5 Quick PR Tips for Bloggers, YouTubers & Business Owners

5 Quick PR Tips for Bloggers, YouTubers & Business Owners

For many small businesses and brands, the concept of PR may seem like something that only big business and influential figures have to worry about. We see PR firms that represent brands or celebrities and we may be intimidated by the concept of public relations or think we shouldn’t hire out our PR. Now, as a small business owner myself who also blogs and creates content for YouTube, I am often approached by my fans, and other businesses or brands that want to work with me. All of that falls under the category of Public Relations and although we all can’t afford PR representation, we need to get in the habit of putting our best foot forward when dealing with the public. So today I just want to share 5 Quick PR tips that I have relied on through the years that I believe have helped me streamline my PR without needing outside representation or some cumbersome PR strategy!

#1. Create a Media Kit

I think that all brands and businesses that plan to work with customers or others brands should have a media kit. I made my first media kit for my blog years ago and try to update it once a year or whenever I am pursuing or about to contact a brand I want to work with. You can create a simple one page media kit that includes a brief “about me” along with your key stats and services you are available for. If you don’t know how to structure your media kit, a quick Pinterest search will yield many different examples that you can turn into your own template! Now, when it comes to using your media kit, you will want to send this file in PDF form along with any emails you may send to brands or businesses soliciting a collaborative effort. If you want to work with a brand, having this kit is like a resume that the brand can use to identify whether you and your brand will work with their objectives. You can also create a media kit if you are a service based business to send to potential clients that may outline your services, pricing and experience! I think anyone operating online would benefit from having a media kit, so consider creating yours asap!

#2. Use a business email address

This may be a given for some people, but you’d be surprised how often I see people using email addresses that just aren’t professional or a representation of their brand/business. It’s essential for putting your best foot forward to have a dedicated business email address that you can keep separate from any personal email account you may also use. This is an easy PR tip that you can implement asap with free email clients like gmail or yahoo!

#3. Make sure to engage on social posts that include your brand

It’s a great PR rule of thumb to engage with any and all social posts or mentions you may receive. I always make sure to like, retweet, and respond to all mentions on Twitter, Instagram or elsewhere online that I see! It’s just a best practice that shows that you are present in your brand and open to interaction with your followers. Nothing is worse for PR than a brand or business that doesn’t make every reasonable effort to respond and engage with followers or fans that are talking about you positively online!

#4. Reply to all your emails

I know this one may be hard, but like #3 above, replying to your emails is a best practice for any serious brand or business owner. I know what it’s like to get bulk or spam solicitations from companies and also manage emails for customer service and general inquiries, however, on the other end of each and every email you receive is a person who is reaching out to your brand and if they don’t get a response, you have most likely lost an opportunity for a sale, a connection or even simply the opportunity to create a loyal fan. If you have trouble replying to all your emails, consider creating canned email responses that you can quickly copy and paste to address frequently asked questions or specific customer service inquiries, or hire an assistant to help you manage your email. Either way, make sure you respond to your emails in a timely manner!

#5. Double check all the content and products you create for brand consistency

When you’re managing a brand or a business, I think it’s easy for us to feel like we are getting stretched thin with our ideas for content and products. I know I have felt this way on many occasions in the past few years and the result ends up being that I may create content or products that aren’t consistent with my overall brand. Since your brand is your fingerprint online, you need to keep it safe and strong by double checking that everything you produce is in line with that brand. If not, any content or products that don’t align have the ability to dilute your brand which weakens it. In order to ensure your content and products are in line with your brand, consider creating a litmus test question that you can ask and answer for each item you create to ensure it’s in line with what your brand is all about. For me this question is “Does this help people work smarter, not harder?” If I can honestly answer that question with a “yes” then I proceed with publishing my content or product to the world. If not, I need to reevaluate what I was doing and get that answer turned to a yes before I will release it to the public!

Public relations doesn’t have to be a complicated topic for your brand or business, but it is essential that you implement some simple PR tips to help your business succeed! If you have any other tips you have learned over the years or want to share a PR experience you had as a blogger or business owner, please feel free to comment below!

xoxo,