small business | Strawberry Communications: Writing & PR

A Decade in Business: Reflection and Refocus

September 28, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

A photo by Christopher Sardegna. unsplash.com/photos/CMOa3H1SXG0

This month Strawberry Communications turns 10. I had been freelancing on and off for six years before I started working for myself full time, but once my eldest son was born I knew I didn’t want to be working for someone else five days a week. My work experience and entrepreneurial spirit drove me to go it alone and I registered the business in October 2006.

My business has gone through many iterations in that 10 years: from being a purely freelance writing business initially, to combining my own clients with freelancing for other PR businesses. From there Strawberry Communications was predominantly operating as a PR consultancy with two additional consultants supporting me and it’s now back to mostly writing, with just me at the helm.

A fluid business

There have been many reasons for these changes: responding to industry demand, working around my family and my own desire for change. During the past 10 years I’ve worked around one, and then two, small children, after which I ran the business full time while my partner become a stay-at-home dad. Next I combined running Strawberry Communications with baking business, Stanley & Nelson, and then with studying part-time. For the past two years I’ve been studying full time and working in the business part time. I expect to be finished my PhD within the next six months and so now I’m starting to think about what I’ll do post study.

Guest post: 5 Email Campaign Ideas To Help Increase Conversion Rates

August 24, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Image credit: unsplash.com

By Rachael Everly

Reaching out to your potential customers via the right marketing and sales channel is the first step in an effective digital marketing strategy.

Not everyone you are targeting may necessarily be in the right frame of mind to buy your product, but that certainly does not mean you cannot convert that lead into a sales opportunity. The most important thing is to establish an effective communication channel – and the least expensive channel, as well as the one that requires minimum effort, is email funnels.

Your target market may be an amalgamation of different consumers, hence you should be careful when implementing your email campaign to narrow down your emails to personalised messages, not one email sent to all.

Storytelling Tools for Your Business

July 27, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Image credit: unsplash.com

Human beings are social creatures. We love connecting with others and one of the simplest ways to facilitate this connection is through storytelling. Business owners can use that instinctive attraction to stories in marketing, by inviting customers to connect through a form of communication we’re all comfortable with.

I’ve written about the power of storytelling through data, creative writing and advertising already, but in this post I want to share some of my favourite storytelling tools with you.

Social media

Social media has enabled businesses to tell stories in more fun, simple and effective ways than ever before, building on those innate connections I mentioned above. Whether you want to live blog an event you’re hosting via Twitter, share your fundraising efforts for a local charity through boosted posts on Facebook or showcase your online store’s unique style through Instagram or Pinterest, social media is the place to do it. Almost everyone has – and uses – their phones to stay connected all day, every day. We all access various social media platforms multiple times throughout the day, meaning you can be connecting with customers via storytelling on their favourite platform at any time.

6 Things Every Media-Savvy Small Business Owner Should Do

May 3, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Photo: unsplash.com

This post is not about the skills you should have to run a business; it’s about what you need to do if you want media attention.

Unless your business revolves around something we absolutely must have, like water or you’re an expert in a medical specialism, you will need some level of publicity to survive. Often that publicity comes in the form of media interest – both from traditional outlets like a newspaper, or newer platforms, like social media.

If you want to get media attention then you need to be media savvy. Here are some tools and tricks to help you along the way:

Be photogenic

Whether a journalist has called asking for your opinion on a big story or you’ve been invited to speak at an event, you will need a good quality, high-resolution photo available. Get it done now, and then when they ask for it you’ll have one ready to send immediately. For more on photos for business PR, read my post A Pictures Tells a Thousand Words.

Reflecting on 2015

December 23, 2015 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Reflection for me is something I don’t spend a huge amount of time doing, however at this time of the year I do like to look back over what has happened in the previous 12 months before planning for the New Year.

So, in the spirit of welcoming a year anew next week, here is my 2015 reflective post. I hope you’ll join me and share the highlights of your own year too via a comment here or on social media.

I set “focus” as my word for the year. While I’ve been very focused in some areas (training and trekking in Peru), I’ve let a few other aspects slide more than they should (I wanted to write more for pleasure and my PhD supervisor is nodding about now). So I’ve got some work to do to catch up in the next year, but here’s a run down of what did happen in 2015.

