Public Relations as an Entrepreneur

When you are trying to develop a presence in the marketplace, you will find that it is a long term process. We are often deceived by the advance of a new App that creates instant exposure for a business. The problem is that exposure does not equal success in business.

Conversions are about awareness and repetition

If you think back to the process of the consumer purchasing process, you can see why getting great exposure one time will not help you in the long run. Think about all the steps that a customer must go through before they make a decision:

• They are exposed to the message
• They actually see the message
• They think about the message
• They remember the message
• They decide whether or not to act on it when the time comes

If a customer is exposed to your message, there is a very good chance they don’t actually see it. What I mean by this is that customers are exposed to millions of advertisements and news articles every year. Even a great one may be lost to them because there are so many others that are drowning it out. That is why you need to maximize the chance of your customer hearing your message by sending it multiple times.

Also, even if a customer sees the message, they aren’t going to be convinced that they should purchase your product yet. They need to think carefully and they may forget about you before they have the chance. Make sure to remind them again.

Sooner or later, your customers will be in a situation where they need to make a buying decision. Who do you think they are going to purchase from? The company who they heard of once or the one that took the effort to inform them of their purchase again and again?

How to Make Sure your message Gets through

Even if you can come up with a single great press release, you have accomplished less than half of what you are aiming for. Public relations is less about genius and creativity than it is about determination and persistence. You should make sure that you time your public relations campaign carefully.

You should inform customers and other stakeholders of developments with any of the following:

• You just launched a new product
• You hired a new employee
• You received a large sum from an investor
• You have to address a negative claim that was made against you

You should also try to update your customers regularly about developments in your field (weekly, biweekly, monthly etc.). You also need to make sure that you inform them of every major development that will influence their opinion about your company. Then they will be much more likely to purchase your products in the future.