I recently blogged about the power of research in PR...well, I received quite a few emails in follow up, from people who didn't quite 'get' why they should bother doing their own research.

"There's lots of data already out there, can't we just use that?" was a common question.

My answer was "no that's not your own research"...but it brought home to me that I ought to reaffirm why your own research, ie research that belongs to you is a great PR tool.  

So here are 8 reasons...

• It gives you news that you ‘own’ – the figures are yours, the news is yours
• Research suggests authority – it suggests you understand your market, your world, your customers…you operate at the heart of it, so much so that you’ve conducted the research into that world
• It can be published into a branded report – which people can download from your site – thus driving traffic. If your site allows it, you can data capture those site visitors too.
• The statistics can be used for news releases and as the basis of expert features 
• They have longevity – a good piece of research can be fed into other PR activities for a year
• Research spreads the word – you will often find others quoting you and your numbers in their own PR!
• Research is versatile, depending on the research conducted, you could present the findings to key customers/ prospects at an event – thus deepening relationships
• If your research is b2b you could offer those who take part in your research a copy of the findings, thus enabling you to direct mail or even present back to them (a relationship forming opportunity) 

If I've convinced you and you want some help thinking through your own research tactic, what you should ask and how you should exploit it, check out the PrPro Masterclass. During the day-long session we help companies come up with research ideas for their business and then, in some detail, look at how they can get the most out of this tactic and where it will fit with the rest of their marketing activity.  Find out more about the Masterclass 

During the build up to Christmas there were some terrific examples of companies using research to create a PR news hook.  One which really caught my eye and which you may have noticed too was R3, the Association of Business Recovery Professionals, which conducted a study among 2,000 people showing the growing dependency of people on payday loans.  

The story went everywhere; Radio4 Today Programme, Radio 1, The Independent, Mirror, BBC TV, regional radio, e-zines etc.

While its survey was particularly successful, R3 was not alone in deploying this PR tactic.  In a single seven day period alone, consumer and specialist trade media carried masses of research based stories.  Here’s a smattering that I spotted:

• Figures compiled by professional services firm Deloitte show fee income across the 100 largest UK law firms by revenue increased by 9.8% last year.
• Research by Manchester University scientists suggests nuclear power ‘could help stop global warming.’
• New research from Cancer Research UK shows that 40% of cancers in women and 45% in men could be prevented by a healthier lifestyle.
• A recent report from Get Safe Online states that more than half of the UK population (51%) have been victims of cybercrime in one form or another.
• Research carried out by online accountant Crunch shows that 82 per cent of the country's small firms are having a Christmas party this year, with only 18 per cent cancelling the festive bash.
• There appears to be a north-south divide in the UK when it comes to savings, new research from the Halifax has discovered.

Now why many of these are big brands, there is NOTHING to stop a smaller company carrying out research. You can do topical polls – hosted on your website, or say on LinkedIn. Alternatively you can run a more detailed, heavyweight study. 

The trick is to be able to gather statistics which will position you as knowing something relevant and that your target audience (and therefore the media that serves them) will be interested in.  

And before you ask, no, you can’t simply quote someone else’s stats.  It isn’t the same and the media won’t need to mention you if the numbers are not your own!

So I guess the only question is ‘when are you going to do that research?

The PrPro Toolkit includes a detailed chapter on how to use research in your PR campaign. You may also like to note that during the PrPro Masterclass we help companies come up with research ideas for their business and discuss in detail how to exploit it.  To find out more about the Masterclass or Toolkit email me louise@prpro.co.uk 

Lord Sugar may not have the sweetest tongue when it comes to the media.  Indeed, he appears to spend much of his time on Twitter talking down journalists, taking a poke at newspapers and nurturing his 'business bully-boy' TV reputation.  He even devotes a chapter in his latest book, 'The Way I See It,' to bashing some media players - hardly a smart PR move!

However, the act of publishing a book demonstrates that he absolutely 'gets' some aspects of PR. Not least he values the notion of using a bigger PR device, like a book, to build and enhance your reputation. 

Now, not all of you reading this will be able to publish a book on your sphere of expertise, (though with the advent of self publishing it is increasingly easy).

However there are many other PR tools and tactics you can use to enhance your reputation as an expert, authority or market leader - here are a few...

- Enter awards - or run your own!

