrepreneurs or small businesses that touch the home building, sales or remodeling industries should be sending out their own reports to the media this week offering up perspectives on what they’re seeing in their respective parts of the world.

small_business_public_relations5: GOP South Carolina Primary - Last week we talked about how the spotlight was on New Hampshire and the GOP primary in the Northeast. Candidates spent several days visiting locals and small businesses with plenty of photo opps along the way. Now it’s South Carolina’s turn. The photo here is a great example of a local establishment getting some small business public relations coverage with their signage in the background. Small businesses and entrepreneurs in South Carolina should be contacting news media in their regions this week explaining how their business climate has been.

Are there any stories taking place that you feel should be added to this list? Be sure to add a comment at the end and help the community. Be sure to check in with UnderstandingMarketing.com each Monday to see which news stories are hot for entrepreneurs seeking small business public relations.

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Consulting, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal.

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“PITCH” Series Boosts Small Business PR

January 11, 2012 By 11 Comments

New “PITCH” Series Helps Entrepreneurs Get Small Business Public Relations Coverage.

“Publicity Ideas That Create Headlines”

Entrepreneurs creating their own small business public relations pitches for the media sometimes need a little help seeing the opportunity. UnderstandingMarketing.com, an online resource that offers small business marketing and public relations advice, announces it has started “PITCH” – Publicity Ideas That Create Headlines. PITCH is a series where specific PR pitch opportunities will be published each week and month, giving small business owners a chance to adapt their own pitch to a current event making local or national headlines. The series was born out of the PR Toolkit For Small Business, which is a resource designed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners have success doing their own public relations.

Beginning in January, UnderstandingMarketing.com launched its monthly small business public relations PITCH series where 27 PR opportunities tied to specific events were published on the blog to help entrepreneurs generate press coverage. The online resource also launched a more focused weekly PITCH series highlighting six stories currently in the news and impacting the small business community. UnderstandingMarketing co-founder John Sternal, with nearly 20 years of PR experience, will spearhead the effort making sure entrepreneurs have information to help them create stronger, more relevant pitches to members of the local and national media.

“The PITCH series will benefit small business owners who need a little help crafting effective pitches but will also help reporters who are inundated with story ideas that just don’t hit the mark,” said Sternal. “This new PITCH series will help entrepreneurs tie important and timely current events on a local or national level, ultimately helping them develop publicity ideas that create headlines.”

The monthly tips will be published at the beginning of each month and the weekly tips will be published ahead of each week. PITCH tips will run the gamut, with ideas such as January being National Oatmeal Month to more hard-news ideas such as ways to be a part of the GOP primary story lines in New Hampshire.

Give our new monthly and weekly PITCH tips a try for your small business public relations. And as always, visit UnderstandingMarketing.com and share feedback with us. We want to know how any of the tips provide you with PR success for your small business.

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41 Ways To Get Small Business PR

January 10, 2012 By 17 Comments

PR Toolkit For Small BusinessWe get a lot of feedback from entrepreneurs who’ve used the PR Toolkit For Small Business to generate all kinds of story ideas for their publicity efforts. One of the areas of feedback we receive addresses “where” to get press coverage. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking your only PR opportunities are either in the local newspaper, television news station, radio station or online. While this short list serves as a good foundation for where to look, there are countless more ways to get small business public relations. For additional insight download the PR Toolkit for Small Business.

In fact, here are 41 ways to get small business public relations for your company or startup venture (examples in parenthesis):

1: Cable Station (FOX News Channel, MSNBC)
2: Cable Program (Power Lunch, FOX and Friends)
3: Cable Program Regional (Bay News 9 in Tampa Bay, New England Cable News)
4: Cable Bureau (CNN Miami, FOX News Los Angeles)
5: TV Network (CBS, ABC, NBC)
6: TV Station (WSVN, WPLG, WFOR, WTVJ)
7: TV Program (Good Day New York, Good Day Tampa Bay)
8: TV Regional Bureau (ABC News Atlanta)
9: TV Freelance (Becky Worley, Bruce Pechman)
10: Entertainment TV Shows (Ellen, Anderson Cooper)
11: Trade TV Shows (Weekend Decorating, This Old House)
12: Radio Network (ABC Radio, CBS Radio)
13: Radio Station (WIOD AM, WFLA AM)
14: Radio Program (Car Talk, Morning Edition)
15: Online News Source (MSNBC.com, WGN.com, Yahoo.com)
16: Print (Freelance writers like Scott Steinberg and Jim Dvorak)
17: Newspaper – National (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today)
18: Newspaper – National Bureau (New York Times Dallas Bureau)
19: Newspaper Local (Denver Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times)
20: Newspaper Weekly (Town Crier, Pelican Point)
21: Syndicated News Service (AP, Reuters, Gannett)
22: Syndicated Regional Bureau (AP Miami, Reuters San Francisco)
23: Syndicate (Knight-Ridder, Copley News Service)
24: Consumer Magazine (Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Redbook)
25: News Magazine (TIME, Newsweek)
26: Business Magazine (Fortune, Forbes)
27: National Magazine Bureau (Newsweek Washington, D.C.)
28: Vertical Trade Magazine (Builder, Electrical Contractor, Canadian Pizza)
29: Regional Magazine (Florida Trend)
30: Lifestyle Magazine (Ocean Drive, Naples Illustrated)
31: Photo Agency (Getty Images, AP Photo)
32: Industry Research/Analyst (Gartner, IDC)
33: TV News Website (WFTS.com, WTSP.com)
34: Radio News Website (WBAP.com, KLIF.com)
35: Newspaper Website (SunSentinel.com, PBPost.com)
36: Magazine Website (Newsweek.com, TIME.com)
37: Blog (HuffingtonPost.com, Engadget.com)
38: Vertical Email Newsletter (eWeek, iMedia)
39: E-Magazine (e-marketer, Marketing Sherpa)
40: Satellite Radio (Cosmo Radio, Road Dog Trucking)
41: Podcasts (Neo-Fite.tv)

There is certainly a lot of crossover between many of these formats. In many cases you may get a local television news station to do a story on your company with the story also appearing on the television station’s website. If there is a deeper partnership between local media companies (WFLA and the Tampa Tribune being a good example), then companies in the St. Petersburg/Tampa market have the chance of getting a small business public relations story on WFLA television, on the station’s website and also the Tampa Tribune. One way to find out of this is possible is to ask the camera person when they come to do the interview.

Do you have any other ways to add to this list? Please share with the rest of the community by leaving a comment.

Here are a few other topics that can also help with small business public relations:

12 Key Ingredients For Small Business PR in 2012

How To Get An Editorial in the Newspaper

How Can I Get My Small Business on CNN?

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Consulting, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal.

Filed Under: Public Relations Tagged With: , , , ,
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