Small Business Tips Archives - KR Jacobson Public Relations

Thinking of Starting a Newsletter? Here’s How

September 23, 2019 by Kristine

If you have been considering starting a newsletter for your business or organization, you are on the right track. Newsletters have the power to inform, inspire, sell and create loyal connections between your business and your customers or donors.

The benefits of a monthly or quarterly newsletter include:

More connected customers and donors
Increased sales or donations
Brand authority and loyalty
Better informed customers and donors

KRJPR helps several businesses and organizations with weekly, monthly or quarterly newsletters. Examples are presented in this article to show the variety of ways a newsletter can be implemented in your overall marketing strategy.

Nebraskaland Aviation

This spring, Nebraskaland Aviation asked KRJPR to help create a weekly newsletter throughout the summer to keep its customers informed with crop updates and treatment timings. The newsletter also reports findings from the previous year’s Plant Health Challenge that highlighted the increased yields and improved plant health of fields that used the company’s products.

While the task seemed daunting to create a 3-4-page weekly newsletter during their busiest season, the Nebraskaland Aviation staff pulled it off with flying colors! Together, we created a weekly newsletter that was emailed to farmers in the area and posted to social media. The newsletter provided education to current customers and kept the company top of mind for area farmers who needed to spray for certain field conditions.

In this project, Nebraskaland Aviation employees provided the content and photos, and KRJPR designed the newsletter in PDF form and in digital form in MailChimp (an email newsletter program) so it could be emailed to customers.

YMCA of the Prairie

The YMCA of the Prairie monthly newsletter keeps its members informed about upcoming programs and events and shares stories about members who are reaching their wellness goals thanks to the YMCA. The newsletter sometimes features stories about staff members who are making a difference, which creates more connections between members and the organization.

The intent of the newsletter is two-fold: to promote upcoming programs and activities to encourage health and wellness and to share stories designed to inspire readers to live better and become more connected with the local non-profit.

The newsletter is distributed via printed copies at the local branches, through email to all members and through social media.

KRJPR creates the content and designs the newsletter for the YMCA.

Phelps County Development Corporation

The Phelps County Development Corporation has several goals with its quarterly 8-page newsletter that is mailed to all residents of the county and to state economic development leaders. The Phelps County Business Journal highlights the work of PCDC to create transparency and show investors all the work PCDC staff and volunteers are doing to promote local economic development. The newsletter shares details about PCDC programs, how they are working in the community and how local residents can benefit from the programs. It also celebrates new and existing business expansions and milestones and highlights new business people in the community.

The newsletter shows a vibrant, growing community. Others outside of the community have said the newsletter makes them want to move to the county!

The content for this newsletter is created after brainstorming sessions between KRJPR and the PCDC staff. KRJPR writes the stories, takes photos and designs the newsletter making it easy and not too time-consuming for staff.

GROW Nebraska

GROW Nebraska is a 20-year-old statewide organization that helps large and small entrepreneurs. For years, the GROW has consistently produced a monthly e-newsletter that is sent to all members, donors and others interested in business education.

Each newsletter features updates about GROW Nebraska members and opportunities for training. It often includes videos and direct links to register for upcoming events and trainings. KRJPR has been helping write some of the stories for the GROW Nebraska newsletters over the past year.

GROW Nebraska staff have vast knowledge of marketing, so they design the newsletter and email it out while KRJPR provides a few stories a month to lessen their writing workload.

Link to GROW Nebraska newsletter story.

Steps to Starting a Newsletter

Determine your goal (promote products or services, educate, share staff news, boost sales or donations, introduce staff or policies, promote a calendar of events).
Decide how often you will produce the newsletter.
Decide the platform that will work best for your business or organization (email, direct mail, social media).
Decide who will create the content, photos or art for the newsletter. Staff my create the content, or you could hire a writer.
Map out a timeline to distribute the newsletter. Create content and art/photo deadlines, allow time for proofing and set a newsletter publish date.
Create content and design a newsletter template that matches your company’s brand. If your company doesn’t have a specific brand, pick one font for the headlines and another font for the body text and stay with those same fonts each time. Use this same look in your print advertising.
Create a mailing list, either direct mail addresses or email addresses.
Distribute the newsletter.
Measure the newsletter’s success (email platforms such as MailChimp and Constant Contact show you exactly how many people open your newsletter).

