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Blog posts in PR
Happy christmas from Marketing Donut!
December 22, 2011
We’ll be taking a short break from blogging over Christmas and will be back in the New Year, bringing you more news, views and advice to help your business grow in 2012.
2011 has been another great year for Marketing Donut. We’ve published 170 blogs and over 400 news stories about issues affecting small businesses.
And the Donuts continue to grow — we launched Tax Donut in August and our combined Donut Twitter following has reached almost 35,000 followers.
Thank you!
We couldn’t have done it without all of you — it’s your insights, comments, blogs and tweets that make the Donuts such a fantastic resource for small businesses in the UK.
We’d especially like to thank all our experts that have generously shared their knowledge with us. We’d also like to say a big thank you to the small firms that have told us about their experiences.
And thanks to everyone for tweeting and retweeting, for commenting on articles, posting on the forum, blogging and for joining us on LinkedIn and Facebook.
In praise of our bloggers
We are especially fortunate to have a growing band of bloggers who continue to inform and delight us in equal measure. We know you love our blogs too, judging by the number of tweets they attract.
But what do you want to see on Marketing Donut in 2012? Tell us below which areas you’d like us to cover. Do you need more information, guidance or resources to help you with your marketing strategy? Let us know and we’ll try to help.
Have a great Christmas and a fun New Year. We’ll be back on 3 January with more news, articles, blogs, tweets, offers and advice — everything you need to help you run your business better.
Happy Christmas!
Rachel Miller, Marketing Donut Editor
How PR can help SMEs
September 01, 2011
When it comes to marketing communications, today’s SME manager has a wealth of tools, from classic print advertising to viral marketing. Whether you are looking for awareness or increased sales, you are spoilt for choice. But each tool is different. Effectiveness, in turn, means using subtle combinations of the toolkit – not just more of one or another.
So what about PR? Although versatile, PR in its broadest sense (off and online), almost alone, helps SMEs manage complexity and campaign over extended periods. Its extended editorial formats allow firms to deliver multiple messages and handle “shades of grey”. Meanwhile, its ability to spin a narrative over many months creates sustainability: more novel than short story.
Here are three illustrations: agenda creation, agenda subversion and market re-positioning.
Agenda creation
It’s no accident that Silicon Valley start-ups hire PR firms first. Unless they can explain (PR) their new technology’s competitive advantage quickly and successfully, everything else — from funding to market channels and logistics — will founder. So, if you’ve invented the next-generation potato-peeler, created a roast beef fast food formula or identified the next hairdressing “killer app”, start with PR. It will make your case to all interested parties including media.
Quick litmus test: if you’re struggling to explain your next business idea to your best friend, let alone your mother or, heaven help us, the bank manager, call for PR. It will help make your story simple and compelling.
Subversion
Conversely, imagine you’re on the defensive. Your local rival has seized the moral environmental high ground. Coverage of the firm’s special efforts is everywhere. By implication, and unfairly, your firm is the dinosaur. You’re dangerous. And you’re losing business.
In this context, getting angry, issuing blanket denials or — worst of all — making legal threats, digs an ever-deeper hole. PR helps you step aside and research and identify a solid evidence-based agenda that will overturn your rival’s position. It will make you the winner on a different, stronger dimension. And, be reassured, you will almost always win on something. Creative PR will find the angle, subvert and change the game.
Re-positioning
Finally, complexity and time come together in re-positioning. Imagine you own a solid mid-market well-groomed pub with an ageing, declining and low-margin lunchtime food trade. You want to extend your market appeal. Not to youth which would require huge investment and lack credibility but to nearby market segments like middle-aged business customers and upmarket shoppers. And all without causing your loyal “silvers” to defect. It’s tricky, but this is home turf for PR — a likely mix of carefully chosen language, apparently different menus, special promotions, easy online access/bookings and business networking.
So if you’re thinking, “I need a bit of PR” and you’re mentally seeing a pile of general press releases, pause for a moment. Be clear about what you really want to achieve and the toolkit that you may require. And if you fancy a little subversion...
Dr Bill Nichols is a Senior Lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University and former Chairman of international communications consultancy Whiteoaks.
You can find out more about PR in these articles:
Why you should openly share your genius
August 25, 2011
We don’t hard-sell now, it simply isn’t the “done” thing and it not only smacks of desperation, it’s downright rude. Nowadays it’s far more fun to be helpful.
We’ve moved to a much more tactical approach to new business marketing where we openly share wisdom with other well-matched business targets and offer to help them with their (marketing) challenges. Sharing knowledge also makes us feel good. This is a far cry, and so much more refreshing than the old ways that were laden with guilt.
My list of reasons for openly sharing your genius grows regularly, so I thought I’d post a few of my main points.
1. It really does enable you to develop relationships more readily and places you in good stead to win business faster.
2. People are more likely to come to you for help. Your giving nature makes you approachable and therefore initial barriers have already been overcome.
3. Your thoughts and opinions are a demonstration of true experience, insight and passion in your marketplace.
4. Offering up your expertise and general market advice stands you apart as an influencer and industry leader.
5. It’s easy. We have a multitude of social platforms we can access and build a community of like-minded types to engage with. Regular contribution and involvement will also enable prospective clients and partners to find you easily.
Sally Danbury is the founder of Cake Business Matching and an expert contributor to Marketing Donut.
Powerful photography: the absolute essentials
July 05, 2011
Now I am no photographer. But when it comes to graphic design I know my stuff. And I know which images work and which don’t. I’ve lost count of the number of times a client has sent over the much anticipated images (fully briefed and confident that the friend of the family that has promised to take the photos is up to the job…) and we have realised that we need to do some swift disaster recovery.
