6. Public Relations

I’m jumping ahead in my list of 15 tactics here as I just had an article published in an industry publication.  To see an article I wrote, rather than a client media release, published is very exciting!

It really is so ironic that as professionals, we seem to spend so much time looking after everyone else, we fail to use our skills to look after our own business needs!  The chef that eats beans on toast, the accountant whose books are in a mess…the PR who doesn’t do PR for herself!

The fact is that whether I wrote it for myself or for a client, there is something still incredibly thrilling about seeing your work published.  I have to say I feel incredibly lucky that after over 25 years in PR, I still love what I do.  I am as chuffed today as I was all those years ago when I saw my first stories appear in print.

This recent story, interestingly, is something I wrote from the heart as a memory of two people I had worked with many years ago who recently passed away – celebrity chef Margaret Fulton and marketing consultant, David Hammer who worked for one of my clients.

Thank you to Appliance Retailer for publishing my story, you can read it here: https://www.applianceretailer.com.au/2019/08/vale-margaret-fulton/

5. Instagram

Each day in my social feed, I am bombarded with ‘tools’, ‘tips’ and ‘free downloads’ on how to maximise your sales and grow your customer base by learning all the tips and tricks of Instagram.

In my experience, there are really few ‘tips’ or ‘tricks’.  Instagram, just like any social platform is focussed on good content.  Content that is authentic and engaging to your target audience and yes it needs to look pretty. 

In PR, we have always told stories with words and pictures and Instagram allows us to do just that -the benefit is, unlike with a newspaper or magazine where the editor has the last say, we always get a run!

At Bay PR we manage social media content for our clients and have organically grown their social pages without any hidden tricks or tactics.  My opinion is that authenticity is the best approach, which is the strategy I have undertaken with my business Instagram page. 

When I set up Bay PR’s Instagram page, I decided I didn’t want it to look like a messy ad page for my business but rather, to use it as Instagram intended – a platform for telling stories through pictures.  I wanted it to look nice, not ‘shouty’ and showcase the types of companies we represent.  The page started with zero and we now have around 600 followers.  Not a lot, but given we are a small business, that’s OK with me.

My personal experience is that, just liked any social platform, you get the benefits when you take the relationships you make off-line.  As an agency, we have developed some wonderful relationships with influencers on behalf of our clients that we have involved in a range of campaigns to mutual advantage.

As part of my ’15 marketing tactics on a shoestring’ experiment, my plan for my business Instagram page is therefore is to:

1.     Continue to post regularly (it goes up and down depending on time).  Every day is best.

2.     Share some more content about Bay PR, e.g. some of our work via stories and blog links.

3.     Follow new business acquaintances on Instagram to stay connected and current.

4.     Continuously post interesting content that is on-brand for my business.

5.     Post more stories.

Happy to receive any feedback and as always – will keep you posted!

4. Electronic Direct Marketing (EDM)

Everywhere you go, everybody is talking about having the right lead funnel, building up your database, keeping in front of your potential customers and getting everything set up and automated so you don’t need to waste all day every day on it.  Easier said than done!

When I first set up my website years ago, my designer advised I needed a ‘find out more’ or ‘click here’ button but the thought of having to constantly provide content and ‘feed’ your website, was just too overwhelming: ‘Extra’ I called it and dismissed it.

Fast forward 15 years and I guess, on reflection, she was right.  These days, it’s important to give something back in order to get something in return – ‘permission selling’.  It’s a funny thing running a PR agency, always coming up with great ‘angles’ and story ideas for clients but when it comes to coming up with the same for our own businesses, we are often lacking and time poor.

As part of my ’15 marketing tactics on a shoestring’ experiment, I am going to need to give a great deal of thought as to how I could even begin to get ‘subscribers’ to my website when a. Bay PR currently ranks at 100 or more on Google;  b. I don’t have a ‘lead funnel’ in place and c. I don’t have a budget to spend up big on advertising and nor do I want to.

Just thinking it through, I guess I need to consider what the benefits are of having a regular newsletter going out to those who sign up to my database and if it’s even worth doing.  The main benefit I can see is to stay relevant and top-of-mind amongst potential clients as well as keeping existing clients up-to-date with our business and the world of PR generally.

