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by Robert
A. Kelly
When
small businesses fail, the
wreckage is often assigned to
undercapitalization, among other
mistakes. Seldom is failure
attributed to a lack of effective
communications that might have
modified the behavior of sales
prospects in a positive way, thus
averting bankruptcy.
In my view, raising money for new
businesses is a skill best left to
others, but smart, aggressive
communications is not. As the
entrepreneur, you cannot rely on
your financing source to create
the broad public exposure your
business needs if it is to
survive. Ideally from Day 1, you
must take the lead in this vital
effort accepting the fact that
good results come only after
careful planning and
implementation of a realistic and
workable public relations
strategy.
Before
you achieve real growth and
prosperity, your target audiences
must not only become aware that
your company exists, they must be
motivated to take action. Doing
something about how your business
is perceived means a well-planned
public relations program that can
reach, persuade and move those
prospects to action.
And,
by the way, not just prospects.
Other target audiences need public
relations attention, too, if they
are to take the actions you desire
-- for example, employees,
residents and leaders of the
community, unions, suppliers and
activists,. Put another way, (and
paraphrasing advertising great,
Bruce Barton), you will have
relations -- of some kind -- with
your internal and external
audiences whether you want them or
not!
At
the root of it all is a simple
truism we all know but tend to
forget: people act on their
perception of the facts. If the
small business owner is to have an
effect on those perceptions,
he/she must deal with them
promptly and effectively.
So
the question for you, Ms. or Mr.
Small Business Wannabe, is, have
you thought about some of the
unattended perceptions out there
that could nudge your fledgling
business closer to bankruptcy than
success? Perceptions that, if left
unattended, may well result in
actions that run counter to those
you and your banker may desire?
For
example:
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If
sales prospects are unaware of
your product or service, you
will not get them as
customers.
-
And
if those customers don't
remain convinced of the value
of your product or service,
you lose them.
-
If
employees believe you don't
care about them, productivity
suffers.
-
If
a minority person believes you
discriminate when you don't, a
host of unnecessary problems
may ensue.
-
If
community residents don't
perceive your business as a
good place to work, you have
employee hiring and retention
problems.
-
If
insurance carriers perceive
you as a bad risk, they don't
provide the business coverage
you need.
-
If
journalists are suspicious of
your motives and you don't
convince them otherwise, you
get "bad press."
-
If
business people believe what
some competitors say about
your firm, that joint venture
you want so badly may not come
about.
-
And,
as you grow bigger, if
government regulators believe
your products are not
completely safe, sales will
almost certainly be negatively
affected.
-
If
legislators are unaware of
your opinions or don't believe
you, unwanted regulations
result.
-
And,
when you grow big enough to
become a public company, if
security analysts believe you
can't manage your company,
they won't recommend your
company to investors.
Obviously,
small businesses have limited
resources to apply despite
potentially damaging and
unattended perceptions held by
those audiences most important to
the success of their businesses.
Still,
there are certain cost-effective
activities you can undertake to
reach them. And considering the
survival nature of this topic,
while some expense is involved,
you may wish to research nearby
public relations professionals
willing to partner with you during
the early days of your enterprise.
Together,
you may move in this direction:
First, rank your external
audiences as to importance. For
example, #1 customers; #2
prospects; #3 employees; #4 local
and trade media; #5 your local
business community; #6 community
leaders, and so forth.
Second,
as time permits, interact with
members of each audience and jot
down their impressions of your
business, especially problem
areas.
Third,
prepare tailored messages that not
only provide details about your
product and service quality and
diversity, but addresses problems
that surfaced during your
conversations.
Fourth, consider the most
effective means for communicating
each message to each audience.
This may include simple meetings,
briefings, news releases, news
announcement luncheons, media
interviews, facility tours,
special promotional events, a
brochure, and a variety of other
communications tactics.
How will you know that your
efforts are changing perceptions
for the better? Over time, you
should notice increased awareness
of your business, especially how
it's doing in the marketplace;
increased receptiveness to your
messages by customers; a growing
public perception of the role your
business plays in its industry and
in the community; and, of course,
growing numbers of prospects.
Such
results are tracked by speaking on
a regular basis with people among
each of your key audiences, by
monitoring print and broadcast
media for mentions of your
messages or viewpoints, and by
interaction with key customers and
prospects.
Remember what is at stake -
nothing less than the survival of
your business!
So, keep an eye on what's most
important, and remember that
people in your community or
marketing area behave like
everyone else - they take actions
based on their perception of the
facts they hear about you and your
business.
And that means you must deal
promptly and effectively with
those perceptions by doing what is
necessary to reach them and to
persuade them to your way of
thinking, thus moving them to take
actions that lead to
the success of your business.
PR
consultant Bob Kelly was
director of PR for Pepsi-Cola
Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR,
Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News
Shipbuilding; director of
communications, U.S. Department
of the Interior, and deputy
assistant press secretary, The
White House.
bobkelly@TNI.net
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