For any emerging company, public relations activity can be one of the most effective means of promoting your business on a small budget. Every business has a story to tell and there is always a newspaper, magazine, radio station or other media outlet which will be interested in your company.

The first step is to sit down and work out the story behind your business and to try and identify which aspects of the story might be of interest to the various media outlets. Are you a new business setting up providing local employment? Are you offering an innovative product or service? Is your story a high-tech story that will be of interest to the technology media?

Almost all of the broadsheet national print media and radio stations have regular slots which are designated for SME stories each week and they are generally covered by the same journalists, who need to fill the slots each week with different candidates. These articles can take the form of business profile slots, Q&A slots or case studies. So why not offer your company as a possible candidate. Journalists tend to be very busy and e-mail is often the best way to make contact. Make sure that you sell your story well, you will probably only have one opportunity so you must provide the journalist with enough evidence that your company is a good fit for the slot.  Think about your customer profile and try to find media outlets which are most relevant to them.

Get a head and shoulders photograph as you may need it to send in for business profile or Q&A slots. Local newspapers or trade magazines won’t have the resources to send a photographer so you must be able to offer them a good quality (300dpi or better) head and shoulders photo. You can often get a colleague to take the photo against a white wall. Have a look at the business pages and you will see the usual style.

If you’re comfortable with public speaking, position yourself as an expert in your sector by offering your services as a guest speaker at any relevant events. County and city enterprise boards are often looking for speakers for their events and the events are also good networking opportunities. Local / regional media can also be a great outlet for media profile of your business, so if you’re opening an office send a press release to the local newspaper perhaps accompanied by a photo.

As your business grows, highlight your growth and expansion. Send any new appointments to the New Appointments sections in the national print media or relevant trade media. Make sure to post any press releases up on your website news section or blog, they also serve as a good search engine optimisation material on the internet. Enter any awards that are relevant to your sector, especially if they’re free to enter! Even if you don’t win, being shortlisted will help to build awareness of your business. And if you win, highlight it with a press release to the relevant media.

There are many PR opportunities for small and medium sized businesses and the only thing it will cost is time and effort and an interesting business story.