Ho, ho, ho – Everyone Wants Big 4th Quarter News and Sales

For public relations professionals, we understand that most publications put their holiday edition to bed at least three months a go. However, the web has made it easier for you to drum up last minute interest, capitalize on fourth quarter sales promotions surrounding the holidays and turn sales into cash that will lead to the continued growth of your business.

Thanks to the Internet news is revolving throughout the day. Web-only publications are always looking for news, opening the door of opportunity for businesses, especially those with a lifestyle-oriented product or service. Some sites like TheCelebrityCafe.com produce more than 40 stories a day! And constantly looking for new stories and products for its variety of gift guides and daily news.

Another great thing about these types of websites is that some use an RSS to help further distribute their news stories into the WWW and sometimes to the desks of journalists around the globe. I always recommend that my clients build an RSS feed from their online press rooms. It does a few things, but the most important of these is to make your press releases and news searchable. RSS is easy to set up and, in most cases, is FREE!

The first thing you need to do is define your audience, research websites and blogs that your customer may read and, finally, pitch them your story or tell the writer why your product/company should be included in an upcoming gift guide.

Gift guides are wonderful, inclusion opportunities for businesses to gain additional exposure. I recommend checking with your local newspaper, entertainment/shopping sites and TV stations to see if they have produced their gift guide/shopping segment for the holidays and if not whether they are interested in including your business. Position the new trend or connect it to recent news and you’ll be sure to perk up some ears.

Especially during these economic times, you must take your consumer into perspective and know that they will be looking to save money, so BE the business that can do this for them and you will NO DOUBT generate the sale.  The best way to get PR right now is to make a great offer.

Finally, be aggressive. Editors and producers are inundated with everyone and their mother trying to generate PR, and hence sales, for their products/companies in the Fourth Quarter. You can’t sit back idle but must, instead, make yourself stand out from the crowd.

Jennifer Fortney, Cascade Communications

Networking – How’s Your One-Liner?

Do you think networking takes place only at so-called networking events? You know those forced get-togethers where most people play the business card derby – how many of yours can you give out and/or how many of others can you collect. The fact is, that’s one of the least effective forms of networking.

Here’s a networking tool you’ll be able to use every day in many situations that will absolutely improve your networking skills – It’s the answer to the question “So what do you do?”

In many cases, you have about 10 seconds to respond with your “one-liner.”

Some people blow it here by simply saying something like “I’m a mortgage broker, or I’m an insurance agent, or my favorite – I’m a consultant.”

A wasted opportunity… The better practice is not just to tell people what you do, but to tell them why what you do matters to the people you serve.

In other words, describe what you do in a way that highlights the benefits your clients receive when you do it.

For example, an insurance agent might say “I help people assess the risks they encounter in their daily lives, and I help them achieve peace of mind by protecting against those risks, I’m an insurance agent”.

What that does is paint a vivid picture of why someone would want to do business with you. It also helps the person you’re talking to better visualize who would be a good referral for you.

So how’s your one-liner?

Michael Shapiro – Dynamic Management Solutions, Inc.

What Media Crunches Mean To Your PR Efforts

Although it has presented a load of opportunities for businesses and individuals, the Internet has been very hard on traditional media, especially newspapers and TV. Those who failed to embrace the Internet right off the bat are making staff cuts that can hurt your chances of achieving positive public relations, unless you’re knowledgeable and sensitive.

Today’s editors are not only doing their jobs but in most cases the jobs of their staff, which have been pink-slipped. In smaller daily papers across the country you will notice more and more wire stories peppered throughout the publication with only truly local news handled by staff writers. The cuts have also led to an increase of freelance writers, who were more than likely prior with the publication.

So what does this mean to you and your business? It means that it can be harder to get an editor on the phone to discuss your news, that freelance writers are nearly impossible to get to directly and that you need more patience in waiting to get your story placed. Remember that these media are now in competition with the Internet, in some cases, and they’re looking for stories that are right now, the newest thing and they want it before anyone else gets it.