- Publish expert guides

- Carry out research 

- Write blogs

- Host roundtable events

- Speak at conferences

In case you're thinking this all sounds too much like hard work and only the likes of Lord Sugar, who has already made his millions, will have the time to do this, here are some commercial reasons why you should bother to promote your authority and expertise:

Why do market authority, leadership and expertise matter? 

• People like to buy from experts.
• They are more likely to trust leaders and experts.
• People will pay more for expertise.
• Commercial partners like to work with market leaders and experts.
• Investors are much more confident to invest in companies who are aiming to be, and behave like, market leaders and experts.

So, while I don't necessarily urge you to emulate Mr Sugar in every PR respect, I hope you're 'fired-up' enough to have a serious think about what bigger PR tactics will fit with your business.

A senior director at a US PR firm committed a cardinal sin and I wanted to share it as it has lessons for anyone who is targeting bloggers or journalists.

The VP from Brandlink Communications sent an email to colleagues referring to a high profile blogger Jenny Lawson (the author of TheBlogess.com who has no less than 168,726 twitter followers) as a:

$&#*%&# bitch!

This was because TheBlogess had sent one of his employees a terse reply when they pitched an irrelevant story to her. Sadly the VP managed to include the blogger on the circulation list for this email, thus  offending her and sparking a massive online spat.

Believe it or not, this is NOT the cardinal sin I want to talk about.  Yes it was deeply stupid of him to do this, but the whole sorry mess kicked off because he did something much worse first!

He got annoyed with her because he assumed that, and I quote (although I can hardly bear to type the words):

“you should be flattered that you are even viewed relevant enough to be pitched at all instead of [alienating] PR firms and PR people – who are actually the livelihood of any journalist's business.”

In other words, he suggested she should be grateful to receive story ideas from his firm! 

He clearly holds bloggers and journalists in contempt, expecting them to roll over at whim – and that’s his sin.  It’s plain wrong on so many levels. 

1. Firstly, media and bloggers worth targeting (ie those who are rated by their readers and listeners) will only judge your story on its merits.  If your story isn’t newsworthy or relevant to them please don’t pitch it to them.
2. Journalists and bloggers are not to be taken for granted – if you don’t prioritise them and treat them with respect why should they be interested in what you have to say?
3. You need them more than they need you!
4. Bloggers are not some kind of amateurs that you can mess about – or buy off!  People follow them because they are unbiased.  They may be self-starting and not have a media empire behind them but that doesn’t make them any less influential or worthy of your respect. In fact their lack of commercial interest makes them more credible to their fans and therefore even more important to you.

So yes of course be careful who you copy in on internal emails, but better still be careful about how you think about bloggers and the media.  This is particularly important if you head up your business. Everyone takes their cue from you.  If you belittle or badmouth journalists and bloggers, suggesting they are not worthy of your precious attention, no one in your organisation will prioritise them or take them seriously.

Trust me, that will be a $&#*%&# shame!

As well as running a fab PR agency, I train companies to do their own PR. A detailed practical session on how to deal with bloggers and journalists is one of the many areas covered in my day-long PrPro Masterclass.To find out more email me Louise@prpro.co.uk or checkout the Masterclass now!

I’m a huge fan of Conrad Levinson.  He’s an absolute marketing guru and the creator of ‘Guerrilla Marketing’  - a fantastic book packed with clever ideas.

One of the many things Levinson says is: “It’s better to know something about your spouse than everything about marriage.”

I love this quote because it gets to the absolute heart of where so many businesses get things wrong.  When I speak to organisations about their PR they are great at telling me all about what they do and the technicalities of their business, but they know very little about their prospects or customers.  In short, they know everything about marriage but hardly a thing about their prospective spouse.

This is a big mistake as people buy solutions to THEIR needs or problems.  It’s all about THEM!  It’s never all about YOUR stuff.  How brilliant you are at selling groceries, mending cars, accountancy, asset management, running a garden centre, providing financial services, manufacturing drinks - whatever your business does - is much less important. 

Of course you and your competitors will know your trade and must be good at it, but that’s just a basic requirement.   The thing that will make a massive difference is how brilliant you are at knowing what makes your customers tick.  Their profile, lifestyle, reading habits, who influences them, the brands they like, shopping habits, worries, pressures.

