PR is a powerful small business marketing tool. By PR, I mean getting positive press mentions about your firm in local, trade and national publications.

The reason these mentions are so powerful is because they are seen to come from unbiased 3rd parties. So, they are more believable. People are conditioned to think your ad messages are just sales hype, but when they read about how great you are in the local business journal, it must be true.

A lot of people think that gaining positive PR is luck. Maybe that's true to a certain extent, but more than luck, its the result of a systematic commitment to generating PR.

PR is a funny thing, the more they write about you, the more they'll write about you. The hardest part is getting the PR machine rolling.

Here's my step by step system for generating positive press coverage.

Step 1 - Target your media sources, including a growing list of Internet based media and news resources. Start networking with these media targets today by requesting editorial calendars, sending industry information, commenting on stories they write, passing on surveys and data, inviting them to workshops. Build relationships before you ask for the order! Tip: Network with the advertising sales folks at the publications too, they will give you lots of good information about who does what and where in the course of trying to sell you an ad.

Step 2 - Create three or four central media themes for the year that support your core marketing message.

Step 3 - Create a list of ten to twelve minor, but interesting, marketing related themes for ongoing PR. You need to fill in with volume while you are working on the front page feature.

Step 4 - Create a PR calendar and assign a PR theme and goal for each month. Focus on one publication or one writer and you will be amazed at how much you can accomplish. Remember to target editorial calendars (Publications will often assign themes to a month. Match your pitch to their theme.)

Step 5 - Write a fully developed pitch for each of your major themes - A pitch is a story idea that you can "pitch" to a member of the media. This is not a press release, but more of a sales job. Wrap your story idea around a news angle or trend and package the pitch to interest the readers of a specific publication you are pitching. You can change and repackage your pitches as needed. These are reserved for your central media themes.

Step 6 - Formulate one page press releases with catchy headlines for each of your minor themes. Here's my free press release writing application.

Step 7 - Once a month, target your core media list and distribute a press release or pitch for a major theme. Post all press releases on a national wire service such as PRWeb and send copies of your press releases to clients and prospects. Don't forget op-eds and letters to the editor.

Step 8 - Follow-up with your core media list by telephone and offer some new piece of news or trend angle that you did not include in your pitch or press release.

Step 9 - Track media coverage in local and trade press, set-up Google Alerts for a number of key related terms and reprint for marketing purposes any media coverage received.

Step 10 - Send handwritten thank you notes (or t-shirts) to members of the media to thank them for an interview or mention.

Are you starting to get a glimpse of how combining advertising, PR and referrals can build momentum and create marketing energy?