The good news is that as many of these media begin to embrace the Internet, with news that rotates out faster and is updated more often, they will be looking for more news and content for their websites. The other good news is that as journalists break off on their own and launch their own news sites and e-zines, there is even more opportunity to generate positive press for your business.

In the meantime, there’s been an extreme increase in what we call “amatuer journalists”, people who start their own blogs as an information source for the audience its intended for.  Perez Hilton became a highly desired tastemaker and is now considered a top celebrity “journalist”, and is sought after for events and coverage.  So, it’s important that you learn to engage bloggers and look for ways to turn it into a news opportunity for your business.  These people are really making themselves into experts and ones you want talking about your business.

I also believe that every business should have an online pressroom and press kit that is attached to an RSS feed. This will help distribute your news directly to the editors, bloggers and writers who are interested in your industry/category.

It’s always fun to see your name in print in the local daily newspaper, but we all need to begin to shift our perception of what that means to us personally and what it means to the success of our businesses, without turning away from non-traditional media.

Jennifer Fortney, Cascade Communications 

eCommerce Sites are Not Your Typical Web Sites

So you want to sell products online. There’s a huge difference between a shopping cart Web site and a static brochure style Web site. I could go on and on about the technical differences between the two types of sites, but I wanted to make this a relatively short post.   If you plan to have a shopping cart Web site the most important suggestion I could provide is that you brush up on your project management skills. Selling one or two products online is not so bad. Selling a 100+ SKU’s is a challenging task. Challenging in that it tests your organizational ability. You have to describe, price, photograph, weigh, ship, tax, return policy and provide customer service on each and every product that you sell. Are you prepared to do that? Have you ever done that? If not, start small with just a few products and get all the bugs, processes and kinks worked out before going big time.

What type of skills do you feel it takes to run a successful shopping cart Web site? Do you have any great war stories or advice to provide our readers?

Chris Nastav, KC Web Specialists, LLC, www.kcwebspecialists.com
Experts in how business gets done on the Internet

Converting a Gripe into a Goal

Redefining Problems to Make Them Solvable

How gratifying is it to listen to people’s gripes?

Often, complaints are presented to the listener as overwhelming troubles. By the very nature of how they are presented, they sound insurmountable.

“There is no such thing as an unsolvable problem,” says Vistage speaker Mike Murray. “But there are ways of defining a problem that make it unsolvable.”

Often, it’s the way we frame a problem that makes it appear to be impossible to tackle. When we redefine it, we open new mental pathways to solutions.

Murray has come up with a system that walks people through the process of turning a gripe into a goal.

The Five-Minute Gripe-to-Goal Solution

You can start simply. Murray recommends distilling the concern or issue into one sentence.

“Whatever situation comes to mind, write one sentence about it,” he says. The sentence must begin with one of the following phrases:

• “My frustration is that …”
• “My gripe is …”
• “My difficulty is …”

Next, take the same situation and describe it again. This time, your sentence must begin this way:

• “My real concern is …”

“Any time you have a concern, you also have a wish,” explains Murray. “So take that concern and write about it as a wish.” The sentence should begin this way:

• “What I’m really wishing for is …”

Having thought through your wish, you are now prepared to state your wish as a goal.

• “Therefore my goal is to …”

“Your goal may be identical to your wish, or it might be: ‘What would I settle for from my wish?

• Therefore my goal is HOW to …,’

and that becomes a definition of your problem.”

“You haven’t adequately addressed the problem until you’ve defined the problem as a goal to be reached, Murray says.

Remember: Any solution that does not take you to your goal is not — by definition — a solution.

Putting the Gripe-to-Goal Plan into Action

Murray says this reframing exercise helps to refocus problems for yourself — and for your employees.

“Have your employees fill out the “Turning My Gripe into a Goal” worksheet taking them through this exercise before they come into your office. That way, you will start your conversations with identified goals you can work with,” Murray recommends.

