Early in the beginning Wish Group didn’t have a Public Relations (PR) strategy. We did what we could and bootstrapped our way through.
In our first venture, we were partnered with Tony Lacavera of Globalive and he was recognized as #1 on the PROFIT Hot 50 list.
That was such an inspiration and I saw Tony get a lot of PR from that recognition.
So that’s my first tip, apply for awards.
You may feel like you’re not big enough to win an award or doing enough amazing things to stand out, but you could be pleasantly surprised.
Learn how to apply for awards because things like the PROFIT list have you competing against companies that started in the same year as yours, and they measure growth as a percentage instead of purely revenue.
Over time we have learned about a lot of other awards, such as Greatest Place to Work, Best Employers, etc. While we’re bootstrapping and don’t offer a lot of perks, we realized that what we do offer here is better than other companies.
Applying for awards is also a good process to go through to set goals for your business as you grow.
You might have blinders on while you’re working away in your business, and awards can help you feel good about where your business ranks amongst your peers. It can help you validate that what you’re doing is working.
Awards are also team activities, and winning them has a positive effect internally for your team. This in turn benefits your customers and clients too.
Once you start winning awards and getting some PR, it can become more of a domino effect.
Another Tip for Bootstrapping PR is Give Back.
We’ve done some things for our community without having PR in mind, but they ended up generating a lot of positive PR for us.
Growing up as a business in Liberty Village has been great, and the community has helped us grow. We wanted to do something to give back to our community, so we created an event named Calling on Liberty.
The event showcased a lot of local Liberty Village artists and raised money for the local community.
Just Tell Your Story.
You might think no one cares to hear what you have to say, but you would be surprised.
People want to hear what you have expertise on.
Get Digital and Social.
The newer digital and social media world can be intimidating, but it’s an amazing medium for telling your story.
Connect with your audience.
Even doing a video series like Bootstrap and sharing clips will help you get your story out to more people.
I wish I had started my video series years ago!
We are living in a very content centered world, and you’d be surprised about how many well-known magazines are hungry for content you can deliver.
Just get started somewhere.
For this episode of Bootstrap, click here: https://wishgroup.wpengine.com/s1e12-get-your-pr-right/
Frank