Sometimes poor images can be rescued with a bit of Photoshop work. But do bear in mind that this is far from ideal, usually takes time that you’ll need to pay for, and should only ever be used as a last resort. Sometimes said family friend will reshoot with a bit more expert guidance from the off. Sometimes the client accepts the need to invest in decent photography (Hallelujah!). Sometimes we resort to stock photos.
It pays to just get it right in the first place. But what does that mean? What are we looking for when we talk about powerful photography?
Powerful photography is aspirational. It creates a mood, tugs at the heartstrings and increases desire. They say a picture paints a thousand words — photography gives you that power.
Powerful photography is well lit. You can cheat at this (I’ve recently learnt) with Curves in Photoshop. But nothing can make up for bad light, shadows in the wrong places and a dull pallor. The pros know how to look out for all of this stuff. It comes naturally to them. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Leave it to them!
Powerful photography has the right thing at the centre of the focus. You need to look at the image and know what it’s about: know what it’s trying to show you. Take a look at your images: do they communicate clearly?
Powerful photography is well styled. It goes back to the aspirational thing. Styling helps tell a story, create a mood and sell a lifestyle.
Powerful photography works with the design. We have a handful of photographers that we love to work with because they listen to our brief, bother to understand how we want to use the images and take into account where we might want to place copy and how we might crop down the images.
We will always offer to brief a photographer if a client is taking care of their own images. We don’t do it for free, but it’s a darned site cheaper than Art Direction – or the downside of having to reshoot!
What else do you think makes for powerful photography? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Fiona Humberstone is an expert contributor to Marketing Donut and managing director of Flourish.
Read more in our guide to graphic design.
Is blogging the new PR?
May 25, 2011
Ask anyone in the business of selling a product and they’ll evangelise about the benefits of having their wares featured in a magazine. Not only does a feature in a magazine — be it in the “What’s new” section, part of an article or a specific feature to drive traffic to your site — it’ll give your business much-welcomed kudos to be endorsed by a magazine title your customers look up to. It’s also a sneaky ego-boost.
But gaining PR in printed titles isn’t easy. Nor is it as cheap as it first seems. You either need to be on very good terms with the magazine editors, which takes time to foster, or you need to have an incredibly hard-working and focused PR company working on your behalf, which, let’s face it, ain’t cheap.
What many e-tailers seem to be overlooking is that the rise in the uber-bloggers provides just as precious PR as traditional printed literature channels. These blogs can provide just as much influence as the glossies and better still, these blogs often link direct to your website! I’m not just talking about you using your own blog to build relationships and generate awareness, I’m talking about you getting your products featured on top blogging sites just as you would an aspirational magazine.
So how do you get your products featured on an uber-blog?
Start by doing your homework. Read the bloggers in your niche and suss out which ones resonate with your brand and your clients. Draw up a hit list of five or so that you’d like to be featured on and start to build relationships with the writers. Network with them on social media sites such as Twitter and comment on their blogs. Ideally you want to maintain a buzz of regular exposure, so build long-term relationships if you can, rather than one-hit wonders.
Bloggers love good content! Great photos, news their clients will love, scoops, sneak peeks and so on are great for the bloggers. It adds richness to their site as well as making their lives easier. I love the ethics of bloggers such as Design*Sponge who only feature on merit rather than due to backhanders! It definitely makes the reading experience more authentic.
I’ve seen too many blogs recently that have clearly just cut and pasted badly written press releases on blogs. It doesn’t work for the blogger or the product and it looks transparent. Blogging is different to the printed media. Just as you wouldn’t want a journalist to print your press release in full (including contact information for your PR), so you don’t want bloggers to publish that info either. And whereas traditional PR may follow a very fixed format, blogging is more free and easy. When we’re reading a blog we want the inside scoop – and that means the blogger giving their opinions and hopefully endorsing your product in some way – so don’t write your usual style press release.
Make sure you send in great images and ask the blog owner what they’re looking for. Oh, and just as with printed media don’t forget to be grateful – a little thank you (I mean literally just thank you – no need to bribe…) goes a long way!
Fiona Humberstone is an expert contributor to Marketing Donut and managing director of Flourish.
Find out more on how to write blogs:
The importance of images in PR
April 18, 2011
Many people think that PR is about press releases, text and words — which, to a certain extent it is. However, the importance of images cannot be underestimated.
Pick up a newspaper or magazine near you and have a flick through — what catches your eye? I would guess that the stories with accompanying images are the ones that get your attention, which should be telling you that good images are essential when trying to achieve press coverage.
As PR professionals, one of the biggest problems we face is clients who don’t understand the importance of images, so here some guidelines on images and how and why to use them.
- A picture says a thousand words — whether it’s a product image, an image of you and your team or images from an event. Including an image in your press release will grab a journalist’s attention and help you tell your story.
- Think about the different images you might need. It’s useful to have a variety of shots — from your product in action, to cut outs to your product on a plain white background. That way, your shots will be appropriate for most uses.
- It’s always a good idea to invest in a proper photo shoot. Never underestimate what a photographer can do for your brand. Outside of the business of actually taking the photos, a good photographer can advise on the kind of images you need to show your business to its best advantage, provide lighting and professional backdrops and develop creative ideas to really make you stand out from the crowd.
- Avoid amateur Photo-shopping – if you can’t afford a proper shoot, it’s best to avoid making the shots up. Badly Photo-shopped images are obvious and won’t do your brand any favours.
- Finally and most importantly, newspapers and magazines can only use high-res images, so it’s essential that any images you send have a resolution of over 300 dpi (dots per inch) and are at least 1MB.
Ceri-Jane Hackling is the managing director of Cerub PR.
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