How to Crowdfund Your Business

November 26, 2015 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Photo credit: unsplash.com

I presented a workshop on crowdfunding for business for Business & Employment in Launceston last night and I wanted to share my slides and also the questions you must answer before you get started.

Once upon a time it was difficult to find the money needed to start a business or fund a project if you hadn’t saved it yourself or didn’t have an existing relationship with a bank.

So what other funding options are there if you want to get started in business but don’t have all the funds saved? There are no interest loans, like NILS, small business grants, funding and assistance from the government and crowdfunding.

You may have heard the term crowdfunding, especially in reference to people who are trying to raise money to share their project or business with the world, and wondered how it might work for you.

Business & Baby on Board in top 20 for ‘SMART 100’ Readers Choice Index

May 29, 2015 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Business & Baby on Board has been named one of Australia’s most innovative products, in one of the largest and most audacious innovation awards of its kind in Australia – the Anthill Magazine ‘SMART 100’ Index.

The business book written by Tasmanian entrepreneur Johanna Baker-Dowdell was not only ranked in the SMART 100 Product Winners, but was also ranked 16th in the Readers’ Choice list.

“I’m thrilled to have the book I worked so hard to produce recognised by Anthill as an innovative product, but to have the extra recognition from the magazine’s readership is really icing on the cake,” Johanna said.

Moving Mountains with my Focus

January 29, 2015 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell 2 Comments

“That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” ~ Steve Jobs

Like many, I awaited the end of 2014 with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. For me 2014 was a blessing and a curse. It was not a good year for me personally with a major foot injury clipping my wings for five months, but I celebrated many successes including being confirmed as a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania so it wasn’t all bad.

To start me off on the right track I chose a word, incorporating ideas from Christine Kane, Leonie Dawson and Kelly Exeter. My word for 2015 is “Focus”, which I settled on because I want to stop reacting to other’s priorities and trying to do everything concurrently so I can concentrate on less to do my tasks better. And because I feel inspired by pretty things, I decorated a poster for my office during a craft morning with my boys to remind myself to stay focused.

Guest post: Healthy Workplace Habits

December 18, 2014 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

By Mark Kirkpatrick

Managers seeking ways of making employees more efficient have likely tried a multitude of methods. Some employers use a flexible approach to motivation, attempting to find ways to reach people on an individual level. They tailor their methods to each person.

Another option is to make use of teamwork to serve as a motivating tool. Numerous studies show that people who see themselves as part of a team will be motivated to work harder to ensure that they don’t let their teammates down. And employees who are working harder tend to see good results, which serves as additional motivation going forward.

Encouraging Happiness

One major aspect that contributes to making people successful is to start by ensuring that the individual employees are happy doing their tasks. The happy feeling among individuals will extend to other members, leaving you collectively with an office that’s motivated to do its best work.

Guest Post: Awesome Places for Busy Business Women to Recharge

October 22, 2014 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

On the road to success, you misplaced a couple of things: 1. Your sanity, which can probably be found somewhere between yesterday’s meeting and this morning’s conference call, and 2. The prospect of a good night’s sleep, which has somehow relocated to your assistant’s to-do list. When tight deadlines and endless meetings begin to take a toll, it’s about time to recharge. And no, not your iPhone. Did you know that taking a vacation can help improve your productivity, lower stress levels and boost job satisfaction?

“Vacations help us reduce cortisol levels, which gets female hormones back in sync (high cortisol deregulates hormones), and allow us to disconnect so we can recover,” says women’s health and success coach Jennifer Racioppi to Citi.com “This leads to greater levels of happiness and pleasure—important ingredients for successfully managing stress and going the distance with our bigger professional goals.”

Ditch the power-suit and turn on the auto reply—the only commitments on your schedule are for rest and relaxation. These hand-picked locations are guaranteed to relax, refresh and rejuvenate even the busiest woman.

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Filed Under: Business Tips Tagged With: business woman, holiday, Recharge, small business, vacation, women in business