But – in the spirit of my marketing experiment, which is just as much about me pushing my own boundaries as anything else, my plan is:

1.     Establish a database of contacts I am already connected to via social and the ‘real world’

2.     Send them an email/do a social media shout-out to tell them about my experiment and ask them to sign up

3.     Formulate an EDM content strategy

4.     Get my head around automating it

5.     Do it

6.     See how it goes

OK so if any of you get an email from me, then I’d really appreciate it if you can sign up to receive Bay PR’s newsletter and (hopefully!) informative downloads, PR tips, tricks and advice!  In the meantime, if you’re on this page, please click here:  https://baypr.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe

Look forward to seeing how this goes!

SEO For Dummies

Back in the early ‘90’s, I was the first person in the publishing house I worked for (major international publisher, not naming any names!) to get my own computer.  It was an Apple Mac.  It was delivered through the doors of the publicity department to my desk in a big (read ‘BIG’) box.  It had a lot of additional stuff with it that you don’t see today.  It was huge.  But so exciting.  Everyone stood around and said ‘ooh’ and ‘aahh’ as this new age beauty was unveiled and carefully arranged on a special desk next to mine.

It was remarkably easy to use.  My colleague Samantha and I would stay late playing games, learning how to use the mouse and having fun with this fascinating tool.

It revolutionised the way I worked and being young, I taught myself pretty much everything I needed to know to do my job.  While the art department across the hallway was still cutting and pasting book cover designs using scissors and glue, I was whizzing my way though mail merge for book launches and events and bashing my way through press releases.  Auto delete had an instant ‘wow factor’.  Until then, I had been staying late meticulously typing up sheets of journos’ names for book review distributions.  I would type the same name over and over again onto a page of sticky labels and then start again on another page with another name.  You can imagine how long it took to get through a media database of 100 literary reviewers – a lot of late nights.  If you made a mistake, you had to go back and use tippex or if you had a fancy typewriter, you had a ribbon that popped up and removed the mistake.  Very laborious, especially after a late night typing up sheets of mailing lists.

Fast forward, ahem, a few years and here I am running my own PR company.  I’ve been doing it a long time.  I’m pretty good at PR actually, it’s a bit of a love of mine.  However, as you get older, moving with the times gets harder and you move a bit slower.

The tide started to change around 12 years ago.  My sister called me from the UK for a chat.  She ran an online fashion company and was doing very well in her niche.

“You need to get into social media, you know Facebook and stuff.  It’s where it’s at, “ she said.

I made all the right noises at her suggestion but inside I felt uncomfortable.  I was quite happy with the way things were and so were my clients.  Our success was measured in column inches and volume and we churned out press clippings and monthly evaluation reports to suit.

The first time I was tagged in a photo on Facebook I was appalled.   I hated the photograph.  I looked fat and plain and I was horrified that anybody could see it and I’d had no choice in it being there.  I couldn’t take it off and so I hit the ‘help’ page and filled out a form which was then sent to my friend to request that the image be removed and I be untagged. It felt very formal and odd but that was my only choice it seemed.

My friend called me in the morning.

“Did I upset you?  I got this weird message from Facebook about the birthday photo asking me to take it down.”

“Well yes,” I said.  “I’m sorry about that but I tried to remove it myself and I couldn’t  and I don’t look very nice in the photograph.  I would hate anybody to see it I haven’t seen for years (read ‘ex boyfriends’). 

My friend understood and took the photograph down.  I spent a lot of time in those days trying to understand Facebook.  I literally snorkelled over the top of it, looking at people’s posts and wondering, aghast at their brazen self promotion.

It seemed so unnatural – fully fuelled by ego and showcasing grandiose statements about their lives - a bit of a shocker.

One of my clients caught on around the same time.

“We need to get into this social media stuff,” he said.  We all agreed it was a good idea and he sent us all a book on it so we could read up.

I used to read it at nighttime and it mostly put me to sleep.  The concept was interesting but it didn’t translate to my world of press clippings.  It didn’t fit into any category I could understand, certainly nothing I could imagine working with.

