How to maximize your company's publicity as a manager

It is very difficult to be successful in business without your company having a good public image. Customers are the life blood of your company. Without customers, how can your company make money? How can you have customers if nobody knows about your company and your company's product? The publicity your company gets, the exposure that your product receives, the good reviews it gets from the press, and the public acceptance and word of mouth advertising are crucial to your company's survival.

It is the job of everyone in the company to help give the public a good image of the company and the company's products or services. As a manager, it should be part of your job to do whatever you can to get the word out to your existing and potential customers concerning your company and its product. A manager doesn't always have control over the whole company or its resources, but he can still have a lot of influence by taking advantage of opportunities, many of them inexpensive or free, to give the company positive exposure and increase good will with the public. Here are a few suggestions of things you can do to publicize your company, influence the employees under your supervision, and use the media to the company's advantage.

1. Use press releases.
   When there is an event that occurs in the company, a significant improvement in your division, a negative event such as a product recall, a new product line, a new store location, an improvement to your website, or any other event that you think the public would want to know about, write a press release. We live in a world where media is all around us. Get your press release distributed to as many different forms of media as possible. Do your best to give the information that will benefit your customers and give the company a good public image. Send these press releases to your employees as well through email.


2. Use an email newsletter.
   If your company has an email newsletter or an online bill, you can write an article and submit for submission in this newsletter.


3. Use bill inserts to publicize important events or changes in your division.
   When a company receives a bill in the mail, don't waste this opportunity to insert a creative, colorful and informative article. Make it short and to the point, or it will not be read. For all the above examples, you should have a headline the sums up the information in one sentence.


4. Do public service announcements.
   You do not have to pay for public service announcements in radio, TV, or other forms of media. As a manager, you can influence, or come up with the idea for a public service advertisement. It gives your company a little free advertising, shows the public that your company cares about public issues, and gets the company name into people's minds.


5. Be involved in the community.
   Have your employees do volunteer work in the community. Give your volunteers T-shirts that proudly display the company's name and logo. Don't forget to invite the press!


6. Increase traffic to your company's website.
   Use your influence as a manager, especially if you are in charge of the company's website, to increase the number of visitors on you company website. Optimize it for search engines. Work with partners and suppliers to put links to your site on other websites. Make suggestions for improvement on website design, functionality, and navigation.

As a manager, part of your job should be to use whatever you can think of to put your company in a positive light in the public eye.