David & Goliath
Social Media and Public Relations is like a Stone against Goliath!

When I was a pharmaceutical representative with Pfizer (way back in 2000) my sales trainer, Jenner Marcucci, gave a mesmerizing presentation on “Guerilla Marketing” based on the book by Jay Conrad Levinson.  Jenner gave a delivered his presentation dressed in Army camouflage, with great passion and fervor, so much so that I remember it vividly to this day! The point of guerilla marketing is that when you are small and your competitor is big, you CAN compete with them on a level playing field provided that you market your business or service in unconventional ways.  The fact that Pfizer, the pharmaceutical behemoth, was considering adapting unconventional marketing was very interesting, because they were the Goliath in the classic battle!

So this brings me to my point that a combination of public relations and social media can be the Great Equalizer, an unconventional way to market you or your business. On the web, both  micro businesses and large companies can compete at roughly the same level, provided that the micro business can is resourceful and uses as much free PR and social media promotion as it can handle.  AMM Communications, for example, is a micro business with just Ann Marie and me, but our WordPress-based website stacks up and grades better (www.websitegrader.com) than our much larger, and more established competitors.  We accomplished this by using a mix of social media and easy-to-use SEO concepts, and we are amazed at how many large companies with elaborate websites don’t have optimized websites.

Don’t discount any news about your business, such as setting up a YouTube channel, a new hire or a  promotion, or perhaps a speaking engagement.  Use online wire services such as dBusiness, Pitch Engine, and for the St. Louis-area, stltoday.com to post these announcements.  You can distribute these links to your social media network and generate a buzz about you and your company.  Don’t forget to include a link back to your website.  You’ll be amazed at how much traffic you can build with these backlinks.  PR and social media, when used together, are an effective equalizer! 9GDSK8SE7TW8