So I left it for a few years.  In the meantime, the digital marketing agency was born.  At meetings, ‘social media boy’ was rolled out.

“Josh and Julie are social media experts,” clients would say with a sigh of relief.

Josh and Julie would run their PowerPoint presentation and everybody would nod at the right times, a bit like sitting in a French class at school.  You could kind of grasp the jist of the conversation but you’d better not be asked to remember any of it – or worse still, get tested.

The Josh’s and Julie’s did very well for a while, blinding everybody with jargon and charging a fortune for it.  Clients dug deep and found extra dollars because it was ‘important’ and ‘necessary’ and ‘everybody else was doing it’.

Then slowly, something else crept in.  Content.  Now you’re talking.  They were calling it ‘content’ but it’s just ‘story telling’ - what PR’s have always done.  Suddenly this social media thing started to sink in.  And the phone started to ring.

“Can you write a blog?  Can you re-write my website copy?  Can you put together a social media calendar that resonates with my target audience?”

“Yes, no problem – of course we can do that!”

“Can you fix my SEO?”

“Oooh well.  We can do key words but get you up to number one.  No sorry, we don’t do that.  But I can write you a blog or two, I can re-write your website copy to make it sing, we can tidy up your social media content so it aligns with your brand personality.  We can write you some great media releases and get you on TV.  But SEO, no we can’t do that, sorry.”

“OK – just do all of that and don’t worry about the tricky SEO stuff – I can get someone else to do that.”

“OK, no problem.”

Fast forward 6 weeks, several TV appearances, a scattering of press and radio interviews and many blog articles later and voila – my client hits number one in her ranking on Google.

She called me up laughing.  “You know – when I took you on, you said you didn’t do SEO but you actually did do it – and you saved me thousands of dollars.”

The world of PR is changing.  Has changed.  How fascinating.  How thoroughly interesting to be learning on the job and seeing it all unfold at my finger tips, using my existing long established skills in PR, doing what I love and seeing the results play out in a different way, not just press clippings, but rankings, engagement, conversation, excitement and still, always, making a positive difference.  I feel very lucky to be part of this industrial revolution and ever curious to see how this changing landscape will continue to affect the way we operate and communicate now and into the future.

3. Blogging

While the world of advertising has always been just that, another world, give any PR person a story to tell and watch them fly!  The great thing about the digital age that we now live in, is that we can all be our own self-publishers.  In some ways, this is fantastic, but in others, it can mean there’s just so much ‘blah’ out there, it’s really hard to gain cut-through.

The benefit of having great content is that it can really help get your business noticed and can help your SEO along the way.

My blog post, ‘SEO for dummies’ I wrote some time ago but it’s still relevant today, particularly if any small business owner is reading this and considering spending money on SEO or digital advertising.  My advice would be to consider your content first.

One of the reasons my client reached No1 on Google so quickly was because of the huge amount of guest blogs, interviews, op-eds and general coverage she was receiving on other websites. 

In a nutshell, her content was good and people wanted to share it.

As any small business owner will know, taking the time to actually work on rather than in your business can be really challenging which is why I could have so easily put more of my time into blogging and writing myself but haven’t found the time.  As part of my ‘15 marketing tactics on a shoestring’ marketing experiment, I have carved out the time to write a guest blog and you can read it here: https://www.writcomm.com.au/single-post/PRmyths

2. SEO

OK, so here’s the thing with SEO.  Firstly, as I write this, I’m wearing two hats – 1. A PR consultant providing services to my clients and 2. A business owner who has just recently mulled over the pros and cons of paying someone to do my SEO. 

As a PR consultant, I guess the mysteries of the secret world of SEO and Google’s magical algorithm, were mostly just that, a mystery.  It wasn’t until I had a client exclaim to me in delight that because of all the content we had been writing for her, she had very quickly reached number one in her Google ranking.  Whilst this was exciting, I hadn’t actually thought about applying any of these techniques to my own business.

It wasn’t until recently when the marketing, or lack thereof, bombshell dawned on me (ie I hadn’t ever done any for Bay PR!) that I even thought about my company’s Google ranking or how we present on Google Search.

