Megan Yocum & Johnny Reynolds talk about PR for small businesses and how public relations can be a valuable asset regardless of the size of the company. They explain how PR can effectively tell a company's story and discuss issues such as strategic planning, realistic goal setting, and budget considerations. They emphasize the importance of building brand visibility, establishing consumer trust, being clear on PR objectives and collaborating with a PR partner to maximize impact.

Key Takeaways

• The Value of PR for Small Businesses: Small businesses should not feel they're too small for PR. Every organization has a valuable story to tell, and PR agencies can help strategize on effectively communicating those stories.
• Timing for PR Consultation: Megan advises that earlier is better when engaging PR agencies, allowing for strategic planning and effective execution.
• Setting Clear Goals: Understanding and outlining clear PR goals are crucial. Businesses need to articulate their objectives and expected outcomes from engaging a PR firm.
• Role of Creativity in PR Strategies: Johnny highlights the importance of creative storytelling in driving consumer engagement and articulating the unique aspects of a business.
• Maximizing Limited Budgets: For companies with limited resources, PR strategies can focus on key areas that deliver impactful results without requiring large financial investments.

About the Guests

Megan Yocum is Co-Owner & Principal at Buchanan Public Relations. She has 15 years of experience in strategic communications and public relations, with deep knowledge in the financial services, higher education, consumer goods, healthcare, nonprofit and professional services industries. Megan has worked in both agency and corporate settings, and specializes in strategic messaging, thought leadership and content marketing. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications with a focus in Public Relations from Albright College and is certified in Leadership Communication from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Johnny Reynolds is Co-Owner & Principal at Buchanan Public Relations. He serves as the agency’s Director of Media Relations, where he leads the implementation of media relations programs for the firm’s clients. He regularly works with top-tier media, including Bloomberg, Business Insider and The Wall Street Journal. Under Johnny’s leadership, the firm has won numerous awards for media relations campaigns. Johnny also helps manage the agency’s digital practice, holding several digital marketing certifications, including LinkedIn Certified Marketing Insider, HubSpot Academy Email Marketing Certification, the Semrush SEO Crash Course Certification. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Villanova University and serves as the Villanova University PRSSA Chapter Professional Advisor.

About the Hosts

Abbie Fink is president of HMA Public Relations in Phoenix, Arizona and a founding member of PRGN. Her marketing communications background includes skills in media relations, digital communications, social media strategies, special event management, crisis communications, community relations, issues management, and marketing promotions for both the private and public sectors, including such industries as healthcare, financial services, professional services, government affairs and tribal affairs, as well as not-for-profit organizations.

Dr. Adrian McIntyre is a cultural anthropologist, media personality, speaker, and strategic communications consultant for PR agencies and marketing firms. He's lived in over 30 countries and spent more than a decade in the Middle East and Africa as a researcher, journalist, communications adviser, media spokesperson, and storytelling consultant. He earned a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a Fulbright scholar and National Science Foundation fellow. Adrian helps agency leaders strengthen their positioning, sharpen their messaging, boost their visibility, and win new clients by replacing impersonal, intrusive and ineffective marketing tactics with authentic human conversations.

PRGN Presents is brought to you by Public Relations Global Network, the world’s local public relations agency. Our executive producer is Adrian McIntyre. The show is produced by the team at Speed of Story, a B2B communications firm in Phoenix, AZ.

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From the Public Relations Global Network, this is PRGN Presents. I’m Adrian McIntyre.

And I’m Abbie Fink, president of HMA Public Relations in Phoenix, Arizona, and a founding member of PRGN. With public relations leaders embedded into the fabric of the communities we serve, clients hire our agencies for the local knowledge, expertise and connections in markets spanning six continents across the world.

Our guests on this biweekly podcast series are all members of the Public Relations Global Network. They will discuss such topics as workplace culture, creative compensation and succession planning, the importance of sustainability and environmental, social and governance programs, crisis communications, and outside of the box thinking for growing your business.