Or, keep copies of the form at your desk to help you walk the employee through the exercise while in your office.

“If your employees don’t get any constructive response to the frustrations of trying to meet those goals, they may turn to harmful goals,” warns Murray.

“When there is a gap between what you hoped, needed, wanted, assumed, expected and desired and what is, a lot of frustration — and even anger — can surface. When those feelings in an employee are not listened to and addressed, the employee may engage in harmful and destructive behaviors.”

So do you ever get gripes in your business?

Michael Shapiro - Dynamic Management Solutions, Inc.

BRANDNG-What’s in a name?

Building a strong brand means having a single point of distinction in your category.  Define your message and focus only on that one aspect of singular distinction.

For example strong brands we all know like :

Coca-Cola ®  – “It’s The Real Thing”

Or

Miller Lite ®  – Less filling, tastes great”

If you don’t identify your self, your competitors will do it for you!

To address the first point, your product or service,  look for key aspects of the company, history and any weakness that could be a strength.  Then discover your Brand Platform.  The second point, naming… There are three types of names:

Personal:
Relational:
Indifferent Non Catagorical or NONsense  ( 3 points to the person who sends me the  #1 nonsensical name.)

Personal:
Something to think about when you get ready to put on your brand.  The first is the most obvious.  The person’s name, a good example of this would be Orval Redenbacher.  This was successful when introduced into the market because it was a distinctive name and when paired with the white hair professor type from the Midwest – it gave the product a real sense of security and stability. Today we have all come to know this name well and trust it is the BEST popcorn in the category.

Do you have your name buttoned up?

JT Clark – The Branding Babe!

Content Is King!

Do you have a Web site? Do you write in a blog? What is the hottest thing going right now that you can do to increase your search engine results within Google and Yahoo? The answer is…..write high quality content that contains the exact key wordspeople are typing into Google and Yahoo.

What constitutes high quality content? It’s content that is well written that conveys exactly what you portray your company to be. It’s content that is consistent across all pages within your Web site or blog. It’s content that contains the key words people are typing into Google and Yahoo. And…..if you can believe it, Google is beta testing different Artificial Intelligence applications that actually read your Web site as if a human we’re reading the Web site and then grading the content based on clarity, consistency, key word relevance and does the content convey exactly what you say your company actually does.

Content is King right now for both Google and Yahoo. You might as well also throw in freshness. When was the last time the content was changed on your Web site? Google for sure gives you extra ranking credit if you change the content at least once a month if not more. The more you change the content the more often the search engine Spiders come back to your site.

How about you? Do you feel changing the content on your site has helped your Search Engine rankings? Please provide your comments and opinions to this post.

Chris Nastav, KC Web Specialists, LLC, www.kcwebspecialists.com
Experts in how business gets done on the Internet

Delegation – A Key Success Factor

There are many reasons entrepreneurs have for not delegating – It takes too much time to explain or I can do it faster and better myself or This is too critical to delegate. Unfortunately, if you allow these reasons to guide your approach to delegation, your business will never grow to its fullest potential.

A fundamental law of nature that’s every bit as absolute as other scientific laws of nature is the law that Bandwidth is finite – you only have so much time in the day. Another way to say it is Bandwidth does not increase based on need – no matter how much you want it to. This situation exists in businesses of all sizes – from the solo entrepreneur to Fortune 100 companies. To overcome this condition, one must learn and practice the art of delegation.

Delegation, not Abdication – Many executives delegate like this. They say, “James, would you take on this project? It has to be done by next Thursday. Thanks.” That’s it. Then, when the job comes back incomplete, they are infuriated. What happened? They left out accountability. They neglected the structure for making sure things happened according to plan.

Delegation means more than simply giving assignments to others. It means giving another party a certain degree of discretion that’s not inherent in their role – the right to make decisions that are officially tied to your role and for which you are ultimately responsible.