When I hit ‘search’ for Bay PR, I found it very easily and so didn’t worry but after I went away and thought about it (yes it took me a while!) I realised that unless anybody is specifically looking for us by name, they wouldn’t find us.  I punched in all the obvious key words, ‘PR agency Sydney’, ‘PR consultancy’ etc. and we didn’t show up anywhere that I could see – other than one ‘Consumer PR agency’, where we did at least show on the front page (mostly after all the others).

I then went into the back end of my website and after a very long time reading the tips and cross-checking with lots of on-line guides and tutorials (on Google of course!) made my best attempt at fixing up the key words on some of the page descriptions.  But when I went to bed that night, I didn’t sleep too well.  I just didn’t feel confident I had done the right thing and frankly, whether I’d made it any worse.

That’s when I called an SEO company.  The guy was recommended to me by a client (as opposed to one of the many SEO company emails that land in my spam box). 

“I just want to make sure that my website is set up with all the key words and the meta data coding etc.” I said.

He did a quick check of my website while I sat there, holding my breath.

“Not even in the first 100,” he diagnosed.

“Oh,” I said dismally.  But then I remembered I definitely popped up under “Consumer PR Agency”.

I quickly showed him, feeling an uplifting sliver of hope.

“That’s Google Maps,” he said.

I looked at him quizzically.

“Google maps will list all “Consumer PR agencies” nearby – that’s you.  If you were in the city or anywhere else, you wouldn’t show up at all.

Right then.  Truly humbled.

So what to do? Well, the friendly SEO guy wanted to charge me for a 6-month campaign whereby he would fix up all the coding, key words and also then get his in-house content writers to write (my) content and place it on other sites. 

“But that’s what I do!” I exclaimed.

“Yes but we do it differently,” he said, “We have a list of directories.”

Hmm.  It sounded very similar to the type of work we do, writing, blogging and sharing content across a wide range of outlets – websites, publications, media outlets, etc.  I didn’t really like the idea of having someone else write my content about my business for me.

Also, he wanted to charge me around $3,500 which seemed a big investment, when all I really wanted was to make sure my website key words etc. were set up properly and then perhaps I could attempt to increase my Google ranking myself, by sharing some good content and doing other PR and marketing activities and stuff. 

Also, given the type of industry I work in, I’m wondering how many clients would decide to go with a PR agency that they Google searched cold?  Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this, as I am curious.

So that’s what I have decided to do.  In the meantime, I have taken on an SEO company to do me a quick ‘health check.’  I’m paying $375 as a one-off fee and then the rest is up to me.

I’ll let you know how I go.  In the meantime, please provide any feedback or suggestions you have here – all gratefully received!

1. Exploring LinkedIn

In part one of my marketing experiment, ‘15 marketing tactics on a shoestring’, I am exploring all things LinkedIn.  If you’ve followed the link here from LinkedIn, then I guess the fact that you are reading this means you are an active member of LinkedIn.  While I have been on and off LinkedIn for years, it has always been one of those ‘ho hum’ platforms in my mind.  When I joined LinkedIn, I thought it would be a great way to connect with other businesses and to hopefully gain new business but whenever I posted anything, I would only get maybe one or two likes and then if I ever went back to my post, I couldn’t find it!

It seemed less easy to navigate than Facebook at that time.  Fast forward to today and I have decided to give it another go.  My lovely friend, business coach Edward Zia, swears by LinkedIn.  In fact, I think he should get commission from LinkedIn because he recommends it so much to all his business friends! 

Edward’s top tips for getting the most out of LinkedIn are: 

1. Content – make it relevant, informative and useful.

2. Find your voice – you need to speak from the ‘heart’, share what you love and know.

3. Follow-up – LinkedIn is the platform but it won’t do your sales for you – you need to follow-up all connections and bring them off-line. LinkedIn is essentially software - you’re the one who needs to make it work for you.

4. Regular posts – Edward suggests 2 – 3 times per day.

5. Build relationships – nurture your connections by commenting/sharing/liking.

6. Video – use it, LinkedIn likes it and it’s a great way to share your content.

As I don’t have a large number of connections on LinkedIn, I have decided to reach out and connect to more people, in particular people I would like to work with as potential clients.  It feels a bit like stalking, sending a ‘connect’ message but I guess, whoever receives it can see I run a PR consultancy and so would have an idea of why I may be wanting to connect with them. 

