Archive for the ‘Business PR’ Category

We’ve all been to a networking event where someone is handing out business cards as if their life depended on it, but that’s not the way to network.

Networking for business is about building the connections you have and deepening those relationships – either at successive events, through ongoing communication or by meeting for coffee afterwards. Of course you should give the people you meet your business card, but not until you actually connect to them.

Don’t be that person who congratulates themselves on ‘talking’ to everyone by the end of the event (where talking translates as introducing themselves and stuffing a card into everyone’s hand). Instead, congratulate yourself on making meaningful contact with a few people, or even just one person. That is far more valuable to you – and them.

I like to find out the story behind someone and/or their business, so I ask lots of questions. It’s amazing what you find out when you ask and listen to the reply. Even if that person isn’t someone you could do business with, they may become a mentor, a good contact to bounce ideas off, a friend, or they might be a good connection for someone you know.

Here are my tips for successful networking:

• Don’t fear the networking event, instead see it as an opportunity to talk to one person about their business. As you connect they will ask about your business as well so then you can successfully promote your brand. If you connect with more than one person – fantastic.

• If you’re really nervous, bring a friend for moral support. Make it your mission to introduce each other to at least one person – then you will leave having met two new contacts.

• Be prepared with your elevator speech or, even better, sharewords (see Robin Dickinson’s Radsmarts blog). Have a sentence or two prepared about your business before you go and make sure it is interesting enough to prompt people to ask questions – this gives you the invitation to talk more about your business. To give you an idea, my sharewords are “I generate amazing publicity”.

• Enjoy yourself. If people can see you’re having fun (instead of gnawing at your fingernails in the corner) they will want to talk to you.

• Follow up the contacts you make with a call, email, LinkedIn request, invitation to talk further over coffee or all of the above within 2-3 days of the event.

These points work for me when I’m networking, but I’d love to know what works for you too. Comment below with your networking tips.

After the success of my Merry Media Release Voucher promotion, I decided to treat you to another generous deal from Strawberry Communications – the New Year Newsletter.

Have you made a New Year’s resolution to keep in contact with your customers better? Well I can certainly help by writing the first newsletter for you to kick-start your 2010 promotional efforts.

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Since it is the season to be merry and I am feeling generous, Strawberry Communications is offering a festive deal – a Merry Media Release Voucher with a 20 per cent discount.

Media releases are a great way to tell your clients and customers about important news concerning your business, a new product or service, an award you’ve won or about your plans for 2010. For examples of media releases written by Strawberry Communications, please look at the Latest News section of this blog.

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After watching a great video by BNET blogger and Flying Solo director Robert Gerrish interviewing entrepreneur Valerie Khoo, I thought I might share her tips on how to get the media interested in your news. Read the rest of this entry »

Media releases are a great way to get your story out to the media, whether it’s the launch of a new business or product, or a comment on something topical in the news.

The way to make sure your media release grabs the editor’s attention – and isn’t filed away with the other hundreds of releases received – is to make it newsworthy. Read the rest of this entry »

The Internet is a great tool to master when it comes to marketing a business – not only is it available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but online marketing is relatively easy to do and cost-effective because it allows marketing to many prospects at once.

Successful marketing involves building a relationship with a prospect and turning them into a satisfied customer who will keep coming back to the business and encourage their friends to do the same. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently presented at The Brew’s Central Coast and Newcastle business exhibitions on using public relations to promote business. I met several people at both events who were so busy working on their businesses that they had no time left to do any promotion.

Whether this is a time management issue or the case of small business owners trying to do everything themselves, it doesn’t help the business if there are no new customers coming through the door or logging on to the website. The key to getting these new customers is letting them know you are there through promotion. Wouldn’t it be better for your business to employ an extra person to cope with demand from new customers, than slogging away with same orders month after month? Read the rest of this entry »

I am an Australian Anthill newsletter subscriber and a recent edition featured a great article by Jules Brooke from Handle Communications on the Five Myths of PR.

I come across many business owners who aren’t sure of the benefits of public relations to their business. I have no problem with that, because it’s my job to tell them how PR can work to promote their business, but there are some basic assumptions that Jules covered in her article that really resonated with me. Read the rest of this entry »

Some of you will already be in business and want to know how to use public relations to grow, others may not have started yet and want to know what to do to get the message out when they do launch.

Whatever your situation promoting your business can be a bit of a Catch-22. You need to get the word out that you have set up shop, but have no money to do it. Or you may have the money, but no time, because more than anything, promoting a business involves time. And this is where the catch comes in – you need customers to create the money you need to promote the business, but to get customers you need to tell them you exist! Read the rest of this entry »

Public relations is just that – managing the way the public views your business.

The best way to do this is through the media – print, TV and radio – because it reaches many people and is not viewed as advertising. But to get the media interested you must have a hook – or a story. This could be something as simple as a new product launch or new employee or something much bigger like a new business or branding. Read the rest of this entry »