Not everyone can hire the Edelmans or the Weber Shandwicks of this world. Many communication professionals have limited marketing budgets, particularly if they work for a startup or small business. The great contradiction of this is that increasing brand awareness is crucial during these early stages, as ultimately it’s what will drive sales and help the business produce profit.

This means it’s essential that communication professionals are able to generate press, even with a low budget. Fortunately, social media means this isn’t as hard as it used to be, and there are a number of things you can do to generate good press without the usual price tag.

1) Use Sourcebottle

Sourcebottle is a tool that mutually benefits both journalists and PR professionals. All you have to do is sign up, select your related topics, and wait for a journalist who is writing on a similar subject to contact you. Regular email alerts will let you know what journalists are working on at any given time, so you can plan your press releases or product launches accordingly. 

2) Search for industry publications

While at some stage you’re going to want articles published in Business Insider Australia, at the beginning you have to think more niche. There is likely to be an industry publication linked to your product. Although the readership will be smaller, it will also comprise a lot of your target market, as they’re already interested in your industry. These magazines often have to scramble more for stories, so bringing a potential idea to them that’s on a topic around your product is a great way of getting a core customer base on board during those crucial stages.

3) Offer customers a reward for leaving a review

We now live in a world where people check the quality of a service on social media, and if no reviews have been left it can often mean consumers will immediately discount you. Try offering your current customer base a reward (for example free delivery or a discount if they buy again) for leaving a review.

4) Reuse content

You’ve used a good chunk of your marketing budget on an awesome downloadable guide, explaining how people can use your product to improve their lives. But that doesn’t have to be the end of it. Take individual elements of that guide and turn them into blog posts or infographics. For maximum reach, repost pieces of content more than once to ensure all of your customer base gets a chance to see it.

Not everyone has a huge marketing budget, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to reach new customers – it just takes a bit of creativity! For more information on communication trends, visit our Insights page!