Objective

My LinkedIn objective, other than to enjoy connecting with the wider business community, is to get a new client.  There – I said it – just one new client by the end of this year – a modest objective I think!  I would like to do that and I will document and feed back here if it works or if it doesn’t and adjust my approach accordingly.

Tactics

So, I’ll start by writing a list of the businesses I want to connect with and their marketing managers and then I’ll hit connect.  I’ll let you know how I go!

I guess I will need to then follow them up with a message or perhaps even a (gulp) phone-call! Question – does anybody actually pick up the ‘phone anymore?!  It’s much easier to ‘hide’ behind email isn’t it.  But if I’m approaching a journalist for a story, I’ll often pick up the ‘phone to pitch it in.  We all know that emails can just scroll in and out of the viewing window on the inbox, so to me a phone call makes sense – I think I’ll give it a go!

After I’ve reached out and hopefully built up some more connections, I’m going to develop my LinkedIn content strategy.

Content Creation

Most of us know that video and original posts are favoured by LinkedIn.  Video, I have some concerns with because so many people are doing it, it can feel quite uncomfortable and somewhat ‘salesey’ and ‘shouty’ – totally not me.  I need to give it some thought. 

In order to get the most out of LinkedIn, I will need to post every day. Note to self - I need to be very organised to plan ahead for this and carve out the time!  (Another consideration when picking up the marketing pace for a small business!)

Feedback

I would love to get feedback on the type of content that would be useful, interesting and informative for my LinkedIn connections and wider LinkedIn audience to read.  What would be of value and not just ‘more of the same’? 

15 Marketing Tactics on a Shoestring

As a PR professional I am well used to putting my clients’ first, promoting their products and services, creating content and media opportunities.  Yet when it comes to marketing my own business, I am sadly lacking.  Just recently, it occurred to me that I have been running my business for almost 15 years and during this time I have done pretty much nothing to actively promote my company, my products and my services. Astonishing isn’t it! 

Other than plain old good luck, I put Bay PR’s success and longevity down to two things – 1. Referrals and 2. Retaining clients for long periods.  The reason I have retained clients I guess is my commitment to doing a good job and being hard working.  I genuinely like happy clients because it makes me feel happy and appreciated – which essentially is all anybody really wants.  Plus I love PR and am very passionate about it!

In spite of retaining clients and achieving good results, as a service provider, I am always going to be subject to changes taking place in my clients’ companies - take-overs, new teams, competition from other agencies, budget cuts and the like. 

Which is why I have decided to finally allocate some time into marketing and promoting Bay PR.  The thing is, after years of being dedicated to marketing my clients, I’m not actually sure where to start!

I have spent some time researching all the possible ways I can market my business to other businesses and all of the options are both exciting and a little overwhelming.  Do I invest money in SEO or is this a waste?  Should I do a Google Ad Words campaign? Will networking help? What about blogging, vlogging, Facebook ads?  There are so many options out there! 

Bay PR turns 15 next month and so to celebrate this exciting milestone, I thought it would be fun to try out 15 marketing tactics on a shoestring and document them – the trials, the tribulations, the learnings and outcomes along the way. 

I have decided to try out as many things as I can and to share it with you, my business network.  I am hoping to receive your tips, help, feedback, thoughts and guidance as I take the first steps towards building an effective marketing campaign for my business.

Just as with a PR campaign, I have started by putting a marketing plan in place and I have outlined my goals and objectives.  There’s no point in setting out to sail without some sort of idea of where I’m going and what I want to get out of the journey.   

I am interested to see if any of my chosen tactics will help me achieve the following objectives by the end of this year:

1.     Gain two retainer clients

2.     Establish a second-tier service for start-ups and small businesses requiring PR services to help
them grow

I have kept these objectives simple for the purposes of the experiment.  It will be interesting to see which, if any, of the following tactics deliver on these objectives! 