Another way to think about delegation for the solo entrepreneur is “Outsource everything but your core competence.” Here’s an example – You’re a management consultant and you need a new logo. You could do it yourself because your computer came with Photoshop and you like to do graphics or you could hire a graphic designer to do it for you. Look at the economics – Your billing rate is $150 per hour. It takes you three hours to do a logo. The designer is charging $150 for the logo design. Not delegating this task cost at least $300 more – why “at least?” – because if you engaged in business development or networking during those three hours, you might lave landed a lucrative project worth far more than $300.

This example illustrates the reason why you should delegate or outsource – It frees up your time to do what only you can do – that’s your highest value contribution.

Looking at the act of delegation in a company larger than one person – there are six aspects to consider:

1. Give the job to someone who can get it done – This doesn’t mean that person has all the skills for execution, but that they are able to martial the right resources.

2. Communicate precise conditions of satisfaction – Time frame, outcomes, budget constraints, etc.; all must be spelled out. Anything less creates conditions for failure.

3. Work out a plan - Depending on the project’s complexity, the first step may be creation of a plan. The plan should include resources, approach or methodology, timeline, measures and milestones. Even simple projects require a plan.

4. Set up a structure for accountability – If the project is to take place over the next six weeks, schedule an interim meeting two weeks from now. Or establish a weekly conference call, or an e-mailed status report. Provide some mechanism where you can jointly evaluate progress and make mid-course corrections. This helps keep the project, and the people, on track.

5. Outline the range of authority – Describe the level of initiative you expect the subordinate to take in terms of problem solving. You may ask subordinates to do one of the following when they encounter unexpected problems:

- “Ask me what you should do.”
- “Recommend a solution, then I will tell you what to do.”
- “Act, and then let me know immediately what you have done.”
- “Take initiative, and report only routinely.”

6. Get buy in – Often time frames are dictated by external circumstances. Still, your delegate must sign on for the task at hand. If you say, “This must be done by next Tuesday,” they have to agree that it is possible. Ask instead. “Can you have this by Tuesday?” Whenever possible, have your delegate set the timeline and create the plan. You need only provide guidance and sign off.

Not everything can be delegated. Here’s a few things that should not be delegated:

- performance feedback
- disciplinary actions
- politically sensitive tasks
- confrontations arising from interpersonal conflict

The only point to delegating something is if it frees you for things which create greater value. Don’t give away the hiring function if you are spending your time fiddling with the corporate web site. Don’t hire a Sales VP, if you are spending your time on purchasing. The greatest leverage you have is in leading your company. Spend your time on that.

Michael Shapiro – Dynamic Management Solutions, Inc.

Your Business’ Vibration Energy Level

The last 20 years or so brought tremendous changes to the business world. I’m not just talking about globalization, Internet, new technology. A new kind of way of doing business emerged and it’s changing how we buy, sell, how we work, how we interact with each other. There is this subtler factor deciding if a business will thrive, prosper, and positively impact the world. For the lack of a better term I call it the level of positive vibration energy.

When you walk into these good energy type businesses, you can feel a positive, loving vibe immediately. From the merchandise or services they offer, through customer service, the look of the store or office, their prices, you can quickly gather if the owners and employees love what they are doing and whether they are on a mission they feel passionate about.

Let me give you some examples. The stores I love shopping at for the above mentioned reasons are Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Crate & Barrel, Bed Bath & Beyond, the list goes on and on, and I’m sure you have your own selection too. It simply feels good to go to these places, buy things from them, get inspired and share in the good energy. On the other hand, when I go to their “competition” I often get frustrated, disappointed and energy-drained.

One of the examples is when I walked to Jewel recently (big grocery store, for those of you who don’t have it in your area) and I couldn’t locate a specific item I needed. I asked customer service but they were not familiar with it, and, I couldn’t believe it, they didn’t have a computer database to search through to locate it. The manager was called, he was not aware of whether they carry the item or not, nor was he interested. The place had the energy of doom, depression and apathy. I finally found the item myself and enthusiastically showed it to the manager in hope of waking him up from his passive attitude, but he didn’t seem interested. That’s why I shop at Trader Joe’s and try not to stop at Jewel if I can help it.

