When spare Hoover parts become PR

Hi everyone, it's good to be back. After the family were struck down with swine flu I took on a Florence Nightingale role and nursed my heart out for 10 days.

Anyway, during my time of being housebound; well pretty much quarantined, I took the opportunity to catch up on all of those domestic jobs that just stay on the to do list for ever.

One of those long overdue nagging to do's was the repair of the Hoover.

We purchased said Hoover some years ago, and really, it's never worked very well. It tends to blow out clouds of dust, leaving the house smelling musty and really defeating the object of vacuuming in the first place.

So I called up the Hoover parts line, cringing as someone answered, I was already slightly embarrassed about calling having had this small waste of space for so long.

So I apologetically explained the problem, noting several times that I knew I really should have returned it when we first got it. However, I was stopped in my tracks when the helpful customer service woman replied politely and efficiently 'don't worry madam, let me take your address and we'll send you the replacement parts straight away'.

Are we so, so bad at customer service in this country that we just can't cope with a satisfactory reply? I didn't quite know what to do with myself. And, low and behold, the very next day a courier arrived with the parts, and our Hoover now works like a dream.

I have to apologise for the post about Hoovering, not the most sexy of topics, however it did make me think how important customer service is to our PR strategies.

If you look at your last three customer interactions, what went well? And what didn't go so swimmingly?

Note down a positive and a negative for each and use them in the following ways:

Positives

- Are these in your elevator pitch, USPs, mission statement, on your website?

- Are the positives things that really make your business stand out from the competition and make your business what it is?

- Can you use those qualities/people to improve other areas of your business?

Negatives

- What can you do to avoid this issues arising again?

- Can you compensate those customers for those issues?

- What can you learn from these mistakes and how can you improve your business from what you've learnt?

Customer service, good and bad, generates word of mouth. As a nation we love to moan about poor service, so unfortunately if you get it wrong, it's not just one customer's loyalty that you influence.

On the good side, it is rare to get service that goes above and beyond, so word will spread. And in the age of social media it doesn't just spread over coffee, check out Twitter for mentions of your business, Google your company name and see if anyone has blogged about you. I'll bet that if Hoover are up with their social media strategy they'll pick up on this.

For those that know me well you'll know that I am a complete and utter Waitrose addict; and that's purely down to their customer service. They consistently impress me; double your money back if you return an item you're not happy with or money off vouchers if you didn't get a chance to use yours before they expired and so on. And I regularly rave about them - on and off line.

So if you are making time for some PR or marketing for your business this week, make some time to review your customer service strategy and start thinking of it as part of your overall PR plan.

5 Alternatives: There's more to PR than press releases

As PRs we quite often here these words from potential clients 'I think I need a press release'.

They're often happy to admit that they're not sure why, and also to admit that they're not really sure what a press release is. A sales pitch? An article? A story?

The traditional press release does often underpin a publicity campaign, and is a way to engage with the press - editors and journalists, if you have a story to tell. It brings together the what, why, when, where, who and how and allows a publication to lift the parts most relevant to their audience, drop them in with a quote and a photograph, and Bob's your uncle, you've got a story with minimal work required.

However, quite often a press release isn't the way to raise your profile. There's no point trying to create a story out of nothing. If you try to invent an amazing feat or headline grabbing event that just isn't really all that, you wont make it past first base.

Instead, investigate some other ways of putting yourself in the spot light (for the right reasons - no ads appearing on roundabouts overnight please!).

1. Blogging

We had to start with blogging really. Writing a (regular) blog is a great way to share stories with your audience in an informal and informative way. Talk about your business and the industry you're in, in a way that will engage and give food for thought. Comment on topical news stories and offer current and potential clients advice and expertise.

If you find this is popular, why not let your local business magazine know that you're offering regular advice on a given subject. You never know what this could lead to.

2. Ask the expert.

This leads nicely onto the second point. Consider your area of expertise and what current situations your clients are facing. How could you support them? What advice could you give? Think of a handful of different angles based on your business and what it offers, as well as current news stories and contact the editor who handles business content, or consumer news and pitch your idea.

3. Awards

Your business deserves recognition for the products and services it provides. Start looking for local and national awards that you could enter. Best newcomer to the high street, best customer service, small business of the year and so on. Invest some time in writing detailed applications and remember to include all of the achievements you've made and give examples wherever you can. Even if you don't win, you may be a runner up, and if it's a big competition the visibility of taking part alone could be really worthwhile.

