Whether you’re an established company or a cost-conscious start-up, this helpful guide tells you all you need to know to be able to use public relations effectively as a business-building tool. As an entrepreneur, you need every helpful tool you can get your hands on to build your business. And if you know the tricks of the trade, perhaps nothing can gain more attention for your small business and build your company’s credibility than a good, old-fashioned public-relations campaign. Drawing on the expertise gained during her long career in public relations, Jennefer Witter shares simple, smart, and budget-friendly methods for getting your business noticed, including what she calls the seven key elements of public relations: Self-branding - Media relations - Social Media - Networking - Speaking engagements - Cause-related marketing - Selecting a PR agency Complete with real-world case studies and sample content (such as media pitches) to use as-is or to modify to fit your own specific needs, The Little Book of Big PR will provide you with the expert guidance all entrepreneurs need to grow their business to new, attention-getting heights. ..".a small, easily affordable book that is a must-own for anyone in the nonprofit/social benefit sector." -- ChicagoNow ..".an excellent introduction to public relations. It provides a great overview coupled with insight from an experienced professional." --Small Biz Trends ..".gives a brief but helpful overview of key aspects of public relations, and the tips are numerous and practical."-- Leading Business Books "Deceptively simple, this book packs a huge punch when it comes to understanding the world of PR. Entrepreneurs...would particularly benefit from Witter's words of wisdom." --The Secrets of Success "Public relations can be an intimidating concept to small business owners. Talking with the media, branding, networking... The Little Book of Big PR is here to help." --Small Business Computing "Smart little book when you're thinking about branding or building your business." --Blue Heron Journal "This is the best book on personal branding I have read." -- Tap Dancing Spiders Jennefer Witter is the CEO and founder of The Boreland Group Inc. (www.theborelandgroup.com), a boutique public relations agency headquartered in New York City with a presence in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. A 30+-year PR veteran, Jennefer was ranked as one of the top ten black CEOs and entrepreneurs in the nation by MadameNoire magazine in 2013. The Little Book of Big PR 100+ Quick Tips to Get Your Small Business Noticed By Jennefer Witter AMACOM Copyright © 2015 Jennefer Witter All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8144-3621-9 Contents Foreword, XI, Acknowledgments, XIII, Introduction, xv, CHAPTER 1: Self Branding, 1, CHAPTER 2: Media Relations, 13, CHAPTER 3: Social Media, 30, CHAPTER 4: Networking, 47, CHAPTER 5: Speaking Engagements, 61, CHAPTER 6: Cause-Related Marketing, 79, CHAPTER 7: Selecting a PR Agency, 87, Endnotes, 99, Index, 101, About the Author, 109, Free Sample Chapter from The Art of War for Small Business by Becky Sheetz-Runkle, 111, CHAPTER 1 Self-Branding We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You. —Tom Peters THIS CHAPTER has the longest introduction and the fewest number of tips, but read it carefully. This chapter is critical, as it will influence the other chapters in this book: This is why I selected it to be the first one. Self-branding is an effective tool to communicate who you are, what you do, and how you differ from others. This chapter provides you with the context you need to get the most out of self-branding. I won't kid you—the self-branding process is a long one with multiple steps. So, while this chapter only has four tips, it's the one with the greatest amount of work for you to do. Before we dive in, let's define self-branding to ensure we are on the same page when discussing this tool. The best definition I have found in my research defines self-branding, or "personal branding" as it is also called, as follows: Personal branding is the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands.... The personal-branding concept suggests ... that success comes from self- packaging. Personal branding also involves creating an asset by defining an individual's body, clothing, physical appearance and areas of knowledge in a way leading to a uniquely distinguishable, and ideally memorable, impression. Self-branding is relatively new and is generally considered to have been first identified in a Tom Peters Fast Company article written in 1997. I used to work in high-tech PR back in the 1990s, and in that field, the CEOs were strongly identified with their company brands. This was a first, as before then, few C-level executives became the identifying faces for their co