I want to open this article with two questions: 

1. What does PR mean to your business?
2. How are you using it?

Many business owners fall into the mistake of using PR for the sole purpose of advertising their company.

The Purpose of Public Relations 

Aside from promotional purposes, did you know that marketers use PR because it gives them the opportunity for free snooping on their competitors?

PR is an essential aspect of every business – whether it’s a micro, medium, or big business. I pass onto you a word of wisdom that I have learnt from my media studies – that newspaper journalists are increasingly turning to product PR releases as their information source.

Finding ways to distribute your PR release can be time-consuming, frustrating and confusing, especially if you’re a sole trader (which is, of course, is an old fashioned word for nano business).

What many people don’t realise is that there are so many free, easy and accessible options.

In this day and age, the dissipation of market barriers force competing companies to offer free services. And here I am, taking advantage of it! 

How do I create effective PR online?  What strategies do I use, you ask? Well, you’ve come to the right article!

How to Get Free PR for Your Business

The two most effective free PR techniques for small businesses are PRWire and guest blogging - in terms of audience reach and total benefits to you.    

1. PRWire

prwire.com.au is a news distribution & wire service specifically targeted towards Australian and New Zealanders that I recently discovered. In this site, companies of all sizes upload their PR releases for free.

What makes me think PRWire is article worthy is its simplicity and professionalism that has no fluff in between. Moreover, it is the ideal PR site because it requires little effort for the benefits available to the information users.

It has a search engine system and numerous notification channels including RSS Feed, Twitter, email digest, email alerts, iGoogle. You can filter your search by subject, company, or country. Rest assured that there will be no troll posts – PRWire has a sign-up process that will question your legitimacy.

2. Guest blogging

If you already blog, a way to increase your online presence is to guest blog. Why would you want to do this? Well, do want to increase revenue to your site, increase comments, awareness, returning visitors, or to develop connections? Or you just want to be cool and become a KPI (is that why you’re on SavvySME too?)

It is a process that requires a lot of thought and diligence because you should tailor your blog posts to that particular blog. Also, consideration should be taken in selecting the right type of blog that gives you the right audience.

A common mistake that many bloggers make is judging a blog by its rank. The ranking doesn’t mean anything if you can’t see reader engagement. The best thing to do is to go through the blog and see if there are comments and stalk their Facebook/Twitter feeds to check if people are actually reading them.

Remember, don’t just mass spam blog owners, make sure that you follow up if they don’t reply. And be courteous, because technically, you’re invading their blog.