Why PR Rules

From “PR Rules: The Playbook—The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Supersizing Your Small Business.”

By Hope Katz Gibbs, with Kathleen McCarthy

Illustrations and design by Michael Glenwood Gibbs

As a small-business owner, you want to be featured in the news, right? So you hire a PR person to pitch your story to the media, or you do it yourself.

Here’s why it’s a challenge: Many journalists are wary of PR specialists, who sometimes act like pushy salespeople. Reporters believe their job is to provide readers with legitimate news—not copy for an ad. And they know that publicists are being paid to pitch a story, and that doesn’t sit well with people who make a living sniffing out the truth.

The key is to think like a reporter. Know their publications, their audience, and the stories they like to tell.

At The Inkandescent Group, everyone on our team has worked as a journalist. The reason we got into the PR business is the same reason we wrote PR Rules: The Playbook — to help small-business owners figure out how to best spread the word about what they are doing so their companies glow—and grow.

So what does it take to Supersize Your Small Business?

For a preview, check out the comments of a few of the industry experts whom we interviewed for the book, who share their advice in this issue:

• PR guru Lee Woodruff, author and broadcast journalist
• Marketing genius Guy Kawasaki, author of “Enchantment”
• Social media specialist Ronnie Bincer, Google+ Hangout guide
• Master of the soft sell Buddy Teaster, president of Soles4Souls
• Advertising expert Erin Hood, a TV producer at WJLA-TV

Before you try to generate any PR or news interest in your business, answer these three essential questions about you and your business:

1. What do you do? Tell us in under 30 words (the fewer the better). If you can’t, people will assume that you don’t know what you do. So think it through.

Example: The Inkandescent Group is a PR and publishing company that helps entrepreneurs get more visibility using 8 Steps to PR Success. (21 words.)

Your turn: What do you do?

2. Why do you do it? Is your business your passion? Does it get you out of bed in the morning? If you didn’t do this business, would it crush you? If you didn’t answer yes to those questions—stop reading. You aren’t doing what you’re supposed to be doing.

But if you answered yes, you are on the path to success. Passion is the key to every entrepreneur’s success. It takes a whole lot more than that to be successful, of course—time, patience, capital, and human resources—and an amazing product or service. But if your business is not in your guts, like a child or a lover, then you’ll never take it to the level you dream of.

Your turn: Why do you do what you do?

3. How do you do it? Now dive into the nitty-gritty. The devil is in the details, especially when a reporter is quoting you, or, even better, writing a story about your company. So be sure your message about your business is clear, concise, and as specific as possible.

Example: At The Inkandescent Group, our mission is to promote, educate, and inspire entrepreneurs about best practices in small business. To walk that talk, our team provides a series of services that help businesses get more visibility, and accomplish their business goals, including: building websites, crafting newsletters and magazine columns, to hosting radio shows, networking, writing books, and getting out on the speakers circuit.

Your turn: How do you do what you do?