PR With No Budget

Often times, when people think about Public Relations they think about the flashy, huge productions or events that attract a ton of attention with an unrestricted or at least huge budget.

Well, the same goes for PR planners. When planning events or campaigns we want our campaigns to be huge and attract attention, or spark a large conversation or action. With a large budget and a supportive administrative board anything is possible, making PR one of the most exciting careers! (I'm not biased or anything.)

But, what happens when we don't have a big budget or a team thats ready to host huge events? This is a problem that I have been faced with a lot this semester in classes, with class clients, and at my internship. 

This week, during a Twitter chat I was involved in (see my Storify about it here) the moderator asked about PR on a low budget. 

Here was my response:

@CommsChat T5 partner w/ similar campaigns & events, utilize social media (shares, likes, reposts, contests) #Commschat

— Rachel Thomas (@rachrt) March 7, 2016

After seeing very few responses, I realized that this might be something that many other PR students or professionals struggle with, and wanted to elaborate. While I am still learning, I thought that I might share my insight and what has been successful so far this semester when working on low-budget promotions.

1. Word-of-Mouth Promotions - Some companies and professionals grossly underestimate the power of word-of-mouth promotions and information. Understand that what the public thinks about your company and brand associated with it is just as important as the service, product, etc. that it actually provides. Find ways to get people talking positively about your company or cause and you will find that you get more support and success.

2. Social Media - Social Media is a huge advantage and tool for companies, especially ones starting up or trying to gain more attention/ a stronger business presence. Some of the ways you can utilize social media is:

• Pages - Have an interactive Facebook "like" page people can like, follow, and receive/share information from; a twitter page people can interact and engage with, also allowing your brand to benefit from important social trends (like hashtags or tweet chats); a youtube or blog page depending on which platform fits your content and message/target audience best; and several other social media platforms.
• Host Contests - This is a great way to get people involved in your cause
• Likes - Likes can monitor what people are interested in, and what they respond to. This is a good way to gauge if people are reading and getting involved with your content.
• Shares - Creating media that can be shared, and is likely to get shared, is a great way to get a message to a lot of people. We saw it with the "ice bucket challenge" and other competitions or giveaways. It really works! 
• Videos and Blogs - Depending on your platform, informational videos or blogs might be a good way to get people interested in your topic or campaign. Do not do these if they aren't needed. Understanding your target market is important when considering these.
• Website - Finally, make sure that you have a website or some sort of informational home where people can easily find your content, messages, goals, organizational information, contact, etc. Without a central page, often times credibility is taken away and causes aren't seen as legitimate. 
• DISCLAIMER: You must understand how to use social media correctly. Corporate accounts have messed up big time when creating a controversial social media message, or opening up a conversation that anyone can reply poorly to. See some of the mistakes here, and make sure you avoid them..

3. Grassroots Events - Grassroots campaigns are expected to get people, the community, a target audience, etc. involved, similar to other types of campaigns. What makes grassroots campaigns different, however, is that the people are the important part rather than the event.

• Door-to-Door - Going door-to-door or street teaming is one way to do grassroots promotions, but often time grassroots campaigns can be planned around already existing groups of people, events, classes, etc. 
• Street Teaming - Handing out promotional items that get people interested, hanging posters or handing pamphlets that entice people to search for more information.
• Community Events - Knowing what is going on in the community, and finding ways to get involved with the already existing events and community outreach programs.
• Business/Group Partnering - partnering with other organizations or businesses, is a good way to get started in low-cost promotions. This is easy to do with organizations that have a similar message, mission, or goal in mind. 

There are plenty of other ways that you can low-cost promote! I found one article that I really liked here, outlining 32 low-cost ways to market.

Feel free to comment any ways that you can think of or that have been successful for you in the past! I'd love to hear them, and thanks for reading!