I don’t mean general details.  You should be able to paint a detailed pen portrait of your customers, their typical names, number of children, holidays, where they live, how they spend their time, their attitudes to issues, where they get their information etc.  You should be updating and refreshing this knowledge on an on-going basis too. 

The more you know, the better you will be at:

• Findings new customers
• Fighting off competitors
• Keeping established customers happy
• Persuading customers to buy more
• Talking their language
• Adopting the right tone in your marketing
• Using the right media to reach them
• Introducing new products and services that they will buy
• Getting them to talk about you to their friends or contacts

Your PR will be so much more powerful because it will resonate.

So sure, get better at logistics, improve your IT, sharpen your packaging, upgrade your accounting system, employ brilliant technical people and so ensure you are smart at doing what you do – but don’t forget to invest as much time and effort in truly KNOWING your customer.  That knowledge will shape and inform everything you do with fantastic results.

As Levinson says: “It’s better to know something about your spouse than everything about marriage.”

One of the first things I get asked when I start talking about twitter is "so how much business have you got from it?"

I can understand why I’m asked this, we’re all time poor and want to know the bottom line benefit before devoting any time to doing anything.   However by coming at twitter from this conventional sales angle you are somewhat missing the point.  That’s because twitter turns the conventional  model of turning a prospect into a customer on its head. 

Let me show you what I mean…

The Traditional Business Model
In traditional good business, you come up with a product or service that you think the market needs, pitch it at the right price, you apply some sales and marketing tactics to attract customers.  You then supply those customers with a lavish dollop of customer service - overlaying the buying experience with lots of fantastic customer care, listening to and acting on their feedback, perhaps sending them gifts, giving them lots of extras. The service is so great that they stay with you, no matter what your competitors do. Indeed they become such fans and trust you so much that they recommend you to others.  Your customers become your sales-force. ‘Ka…ching’ your business really starts growing!

Twitter Business Model
With twitter, this traditional model is turned on its head.  You give the customer service first. 

You share interesting stuff, you’re helpful, you comment on other peoples’ tweets to show you’re listening.  You connect to your blogs and to others.  You’re selfless.  Your ‘give aways’ are knowledge which you share freely.  Essentially you give people the reasons and opportunity to love you and recommend you to others BEFORE they buy from you.

To many this may sound like a massive pain.  "I just want them to buy from me" you may say.  But stop!! That’s your traditional head talking!

Yes, of course in time you’d like them to buy, but think about how wonderful it is to have a mechanism that enables you to demonstrate your expertise and customer service attitude to millions of people before they buy. It means that when they do become customers (and in time they will, if you’re product/service is right for them, and you’re consistently good at interacting with them) they will have already bought in to everything about you.   Furthermore, BEFORE they get to the position to buy, they will have already talked about you and introduced you and your expertise to everyone they know!

So go into twitter with a customer service not a sales mentality.  Stop broadcasting, start engaging, stop thinking what your followers can do for you, start thinking about what benefit they're getting out of following you.

In time you will be seriously rewarded, because while having your customers recommend you is brilliant for business, having everyone you DON’T sell to also recommending you is a ‘Ka –ching’ on a massive scale.

As well as running a fab PR agency, I train companies to do their own PR - and social media (including a detailed practical session on twitter) is one of the areas covered in my day-long PrPro Masterclass.To find out more email me Louise@prpro.co.uk or checkout the Masterclass now!

Photo: Dharma Mitra in NYC 

“How do I look?”  It’s a question most of us ask of ourselves at least every day as we do a quick check in a mirror before heading out the door to work, that meeting or a party.  Yet, when it comes to our businesses, we don’t seem to take the same care. Why?

During the summer holidays I had the misfortune to visit cafes, restaurants, a small family supermarket, a mobile phone shop and one family attraction, all of which could have done with the business owner seeing their business as the customer sees it.  If they had, some would have increased staff levels, others would have sacked or retrained people, systems would have been changed, hygiene stepped up, and ideas generally bucked up! 

This observation isn’t confined to small independent businesses.  I’ve visited Oxford’s BHS with my daughter when she was younger and on the hunt for something in the ‘Tammy Girl’ section and thought if Philip Green had the misfortune to wander into this store he’d have a fit!

