March 4th, 2010
The premise of an article lasting forever online makes the Internet and social media fascinating to me as a PR consultant. Before its advent, communicating directly with your ‘public’ beyond anything further than traditional media relations was cost-prohibitive for most small businesses. No longer.
Having a solid social media program helps businesses and brands to build new relationships, across a wider landscape, and in a sustainable fashion never before possible. This is where PR plays best strategically, for three important reasons:
Crisis – Many a poor customer experience is blogged and tweeted about, and it’s out there quickly. Relying on PR as your ‘litmus test’ (how do we want people to think and feel?) helps you consider the effects of a campaign or response and allows you to act accordingly
Word Of Mouth – social media tends to reject commercialism. There’s an unprecedented intimacy when a customer or prospect becomes your fan on Facebook. They won’t tolerate a steady stream of marketing hype. Remind you of anyone? Cynical news and editorial contacts, of course. Learning PR skills in media relations means you’re well placed to manage great word-of-mouth social media relations too.
Greater Influence – engaging dialing with customers on social media gives insights into customer and prospect motivations that incomparable. It allows PR to better quantify the value it delivers to the business bottom line.
Through social media channels, businesses can foster and maintain ongoing, quality “dialogue” with influencers, media, customers and partners, regardless of time or geographic limitations. These channels allow businesses to have direct access to, and feedback from, their audience, allowing companies of any size to better meet marketplace demands.
I’ll be teaching PR & social media during my March Publicity and PR Bootcamps, so if you want to learn more join me there. Early bird expires tomorrow!
Posted in Inspiration, Marketing | No Comments »
March 4th, 2010
Ever forgone an event, workshop or networking lunch because the work and email have piled up? I’m guilty of it – in fact, for a chatty PR person I can be a downright grumpy old hermit some days 
No-one can be ‘up’ all of the time; but neither can we be chained to our desks 40 plus hours a week. Forgoing that lunch so you can ‘just finish this off’ is a slippery path to overwork and disconnection.
Remember, PR is all about what people think and feel about you. What do you choose: disconnected old hermit or interesting, authentic creative being?
Your best ideas bubble up from your subconscious when you’re away from the computer. Whether it’s walking along the beach or listening to a live speaker who gets your brain bubbling, investing in time away from your office environment is crucial.
I regularly head overseas to listen and learn from thought leaders in my industry and outside of it. My investment in any seminar more than pays for itself with the new business ideas and connections I bring back.
Think about every event you attend as your own personal PR appearance. What do you want people to think and feel about you, your brand, your business? During my live PR and Publicity Bootcamps, I like to remind people that they’re not just there to learn, they’re there to connect, listen and mastermind.
So get out there. Make it your personal PR goal to attend three events in March. Maybe I’ll see you at one of my Bootcamps!
Posted in Inspiration | No Comments »
February 18th, 2010
Using PR makes identifying your ideal customer EASY. If you had to “fire” every customer except one, but you knew if you kept that one, every customer from there forward would be just like the one you kept, who would it be? Particularly, how would they think and feel about you?
This is important, because PR uses a bunch of tactics to keep your customers and prospects thinking and feeling the way you want them to feel. Publicity is the means by which you share that, attracting your ideal customer faster and quicker than advertising and direct mail.
So why don’t small businesses use PR more? Because the perception is that it’s only for corporates who can afford to use high-flying PR agencies. Wrong!
Worse, an awful lot of small business consultants steer their clients away from using PR because they think it’s some sort of black magic performed by $2000 a day consultants. As a result PR is saved for the ‘big boys’ and small business is foolishly encouraged to do advertising and direct mail because the perception is it’s easier and cheaper.
Yet research shows EVERY time, the PR dollar outperforms advertising, direct mail, etc in marketing budgets. So why do SME’s — and the people advising them - choose marketing tactics less likely to get return on the budget?
Small business and its advisers need to step up and understand what PR can achieve. I invite anyone working in marketing with small business to attend one of my Publicity and PR Bootcamps in March to really see the difference it makes - for a fraction of the marketing spend.
Posted in Marketing, Publicity | No Comments »