In order to do your PR yourself, you'll need to be armed with strong communication skills, a healthy dose of determination, creativity, time, and most importantly, be perfectly prepared. Before you can embark on such an important project, take down my ten must-do items.

1) GET A GRIP: Before you embark on PR, ask yourself whether your salon is currently up to scratch. What messages does the interior and exterior communicate to the outside world? How friendly and skilled are your staff? There's absolutely no point promoting your business if it's in a sorry state, or if you have concerns about your service. All that will happen is that the clients attracted by PR activities, will leave disappointed and won't waste time telling everyone they meet exactly what they think about your salon…

2) ASSIGN RESPONSIBILITY: Once you've decided that you're ready for PR, allocate the responsibility to someone with first class communication skills, who's reliable and a hard worker so that you can be sure that they'll get the job done.

3) GET ORGANISED: To do your PR effectively you'll need to set up your office.  As obvious as it may seem, it's important to be equipped with the communication basics like a fully functioning computer with key applications such as Microsoft Office and programmes that allow you to open and view jpeg images and PDF documents. If possible, it's also great to get a separate phone line, as you risk missing valuable client calls or bookings if you're on the main line chatting away to journalists!