Calling In

It’s not just our physical presence that needs a check once in a while.  I often suggest clients ring into their businesses through the switchboard rather than rely on speed-dial or mobiles to reach colleagues.  That way they can check if switchboard staff answer the phone correctly and with enthusiasm. Do they pronounce the company name correctly? (You’d be amazed how many don’t!) Do they put you through to someone’s voicemail without warning?  Do they sound reluctant to take a message?  Is your ‘hold music’ good, or an odd fit with your brand?

Twitter etc

Let’s not forget social media.  When you look at yourself as a stranger might on twitter how do you look?  It’s a really useful exercise to search for yourself once in a while, rather than to simply automatically log in.  You get a more meaningful snapshot of your twitter activity than any Klout score will give you.  Your twitter profile and pic are probably fine as you no doubt took some care with them when you set your account up, but what does your twitter stream look like?  Is it packed with you simply broadcasting stuff that you are determined to ram down peoples’ throats, or are you engaging and interacting with others?   Are your tweets an interesting mix or a predictable blast?  Are you conveying the personality of your business brand? What about followers and people you are following?  Do you look like you’re playing the ‘you follow me and I’ll follow you’ game?

Moving from twitter for a moment, you probably set up your LinkedIn profile years before your twitter profile.  How long is it since you refreshed it?  Does it succinctly get across your key areas of expertise plus a bit of personality?  Is your photo still up to scratch?  Is it a strong close-up? Does it still look like you – crucial if you are actually going to meet those useful new contacts you hope to make on LinkedIn! 

Lastly, what about when you search for yourself or your business on Google, what comes up?   What impression do the results give?

I could go on but you get the gist. 

Conclusion

It’s often a rude shock to catch an unexpected reflection of ourselves in a shop window. But in business it is vital to see ourselves as others truly see us, just to check that it’s a fair reflection of what we’re capable of.  After all, if it isn't, we CAN do something about it.

Image courtesy of www.gothicfairydragonfigurines.co.uk

The 8 Danger Signs That An Agency is Bad for You...

How do I know if a PR agency is any good?  This is perhaps the most popular question I am asked.  So I thought I'd share 8 danger signs to look out for when choosing a PR agency:

1. Questions - PR works at its best when it is closely aligned to your business plan - not simply your marketing plan.  A good agency will want to understand the bigger picture, and you should be prepared to share it.  If they don't ask about your business plan DON'T use them. 

2. Budget - PR is not a quick fix. If you are going the agency route you will be buying the time of good quality, experienced people. You need to be prepared to pay significantly for their services. However, if at the briefing meeting, the prospective agency appears much more interested in your budget than your business, alarm bells should be ringing as I think you can see where their priorities are! 

3. Team structure - big agencies typically pitch for work using their smartest, most senior people and then as soon as the account is won, more junior personnel are left to handle all the day-to-day work.  That's how many agencies make their money but it's a monumental rip off that you shouldn't stand for.  So interrogate closely who the day-to-day campaign will be delivered by. Insist on meeting them, then ignore all the other clever people in the room, just judge things on whether the day-to-day people fit with you and your needs.  Ask yourself "are they worth that budget?"   

4. Capabilities - you need your PR agency to be capable of deploying any of the communications tools at their disposal. You want all the skills under one roof - and I'd argue in the hands of the people who will be looking after your account. If your day-to-day team can't do social media and doesn't understand PR's impact on SEO they are not good enough for you.

5. Size matters but not how you think  - don't be reassured that a big agency will be a safer bet. Big agencies are simply a series of teams, all collected together under one roof and brand.  Your account will only ever have one team assigned to it - so there is NO advantage in the agency being huge.   Trust me, that nonsense about lots of other people having input into your accounts won't happen unless your account is really big.    Indeed unless your budget is very big, you will be somewhere down the list of priorities for even the team assigned to you.  Whereas for a smaller agency you will be a much bigger deal and you will probably receive much better attention and care.

6. Offices - don't be seduced by the fancy offices.  As soon as you are discontented with the agency's service you will begrudge meeting at those lovely offices - feeling 'this is where my money's going' and 'how much is this biscuit costing me?' Also don't obsess with having an agency nearby.  One worth its salt will travel to you quite happily..and will not charge you their time out of the office doing so.

