Great books for learning (and doing) your own PR
There are so many books out there for business owners on how to do your own marketing and/or public relations. Frankly most of them say the same thing – know the reporter, don’t be too salesy, etc. Here are my top five picks – not only are these books current, they go into real tactics that you can use right away. I think if you read these books, whether you’re a small business owner, author, entrepreneur…. you can start promoting or upgrade what you’re already doing and get some results fast.
- Obviously social media is one of the best (and cost-effective) ways to promote your business, service, book, whatever. The definitive manual (and New York Times bestseller) on the subject is Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Smith and Brogan describe not only HOW to use social media, but WHY you want to use it and most importantly, how to measure your success. The book covers the basics of social media so a newbie can learn but also dives into the more sophisticated aspects of the medium
- If you just want some tactics to try, free or not, pick up Guerilla Marketing Weapons: 100 Affordable Marketing Methods for Maximizing Profits from Your Small Business
by the guru Jay Conrad Levinson. Levinson has tons of ideas for guerilla, or street marketing – inexpensive ways to get noticed and advertise/promote your brand or business. It’s a great book when you need some ideas to promote an event, go up against big competition or just need to get noticed. You can go to Levinson’s website as well and check out his materials. I can’t say how good they are but I love watching the guy’s videos for some reason. (Maybe it’s just a silver fox thing)
- For an overall reference guide, choose Complete Publicity Plans: How to Create Publicity That Will Spark Media Exposure and Excitement (Adams Streetwise Series)
by Sandra Beckwith. This has templates and instructions for everything from building your press kit to measuring results. Also, Sandra really reinforces that you have to PLAN your public relations which I like. If a friend of mine were starting a business and wanted a basic book on how to do it, this is what I’d tell them to read.
- If you’ve got some experience already in promotion and public relations but want to step up your game Brian Solis’ book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR
(written with Deirdre Breakinridge) will be helpful. If I ran a traditional PR agency, I would make this required reading for the staff as well. It really defines how Web2.0 and engagement/conversation are changing the way we flacks do our stuff. I would also recommend following Brian’s blog not only are his own insights relevant, he does a nice job of aggregating information as well.
- I loved Get Slightly Famous: Become a Celebrity in Your Field and Attract More Business with Less Effort, Second Edition
by Steven Van Yoder. Sometimes service providers and consultants need a bit of personal branding to help accelerate inbound interest and this is a great book to use. If you’re uncomfortable being labeled an “expert” then don’t buy it. But if you want to figure out how to promote yourself in order to grow your business then buy Yoder’s book.
If you’re starting to think about your marketing and PR strategy for 2010 these books might help. Those are my picks. What are yours?
Note: I’ve read all these books but if you purchase them through the links, it will commission my amazon affiliate account.
Tags: Blogging, book PR, Marketing, Public Relations, social media
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December 3rd, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Great books for learning (and doing) your own PR…
A list of books to help the small business owner/entrepreneur learn and execute effective PR tactics. …
December 5th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Great article and very helpful info. I prefer social bookmarking strategy and social marketing for improving my business.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:05 am
These are good PR resources. We just did a recent release and I think you can never have too much insight. In our hyper-competitive world of online life insurance, we’ll take any edge we can get. Thanks,
TM
December 21st, 2009 at 5:13 am
Thanks for the useful list. It sure must have been a lot of work going through so many books on this subject and shortlisting a few of them so that the readers do not waste their time with the not-so-good ones. Nice work!
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:22 am
Really useful post!
December 29th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
thanks for the nice and informative post
December 29th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
thank you for sharing this nice post
February 5th, 2010 at 8:01 am
Really useful post!
February 17th, 2010 at 3:28 am
list of books to help the small business owner/entrepreneur learn and execute effective PR tactics. …
March 6th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Thanks for the recommendations and reviews. I’ve been meaning to reading something on this topic and your post makes it much easier to sort the good books out of the fluff.