“Best Of” Lists: How to gain notoriety for your business in 4 easy steps

In public relations, we’re always working hard for our clients to get them noticed on lists that decry “The Top This” or “Best Of That.” And yet, like the proverbial shoemaker’s kids, we might not always do it so well for ourselves.

What’s a great PR agency (or any business) to do? Well, here are four easy tips to help you get you started:

1. 1. Identify the places that will help your business’s reputation
      There are many opportunities to increase your own agency’s – or business’s – own brand awareness. But do your research in advance. Identify the trade publications that run these types of lists (for public relations agencies, these include such outlets as Ragan’s, PR Week, PR News, The Holmes Report, O’Dwyers, AdWeek, Ad Age, the Public Relations Society of America (local chapter) and others).Your local business media outlet (such as our own San Francisco Business Times and other Business Journals publications) are prime suspects as well.

      The local metropolitan magazine, such as New York Magazine, also tends to publish lists of this nature, as does The Observer (nationally and internationally).

      In addition, there are new online outlets to mine, including Clutch, Feedspot, TopPRAgencies.com, DesignRush, UpCity, Expertise, The Manifest, 10BestPR and GrowthList. And don’t forget other business publications such as Fast Company, Forbes, Bloomberg, Entrepreneur, Search Engine Journal and Digiday.

   2. Think Outside the “List” box
      Yes, it’s easy to remember when business publications do their annual “Best PR Agencies” lists. But some cities (like ours) no longer do that list for PR due to an inability to verify fiscal numbers. So, think outside the box and think about other areas where your business excels, such as:
      • Best Company Blog
      • Best Digital Agencies
      • Best Family-Owned Business
      • Best Female Employee
      • Best Female-Owned Business
      • Best LGBT-owned Business
      • Best Places To Work
      • Best Social Media Agencies
      • Best Young Employee

1. Join the new business panels in your city
   Business publications like Forbes and the Business Journals in each market are getting smart these days. In order to expand their own readership and reach, they are creating “business councils” in each market – these are councils made up of business professionals who can offer advice, provide networking, write content and in general help create a positive business climate in each market.These councils generally require a membership fee (so the business publication also makes money), but then allow members to create content for the business publication’s community platform. Writing about your industry gives your agency – or business – credibility and awareness, as you can rightfully claim that you write for those publications. It also achieves many of the same thought leadership goals as when you’re included in a “Best Of” list.
2. SEO, SEO, SEO
   If your goal is to be included in top results when people are searching for your market’s best agency or business, your best bet is still the simplest (and yet the hardest): search engine optimization. Where do most businesses now go to search for a business partner? Online. If you type in “public relations” (or your type of business) and the name of your city or market – and your agency or business doesn’t appear on the first page, you’ve got work to do. How do you improve your rankings in search? Through daily, refreshed new content on your site, backlinks to credible sources and helpful business advice through your own blog.

Following these four easy steps can help your agency – or any business in general – get those “shoemaker shoes” that will fit your business perfectly to be “one of the best.”