The tactics I have decided to trial in my marketing experiment are based are as follows:

1.     LinkedIn

2.     SEO

3.     Blogging

4.     EDMs

5.     Instagram

6.     Online quiz

7.     Free stuff

8.     Facebook advertising and content

9.     Cold calling/emailing

10.  Networking

11.  Video - gulp

12.  Exploring Twitter

13.  Podcasts

14.  Hosting an event

15.  PR for the PR

I look forward to receiving your feedback, comments and advice as I start my experiment!

Dear Clients and Consultants – have you been naughty or nice?

When it comes to the client/agency relationship, there is always going to be a shifting dynamic- a ‘vibeometer’ if you like.  An old boss of mine used to say; “You’re only as good as your last press release – an article today, fish and chip paper tomorrow.”  While that was somewhat cynical (and also a sign of our times back then when print was king) there is still this constant desire to perform and meet KPIs (whether these are media articles, bums on seats, engagement etc.) and to be always achieving what we set out to do and making the client happy in the process.  Exhausting isn’t it!  Especially in media relations when outcomes rely on your skill mixed with a journalist’s decision, the news agenda of the day and a whole host of other variables that could keep you awake at night - if you let them.

And there’s the point – as PR people, what keeps us awake at night and what sends us off into dreamland for a deep and peaceful sleep?

In a nutshell – it’s the client relationship.  The ‘vibeometer’.  I have found over time there are some key elements of the client/agency relationship that can help to keep us all sleeping soundly in our beds at night – especially as we head up to the end of the year and we are looking back at everything we have achieved and where we are heading next year.

1.    Integrity– such a big word.  More than likely bandied around by many agencies in new business pitches.  The issue is that once the business is won, do you and your team stick to your word? Integrity means many things but really boils down to honesty and transparency.  If you think you can achieve an outcome, then go ahead but if it’s never going to fly then advise the client so – however high it is on their wish list. Better to be realistic and honest from the outset then after the activity has fallen over.  Often, by sitting down and involving the client in the process, a better way of doing things can be agreed upon.  Then everyone is on the same page and can share in the success when the desired outcome is achieved – and that makes for the start of a great relationship. 

2.    Go the Extra Mile– when I worked as a group director in a big blue-chip agency, we would get our knuckles wrapped for over-servicing.  While constantly over-servicing can be a drain on the team and budgets, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with going the extra mile.  That means, stretching just a little bit to get the job done - and some.   It could be just a small thing that means a lot to the client, such as securing a product review and then a one-to-one interview on top.  I recently wrote a media release for a new client then threw in some social content.  While I may not always be so generous with my time, it did help demonstrate to the client our genuine desire to help and it has lead to that small project now being extended into a longer-term relationship.  Money in the trust bank, if you like – which is what all good relationships are founded on.

3.    Stuff – to do our job well we often need to ask clients to provide ‘stuff’ to us – quality images, mission statements, design specs, prices, advertising plans…etc. To many clients who haven’t worked with an agency before, this can be a drain on time and resources – especially if it is ad hoc.  Far better, once the contract is signed, to hand over a list of everything that is required to get started and give a realistic amount of time for the client to gather everything together.  Much easier than constantly asking for stuff to be sent over at short notice – a sure fire way to put everyone on a short fuse. 

4.    Time– as a client, if you’re under the pump, it’s very easy to ask the agency to jump onto a campaign or project at short notice but by taking the time to provide a proper brief and background information, you save yourself time in the long-run.  It means we are then armed with all the information to go out and get the job done well.

5.    Go now– if the relationship has run its course and it’s time to move on, clients please be assured that we know.  The vibeometer has flicked the other way and we are lying awake in our beds wondering how to get it to move back.  If you think it’s time to part ways, then please put us out of our misery and let us know – or give us the chance to help fix it. Don’t ask us to tender if you know you want new blood – release us, let us go, so we can spend time looking for a new love – it’s the kindest thing to do.

So whether you have been naughty, or nice this year – cheers! We survived it and in this fast paced ever-changing world, that in itself is worth celebrating!

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Old Versus New. The Value of ‘Traditional PR’

If you’re considering taking on a PR agency and wondering about the value of traditional PR versus more modern approaches, then read my article here….