There is so much buzz around the word publicity. Publicity from media attention happens when you have a great strategy in place to connect with your community. A working public relations plan is incredibly valuable for small business owners and entrepreneurs because it generates strong leads, has an independent voice to build trust and sheds a positive light on your company in front of target audiences.

Here are three top ways you can leverage PR to build a positive image for your brand:

1. Create interest for your business.

Often, when small-business owners and entrepreneurs start planning to promote their business, they forget to plan publicity-driven activities. Sadly, including a public relations strategy to build awareness is overlooked. Using PR to build brand awareness is among the most cost-effective ways to alert the masses that you exist.

Small businesses with even smaller budgets will gain a higher return on investment when choosing PR over advertising because every opportunity to talk to the media and to get in front of larger audiences is a win.

As a small-business owner, it’s not as tricky as you may think to land mentions of your business in the news. Start by taking a look at the products or services that your business offers. Think about the valuable insight that you could share that would greatly help a media outlet to educate their readers or viewers. Use that valuable information when pitching your story to journalist and reporters.

Sharing valuable and helpful insight can assist in getting your company consistently mentioned by influencers, news reporters and trade publications. And having positive publicity helps to spread your message to larger audiences, giving you a bigger opportunity to generate business leads.