February 25, 2009
General Marketing
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Yesterday I went along to a Connect 4 Lunch event ran by Drogheda Chamber. As always, I was running late but thankfully, the lovely Colm and Susan at Bru, made sure that I had some of their delish beef and Guinness stew. If I could have had seconds, I would….but unfortunately, the speakers were already at the podium!
The speakers are quite literally on each side of the PR divide - the PR agency and the journalist!
The journalist or media representative spoke first - Darren Hughes of the Drogheda Independent. Darren used to be the Editor, now he’s the Operations Director and he had the audience in the palm of his hand. He was engaging, entertaining and showed us how it’s done by speaking for 20 minutes on his subject without powerpoint. What he said was most useful.
Here’s a recap of what I took away when appealing to a journalist or newsroom. I could write more but time and words constrain me!:
1. KISS - Keep it Simple, Stupid
Make sure the information that you’re sending on is simple, straight to the point with little jargon.
2. The 5 ‘W’s
Who, What, Where, When Why - these are the key questions that should be answered in your press release.
3. The Funnel
A journalist will look at the press release and because of other stories may have to cut it down. If this is the case, s/he cuts from the bottom up. So it stands to reason, that like a funnel, the important information is in the first few paragraphs
4. Be an Expert
Whatever field you’re in, call up a journalist or news team and tell them that you’re the expert in your field. Give them examples of your credibility and tell them if they need an opinion piece, that you’re their guy or gal!
5. Tell People Your News
You have to call up and tell people about your news. Don’t wait for people to find you. Call up or email a journalist or news room and tell people your news. Even if your business is not aimed at the local or national market, tell the local and national media about you. Don’t hide your news behind a bushel….journalists won’t have the time to go fishing for information - it’s up to you to promote your business.
Next up was Ged Nash of McCormick Nash. I’ve known Ged a long time now since our heady days at UCD. I know how much he loves Public Relations and he is a born natural. PR is in his blood and he’s an expert at it. It was great to see him in action.
Like Darren, I could be here all day talking about what he had to say but I’ll keep it brief.
1. Audit your organisation for PR Opportunities
Most businesses have a financial audit or a technical audit but very few have a PR (or marketing!) audit. Yet without customers, there would be no need for a financial audit.
2. Have a Communications Day
What a wonderful idea of Ged’s. I get to know my clients staff so that I think of ways to bring them into marketing initiatives. Ged’s idea of a day of brainstorming, finding out more about your staff and even suppliers could be hugely beneficial. It really helps you to be conscious of positive PR opportunities within your organisation.
3. Prepare a PR Calendar
Every year sit down and write a PR calendar. It ensures a pro-active approach to PR. You’re controlling your message, your budget and your events.
4. Plan Your PR Programmes
Once you’ve set your calendar, it’s now time to flesh it out. Establish your target audience and select your target journalists. Then establish what the journalists you want to contact are interested in, how they write and what need.
5. Types of PR Opportunities
There are many PR Opportunities. Pure hard news, sponsorship, launches, staff stories (see above re communications day), surveys, research, anything quirky etc.
6. An extra element to the 5 ‘W’s
How is the extra to Who, What, Where, When Why. The How relates to how someone developing the best product in the world, how did a company find out the best research fact ever, etc.
Both Darren and Ged said that everyone is looking for good news stories. Now is the time to provide journalists with good, well-written press releases and stories.
Now you know what to do, what are you waiting for?
February 24, 2009
General musings
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I think cold calls done well can really work well for businesses. But if you’re going to do cold calls, GET IT RIGHT. In today’s environment, there will be more cold calling done and you know what, that’s fine with me.
But if you’re going to try and sell me something, please get my name and my company name right! It’s not rocket science, is it?
I could rant at length about cold calling but I won’t. I’ll just tell you about this bizarre phone call that I have just received. It was a web design company calling to tell me that they have a promotion on. I generally entertain people for a minute or two because you just never know who you could meet or what story you can tell afterwards. So I was patient - believe me! The conversation went like this:
Web Design Caller Lady (WDCL): We are having a promotion on in terms of web design.
Denise Fay (DF): Oh really. Tell me more.