For more information about PRGN and our members, please visit prgn.com. And now let’s meet our guests for this episode.

Hi, everyone, I’m Megan Yocum with Buchanan Public Relations just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We do PR, social media and crisis communications for B2B, B2C and nonprofit clients.

And I’m Johnny Reynolds, the other co-owner of Buchanan Public Relations. Meg and I recently became the owners of Buchanan Public Relations after more than 10 years of working here as employees and we’re excited to lead this next chapter of the agency.

Well, and congratulations to both of you on the acquisition. That’s a wonderful, challenging, heartbreaking and fantastic thing, having just gone through it myself relatively recently. So best of luck to you in that new role with the agency. And our agencies in particular have a long history as we are one of the founding firms of the Public Relations Global Network and been providing strategic communications to a variety of businesses. Very similar structure for both of our firms. And you know, one of the questions I always get from, you know, prospects is, well, am I, am I too small for what you do? You know, am I?

Does small business really need public relations? And it’s a resounding yes. All businesses can benefit from, you know, having public relations. But and supporting the growth goals of any business is an important part of what we do as PR practitioners. What are you seeing as you are, you know, in your new role in this leadership role, but really from your history with the agency, what is the prospects out there for small businesses as they’re considering taking on and really investing in their public relations activities?

Well, I’d start by saying every company has a story to tell and is worth telling it. So I think no business should ever feel that they’re too small for PR. I think every organization has the right to have their story told. And where a PR agency comes in is helping figure out how to do it. There are so many small businesses that maybe only have a founder as the only person there, and there’s too many other things to focus on, that PR is just another one. We can come in and really be counsel for them, the strategic counsel to show them where it makes the most sense to spend their time and energy.

When are those conversations best to have? And I think whether we’re talking about a, you know, a small business or really just in general, but when. When is it most important for the conversation to take place with. With a owner, founder, manager that is considering public relations, considering bringing in outside counsel for this effort? You know, where in the process does that conversation take place? And how do you guide them to get to the place where it makes sense?

Thinking about budget allocation, thinking about resources. Right. Johnny, as you said, if it’s a single person with all the other things that they’re having to concern themselves with, is adding another element the right thing to do? And when and how do they make sure not only the financial resources that they need to allocate, but their time and talent as well is being put to the right places?

I would say the earlier the better. And it’s usually earlier in the process than most organizations are aware of. Oftentimes we’ll hear from a small company that’s looking to open a new location or host an event a week from. From the time that they reach out, we’re able to do it. But the longer that we have to know about what’s happening, the earlier that they reach out to us, the more we can be strategic and helpful in the process.

So I would say when those conversations start about what that media moment might look like, what that big event is for the organization, bringing a PR partner in at that point to start strategizing with them, we can really help to hone in on the messaging that’s going to make the most sense long before any sort of announcement takes place and really help them to identify what matters most to them and help them to reach the audience that they’re really looking to connect with.

My perspective is there’s really no business or organization that couldn’t benefit from having a PR partner. There are certain projects and certain elements of a PR strategy that make sense for certain businesses and not for others. One of the things, Megan, that you said about is, what is the big moment for your organization? What’s the big win? What do you want to accomplish? And that really comes in having that discussion early in the process.

So walk me through those conversations with an organization who has made the decision that yes, we think PR is going to be beneficial to us. You know, what are the strategies that you share with them? What are the things that they need to be considering? Obviously, budgeting is part of it. Time management is part of it. What are some of the things that happen in those initial conversations to get the client or the prospective client in line with how you can assist them? And really for them to see the end results down the way, that this is going to be a beneficial use of their time and resources?

I would say that especially for small businesses where budget is a primary concern, our partnership typically looks like, how can we help you? And then how can we equip you to take on a lot of this yourselves? Oftentimes these clients don’t have the same sort of budget that a large corporation would have to have a PR firm on retainer. So a lot of times these conversations are, where can we support you with the budget that’s available? And what can we do to arm you moving forward so that you can take on a lot of this yourself moving forward?

