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April 21, 2008

Using PR In Small Business (2)

Using Events And Good Causes

In Part 1 of this article (How To Use PR In A Small Business (1)) we looked at PR for small businesses in general terms, with an emphasis on local events. Before pressing on, let us review the reasoning behind PR and why it is so important. Many people misunderstand the motives behind it based on what they see large companies do. They see it as an exercise in brand recognition or 'keeping their name before the public'. For small concerns it is much more than this. It is the fostering of goodwill within the business's market area. It is the small business's job to create and sustain a congenial trading environment as if their life depends on it—because it does!

It can involve many things, including, for example, such things as customer support, but if you had to find one word that sums up all forms of PR it would be communication. Speeches, talks and seminars, product displays, open days, press releases and radio announcements, participation in public events, peer networking (the list could go on) are all forms of PR—and all fit naturally under the general heading 'communication'.

Newsletter Power

That is precisely why newsletters have such powerful potential. They are the natural communication media for small business. A case can even be put that some very small businesses, of the 'corner store' variety or self-employed representatives and tradesmen, could and should rely on them exclusively. When your market is in the surrounding streets what better way is there to communicate with your customers? However, it is not, in my opinion, a good idea to restrict your marketing to any one pursuit. Concentration of effort is fine but you still need to keep a look out for any fresh opportunities that might present themselves.

Event Marketing

One avenue that often presents just such opportunities is 'Event Marketing', i.e. how to effectively link your enterprise to pre-planned events, or even events that you might initiate. What we are mostly dealing with here are occasions like fairs, carnivals, parades, amateur sports meetings and so on but really any kind of gathering where the attendees have a focal point of common interest. It could be anything from a seasonal celebration with a purely commercial objective like a Christmas parade to a non-profit fundraising venture such as a telethon. Obviously, the more closely the common interest directly relates to the products or services that you offer, the keener you might be regarding your possible involvement. By the same token, some events, like the Christmas parade, might be so broad-based as to warrant your involvement because of sheer numbers, or the media coverage anticipated.

At one time in my career (you can read my 'bio' on this site) I was responsible for organizing a number of events and promotions for local retailers and other businesses. In order to focus a bit more specifically on how various businesses might relate to different kinds of events and to illustrate the basic principles involved I shall touch briefly on several real-life examples from this period to illustrate my points. I hope you can pick up one or two ideas which can be developed and adapted to suit your own situation.

A Practical Example

When I first started, I concentrated on developing events that were already established. One such case was the Christmas parade which is why it sprang to mind as an example above. The actual organizing, such as booking participants, arranging marshals, setting up a First Aid post etc, was, by tradition, taken care of by the local Rotary Club so things were considerably simplified from my point of view. All I had to do was arrange a series of activities to complement the main event.

The complementary activities that I used to support the Christmas parade took the form of 4 competitions. There was one for retailers (best Christmas display window). One was for children (they had to find hidden objects within the shop window displays). One was for children representing their schools (rate the Christmas displays on a scale of 1 to 10 and go in the draw for a prize). Finally, on parade day, there was a prize for guessing which staff member from one of the participating retailers was playing the part of Santa Claus.

Lessons Learned

Without going into further detail, what is the point of all these reminiscences?

