No Budget for PR? No Problem.

Now is the time to put more emphasis on your public-relations activities. If you don’t, your competition will bury you alive.

But what do you do if you don’t have a budget?

No problem. Here are three ways to get some great publicity on a small budget:

1. Do It Yourself.

You may be a little hesitant to do your own PR, but it’s  not as hard as it seems. It just takes some extra time and effort.

And reporters will probably pay more attention to you than a publicist.   After all, you’re the expert in your industry. And most reporters, editors and producers are inundated with requests from PR pros – not CEOs and business owners.

If you need a simple guide to get started, you may want to check: http://www.startupnation.com/steps/77/steps-successful-public-relations.htm  and the various forums and blogs on this site.

2. Hire a Freelancer.

If you just don’t have time to do your own PR and want to concentrate on more important business activities, look into hiring a PR freelancer instead of a large agency.

Conduct some research with www.prsa.org, www.elance.com, http://www.mediabistro.com/  and other online sites for freelancers.

Check references, fees and samples,  and talk to the freelancer to see if you will work well together. Then, start with an initial project and monitor progress.

There are lots of experienced freelancers out there who can get you some great press at a fraction of the cost of hiring a big agency. But be sure to do your due diligence. Otherwise, you could lose  money, damage your business reputation and waste a lot of time.

3. Find a Service.

There are many services available that will handle all of your PR needs for you at a reasonable cost. Check out www.prweb.com, www.prnewswire.com  and www.businesswire.com. Also, check the Public Relations Society of America for help at www.prsa.org.

You can even check with a local college to see if some of the marketing students would be interesting in helping you for class credit or work on an internship basis.

No Excuses.
The point is that there are many ways to generate publicity without spending a fortune. You just need to take the time to find them and make them work with your specific business situation.

Need more help or have questions about your small business public relations and SEO copywriting efforts?

Feel free to write to me below, on Twitter at RembrandtWrites, or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’d love to hear from you! Thanks!