If you would like to set up a FREE meeting to discuss starting a newsletter, please contact me today at kjacobson@krjpr.com

Kristine Jacobson, owner KRJ Public Relations

Seven Low-Cost Ideas to Publicize Your Small Business or Non-Profit

January 14, 2019 by Kristine

By Kristine Jacobson, KRJPR

If you are a small business owner, you know that promoting your business is important. An open sign on the front window isn’t enough to draw in customers. But, sometimes it’s hard to squeeze out any money on marketing or advertising, especially when you are just starting out.

If you don’t have a budget to spend on advertising, here are a few ways to promote your business without spending much money:

Send A Press Release To The Media: News media, especially in small towns, are short-staffed and always appreciate a good story idea. I worked in small-town newsrooms for six years, and I was always excited to receive a press release about a new business or a unique event.

Some topics worthy of a press release may include a grand opening, a new product or service being offered, an anniversary celebration, a new employee or a special unique event. When I sent a press release to the news media about a new Fit Farmer’s program at a YMCA, the news media scooped it up right away. Newspapers republished the press release, and the local television station invited us to talk about the new program on live television.

If your business has an event, an anniversary, a new employee or a grand opening coming up, write up a few paragraphs and email the information to your local newspaper, television or radio station.

If you’d like a more in-depth press release, KRJPR can help.

Send An Email: Why do you think you have an email from Target in your inbox nearly every day of the holiday shopping season? These large retailers know the power of email. And, it works for smaller retailers as well. Start collecting your customer email addresses during the check-out process. Or, sponsor a giveaway in which customers share their email addresses to win a prize.

Loyal customers should be glad to give you their email address if you are promising to send them news of your sales and specials. They won’t want to miss out on the deals. You can make the email process simple by just sending your customers a few typed paragraphs (be sure to list their addresses as bcc), or you can sign up for an online email service that will track emails for you and keep all kinds of statistics about who opened the emails and when. Some good online email services are Constant Contact, Convert Kit and Mail Chimp. I recommend Mail Chimp because it’s free if you have fewer than 2,000 subscribers.

Flyers: Use Microsoft Word, Publisher or online applications like Canva to create a simple flyer for your business, sale or event. Post the flyer on your social media channels and print off copies to display around town at businesses, community centers and churches.

Table Tents: Sometimes, restaurants will allow you to put a table tent flyer on their tables for upcoming events. We promoted an upcoming weight-loss challenge for a YMCA on table tents at area restaurants. One local patron signed up for the challenge because he saw the table tent and ended up losing nearly 100 pounds! That little table tent may have saved his life! To create a simple table tent, fold an 8.5 by 11 sheets of paper into thirds and tape it. Put your information on the three panels using Microsoft Word, Publisher, Canva or other design software.

Social Media: Post regularly on your favorite social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or LinkedIn. There’s no fee to join any of these channels. However, don’t rely exclusively on social media. Many small business owners make the mistake of creating a Facebook post and then assuming that everyone knows about it. Statistics show that only about 6 percent of your fans Facebook fans will see a post that is not promoted. Use social media in addition to one or more of the other freebie publicity ideas to get the most traction.

Speak at a Community Event: Often community groups like Rotary or women’s church groups invite speakers to give presentations. Although the group of people who actually attend may be small, the event will also likely be promoted in the local media or church newsletter leading up the event, giving you an extra chance of publicity.

