There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about...

Famous writer Oscar Wilde once remarked:

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

How true.  Most of the startups or small entrepreneurs are so busy putting their product or services in place, they often forget to communicate with the people they should be talking to. At the pre-launch stage itself, the business plan must also plug in a robust public relations strategy in order to build relationship with diverse groups of people.

The challenge of course is from where to begin. How does one put a public relations strategy for the best visibility in the marketplace?  How the company, or for that matter, the organisation would get perceived?

Here are a five tips to make people talk about you.

1. Begin with the end in mind. Answer the 'whys'

Why are you in a particular activity, project, business idea? Why are you doing this?  Till the time, the why is explained, nothing can be achieved. Answers to 'why' bring in the sustainability of any product or service that you may be building.  The 'why' provides the key to the vision of the enterprise, the ultimate goal and objective, and the human issues that it intends to tackle. The 'why' helps an organisation build its purpose of existence and the route it must take to achieve the goals.

2. Define your key stakeholders.

For any enterprise there are set or group of people who are stakeholders... the people who matter. They can be customers, prospects, business associates, collaborators, dealers and distributors, the bankers or investors, etc.  All these are primarily your external audience, with whom you need to interact with periodically; not essentially face to face, but through a structured periodical communication using diverse tools that are available today.

The process begins by preparing a list of such stakeholders. Create their profiles and contact details so that you can network with them and benefit.

3. USP: What's so unique about you, your product or service?

The USP emerges once you are able to answer the 'whys' at the first instance about your organisation, your product/service.  why is your product important for the users? What challenges it addresses for the people?  And how your organisation helps? 

4. Talk about it

Keep each stakeholder about the USPs, the case studies or the success stories. If the story is really newsworthy, share it with media. Identify the media outlets who would belong to your product/service vertical and would be interested to carry your story.

5. Acquire Leadership Position:

You are the best person who knows about your enterprise, your product or service.  You are an expert in your domain.  But does the world knows about it?  Start sharing your knowledge and expertise with the youngsters, students, and those who can be considered later for working with you.  Network with professional organisations, and your peers, to continue to train and mentor other professionals.  That would help you catapult into a position where you would be a true brand ambassador of your domain.

Go ahead.  Just do it.

CJ www.corepr.com