WDCL: Can I get the name of the owner
DF: That’s me, Denise
WDCL: We have a web promotion on at the moment. Do you have a website?
DF: Well yes, but I thought you would have checked that out before you called me
WDCL: Is it the party shop?
DF: Eh no! Who do you think you’re speaking with?
WDCL: The X party shop?
DF: No. Sorry, that’s not me. Anyway, I’m not that interested as I have my own web designer and other companies that I know well.
WDCL: Well we’ll do free web design and it will only cost under 50euros a month.
DF: Still not interested, sorry
WDCL: Can I get your email address please to send you some information?
DF: Sure. It’s on my website.
WDCL: What is your company name?
In the end, I gave it to her because this information will make good case material on how not to cold call. This lady was so un-prepared that she made the most disorganised person look organised. (Can’t think of anyone off hand!)
- She didn’t know my name
- She thought it was a different company
- She stuck to her script regardless of that mistake
- She didn’t engage with me or want to build a relationship.
All she wanted was an email. That was probably her job but whatever the company name, I know I’ll never use it. I know that I’ll never recommend them either because of their sheer unprofessionalism.
Urgh!
So I’ll update you with the progress.
Cold Call Emails too….
I also got an cold call email addressed to ‘To Whom it May Concern’….even though they sent it to my named email address - which has half my name on it - Denise. Is it that difficult to put Denise in the Hello section?
He did the same thing to a friend of mine that has ‘Anne-marie’ in her email address.
It’s not rocket science to apply mass personalisation to your cold call emails.
I was at a PR Seminar at Lunchtime run by the Drogheda Chamber (another post on that later) and presented by Daren Hughes of Drogheda Independent and Ged Nash of McCormick Nash. But Daren made the simplest of points - it’s a policy that they use in the media world….KISS - Keep it Simple, Stupid.
Now, I don’t like calling anyone stupid as I have my own moments but when the cap fits and when cold emailing or calling, Keep it Simple, Stupid!
February 23, 2009
General Marketing, Relationship Marketing
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There is nothing quite like getting customers engaged with your brand - they become advocates, champions and serial buyers of your product.
Walkers Crisps are doing a fantastic job of customer engagement and customer led marketing at the moment. They have spent the last six months encouraging crisp lovers to send in their flavours. All you had to do was take a photo of your suggested flavour and email Walkers. The incentive was a cash prize of £60, 000. I even thought of it myself!
Now the campaign has been taken from the web, to the TV and radio. It’s a consistent, multi-channelled marketing sensation.
Walkers have taken a basic concept - knowing what your customers want, finding out their preferences and buying patterns - and are applying it to their promotion. They have gone to their customers and asked for their help (in a clever way) to understand them better.
Not everyone has the budget of Walkers crisps but it gives a sense to all businesses - small and large - that customer led marketing, where the customer is priority not the company, is the way forward for businesses. It’s almost a new marketing revolution…..putting the customers first…for real rather than assumptions.
If you’re reading this, ask yourself a few questions honestly.
1. Are you really putting your customer’s needs first?
2. If so, how do you know?
3. What problem are you solving for your customers?
4. Are your customers champions of your brand?
If you can’t answer these questions truthfully, you’re not on your own. There are many businesses out there who can’t answer these questions. But take time before the second month of 2009 is out to find answers to those questions.
February 8, 2009
Internet Marketing
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Last week was another week of firsts for Achieve Marketing! Well maybe just one first! I have a favicon. Yep, I asked my web designer, John at Connectit about it and he installed it on Friday.
I am quite disorganised when it comes to my favourite websites or bookmarks. I don’t file them in folders (it’s on the to-do list). I merely have a long list and at this stage I know their relative position on the bookmark listing!
But some just stand out more than others – and it’s those that have a favicon.
A favicon according to wikipedia is short for a favourites icon. It is that little 16×16 pixel square icon that is associated with a particular website, the one that you see to the left of the web address.
I counted over 50 bookmarks on my list and only 13 had favicons. They are great ways to make your site stand out from the crowd – no more blue-ish box for me.
They also help to build your brand – if you have an image associated with your website on the address bar, then your viewer is soaking it up and drinking in your brand at another level.