3. Social Media

Create a buzz about your business on Twitter. Don't blast out repeated sales messages, instead look at your USPs and talk about what makes you different, innovative, right for your customers. Search Twitter for keywords that link to your industry or search geographically. Follow editors of magazines and newspapers you're interested in, as well as other websites and blogs. You'll be surprised how many opportunities can come up this way. LinkedIn is worth trawling too, a client of ours just landed an opportunity with Radio 4 this way.

4. Product placement

If you sell a product, think about placing it in the media and sending samples to editors. If you can link it to a current news story send it to the local press - an umbrella that opens automatically when it's raining (maybe not but you get the gist!!). If it's a great new iPhone app, how about Metro or one of the national newspaper supplements. Whatever your product if you can get a sample into the right hands the exposure could be huge. Remember though, you have to be able to deliver - not just getting the samples into the post, but if you're inundated as a result, can you deliver?

What we tend to do when we're entering a new phase of PR planning is to draw a map - plan out your activities with your brand at the middle, with arms coming off for each of the targets you have. Include details of your objectives, what you want to results to be and who is going to do what. Pin it up and stick at those objectives. A lot of the time, repeated messaging to people (without becoming a stalker), is the way to get a foot in the door.

On a final note, is your business ready? It's all very well and good investing time in these activities, but behind the scenes is your business ready for a judge from a best new business panel to come and interview you? Do you have stock of the product that you've promised to send to Meridian Tonight? Are you ready for the phone and email enquiries about the column you've just had published? Be business ready and the efforts that you put in on the PR front will be rewarded.

More on being business ready in the future as we expand and start offering a package covering just that - being business ready.

New to Twitter: I love a list, and a Twitter list, even better

Over the summer months I gave a couple of talks at Oxford networking groups on social media, and Twitter was a big part of this.

It was a great opportunity to introduce small businesses who may have previously dismissed the tool as a frivolous waste of time, and explore some of the possibilities it can bring:

- Introduce you to the wider business community in your area and build brand awareness

- Help you to find new resources, tools and services that will enhance your business

- Alert you to opportunities to get involved with interesting projects

- Position your self as an expert in what you do and raise your profile

- Extend your customer service offering

- Promote events, special offers and incentives

- Build up the human element and personality of your business

So these are just a few. Over the past few months it has been really rewarding to see many of the businesses I've spoken with pop up on Twitter, and start using it to make connections and move forwards.

Now, Twitter has launched a list facility which makes it even easier to find relevant people to follow, and share those who you follow with others.

For example, I've set up a list for my favourite suppliers (called favourite suppliers!), which means that anyone looking for website designers, graphic designers, photographers and so on can follow everyone on my list in one click.

You can see the lists option next to your following and follower stats on the right hand side of the screen.

Further down the right hand side of the page you can create a list for yourself and pass on the people that you find interesting to follow.

Have a look also at the lists you've been added to and see who else is on that list. Lists are a great way to find people in the business community around you, find suppliers, follow businesses within your industry sector and reach out to more people.

Remember to think big! When you tweet you're reaching much further than you think. As many of the businesses I've got to know have - get the quality of your posts up, give people some food for thought, free advice, new news and you will rapidly increase your Twitter circle, and the potential for your business suddenly becomes vast.

Thanks for reading as always.

Three things to know about choosing a graphic designer

So, Warrilow PR will only be so for a short while longer (part of the reason for writing this blog is to spur me into action to get the last bits and pieces of our rebrand done ready to roll out - Christmas, it has to be before Christmas...or the New Year)...

Anyway, we're rebranding and after a long search, we finally found a designer that 'got it' and brought our ideas for the new logo to life.

So, proudly introducing Jason Lawes, graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, doodler, and the man who can in our eyes.


Because we found it so hard to find the right designer for the job, at the right budget, and find someone who could take a somewhat chaotic brief with creative references coming from all over the place (interiors magazines, baby websites and a few objet trouvé type influences), we asked Jason for his tips...

Q. What are the three things you really need to include in your brief for a designer working on a new logo?

A. Background info. The more information on the background behind the company/individual etc the better. This helps in understanding what the logo needs to say, and gives a better understanding of the target audience.
Where will the logo be used? Designing a logo for different media can pose certain restrictions. For example if the logo will just be screen printed on t-shirts then there may be colour limitations - this would not be the case if the logo needed was just going to appear online.
The competition. It is good to know of similar companies/individuals in the field, so that the design is different and stands out from the crowd (and of course is better than theirs!).

Q. What is the main thing to avoid when working on logo concepts?

A. Don't over complicate things! Simplicity is the key. With the many requirements for a logo these days across web and print media, sometimes they will need to appear very small. So it is important for the logo to be able to work at different sizes. I think simplicity also helps with brand recognition. It is good to steer away from proceeding with designs that the designer isn't happy with. If you're working on behalf of a client stick to your guns and argue your case about what you think works better, but remember that they have the overall say so!

