June 2025

Summer is here. Kids are home. Are we losing our minds yet?

Jk jk.

But for real, for many of us, summer isn’t the time to do major heavy lifting with our businesses. So, this month I wanted to share 5 simple — but so freaking effective — PR strategies that you could easily implement. Let’s do it.

Set up a testimonial input form — and ask clients/customers to fill it out

Your customers and clients are absolutely one of your biggest assets when running a small business. And you should be asking them for their testimonials. Let them sing your praises!

But you gotta set up a process for it — from the form itself to when you ask a client for their feedback. It’s also ok to ask for feedback more than once; in fact you should be asking at least 3 times. There’s a balance between asking to remind people who might have forgotten and asking too much and being annoying.

A simple (and free!) way to set up a testimonial intake is to use Google Forms in Google Drive. Pick 5 questions to ask and plug them into the form. This article from Forbes has some great suggestions on specific questions to ask that produce great, usable feedback.

When you send this out depends on if you’re service or product based, but I typically recommend after any work or transaction has happened.

The form will collect the responses all in one place (i.e. you won’t lose them in the black hole of your email). But then, here’s the kicker, you have to use them. Create social media posts, put them on your website, use on branded flyers or brochures. Don’t forget this crucial step.

Which fits in nicely with my next tip…

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​Plan your social media posts for the next 3 months

Take an afternoon and spend it setting up a social media calendar. Think about it in a 1:1:3 ratio — 1 theme for 1 month with 3 posts per week. Keep it simple; don’t burn yourself out feeding the hamster wheel of social.

I also find that writing things in batches (like writing a month’s worth of posts in 2 hours) is a much more time effective way to do it. Then I can schedule it out ahead of time, or pull copy and images the day it’s scheduled to post (or, let’s be real, a mixture of both).

Pro tip: Use a simple Excel document to do this. Make tabs for each month, and columns for the date, topic, copy for platform A, copy for platform B, images and notes.

Put together a media kit

A media kit is a one-page document that showcases you and your achievements. Think of it as a resume for your business. You can put it together in an afternoon, then grab a template on Canva and drop in the copy and a picture.

Keep it on hand for any opportunities that come up to talk about your business. You can also upload it to your website so it’s easily accessible.

Pro tip: If you need a little help putting one together, I have a DIY Media Kit guide that walks you through the steps.

Engage with local reporters.

Simply take an hour and do some research to determine who writes about your industry. Follow them on your preferred social media channels and lightly engage with their content – comment (kindly!), like posts that interest you. LinkedIn is a great place to do this!

When you do have a story you are ready to share, then connect with them and ask to meet you for a cup of coffee. Also keep your eyes open because sometimes they’ll put out a call about looking for an expert in a particular topic or someone who works in a certain industry. This could be you.

Pro Tip: At this coffee meeting, hand them your media kit. 😉

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​Have professional photographs taken

I cannot stress this enough, having professional photography of you and your product done is so.dang.important. iPhone cameras are incredible, yes, but professional photography takes your brand, visually, a step forward. And it can absolutely set you apart from your competitors.

People buy based on how things look, right? So look better than your competition.

Pro tip: On the day of your photo shoot, bring along a friend or coworker to grab some behind-the-scenes photos and videos of the photoshoot. Share on your social channels and tag the photographer in it. Let’s support other small businesses and give them a shout out.

What I'm Pouring

La Marca Prosecco The start of Summer has been quite the busy ride for me. Day 1 of Summer we didn’t have a nanny for two weeks! So, believe me - I was pouring this lovely most days to keep myself sane.

Supporting your PR needs

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Of course, I am always here to help:

• ​Create your own Media Kit​
• ​7 places to pitch to be a contributing writer​
• ​Celebrate your freaking wins with champagne 🥂​
• ​Book a call with me​

Nisha ​nisha@npatelcommunications.com​ ​​​ Subscribe

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