How to Get Good PR
Getting good Public Relations, or PR, for your restaurant is terribly important for the success of your business. Public relations are essentially free advertising, so in these credit crunch times, why pay for something that you can get for free?
PR is also a very positive focus for your business because there is something a bit more professional about getting some feature or review in the newspapers and magazines, rather than simply paying for an advert. So, not only is it free, it is also better for your business! A no-brainer, really.
So, how do you get good PR for your restaurant?
Build Your Network of Contacts
Many newspapers and magazines have a bank of journalists, both employed and freelance. These journalists are continually looking for interesting features to write about. If you can offer them some newsworthy items, they will be keen to speak to you. Once you are known as a person that makes good stories for them to write about, you will be able to contact them more easily and they will be receptive to your ideas.Journalists are fully aware that people want to make friends with them to get free advertising in the form of PR, so don’t think they will be impressed by your saying ‘I am opening a new restaurant, please write about me.’ That will simply not cut the mustard, which leads us onto point two.
Do Something Interesting
Get creative – offer local students a competition to design your new logo, or to come up with a name for your restaurant. Offer a meal for a family of four as a prize – that way you are introducing their parents as potential customers, too.You could approach your local art or IT college course and suggest designing a website as a project. Colleges are always pleased to have real life projects, so you can offer the students to visit your restaurant to take the brief. You can post it on your restaurant Facebook page for added free on line advertising, too.
Any of these ideas – and any others you can think of – make for a great story, especially a local interest story in your local paper. This is a good way to get local people talking about your new restaurant as they will somehow feel a part of it.