“Publicity is absolutely critical. A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front-page ad.”
— Richard Branson

The first time I ever used a PR company, it was not to promote any of our amazing feats. It was by accident. We had a crisis, and I needed a PR company to manage the situation. Once they had that situation under control, they told me to permanently make that the motivation I needed to tell my story. The biggest thing to understand there is that everyone has a story to tell. 

I am one of those operators who always looks for the next big thing when it comes to advertising. At first, that’s how I looked at working with a PR team – mainly because it cost money. But once I understood that they wanted to tell my story and then highlight my triumphs and unique moments, it all came together. The advantages that came from having a PR team were huge and measurable. Business grew 20 percent the first full year that we used a PR company. I cannot strongly suggest using one enough.

Like anything in life, there are good PR firms and bad ones. Since I was very happy with mine, let me tell you what I found was great about them beyond the increase in my sales. I liked that we met every other Friday on a 30-minute phone call. It kept the communication clear and moving. Having a creative team you are working with and not just one person at a PR company is important. We had a team of three that we worked with consistently.

They helped brainstorm what we could do and how we could have win-win partnerships with many in the community. They had a lot of existing relationships that they leveraged and made introductions for us. Asking a PR firm what other clients with aligned goals they work with and then judging for yourself if there are any natural synergies would be a wise move. They held a yearly deep dive with my key team members – and from those meetings, we were able to build out real goals and strategies.

One of the strategies after my story was told and known was to tell the story of our team members and managers. We positioned them as leaders in the community and told that story to smaller news outlets that focus on hyper-local news. We had a story that landed front and center in the newspaper. The firm then expanded past print and did a great job landing us on TV.

Since most PR is a crapshoot, the best thing you can do to up your odds is tell compelling stories. We feed the homeless and do community outreaches often. To me, it felt natural that we do those things (and I assumed everyone did that). It is unique, as it turns out, and the news loves stories like those. In the end, we eventually graduated to doing our own PR in-house and added a marketing team. In next month’s column, I will tell the story of how we created our marketing team – with me as the first member of that team!

Nick Bogacz is the founder and president of Caliente Pizza & Draft House in Pittsburgh. Instagram: @caliente_pizza

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