What public relations is
	Facets of public relations:
	•	Media relations
	•	Community relations/corporate sponsorships
	•	Crisis communications
	•	Special events
	•	Employee relations
	•	Publicity
	•	Publications
	•	Investor or shareholder relations
	•	Marketing communications
	•	Customer service
	Source: Linda Welter Cohen
	Getting started
	Here are some things small businesses can do to create good will:
	•	Start internally: Encourage employees to volunteer, and ask their ideas about what the company can do to get involved in the community.
	•	Join existing community service and nonprofit efforts, or start your own based on what is important to you and your employees.
	•	Be a resource for your vendors, suppliers and consultants. If they need information, help or direction, give it to them. Give them sales leads.
	•	Get involved in industry associations. Take on a leadership role, and share information with others in the groups.
	•	Join business organizations like chambers of commerce, networking clubs and economic development organizations. Don't just be a member: Get involved.
	•	Offer to be a source of information for government agencies and legislative groups. Lawmakers aren't necessarily experts in every field, and they often look for advice from people on the front lines.
	•	Cultivate relationships with the general media and with trade publications.
	Sources: Michael Bolchalk, Linda Welter Cohen

People talk about Southwest Airlines as if the company were a cherished friend.

That's unusual in an industry known for late flights, lost bags, fossilized food and dissatisfied customers. But co-founder Herb Kelleher built the airline on the premise that if employees are happy, customers are happy.

Kelleher's simple public relations strategy has earned his firm a priceless commodity: word-of-mouth advertising.

Small businesses don't need a lot of money to formulate their own public relations plans. It does take time, planning and creativity.

"I think that there are a lot of public relations strategies that businesses can implement that they don't realize are public relations," said Michael Bolchalk, president and CEO of Michael Bolchalk Marketing, Advertising & Public Relations. "Really, it starts from the moment the customer comes in or calls."

The facets of public relations include employee relations, corporate sponsorships, special events and customer service. It can be sponsoring a softball team, having a coffee can on a shop counter to collect change for a favorite charity, or just being helpful and friendly to clients.

Many businesses are already doing some form of public relations without realizing it. Those that realize it do it for community service first, and for recognition a distant second.

Kerstin Block, president of the 22-store Buffalo Exchange used-clothing chain, several years ago started an arts award that is now administered by the Southern Arizona Community Foundation. The store has an annual dollar sale on Earth Day, last year raising $10,000-$12,000 for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The stores, in Arizona, Nevada and California, do "thousands of little things," including donating clothing to local organizations, Block said. But probably the most popular is the tokens-for-bags program: Instead of bagging goods, customers can have the store donate 5 cents to charity. Those nickels added up to $20,000 in four years.

The company's efforts have brought it some rewards, Block said.

"We think that we get a lot of recognition for it in the community," she said. "Especially the people who get all the clothing are very happy and grateful."

Does the company get more sales as a direct result of its altruism? It's hard to determine, Block said.

"For a long time we never thought of it as helping our business," Block said. "To tell you the truth, I don't know how much it helps our business."

Businesses should not look to public relations to boost their sales immediately. They should get involved in things they really care about.

"You have to be unselfish, do it for the greater good," Bolchalk said. "That is a guiding principle. You will get return, but you don't do it exclusively for that."

Kenya Johnson of Ridgewood Associates Public Relations concurred.

"With public relations as opposed to advertising, that business should see that there's a lot of opportunities to give back to their customers in ways that don't translate into an actual transaction - you buy this product, you buy this service, see you later," Johnson said. "It's just part of what being part of a community is about, really."

But businesses can develop strategic public relations plans that do, in fact, track results, says Linda Welter Cohen, president of Caliber Communications Group Inc.

Before they start a new outreach program, they can poll their customers. If the goal, for example, is to boost customer service, they can have customers rate them before the PR program and again during it.

Cohen offered some things businesses can do to strengthen their community presence:

Before launching a public relations effort, businesses need to identify what they want to do and what they can do well, Cohen said. Then they should figure out which projects are aligned with the firm's mission.

Outreach can be something linked to a business, such as a bookstore backing a children's reading project, or it can be something unrelated that the business's proprietors simply care strongly about.

In devising a public relations plan, entrepreneurs can study successful, well-known firms that they'd like to emulate.

"Look at some of these other organizations that are very visible. I would also ask friends and colleagues how they approach it," Bolchalk said. "Ask 'how can I get involved? How can I create good will?' And you'll get a lot of good feedback."