Business and Finance

Many companies focus on communicating to their external audiences; segmenting markets, researching, developing messages and tactics. This same care and focus should be turned inside to create an internal communications plan. Effective internal communication planning enables small and large organizations to create a process of information distribution as a means of addressing organizational issues. Before internal communications planning can start some basic questions need to be answered.

· What’s the state of the company? Ask questions. Do some research. One form of research is to take a survey. How’s your company doing? What do your employees think about the company? You’re bound to get more/better responses from an internal survey than an external one. Some may be surprised by how much employees care and want to make their workplaces better. You may also uncover some hard truths or perceptions. This information can help lay a foundation for what messages are communicated and how they are communicated.

· What do we want to be when we grow-up? This is where a company can define the culture they want to represent the future of the organization. Most companies have an external mission statement. Why not have an internal mission statement? The statement might focus on customer service, continuous learning, quality, or striving not only to be the largest company in the market with the most sales, but to be the best company with the highest satisfaction ratings.

Continue reading ‘Internal Communications: Planning the Plan’ »

Most businesses understand the benefits of good PR. If you raise your profile and get your good news stories out in the media then people will remember you, associate you with a good product and go on to become customers.

But sometimes things go wrong and your reputation, or that of your business, is in danger. This should also be a time when you turn to PR, and use its tools to avert disaster and get a better result for yourself and your business.

So, what do you do in a crisis? What if you have a journalist ringing you for comments about a bad news story? How to you handle the fall-out?

Each situation is different, and calls for a different response but one thing you should never do – NEVER do nothing. If you bury your head in the sand, wish the reporters would go away, batten down the hatches or simply hope for the best, the best won’t happen. With nothing from you, journalists can put their own spin on a story; if you reportedly “refused to comment” or were “unavailable for comment” people will invariably draw a bad conclusion.

Continue reading ‘Crisis? What Crisis? How PR Can Help Avert a Business Disaster’ »

People say that children these days never learn to spell. Well, to be honest I am not sure I did either until I became a journalist.

I went to a very good, private girls’ school and I know they constantly corrected my spelling and grammar but much of it didn’t sink in until I started working for a newspaper.

There, I had a wonderful news editor who not only taught me how to write news but also how to spell.

So bad was I, that he kept a kind of hall of shame of my faux pas, some of which I will share with you now:

* Loan parents (instead of lone)

* Sceptic fingers (instead of septic)

* And – my personal favourite – my report of a curb crawler (rather than kerb crawler) after a particularly juicy magistrates court case.

Continue reading ‘Why You Need to Spell Well in Business’ »

When most people think about marketing, they think advertising. While advertising is a part of marketing, marketing is much bigger than advertising. There are lots of different marketing methods floating around out there, and the challenge as a business owner is figuring out when it’s appropriate to use each one and the best way to use it.

Public relations, or PR, is the art of getting someone else to write or talk about you or your business. Preferably in a favorable manner. Traditionally, “someone else” was the media. In this day and age however, someone else can also be a blogger, a freelance writer, an e-zine publisher or even an owner of a big Web site. For purposes of this article, I’m using the word “media” to refer to all of those folks.

PR is also being able to get yourself on a big talk show to talk about yourself or your business, or writing your own article that’s published in a desired outlet. (Not your own newsletter or Web site.)

PR is one of my favorite marketing methods, but it can also be one of the more frustrating ones. Even when you do everything right, you still might not get the publicity you want. Or for that matter, ANY publicity at all. When a PR campaign doesn’t work, you can find yourself wanting to pull out all your hair in frustration.

Continue reading ‘Is PR Right for You? Six Questions to Ask’ »

So many people don’t understand the difference between editorial and advertorial. Well – here is a simple definition: editorial is free and written by journalists; advertorial (usually some words to go with an advert) is paid for. Now, while you have total control over the wording of your advert, or advertorial, you have to pay for it. And that can cost a lot.

Editorial is free. And, because it is free and at the discretion of the publication (or journalist), they aren’t obliged to publish anything at all, and they can change the words or emphasis to suit. But – and here’s the good news – if you have a great angle then there is every chance that you could interest a journalist in publishing your story.

The best way is through a press release. And that release has to have a really good angle to attract the reporters’ eye. It’s no good sending in a story saying that you are the best thing since sliced bread, even if you are. You need a hook, a peg to hang the story on, an angle.

So what about some of these for ideas?

* Your busines has reached its 10th, 25th, 50th, 100th birthday

* You have developed a new product

* You have clinched a fantastic deal/contract

* You have sold your millionth widget (!)

Continue reading ‘Do-it-yourself PR – or How to Get in the Press for Free’ »

We all know that written contracts are signed and agreed upon by clients and consultants to protect them legally and to spell out what is and isn¹t expected from both parties. (Handshake and verbal agreements are included in this, legally, as well. It is always best to have it in writing anyway.) But what happens when the contract is breached by one party?

Lately, and especially in this rough economy, there have been several incidents where a handful of my colleagues and I haven’t been paid in full and according to the contract for our work. (WARNING, small rant about to happen) In this day and age, I don¹t understand why people bother to sign contracts and then ignore them, sometimes on purpose. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. (Ok, I¹m done.) And while there are a few reasons (or are they excuses?) that these situations seem to have occurred: client dissatisfaction with results, no money coming in so it can’t go out, simply not wanting to pay, and claims that partnerships have been dissolved ­ there is simply no reason that consultants shouldn¹t be paid for their time and efforts.

Are the above reasons valid enough for the client not to pay for work completed? I think maybe the “no money coming in so it can’t go out” is fairly valid ­ for a few weeks or months. We’re all struggling to pay our bills right now. As for the client dissatisfaction with results, the client needs to be gently reminded that there are no guarantees with PR (unlike advertising), and that, as the consultant, you have given 100% effort on their behalf. But on all accounts, the consultants earned their paycheck and need to be paid for their work.

Continue reading ‘Public Relations’ »