Create a Company T-shirt and Wear It Often: T-shirts can be created for less than the price of a Facebook ad and can be worn over and over again. Get creative with your business or non-profit T-shirt idea. Be funny or create a memorable phrase that relates to your business or mission. Wear the T-shirt if you volunteer for events or plan to be out among your potential clients or customers. Check with your local t-shirt shop or order custom-designed shirts at 24-hour tees or Custom Ink.

12 Tips to Make Your Small Business Facebook Page Shine

October 23, 2018 by Kristine

Facebook is an inexpensive and effective tool to help market your small business, especially if you can create posts that generate conversation and lots of attention. Here are a few tips for creating a great Facebook page that will help your small business or non-profit organization shine.

Before you post anything, ask yourself these questions: Is my post useful? Is it entertaining? Is it inspirational? Is it informative? A great book for any small business owner to read to improve their Facebook strategy is Likable Social Media. (Purchase on Amazon here: Likeable Social Media, Revised and Expanded: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Amazing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and More)
Don’t use your Facebook page solely as a means to announce closings. Customers don’t appreciate browsing on a business’ Facebook page and just seeing a listing of closings. Yes, sometimes, you have to post closings on Facebook, but it shouldn’t be a daily or weekly occurrence.
Have a Facebook strategy. Take a day each month to plan and schedule your Facebook posts. You could create consistent themes, such as Motivation Monday, sharing recipes on Tuesdays, Jokes on Fridays, etc. One client we work with shares a Funny Friday post each Friday, which has been popular among fans. If you don’t have time to keep your Facebook page updated, hire some help. Hire a high school student. Hire your kid. Make it somebody’s job. (KRJPR can help as well!)
Post engaging photos with your posts. Statistics show that posts with photos attract more than twice the amount of engagement as those without photos. If you aren’t a good photographer, hire one, subscribe to a photo service like Adobe Stock or use Canva (free and paid subscriptions available) to create Facebook posts.
Videos are also effective at engaging Facebook fans. You can create a simple video with your phone, or create videos using your existing photos and copy with the free Lumen 5 service. We made our first Lumen 5 video for Facebook in about 30 minutes. The Orthman Community YMCA has done an excellent job of using video. They make a video nearly every Friday to share about upcoming programs and events. It not only keeps their members informed, but it helps members to get to know the Y staff and feel more connected.
Keep your brand consistent on Facebook. If your brand is vibrant and colorful, create vibrant and colorful posts on Facebook. If your brand is old-fashioned, keep your Facebook posts the same.
Avoid sharing your political views on your Facebook business page. Politics can be deeply personal for many, and you don’t want to risk alienating customers due to a potential political difference in opinion.
Contests are a great way to generate new Facebook fans. Give away a product, offer a sale, etc. Just be sure you are following the official Facebook rules for contests.
Share content from other Facebook pages that would resonate with your customers. Sharing is caring on Facebook. When you share another page’s post (ensuring their name is still on the post), they will generally be happy that you are helping them out, too. They may share your Facebook posts in return.
Think about your message and content instead of just slapping up some copy. What’s the difference between these two posts: “Sign up now for youth soccer! Deadline is today!” or “Your child will learn important character values like teamwork, fair play and discipline in our youth soccer program. Sign up today, so your child doesn’t miss the opportunity to be part of this valuable learning program.”
Take advantage of Facebook ads and boosts if they make sense for your business. Facebook boosts can be purchased sometimes for a little as $10, and you can target specific audiences with specific interests or in specific towns. Recently, a food truck from out of town was coming to our town. Their only advertisement was Facebook ads targeting people in my town. I saw the ad several times, many people shared it, and the food truck had a successful day in our rural town. Facebook ads do work!
Don’t put something out on Facebook and assume that everyone knows. Facebook and social media are just a small part of your overall advertising plan. Although Facebook is effective, it should also be combined with other forms of advertising for the most effective messaging (newspaper, radio, direct mail, email, etc.)
A few of our favorite Facebook pages: Grant Hinze Dentistry (KRJPR client), The 308 Boutique (good mix of product and funny), Lincoln Police Department (love how a police department page infuses humor into their page!)

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