Valley PR Blog

Pitching yourself?

By Charlotte Shaff on November 7th, 2007 In Advice

In the past two years that I have been doing PR as an indie, I’ve learned that some of the best PR you can do is for yourself. At least once or twice a month I send out an email to all my clients with links and mentions about everyone’s latest media news. I also forward this on to close friends and some associates…. This spring, I started holding a monthly “Media Push Meeting” where my clients gather for breakfast or dinner and listen to a special guest that could help them with their marketing/promotion/advertising needs.

All of my clients are small business owners here in Phoenix and never did PR until they hired me. Many of them never knew other business owners who did PR. But they all had a lot of the same questions and concerns about what PR was all about.

I came up with this meeting idea as a way to get in front of my clients, let them network and share ideas with other small biz owners and ask questions in a casual atmosphere. I start each meeting by thanking everyone for coming, thanking them for their business and ask them to go around the room and tell us about their latest PR moment. I honestly didn’t intend for them to go around and say “Charlotte is great, she got us on Ch 3 yesterday and we can’t wait to see our story in AZ Woman next week”…but, thats what started happening. People would get excited. They’d congratulate each other and talk about their last interview and how I put them to ease beforehand or how they didn’t think their certain product was “newsworthy” until I found a way to tie it into a story. I started to create Raving Fans within my clientbase. They’d also pay their bills on time when I sent out invoices and not go over my timesheets with a fine tooth comb asking what I really did for them that month. I think this positive and educated vibe started because they didnt feel like they were the only ones doing PR. They started to get what Public Relations could do for them by seeing what it was doing for others.

I’ve also noticed that the clients who don’t attend my meetings seem to be the most challenging to work with and educate about PR. They also have the hardest time getting consistent business and just getting out and networking in general. They don’t refer me out either. They are more likely to ask about what I did in the last month and not understand the relationships I am cultivating and building with the media.

I really have never had to advertise for new clients. The meetings and networking have really done it all for me. And made collecting money much easier. I am curious….whether you are an indie or consulting or at an agency….How do you promote your services and clients to others? Do you share client news with other clients?

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