Consider this equation: Effective business strategy +
Savvy communications plan =
Consistent sales and business growth.

Simple, right? And it’s something most small-business owners instinctively understand. But knowing the formula is the easy part. Succeeding at PR and marketing requires a strong PR and marketing plan.

That’s why we are proud to release, PR Rules: The Playbook The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Supersizing Your Small Business With the 8 Steps to PR Success.

In 176 pages, entrepreneurs gain access to our Inkandescent PR Playbook, which features our effective 8 Steps to PR Success. It has helped hundreds of small-business owners maximize their visibility—and we are confident that it will help you, too.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

Part 1—The PR Playing Field. What is the difference between PR, marketing, advertising, sales, and social media? In this section we feature insights from eight experts in each field to help you understand the landscape.

Part 2—The 8 Steps to PR Success. From creating a stunning website (Step 1) to paying it forward (Step 8), you’ll learn what each tool in the PR toolkit is (and what it isn’t), why it’s important, and how you can use the PR toolbox to supersize your small business. Here are the 8 Steps:

1. Create a stunning website
2. Develop an explosive PR campaign
3. Make a splash in the news
4. Write a column in a magazine and launch a radio show
5. Network wisely
6. Join a speakers bureau
7. Write a book
8. Pay it forward

Part 3—8 Case Studies + Inkandescent Insights. What do the big players do to make their businesses glow and grow? In this section you’ll find case studies of 8 of our Entrepreneurs of the Month who are rocking their PR and marketing campaigns:

• Be Inspiring: Raj Sisodia Founder of the Conscious Capitalism movement
• Be Insightful: Mansour Javidan Director of the Najafi Global Mindset Institute at Thunderbird School of Global Management
• Be Introspective: Kristine Carlson Co-founder of the Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff series
• Be Ingenious: Bert Jacobs Life is good! Company co-founder
• Be Interconnected: Dr. Esther Sternberg Author of Healing Spaces, and PBS’ The Science of Healing
• Be Imaginative: Ridley Pearson Best-selling author whose novels range in topic from the paranormal to the Peter Pan prequels
• Be Intuitive: Dr. Helen Fisher Award-winning author and anthropologist whose research formulated the questionnaire for Chemistry.com
• Be Innovative: Alan Webber Co-founder of Fast Company magazine and a 2014 candidate for governor of New Mexico

You’ll also discover:

• The three mistakes we see many small-business owners make = “The Trifecta of Small-Business Failure.” A sneak peek is in this month’s Tips for Entrepreneurs.

• What you are up against when it comes to pitching your story to reporters. We asked our friend Gene Weingarten, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose humor column, “Below the Beltway,” has appeared weekly in The Washington Post Magazine since July 2000. In May 2012, he penned Flack Yourself, a biting explanation of why reporters generally have contempt for PR folks.

Weingarten granted us permission to run it as the preface to our “Playbook.” And, he provided this testimonial: Hope Katz Gibbs is far less pathetic, incompetent, and shameless than most PR people. Her book actually contains some smart advice, not that any of those clueless frauds will take it. Here’s what others are saying about the Playbook.

“PR Rules” is also sprinkled with quotes we hope will inspire entrepreneurs, including this one from “We Bought a Zoo:” You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage, just literally 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery, and I promise you something great will come of it.

Here’s to your incredible, indelible, Inkandescent PR success. — The PR Rules team: Hope Katz Gibbs, Kathleen McCarthy, and illustrator / designer Michael Gibbs