The point of the story is this: You can make a decision on what vibration energy your business emanates. It’s very simple: the vibration energy of your business flows directly from your own vibration energy. And your own energy is your level of love, enthusiasm and being on a mission with regard to what you are doing. When you truly love your purpose, feel that this is what you want to give the world, see its value and see yourself as enough for it and worthy of it, you run your business with that level of passion. And it shows in everything you do: in what you sell, your employees, vendors, partners, physical setup. Then you attract customers who want to share in your energy and get inspired by it. And they inspire you in return.

I invite you to take a look at the overall energy your business emanates. Notice if any aspects feel stale, stuck or heavy. Then look at your own stuckness, heaviness and see where it might be coming from. Clean up your energy and the energy of your business with be elevated.

Margaret Moczkowski
Business Success Coach
Momentum Coaching
www.YourBusinessEvolved.com

Who Really Owns Your Domain Name?

Do you own the domain name for your company? To answer this question, rephrase it to this…..Are you, the owner of your company, the administrative contact for your domain name? If not, you really don’t own your domain name, the person who is the adminstrative contact owns the domain name. That can be a very bad thing for you ($$$$) if something happens to them, or you get in an argument with them. Do you want an easy way to see if you are the administrative contact for your domain name? To do that click this link. In the search field on that site type in your company’s domain name (for example  www.yourcompanyname.com). The result’s screen will tell you who the administrative contact is for your domain. If it’s not you, have the person who is listed, immediately change it to your name and your email address. It takes 2 minutes to change. Trust me, you don’t want the administrative contact to be anyone but you, the owner of the company. I can tell you all kinds of war stories about companies that had to deal with unfavorable situations regarding their domain names. A couple companies just started using a different domain names rather than pay the cost of the Attorney fee’s to try and get it back in their name. Plus there is no guarantee that they will win the case. Call me at (913) 908.5642 for examples of how this situation has hurt companies.

Chris Nastav, KC Web Specialists, LLC, www.kcwebspecialists.com
Experts in how business gets done on the Internet

So, You’ve Begun A PR Campaign, But Are You Prepared For Growth?

When you own a small business, the number one priority is to drive business immediately. The first thing you need to do before putting a marketing plan in place to generate awareness and drive interest in your business is to think through the steps you will take, or put into place, to handle the increase in business.

I’ve seen and worked with many great businesses over the years that failed to think forward to what would happen when their marketing plan, well, worked. At the end of the day, several were unprepared to handle the increase in sales and interest that a strong, target public relations program generated, and they eventually closed. What a huge loss for the consumers who were ready to adopt the company into their lifestyle!

On the flip side, I’ve seen small businesses triple, even quadruple, their growth in just over a year’s time with the right inclusions in the right media to the right audience.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to prepare for growth:

1. Is your current space large enough to handle increased stock of product and staff?
2. Are you prepared to add staff to delegate specific tasks to such as managing orders, billing/finances and customer service?
3. What steps are you going to take to insure timely delivery? Can you recruit family and friends to offer their time until you’re able to pay someone?
4. Are you willing to forgo a paycheck in order to put staff in place?
5. How much time are you able to commit to your business (especially if you have family) to handle the increase in business? Is your loved one prepared to assist you when needed?
6. What is the financial return you need to see immediately to afford to hire staff?
7. Can you afford to have enough product on shelf to manage a major influx?
8. Will you separate individual sales from those of long-term retailers?
9. How much money from each sale are you going to put back into an ongoing marketing program?
10. Tell your manufacturers and vendors about your marketing program so they can anticipate an influx of business and can therefore be sure to meet your demand.
11. How are you going to manage product development while managing a quickly growing business?
12. What are the next steps for your business once growth begins?
13. Where are you going to go from here to insure that growth continues?
14. Are you meeting your business goals? Do you need to morph them in order to keep up with changes in your business, the market and trends?