I think something we also, we love to see in small businesses, too, is figuring out why they want PR. Is it you just want more money and trying to bring more foot traffic to your location, or do you have a passion for what you’re doing? Are you doing something cool and unique? I think we’re storytellers, and that’s going to drive everything that we’re doing. So if we can figure out those stories at the beginning, it can really drive the strategy and help set up the goals that we’ll set. If it’s just purely we’re just trying to get more money, it’s a little bit of a harder job at the beginning to set a strong strategy behind everything.

Well, one of the roles I think is as PR practitioners or PR counselors is our responsibility to the client to help guide them and counsel them. And sometimes that counseling is. May be hard for them to hear. Right. That there might be some things that they’re expecting or that they want that may not be realistic. And that our knowledge and expertise and the things that we’ve done in our history helps us to further understand and help your client understand a little bit more.

And I think one of the most important things that we can do for a client, and I would like to hear your thoughts on that, is really helping them think about their business from the consumer’s perspective. Right. To help them define who they are and who they’re trying to reach. And, you know, as owners, it’s hard to do that, it’s hard to look, we’re right. We know exactly what we want. We know exactly how to do it. And that may not always be the case.

So thinking about those early conversations and what strategies do you bring into. Well, for yourself specifically, but what do you talk about in terms of helping, helping them define those important elements of their story, who they’re trying to reach, and then what it is that you do as a, as a PR firm for them to move that forward to success?

A question that we ask in our new business conversation is what’s considered a home run for you? What would be the ultimate win? And we joke that a lot of prospects go, I want to be in the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. And that’s just because that’s what they’ve been hearing for how long, that those are where you want to be. And yeah, it’s great to be in those publications. But if you’re a local coffee shop or your customers reading the Wall Street Journal.

So I think one of the early things we do is try, like you said, get, get in the consumer mindset. What are they reading, listening to, watching that could actually drive meaningful results for your business? I think we talk about, especially right now, new media versus traditional media. Traditional media could be your local papers and your magazines, your local TV stations. Those still have value and they’re still important, and they still have probably the most viewers in your area.

But what are those new media in your area, other local podcasts you could be on? Are there local influencers? And we’re talking. They may not even be tens of thousands of followers. They might only be a couple of thousand, but that’s a couple of thousand people in your region that are dedicated to that person. So we help them understand which type of media makes the most sense and how to blend a program that includes both to really drive the most impact for them.

Johnny, what you’re saying, and Megan, what you said earlier just underscores what I think is so critical to communicate here. I see a lot of small business owners thinking in silos about their budget. So I know I need to do social media. I might have an employer, a contractor, maybe a family member, even somebody who’s just going to handle our social. So you, you’re going to do our Instagram and, you know, whatever.

And then maybe I have a paid advertising budget, so I’m going to be running my ads. You know, I’ve got my, you know, maybe I have an agency, but maybe I’m just doing it myself. I, you know, figured out how to do AdWords or maybe I’m working with, you know, both Google and Facebook have a program that supports small business in managing their own ads. And then I’m going to save my PR if I even think about it at all for a push, you know, the event or the new location opening. And I just need to make a big splash about that. So that’s going to be PR.

And I think that misses such an opportunity because what you’re both talking about is this overview that you can bring that helps a person who’s in the trenches. You know, I’ve got trucks out there doing all the things I’ve got people I need to manage. I’ve got supply chain stuff. I’m not thinking about my message, I’m not thinking about my story. I’m not thinking about how I’m thought of by other people.

And that’s the unique perspective that you can bring. And I love Megan, what you said about hey, this doesn’t have to be big corporate style, monthly $15,000 retainer type situation. So how do you communicate the story of PR and what it can do to a business owner who thinks the way I was just describing in these kind of narrow, compartmentalized and separate budget lines?