1. Never hesitate to ask for volunteers; good sources are all around you (Service Clubs, schools, other children's organizations such as Boy Scouts, churches - in fact any community-minded groups, particularly if they have something in common with the event). Provided there is some measure of 'public good' in your undertaking, they will often look favorably on your venture even if they can clearly see that you stand to gain from it. A pool of willing helpers can make a huge contribution to an event's success. Volunteers tend to be enthusiastic, unstinting in effort and energy, carry out instructions to the letter and generally are a pleasure to work with. Also, the moment you involve volunteers your endeavor becomes a 'community event' and attracting the attention of the local media becomes a lot easier.
2. Use children whenever you can. If you run an event that attracts kids then be prepared for an invasion of adults. Local schools were our main means of announcing the coming Christmas parade including the competitions etc. Most schools were happy to run a series of morning announcements in the lead-up. It was very effective—and free (apart from the prize for winning school in the draw).
3. Don't lose sight of the ball. In other words, make sure your promotional efforts pay off from start to finish. The shop display promotion caused a noticeable increase in foot traffic as excited children dragged their parents from shop to shop. The entry forms themselves were only available from participating shops. The entrants were easy to identify as they did a 'face appraisal' of staff and tried to memorize shop names in the hope of recognizing the real person behind Santa on parade day—and parents helped! The draw for the winning shops was held a week prior to the parade and was featured in the local press, complete with accompanying pictures, resulting in a further increase in foot traffic. This was followed by a press release, which was generously used to report the surge in visitors to see the shop displays. On parade day, the shopping center was packed with people and the local media were in attendance. When the mystery Father Christmas was announced that resulted in more publicity for the retailer who played the part and a photo opportunity for the winner.
4. Offer your own goods or services as prizes. A bicycle for the winning child, with photographs outside the retail cycle shop premises, was a major publicity occurrence after the main event, as was the local supermarket's publicity and sales from the winner of the 'Guess Who's Santa' competition.

That's all well and good, you might say, but I have no intention of organizing a Christmas parade or anything similar and my business is completely different from those you mention. Fair enough, but what I am trying to do is encourage you into thinking about the basic principles of participating in community events.

Another Example

Let's look at another example. I needed to come up with a plan to:

1. Foster goodwill and promote a congenial environment, as mentioned above
2. Raise funds to finance projects within our township
3. Raise the town's profile as a business center to a wider area

In order to do this I looked around our town for companies or organizations that might have similar objectives to the first two. After drawing up a shortlist, I soon realized that one of the outfits that exactly fitted the criteria was also a unique facility. I had discovered that, within our town borders and quite unknown to most people, was the Institute for the Blind's Guide Dog Training Center.

'Good Cause' Marketing

What eventually followed was the first 'Dogathon' (a sponsored walk for dogs and their owners) ever held in the country. The funds raised were split 60/40 in favor of the Guide Dog School and publicized as such. Just about every business in the area took part in one form or another with lots of dog-oriented displays, competitions etc. On the day we had more fun happenings which everyone enjoyed such as 'The person who looks most like his/her dog', 'Best-dressed dog', 'Ugliest dog', 'Best barker' etc. The businesses that had profiles to match the event, as is always the case of course, fared best (like the local pet shop, local vet etc) but everyone found that, with a little thought, they could find a way to link in. For example, bookstores ran specials on dog books, butchers on dog food etc. Those that simply couldn't think of an appropriate way to link in put up big signs announcing that they supported the cause.

More Lessons Learned

We achieved all our objectives by following the principles I spelt out earlier plus one very important extra one: we had linked in to a 'good cause' and generated goodwill for every business involved as a result. We genuinely wanted to help them (Institute for the Blind) whilst they wanted to be seen as an organization that played their part in the local community. They also needed the funds so we were able to succeed in several ways. We used lots of volunteers and children. We got the co-operation of schools to help us promote it. We followed through on all our promotions and got the maximum possible media involvement, including national TV coverage. And lastly, most winners of competitions went shopping in the town (the exceptions were because the country's major dog food producer supplied many prizes).

Just Do It!

You may think I was lucky to find such a unique facility that was so easy to build an event around, and I was, but that's only part of the story. It is something that doesn't just happen; it has to be initiated. Someone has to do something to make an event happen. You too can put on an event to suit your own business or in co-operation with other businesses in your area but, you will find, the hard part is inspiring and keeping everyone's enthusiasm up. Done properly though, you can reap worthwhile rewards—especially if you can link your efforts sincerely to a good cause.

© 1999 Mike Alexander (Revised 2003)

 

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