When I was a freelance PR consultant, I did everyone else’s PR for them – I never did my own PR as I never needed to promote myself in that way. However, when I launched Cheerleader PR I knew that I would have to do my own and today I wanted to share with you how doing my own PR has really helped my own business and how it can help yours!
Whether you realise it or not, you are already doing your own PR!
PR is about what other people say and think about you and your business. Everyone you meet, everywhere you put yourself out there – that is you doing your own PR.
You are presenting yourself to the world and managing how you choose to present yourself.
A lot of people panic when they think of doing their own PR as their mind goes straight to the media, but that isn’t the case.
PR is all about other people saying you are good at what you do by featuring you on merit and talking about you in a positive way. So anything that you do to make that happen, is you doing your own PR.
>> Think about what you are already doing – have you given talks? Been on podcasts? Do you go to networking events?
Yes, you are already doing your own PR at a certain level. But the thing about consciously doing your own PR is all about getting committed to it and wanting to take it to the next level of visibility and awareness. Doing this is incredibly powerful as it is a way of managing your reputation, growing your relationships and growing your audience.
That is what Cheerleader PR is all about – taking your PR to the next level, being strategic and being consistent with it.
PR builds PR
PR is all about relationships and actually the more people you meet and interact with the more you are going to grow your reputation and find more opportunities coming your way. PR in its basic form is about word of mouth and recommendation, so the more consistent and committed you are to it, the more it will pay off.
Who doesn’t want to increase their profile and their audience?
The more people see you, the more people want to interact with you and do business with you.
During 2020, whilst in lockdown when our networking opportunities were minimal, I gave 23 talks about PR and did 6 podcasts, which has massively increased my visibility. It has brought me great relationships that have turned into work, clients and collaborations – and guess what?
You can do exactly the same!
The year before, I was still building up my networks, awareness and relationships so I didn’t have nearly as many appearances. But I was consistent and committed to showing up and it paid off big time.
A big rubber stamp of approval
The reason we do media relations is to grow our audience, reach more people and grow our own profile – all the same objectives as speaking in other peoples groups/podcasts. So why is media so celebrated within PR if these same objectives can be achieved through other channels?
The big reason is because, traditionally the media has such a massive reach – where else can you get in front of millions of people in one moment?
In addition, these media outlets can provide immediate credibility. The media brand names are known and trusted. Journalists are impartial, generally respected and select the best stories, opinions and experts to back up their stories. Therefore, appearing on these platforms gives you an automatic stamp of approval.
Another benefit is getting a link featured on their online platforms will give you a huge SEO boost, meaning Google will also see you as credible – a massive win win!
I have been featured in Forbes, The Guardian and Metro, amongst others. I have shared each of these appearances to my audience and out of all of my social media content, they have been by far my most successful. People see the logo and they know what it is, they know it is credible and what it stands for. It gives you a money can’t buy endorsement.
That is why the media is so important and is so celebrated within PR.
And the best person to do your own PR is you (you know yourself best after all) – so keep doing it! And if you want to take your own PR to the next level…
Sign up for a 2-hour Cheerleader PR Strategy Session with me 📣.
Book now here.
To see my live video talking about the benefits of doing your own PR, click here.
