| Many Small and Medium businesses (SMB's) struggle | | | | community. |
| for a piece of the action in very competitive markets. | | | | - Is related to your business service, strategy and |
| They find it difficult to spend great amounts of money | | | | reputation as much as possible (if you are selling |
| on advertising, yet fear being left behind if they don't. | | | | natural food additives, for example, a meeting place |
| Public Relations can be a cheap or even free | | | | related to environmental perservation). |
| alternative to regular marketing and advertising | | | | Organizing all this does not necessarily require high |
| efforts,sometimes producing even better results (since | | | | costs. You may find ways to keep this cost very low, |
| news items are considered more trustworthy than | | | | for instance by: |
| advertising). | | | | - Offering young performers and professionals a place |
| Below I list some ideas to help you run creative Public | | | | they can gain experience and recognition, without |
| Relations campaigns. | | | | having to pay them much (these could be aspiring |
| Better get those phone lines ready - your business is | | | | artists, comedians, hairdressers, etc). |
| about to get some attention! | | | | - Invite and convince volunteers to help you with the |
| Clearly the following ideas must be adapted to your | | | | project. This should not be too difficult if you link this |
| type of business, your strategy, your clients, and the | | | | meeting place with some good-will or charity activity - |
| available media and journalists, but they should provide | | | | such as preparing gifts for kids at the local hospital, etc. |
| you with a general direction you may follow: | | | | Try to break a record or hold a special competition: |
| 1. Turn a part of your business into a unique community | | | | - If your place is a diner, for example, organize an |
| meeting place: | | | | event in which people will attempt to break a Guinness |
| - Getting people to come to your business is obviously | | | | World record in eating a certain food. If you are a |
| the first step on the road to making them your | | | | carpenter, try to set a record yourself for making a |
| costumers. If your business is off the beaten track, or | | | | chair in the shortest possible time, and invite customers |
| if there's a lot of competition in the area, you can start | | | | and their families to bet on the result. |
| getting people to visit your business by providing them | | | | - Organize competitions for special groups of people, |
| with a special meeting place. | | | | that are likely to make it to the news, such as: |
| - You need to choose a theme for the meeting place | | | | - Competitions for unique and "interesting-news-items" |
| which fulfills the following criteria: | | | | groups of people (children, homeless people, disabled |
| - Provides an interesting activity to members of your | | | | people) |
| community (such as a mini-museum, a lecture, some | | | | - Provocative competitions - do this only if this is what |
| fun game). | | | | you wish your business image to be - provocative! |
| - Is more likely to be a "Hot" news item - something | | | | - "Man against Machine" type competitions - against |
| that has never been done before in that area, and that | | | | the computer, a vehicle, a robot (all should be related to |
| deals with an issue of concern to the majority of the | | | | your business). |