7. Market knowledge - this is a common mistake.  Lots of companies think their situation, their market, their problem are unique and that they need someone who specialises in their sector.  Don't be limited in this way. Of course market knowledge is helpful, but someone steeped in a sector can be staid, dull, dogged that 'this is the way things work' and thus not brimming with new ideas that will make you stand out. Also remember, good PR people are smart.  They can quickly pick up the nuances of a market. I'd rather a smart agency that doesn't know my specific market (YET) to a mediocre one that does.

8. Measurement  - this is a crucial.  When speaking to prospective agencies ask what they will be measuring in your campaign.  Don't prompt them with the answers, see what they say.  I've previously written a detailed blog on PR measurement but in essence if they are still obsessing about measuring column inches DON'T use them.  You want an agency that is keen to measure the stuff that means you are achieving your goals - this could be web traffic, downloads,  enquiries, sales etc.

Do you have any more warning signs to add?  If so, do share....

Someone asked me recently 'what's the best way for a businessperson who is new to twitter to get started?' 

I recommended first off following some people who use twitter well, just to see how they do it - not celebrities or journalists, but businesses people.

'Who did I suggest?' came the obvious next question.  At this point things got interesting...

I had no trouble coming up with consumer businesses, and not just major brands.  For instance @fallowfieldsUK and @PeggyCollection are both smaller companies and do a fantastic job on twitter. 

However when it came to organisations that sell to other businesses it was less easy.  In fact I made a startling discovery. Scrolling through the list of people I follow, I realised that few companies that could potentially supply me, or my two businesses, have courted me on twitter.

There are some real exceptions like @BuckinghamFord and @KlassicCatering  Their twitter activity means that while I don't need a car or corporate catering at the moment, I'd be straight on the phone to either if I did.

Yet these are isolated instances.  Both of my businesses buy a massive range of products and services. Yet no potential suppliers are trying to communicate and engage with me on twitter.  They know who I am and spend lots of money trying to sell to me through direct mail, telesales and email blasts.  But none has spent a moment looking at twitter to see if that's actually a better way to woo me. If they had, they would realise that it's one of my preferred communication channels. What's more, they would really stand out as NONE of their competitors are talking to me on twitter either!

The PR moral of this tale is a simple one - and it's as old as the hills.  You must go where the audience is. 

Today, a huge and growing business community is on twitter - their suppliers should wake up and join them!  Those who do so appropriately (and that means engaging, being interested, talking not telling, speaking not selling) have a real chance of converting them into customers...

As part of the PrPro Masterclass I run a major session on twitter, showing companies how to work it into their communications plans.  To find out more about it email me louise@prpro.co.uk

Only yesterday I read that  press releases are a complete waste of time.  This 'pundit' said that in today's super-connected world, a tweet linking to a blog will do.  Well, while I'm a big advocate of tweeting and blogging, I beg to disagree!

As a device, the press release - or new release as I prefer to call it - is not dead. It’s just that so many people produce news stories with no actual ‘news’ in them that they end up under delivering!

Assuming you have news, there are lots of reasons to still produce news releases.

Why Bother With News Releases

1. First up,self publishing your news in a blog is all well and good, but nothing beats the third party endorsement that comes from the media talking about your business. But to do this the media needs to have the facts. Well written news releases are a way of marshalling those facts into a digestible format for the media.

2. Even if you are not going to mass broadcast your news and are simply going to ‘sell in your story’ as an exclusive to a journalist, the act of putting it together in a logical order not only helps you clarify your thinking and get your key points across, it also gives you something helpful to send across to the journalist for them to refer to following/during the briefing.

3. When you mass broadcast your news through a news release you are ensuring that all of your media contacts – and the audiences that they reach – are getting your major stories as they break, in a planned and consistent way. 

4. Even if they are not published they are a great way of keeping your business front of mind with the media – prompting them to come to you for commentary and so forth.

5. Most importantly in this day and age – properly search engine optimised news releases sent to online media and hosted in the right places, with plenty of appropriate key words built in, provide a huge boost to your SEO. This is a MASSIVE benefit and for this practical reason alone, even without all the other benefits, I would keep issuing news releases. 

6. And don't forget you can re-purpose your news release - turning it into a blog, putting it in a newsletter, using it as the bones of an email shot.

The news release is alive and kicking - so get it kicking some life into your PR!

Get My FREE Tips on How To Write a Press Release

To make it really easy for you to create your news I've come up with some tips..they're free so do download them!