Kate Betts Blog

If you don’t shout about what you do your competitors will… and they will get all the business.

People can’t buy from you if they don’t know you exist. PR is a really good way of getting your business out there and it needn’t cost much. That is especially important when we all need to tighten our belts.

And the great thing about editorial mentions is that they have credibility. The third party endorsement of a journalist is worth so much more than an advert. This is particularly true of high-quality goods and services, where research shows that brand value is improved far more by editorial mentions, rather than advertising. If, on the other hand, you sell fast moving consumer goods, such as baked beans or toilet paper, maybe you should spend more on adverts.

It is worth remembering that you don’t need to do something amazing or pioneering to get editorial mentions. Our newspapers, radio programmes and TV shows are full of interesting things. Just interesting, not unique. And they need this stuff day in day out, hour in hour out.

Yes, you can do a big stunt to get media coverage. Giving away a donkey with every purchase will get you media coverage. But you don’t need to do something so dramatic to get in the papers. Believe me.

I spent 20 years writing stories about people and organisations doing interesting things. It is the bread and butter of news. As a journalist the donkey stories are nice, but you need stories every week, day, hour and so you write about interesting things – and I am sure your company is doing something interesting…