Now most of these apply to businesses with an actual product, but service-oriented businesses have a product, YOU! It’s important for you to consider these questions in terms of what growth means to your business and how you plan to manage it.

Next step, start a targeted public relations campaign that is ongoing and has long-term implications for your business.   And the final question is how will you maintain your public relations push while managing growth?  Just because you’ve gotten a few placements doesn’t mean you can afford to stop.  You need to keep the momentum going to encourage continued growth.  I bet you never thought about how your business planning and marketing plan all come together – this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Jennifer Fortney, Cascade Communications

BRAND…

What is it? Why is it important?  And how do you make your brand stand out in a market crowded with your competitors?  We work a six step process with our clients to help them understand key brand issues and the importance of getting it right the first time.

In this series of posts on the frequently touted concept of BRAND, we will break it down for you.  We’ll tell you how to evaluate your current BRAND and figure out if it helps or hurts your business achieve its goals.  And if you determine that your current BRAND just isn’t delivering the goods for your business, you can call me or check the six step process to see where your brand is off the mark.  We can help you create a targeted, dynamic BRAND.

The six steps in BRAND development are -

• Naming
• Clearance & Registration Positioning
• Distinctive Graphics
• Making the connection
• Consistency
• Repeat Repeat Repeat

Watch for what’s in a name, and call or e-mail with any of your Brand issues.

JT Clark

Now is the Time to Create a 3-5-7 Year Plan

Balancing the day-to-day needs of managing inventories, salaries, and costs is challenging enough for a small business owner, and few feel that they have the time to sit down and create an effective and forward thinking 3-5-7 year plan.  However, the current business climate requires one to consider how to make the most of today’s revenues to ensure future success.

Consider the trends of your industry, your company’s past performance, and your strategy to stay competitive.  Ask the following questions:

1. What are the challenges for my industry today?
2. How will these challenges change over the next 3-5-7 years?
3. Is the forecast for my industry on an upward, downward, or stable trend?
4. How does the industry at large communicate its challenges and/or successes to clients and the marketplace?
5. What are the strengths of my business that mitigate these challenges and enhance my business over the competition?
6. Do I effectively communicate these strengths to my clients/customers?
7. How quickly has my business grown since its inception?
8. Has this growth met my expectations? Why or why not?
9. Have the current economic climate changed the margins for my business?
10. Have the current economic conditions impacted my ability to fund staffing such that I am challenged to meet client/customer expectations?

As you consider the above questions, begin layering the answers into columns labeled year 3, year 5, and year 7.  You won’t be able to answer all of the questions for each of these benchmark years, but it will help you focus on where you need to lend additional consideration to certain aspects of your business.  Consider this exercise as a basic health check of your current situation, and as a means of evaluating what next steps are required to enhance your growth and competitive strategy.

Kirsten Francissen – JKBAY Consultancy

Being an Entrepreneur is not for Everyone…

Are you one of the Corporate Fatalities from this year’s right-sizing initiative?” Does the idea of running a small company seem idyllic? What could be more exciting than building a business from the ground up? You’ll bootstrap it, call all the shots and make all the rules. You’re certain that your years of corporate expertise will guarantee success in running a small business.

Unfortunately many of these start-ups can’t stay afloat. They fail because their founders don’t know what they don’t know. The particular demands of small-business life can be quite different than their previous experience in the corporate sector. Would-be entrepreneurs should ask themselves two questions. First, do I have what this takes? And second, does this give me what I want?

Here are some of the harsh realities corporate refugees repeatedly encounter.

You have to be all things to all people - Corporate executives have a seemingly endless supply of support. It’s their prerogative to do what they do best and delegate the rest. When they lack expertise, they can find it down the hall or in the London branch or get it from an outside consultant. Entrepreneurs don’t have those options. Consequently, they can’t afford to be specialists. It’s not enough to be brilliant at product development or sales and marketing if you are barely literate in cash flow. The downside of making all the decisions is that you have to make all the decisions—long into the enterprise. And that requires familiarity with all aspects of your company’s industry and operations.

