Some people say "Any Publicity is Good Publicity!"

But I’m not so sure I agree with that! I’m more of a fan of the phrase ‘Good Publicity is Good Publicity!’ Admittedly, it’s not quite so catchy, but you never know, it might catch on!
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But how can we get good publicity for our businesses? Particularly when budgets are stretched in this time of the Europe/Brexit vote, economic uncertainty etc.? Most of us have very little, if any, spare cash that we can plough into marketing campaigns in order to promote our businesses effectively.  There are, however, loads of ways that you can promote your business for free (or very cheaply), but they all require both time and effort on your part in order to shine a much needed spotlight on your business. As I say, there are lots of ideas, but I'll just concentrate on a few here.

Let’s start with Social Media
I know that the vast majority of us have some kind of online presence – indeed, did you know that in 2014, 54% of all UK adults participated in social networking (Source: ONS), and that globally, the number of monthly active users on Facebook by mid-2015 had reached 1.49 BILLION! (Source: Facebook statistics)  Amazing, I know!

So you’ve got a Social Media presence – but are you using it effectively?
Try not to be too pushy with ‘selling’ from your dedicated business social media accounts.  Instead, try to engage your fans and followers by posting interesting and relevant articles that are related to your field, or providing useful advice on your specialist topics – both will really set you apart as a reliable and trustworthy ‘field leader’. 

Or you could run a social media promotion or competition - however, please bear in mind that social media platforms such as Facebook have recently changed their rules on competitions and have imposed strict new terms for businesses who want to use Facebook in this way. Take a look at this link (See section III D and E) for more information to make sure that you don't unintentionally contravene their new rules - it could result in your business facebook page being taken down, so isn't worth the risk!'

Also, behind-the-scenes photos, videos or personal insights (like a team member’s birthday or arrival of a new baby) can really help to humanise your brand and make you seem more approachable to new and existing customers.  The use of images and videos are also highly recommended, as these have both been proven, time and again, to be more engaging than just plain text updates.

Enter for an Award!
Once you have a positive and regular social media presence, what to do next? Why not try to win an award?

There's a really helpful article by smarta.com (18 ways to market your business on a tiny budget) which has some fab ideas too!): “Entering for an industry award can be easy.  For some, all you need to do is write an application.  If you’re successful, local press may be interested in speaking to you and it’s another accolade to put on your website or business card.  It also gives customers confidence in your business.”

If you are stumped over what to put in your application, why not ask a happy customer to give a glowing testimonial to incorporate into your application? That way, whether you win or not, you still have a positive review of your business that you can use on your website to help ‘win over’ potential new customers who can see, and appreciate, the value of excellent feedback from your existing customers.

Write a specialist article
If you’ve caught the writing bug from developing interesting and engaging social media content or filling in comprehensive award application forms, why not try writing an article for a specialist journal designed for other professionals in your field? Once again, something like this – when done well – can really set you apart from your peers as a leading figure and authority in your field.

Do some work for charideee!
Finally, why not start to support or work alongside a local charity as a bit of free PR? As well as the ‘feel good’ factor you will experience as a result of dedicating time and energy to a good cause, you could find some good publicity too: Word of mouth will soon pass on the message that your business is a caring and compassionate organisation, and you may also be able to ‘sponsor’ events for your chosen charity, promoting the name of your business on tickets and posters, and linking it with the positive connotations associated with selfless charity work – it’s a win-win situation for all involved!

Get the recognition you deserve ...
So next time you are moaning about your distinct lack of marketing budget, stop and think! All of the above marketing methods are either free or exceptionally low cost, and just require your time and effort to make them successful.  I know that you may be snowed under with work already, but if you can find just a little time to set aside in order to promote your business, I promise you won’t regret it! You may even get the recognition you deserve for being thoroughly excellent at what you do!

Go on, give it a try! 

When most people look at Social Media, they see tiny ‘snippets’ of marketing – 140 characters on Twitter, a few lines on Facebook, a single image and a few hashtags on Instagram… surely it can’t take long to knock a few Social Media posts out, can it?  Many people don’t realise the time that it takes to create and implement an effective Social Media Strategy for just one business, let alone multiple businesses, so here is a little insight into the day-to-day life of our wonderful Social Media Manager – hopefully, it will convince you that she doesn't just spend all her time reading amusing Facebook articles!

Job 1 – Responding to messages! If you are in control of multiple active Social Media accounts, it is likely that your customers will be receiving direct messages from potential customers on various social media platforms, possibly on a daily basis.  It is often the job of the Social Media Manager to respond to messages, where appropriate or pass the messages on to the Business Owner.  Platforms like Facebook now rate businesses according to how quickly they respond to messages, so the quicker you can respond to direct messages, the better!

Job 2 – Devising original and engaging content: This takes most of my time! For many of my customers, I post once per day to LinkedIn, twice per day to Facebook, and up to 7 times per day on Twitter.  Each of these posts needs to be unique, engaging, and interesting to a specific Business’ target audience.  I try and use a mixture of relevant news articles, ‘behind-the-scenes’ posts designed to give an idea of the real face of the company, and ‘sales-y’ type posts to keep the audience engaged.  

Job 3 – Working out what is working, and what isn’t working! Obviously, if I am creating 50 unique tweets a week for a business, not all of them are going to be quite as popular as others are! It is my job to look at the statistics (either using the platforms own ‘insight’ statistics, or my own software), and work out what kind of content is doing well, and what kind of content is causing customers to ‘switch off’.  Sometimes, popular content is just about being in the right place at the right time! If for example, you are able to use a hashtag that is trending during a live event (i.e. a sports event, a popular television programme), your engagement may go off the scale! My most popular tweet ever was related to BBC’s #Springwatch and received over 500 retweets. 

However, if you want a ‘trending’ tweet to generate new and relevant followers, you need to ensure that the topic is related to the business you are working for – thankfully, my Springwatch tweet was about pollution and the business I was working for had a major focus on sustainability, so the tweet also generated new (and relevant) ‘likes’ and followers for the Business.  It may not have been so successful had the company I was working for been a hairdressers, or café, etc.  

Job 4 – Scheduling in content:  Like many other people, I have a life outside of Social Media (you know – eating, sleeping, etc.!), so it’s just not feasible for me to ‘live’ post throughout the day for every business that I work for.  As a result, I schedule the content for the majority of my clients up to a week in advance via a scheduling tool (like Hootsuite, etc.).  As well as making life easier for me, this also enables my customers to review content prior to it being sent out, so that they can ensure they are happy with the tone, etc.

Job 5 – Images and videos: When it comes to Social Media content, the most popular and engaging content is often visual (in the form of an image or video), and as a result, much of my time is spent developing business specific and ‘branded’ images for my customers, as well as the odd video.  As you would expect, these can take quite a bit of time to perfect! Ideally, Businesses want striking and relevant images that can be immediately associated with their company, so a specific colour filter may need to be applied, or text added in a specific font in order to give the image ‘brand consistency’.  All I can say is thank goodness for iPhone Apps!

The five jobs listed above are all major parts of my daily work schedule, though are by no means everything! Hopefully, you will be able to see that a Social Media Manager does actually do a little more than just type ‘funny meme’s’ into Google and then post the most hilarious results… though I do like to do that occasionally for a little light relief!

If you're looking for some Social Media support for your Business, please contact CC Professional Secretarial Services today on +44 (0)7931 783395 or via email at: [email protected] for more information. 

​We look forward to hearing from you!