By Bruce Kupper

Using public relations as a promotional tool for your service company is smart thinking, as I was to learn a quarter of a century ago, four or five years after founding my communications agency in 1977. Back then, I was looking for ways to build the business and finally realized that if I had greater credibility in the marketplace, I could move the sales cycle faster.

It is amazing to me how the written and the spoken word can be seen as such a powerful endorsement of a company's model and strategic plan. Yet, time and time again, I have seen that the media may very well create a better advertisement for a service business than almost any paid advertisement.

In the service business, I've learned that credibility trumps creativity, that a writer's recommendation carries more weight than a copywriter's unique selling proposition, and that a third party endorsement is more meaningful than a primary participant's pronouncement.

GOING FOR MOMENTUM.  In those early days, at Kupper Parker Communications (KPCG ), to take my own example, once I understood the powerful vehicle of public relations, I no longer had to start at step one with prospects. That's where you have to "build media awareness." Then you go to the client, figure out the needs, research what you can do to help, and get back to the client with a proposal.

Instead, I was able to start right at step three, where you go to the client and say, "We're here. You know us. Now tell us what you want for deliverables."

It was a critical lesson, one that didn't come without introspection. And it's one that I want to pass on to other entrepreneurs in service businesses. Some of the tactics we use at Kupper Parker include touting our case studies and industry accolades and broadcasting our deal-making endeavors, all of which I'll discuss in this article.

But first, about that introspection: It came in the way of my figuring out what the financial press -- and, in particular, the local and regional outlets, which is where exposure usually begins -– is really all about.

LEVERAGING PERSONALITY.  The media aren't into running stories that trumpet how well your company is doing. Instead, they want personality-driven copy, stories that inspire and uplift. My own experience has been that entrepreneurs and business leaders are as thirsty for good news as are the typical consumers who tire of the latest fire or murder or crash.

All of us in business are searching for the inspirational and the imaginative items that compel us to come into work and push our employees and ourselves to the next level. As much as we have experienced over the years, most of us still get excited when we see one of our contemporaries break through and stand out. It not only inspires us; it also gets the old ego going to get our stories out and into the marketplace as well.

The good news for entrepreneurs is that they stand a better-than-even shot of being the story, and thus, a more-than-reasonable chance of getting the coverage that leads to the type of exposure that benefits their company. They can talk about what they love, the mistakes they've made, the companies that bear their personal stamp. All of this is fodder for the personality-driven stories that entice the local media.

LEVERAGING PR.  Getting public relations, however favorable, isn't the same as leveraging it, and that's where the tactics I mentioned above come into play.

The most powerful for categorical marketing is the case study. When you tell an industry how you assisted one of their own, then a number of others clamor for the same type of services, namely your company's offerings.

We have utilized this technique to build our healthcare, interactive, business-to-business, telecommunications, and retail practices. In each instance, we have taken examples of actual events or assignments at which we've excelled and approached industry-specific trade publications. They are, of course, interested in leading marketing trends in their various categories. Our function is fairly straightforward. We make them aware of our actual successes and give them sufficient numbers and data to define that success. They get the word out for us.

The second dependable way to gain valuable exposure is through the announcement of various deals, ranging from mergers and acquisitions to restructuring existing operations and beginning strategic initiatives.

INK AND EYEBALLS.  A small company like ours has made it into The New York Times on three occasions via the deal route. The most recent was when we announced a minor deal, the purchase of a company with annual revenue of under $1 million. The day that story appeared, I immediately received about a dozen phone calls.

We have also gotten numerous exposures in the major trade publications. Advertising Age and ADWEEK have both found our deal making more newsworthy than our regular account wins and losses. There just seems to be a certain amount of definition in a deal announcement that simplifies the reporting for the press and the acceptance levels for the readers.

Many decision makers pick up on these stories and notice our firm from this type of publicity. The niche that we seem to occupy from this publicity is that our firm is big enough to matter in their industry, while still small enough to care about individual businesses, when compared with the large multinational holding companies against which we may be competing.

The third technique that has proved to be meaningful for us is the so-called industry accolade. Programs such as the highly regarded Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award (which I won in 2000), the KPMG Quality Awards, and our industry's lists of top agencies -- top public relations firm, top interactive agency, and so on -- have all been helpful to us in positioning the company as a significant player.

The beauty of accolades is that someone else is creating PR for you. You aren't hyping yourself. If you issued a press release about your accomplishments, no one would care, but if a third party does it, everyone picks it up. All you're doing is being a sport and going along for the ride.

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