You’re constantly being distracted by small problems - Entrepreneurs must be proficient at tasks that don’t play to their strengths, and they must do things they once considered beneath them. I’ve seen many new company owners get frustrated that they can’t spend more time on high-level strategy because they have to do things like choose network equipment and decide whether to lease employee parking spaces in a local lot. Most small companies run so lean that the CEO must be prepared to step in for anyone at any moment, even if that means operating a piece of machinery.

You lose influence and prestige - Performing menial tasks can chip away at your ego, and so can a decline in public recognition. Former executives shouldn’t be surprised when their decisions no longer ripple the markets or the press—but still, many miss the high profile. And because money is always an issue, entrepreneurs must spend considerable time rattling their cups and defending themselves and their decisions to investors and potential investors. Perpetual fund-raising does little to promote self-esteem.

You’re unnervingly vulnerable - Small companies are far more affected than large ones by the loss of a single customer or a sudden spike in oil prices. Minor crises can shake the foundations, and entrepreneurs find their worlds constantly hammered by external forces. You have little control over your time. Executives often view small-company life as a kinder, gentler alternative to 60-hour corporate workweeks. Once in control, these dreamers believe they can design balanced lives for themselves and their employees. But the buck really does stop with you. Uninterrupted vacations and weekends may not have been a part of your past – but guess what – they aren’t going to be a part of your present, either. Entrepreneurs can travel to the mountains of Tibet, and still the message will reach them: “We’re about to lose the Jamison account. What do we do now?”

So what traits do executives who make it in small business have in common? Versatility, obviously, and resilience. But I’ve observed that the happiest executives turned entrepreneurs are those who can reset their definitions of success—not by lowering their sights but by narrowing their horizons. That means getting satisfaction from a first product run, acceptance by a distributor, or a single customer well served. Executives who consider these victories trivial when compared with the sometimes world-changing influence of their large-company positions should consider other options for their next gig.

Michael Shapiro, Dynamic Management Solutions, Inc.

5 Things to Consider Before Pursuing PR

Since there was some question as to exactly what journalists are looking for, I decided to expand on the topic.

One of the first things I do when speaking to a potential new client is uncover what makes them unique; what is the story that consumers will be interested in. The reason? Because this is exactly what journalists are looking for when they consider including a company, product or expert in a story.

Here are some things, from a journalist’s point of view, that you should consider about your company or product that will help you achieve positive public relations:

1. Is there a current trend that your company or product can contribute to? Example: right now everyone is looking for ways to save money and go green. Define how your business fits this trend. Journalists are looking for these tips right now!

2. Is your product or business new to the market? Is it a new trend in and of itself? Media prefer to cover new things. They’re always looking for new stories that they haven’t written in the past.

3. Do you have an interesting back story to starting your business? Did you develop the idea while struggling with something personally? Were you looking for an easier way to do something? Was your background and professional history a catalyst for starting your business?

4. How does your business effect the everyday lifestyle of consumers? Does it make something simpler, revolutionize a daily routine or enhance one’s life in a way that never existed before?

5. If your business has competition in the market, how do you differ? Why are you so special?

These are all things that journalists are looking for. I’ve used the analogy of the dry cleaner on the corner before, but I will remind you. Almost every dry cleaner is the same, offering the same services. The only difference that each may have is their pricing, and then they use other marketing tools like advertising and direct mail. There’s just not enough here to develop a story or interest to appear in a newspaper or magazine.

So consider this before you pursue public relations for your business. It will determine the success of your campaign. And when all else fails, consult a professional who can take a fresh look at your business and help you develop the story that will generate press, awareness, sales and make your business the success you’ve hoped for.

Jennifer Fortney, Cascade Communications