Sure. I think ultimately the goal is the same. It’s just a difference in how we get to that, that end goal. I think one thing going back to what Johnny was talking about earlier is like identifying where the wins are. Something that is always helpful before you get to that point is going through a Persona development exercise for a large corporation that’s bringing in a PR firm. That can be an all day in person exercise where we’re bouncing ideas off of one another to really come up with this fictitious character or characters who represent the typical customer or consumer that’s walking through their doors.

But for a small business with a limited budget, AI tools right now can be so helpful with those sorts of exercises that maybe bringing in a PR partner for just a small portion of that to help them come up with the right prompt. It’s not going to be as robust as an all day in person session, but it’s certainly going to help them get closer to identifying who that person is. So I think that there are definitely ways to maximize that small budget, get a PR partner in who can help guide them in the right direction without breaking the bank.

Well, and I think what I hear in all of that and is the, the conversation for me is that budget is certainly an important element of the process. I mean that we, we have to understand, you know, what. What their investment in this is going to be from a PR agency’s perspective, we need to understand together, we need to agree with what, you know, what our end game is going to be, what we’re trying to do, what we’re trying to accomplish, and from within the information on both of those categories, we can then create a strategy that maximizes whatever that budget is. Right.

And I think we would all agree that even if we have huge budgets to work with, we still want to be able to be successful. I mean, more money doesn’t necessarily always equate to more success. Right. It really is about, you know, identifying the proper channels and the proper items to do within whatever the budget is, and defining that and agreeing to those goals and expectations becomes critically important to, you know, to the success.

So if you could, you know, thinking of thinking about it that way and taking the budget question in to consideration. What are some of the things that you’ve seen successfully be implemented for some small businesses that might be, you know, listening to this and thinking about whether this is the right thing, you know, what are. What are some options? What should they be considering for themselves? What gets them ready to make that initial phone call that says, I’d like to talk to you about doing our public relations?

I think the biggest thing is having either the time or a person that can sort of be the liaison with the PR partner. I think if you’re a solo founder or owner and you’re doing so much of the work that you’re not going to be able to carve out a little bit of time, whether it’s just for a couple interviews to go on a podcast, to just maybe review a couple things, it might be a little bit more challenging to kick things off if you’re. If you don’t have that time, whereas if you can carve out a couple hours a week, or if you have maybe a new marketing person or intern or someone that can kind of be that middleman for us, I think that that’ll go a long way in the success of a program.

Any other suggestions as they’re considering, you know, that’s a small business owner, they’re getting ready to launch their business. They’ve been told they need to bring in a PR agency. What helps them get ready to have that conversation with you? What types of things? In addition to having, you know, a direct point of contact, someone that you would work with, what are some of the other things that, you know, if we put together that wish list for those prospective clients, what should they be considering as they’re getting ready to again pick up that phone and give you a call? What should they already know about themselves? What do you need to know from them in order to make that a successful engagement?

Before those conversations happen, I think we really encourage organizations to get really clear on what their PR goals would look like. I think a lot of times there’s a misconception between what PR can do for a company and how that translates to sales. And unlike some advertising and marketing tactics, there often isn’t a clear line between the two. And it’s really more about building brand visibility, building that awareness, building trust.

So sometimes it’s a matter of educating on the importance of that and how that can translate to stronger business results down the line. But before that, the company really needs to get clear on exactly what those goals look like. What do we want to get out of this? How do we want our brand to be perceived? What sorts of customers do we want to reach out to? Being crystal clear on those objectives prior to having a conversation with a potential PR partner can really maximize what those conversations look like.

Thanks for listening to this episode of PRGN Presents, brought to you by the Public Relations Global Network.

We publish new episodes every other week, so subscribe now in your favorite podcast app. Episodes are also available on our website, along with more information about PRGN and our members, at prgn.com.