Q. What are your all time three favourite logos?

A. I do love the Apple logo - very clean, simple, easily recognisable and it has evolved over the years from simple rainbow colours to a more glossy Web 2.0 feel. Another favourite is the Rolling Stones mouth logo, an ageless design which has worked right through from the 60s. Great band too! There are a lot of action sports brands which I love within the snowboard/surf market. Lots of them adapt and change their logos fairly often within the different sports, but O'Neill always maintain recognition mainly through the wave icon - the text can often change.

So, should you be looking for a designer, especially when it comes to branding, we are very happy to plug our latest discovery - Jason Lawes; creative (crucially!), competitively priced and endlessly patient!

What did you do today dear? I lurked in some chat rooms....

The term chat room has come to mean a lot more these days, with many business sectors adopting the format to host business related discussions.
Gone are the days where chat rooms were solely for dating, or uniting unusual interests…

Today pretty much every industry profession sports a wide variety of forums or chat rooms available for people to share knowledge, ask for advice and gain opinion on a range of matters.

I really recommend taking some time to investigate these types of sites as they can offer a fantastic opportunity to share expertise and generate additional interest in your business.



Forums could be particularly useful to you if you’ve explored other social media platforms and not found that they fit with your business, time or style.

Three areas where forums can be used:

- As a PR I often go on to PR and Marketing related forums and offer advice to those looking to write their own press releases, secure some press coverage, or write new copy for their brochure or website. I don’t do it to persuade them into becoming a client, I do it to offer help and support, because I know I can go to similar sites and ask for advice and receive a hugely helping hand in return. As many people who run a small business will know, the sharing of this type of support is absolutely invaluable. Indirectly I receive requests for more information about my services from others who have read the posts and whether it’s just a bit of guidance or a request for a quote, it’s a great way to expand your communications.

- An optician client of mine is interested in using forums, again not directly to gain clients as he’s not a nationwide operation. However in his situation it’s a great way to find out what questions people have about their vision needs and which areas are poorly addressed online. This serves as an opportunity to tailor the information and advice on his own website to the types of areas people are interested in.

- For those in heavily regulated industries such as finance or law, some additional research is required. Remember that you are always responsible for the advice that you give online, the same as if you were face to face with a client. Read the small print of the forum you’re interested, contact the moderators to find out what you can and can’t do. Once you’ve checked it all out, these types of forums can be a great place to offer your expertise, and if you find it is well received, why not use it as a stepping stone to contact your local business supplements or magazines to offer advice on a regular basis to readers.

So if you do one small PR activity this week, spend some time researching business forums – Google your industry profession + forums and see what you come across. Be guided as to the popularity of the site by the number of posts and number of people currently online. Also, the forums on LinkedIn are a good place to start.

Register and lurk in the background for a while – it’s perfectly acceptable!!! Once you get a feel for the people, the regulars and the topics of interest, start posting responses that you feel will help people out.

And remember, just like all of the other social media tools – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – this isn’t about sales – you’re not there to sell, you’re there to help, support, gain trust and build your reputation as an expert in your field.

Finally, online conversations in chat rooms are often picked up by search engines, so just remember that you need to be happy that whatever you say could come up when someone Google’s you – if you don’t agree with a discussion, walk away and find a more engaging topic to participate in.

One small end note; as the popularity of this type of online discussion grows, so does the technology available. Coveritlive.com for example allows you to embed a real time chat platform into your website or blog so you can host live discussions. If anyone would be interested in a live chat about PR or anything related let me know!

How to run a business and survive - 5 thoughts of the day

A couple of months ago I heard about Business Mum Week and decided it was too good an opportunity not to get involved with.

As a result I’m hosting the Oxford Business Mum Week networking event, for mums who run their own business and juggle work commitments with family life. It will serve as a fantastic opportunity for people to meet face to face and share ideas, support and resources.



A week later, venue confirmed, invites out, and busily distributing leaflets around the local area, I started planning a radio interview, attendance sheets, feedback forms and so on – and realised that I’d inadvertently taken on another ‘little project’ which was rapidly becoming a big deal.

As someone who has set up their own business, you’re probably the type of person that does this. A lot. There are always new and exciting opportunities, ways to branch out, new areas to explore.

Sometimes though, it’s just not possible to do everything. The moment you give your acceptance to this fact is the moment you regain control.

