Some PR Tips

1) Talking about doing PR isn't as good as actually doing some PR.  Waiting for the best story to happen can take a while, it is always better to get something out there.

2) Have a steady stream of appropriate PR ready to send to editors seeking your content

3) Read the up-coming magazine Features list and try to put some PR relevant to the feature

4) Find a PR company that can make something special out of your product or service, that you might think is normal

5) Use pictures with your press releases to help Editors to visualise your uniqueness

6) 'The more you write the less gets read', and good PR companies have learnt to be brief and to the point

7) Recycle old PR with a fresh new and amended slant, in some fringe publications

8) Good PR agents will find a good story simply by interviewing your customers

9) Fully written-up testimonials with pictures are like gold dust, you can use them for PR and for sending to prospects in your marketing materials

10) Measure the success and ROI of your PR with clippings, but allow time for editors to start using your submissions

One technique used in PR is to identify all the specific target audiences, and then to tailor messages to appeal directly to those target audiences. The audience can be a local, nationwide or even a worldwide audience, and it is very often a segment of the entire population. Marketers regularly refer to "demographics" eg "black males 20-40". In PR an audience is very often more fluid, whoever an organisation wants to reach. For example, a recent political target included "soccer moms". There are also groupings based on fitness, dining preferences etc.

As well as target audiences, there are influential stakeholders, people who have a particular "stake" in an issue. All target audiences are potential stakeholders, but not all stakeholders are potential audiences. As an example, a reaearh charity takes on a PR agency to develop a campaign to bring in money to help reaearch potential cures for a specific disease. The research charity and the actual sufferers of the disease are the stakeholders, and the target audience is everyone and anyone who could donate money.

What is a "qualified sales lead"?

A qualified prospect is a sales lead and has three attributes:

1) A need - a highly-qualified prospect needs your product or service now or relatively soon. For example, if you sell widgets with an average lifespan of three years, a good prospect is one who owns a two-year-old widget, not a contact who bought a new one last year.

2) A sufficient budget - a qualified prospect has the budget to buy your product or service. Don't waste your time pursuing a contact who truly can't afford to buy what you're selling or a company that has used up its yearly budget.

3) The authority to buy - a good prospect has the authority and is prepared to take action. The simpler and more efficient their decision-making process is, the better your opportunity of closing the sale.

Prospecting is the first step in the complex selling process. A prospect is a qualified person or business contact that has the potential to buy your product or service. A prospect should not be confused with a "sales lead."

The name of a contact or business who might be a prospect is referred to as a potential sales lead. A sales lead can also be referred to as a "suspect," indicating the contact or business is suspected of being a prospect.

Once the lead has been "qualified," it becomes a prospect. In other words, a "sales lead" is a suspect, whereas a "qualified sales lead" is a prospect -- and there's a BIG difference between the two.