There are two things that have to balance in my mind – my favourite quote from Edison – ‘there’s a better way to do it, find it’, and Jack of all trades, master of none.

There has to be a balance between investing the time to research, understand and execute a job well, but also refine that list of goals to focus on the most important, results orientated objectives.

Having experienced many of these challenges and struggling to keep this balance front of mind in the early stages of setting up my business, I thought it would be good to reflect…

1. If you want to rebrand, launch a new website, start blogging, attend a few more networking meetings and find better office space all before the year is out, forget it. Just because objectives go hand in hand, such as a string of marketing goals, doesn’t mean you need to tackle them all at once. You’ll get so overwhelmed by the ‘bigger picture’ that achieving just one action will become impossible. This can be really demotivating and lead to in some cases, the worst case scenario ‘I need a day off to rethink’ which ends of with lots of movement in circular motions.

2. Be really, really, really strict about your working hours and environment. This I would say is absolutely critical. For a number of reasons working late into the night is never good. If you fire off a proposal at 9pm, Jamie’s American Road Trip in the background and a glass of Merlot by your side, when you re-read it back the next day, it’s very possible that you’ll be wishing you’d waited and looked at it with fresh eyes. It’s also possible that the words ‘pukka’ could have sneaked their way in subconsciously.

3. Manage people’s expectations. It’s not good to always be a yes man. If you have a number of client commitments, orders to fulfil or places to be, then don’t say yes before the other person has even finished speaking just because you feel you should. Offering an explanation, a suitable alternative and managing expectations will do you far greater justice in the long run. Also, if you’re not the man for the job, say so, and recommend an alternative supplier. Again, it will do you favours when it comes to word of mouth in the future.

4. Delegate. There are some jobs that are just better left to the professionals such as accountancy or graphic design. It’s really tempting to try and muddle through certain tasks yourself to save a bit of cash. When you weigh up what your time is worth against how much you could have earned during the hours you spent trying to figure out how to fit the name of your business into a circle, make it look like a sun and add a border around it, then you’ll wish you’d just invested in an expert in the first place. I speak from experience.

5. Figure out what time of day suits you. This goes back to the days of exam revision for me. If you’re bright and breezy in the morning, then get the jobs you want to put off done then. If you’re better on a full stomach after a jacket with beans and cheese at lunchtime then get the challenging stuff done straight afterwards. On that note I’ll leave you with my favourite clip of the moment from BBC Walk on the Wild Side….

I'm a niiiiiinnnneeeee!

I recently attended a presentation at a really good local networking group called The Late Breakfast by Patrick Bird of Interactive Performance Management.

It was good because I have never laughed so much in a business situation in my life, literally the tears were streaming, and had my fellow networkers not been in stitches also it could have been a little embarrassing.

At the same time I gained some very valuable tips on matching your body language in business meetings, whether you’re pitching for new business, reviewing a campaign with an existing client or taking part in a presentation, here are some very useful pointers I took away from Patrick, as well as the reason for the hilarity.

1. People often make their minds up about a person in the first 20 to 30 seconds of meeting them so initial impact is vital. Make sure you own the space, good posture with a firm handshake and clear greeting.
2. Pitches to clients are about the message you leave them with, make sure your content (words) are well prepared but also “HOW” you are going to deliver the presentation is thought through and rehearsed to maximise your communication. Congruence of words, body language and tone of voice is critical, if you say you are pleased to be there make sure the 3 things actually match the message.
3. Think about your breathing and avoid the squeaky voice coming out in the presentation. Breathe from the diaphragm into your belly and not from your chest, the quality and resonance of your voice will improve.

So why so much laughter? Patrick opened his talk with an activity to get us warmed up. Based on the last digit of our mobile phone numbers (bear with me on this), we had to walk around the room greeting people at that level.

So, if you’re a zero, you’re pretty much dead, not good. If you’re a nine however, you’re bursting at the seems with get up and go.

We had the opportunity to start with our number, mine being a four, so I was a little bland and moped around, but then I got to do eight – well I went for nine just to make the most of the opportunity.

I more than got into role shall we say and shrieked my way around the room, embracing my fellow networkers and greeting them as long lost friends. It was a very energising experience to say the least. The shock on the faces of my '2' and '3' networkers was brilliant. I think their ears may still be ringing.

I only wish that there was video footage, as short of being able to act this out each and every morning to get the day started, it would provide a valuable reminder of how important it is to match your colleagues or clients body language and ‘number’.

If you’re meeting a client today, you walk in to their office and they are clearly having a ‘2’ day, it would be worth saving your ‘9’ for another moment – don’t waste it though, use it somewhere, it’s good for the soul!