DIY PR by Penny Haywood Calder

Staff are at the front line and spend a lot of their waking hours with you, so they could be your business' most knowledgeable and credible advocates - if you give them the information they need.

Even if the 6 degrees of separation theory has been disproved, most people are better connected than we realise: your staff among them. Even if it’s only friends like them who would be good workers, saving you lots of recruitment costs and time. But you’d be amazed at who their uncle knows.. so keep them up to speed with the company. But they can't pass on good news about your business if they don't know it!

Same goes for your family and friends. I once met a wife who was playing tennis with the wife of the top guy on her husband's key potential client list. He hadn't told her, so she never even thought to mention the surname of her tennis pal to him... A simple dinner invitation was all it took when I pointed out the connection.

And advisers.

Your lawyer and accountant are dealing with 100s of businesses a year. Why shouldn't they refer you if they come across a need for your services? But you won't be at the front of their mind when they come across someone who needs your goods or services if you don't keep them up-to-date with positive feedback. And they are businesses too. You might want to explore a more formal arrangement to cross promoting each other?

But different people swim into your orbit at different times and there comes a point when keeping track of these newsletters and contact actions needs to be organised so you don’t send out the same snippet or newsletter twice to the same person. It's all too easy to do if you get a few interruptions in your day...

This is where a CRM (customer relationship management) program like SalesForce or Act! or the free open source program: ChannelCRM.dk (it has been translated into English) could be very useful. Don't let the ‘customer’ bit in the name put you off - these are contact management systems that work well for managing communications with potential client.

This is the seventh in a series of posts re-visiting some of the 30 low cost or free publicity techniques featured in PHPR's founder's best-selling book: DIYPR, the small business owner's guide to 'free' publicity by Penny Haywood.

The 30 techniques are a mix of digital and offline sales, marketing and PR tools because you need to work all three disciplines (sales, marketing and PR) to effectively boost a business.
That's because:

PR raises awareness.

Marketing describes the features and benefits of your offerings and decides how to position them in the market (positioning for price, gaps in the market, distribution etc versus your competitors).

Sales matches the benefits to an individual buyer's particular needs and handles the mechanics of the sale and after sales service liaison.
As the series develops, choose a few to trial for a few months.
The aim is to work up to 10 varied publicity techniques that work for you and your business to create a rolling PR Plan for success.

Your feedback is most welcome and may be included (with proper attribution) in the forthcoming revised edition of DIY PR.

Labels: 6 degrees of separation, communications, DIY PR, ecommerce, PR, running a business

"Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy." Groucho Marx

Labels: Groucho Marx, money, running a business

"You must do the things you think you cannot do." Eleanor Roosevelt

Labels: Eleanor Roosevelt, motivation, running a business

What is it about impending winter that makes me sign up for winter runs? At least I'll be fit for skiing.

Labels: fit for business, running a business

Winter vomiting bug was as much fun as it sounds - bring on the rest of the week!

Labels: running a business

"The flypaper of an unfocused mind"..."may trap new ideas and unexpected associations" better than reasoning according to researchers. So instead of working hard, try lightening up to get some perspective on the things that are important and allow the mental cogs to freewheel once in a while.

Labels: creative thinking, PR, running a business

How often do you have a great idea at your desk? No? In the shower? Or in bed? Breakthrough by not working!

Labels: creative thinking, PR, running a business

Really thought provoking piece in a Harvard Business School blog by Peter Bregman on "Why the Wrong People Get Laid Off - essentially they are "too confusing to fire" because no-one understands the consequences of getting rid of them.

Means that in a downturn, better organised people who communicate more (and are much more effective employees) get the heave-ho. Another reason why smaller businesses have an edge over larger organisations?

But also a warning not to let it happen in your business.

Labels: communications, Harvard Business, running a business

Inspired by an article in last year's Harvard Business Review that said: "True professions have codes of conduct," written by Harvard Business School professors Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, the students researched and created their own code.

Around half of the 886 graduating Harvard Business School students signed up, pledging to "manage the companies they work for in a way that safeguards not just the interests of stakeholders, but of fellow employees, customers, and the larger society in which they function".

Part of me wonders what the other half will do with their business lives.

But if you are looking to add inspiring moral vision to your enterprise, you could do worse than to base your business ethics on a version of their code of conduct here: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2009/06.11/hbsoath.html.

But if you do establish a code, you need to ensure you adhere to it, from top to bottom within the company with regular examples of walking the talk. If you don't it will backfire badly as an obvious load of claptrap, damaging your reputation.

There's only so much that PR can sort out, even with the best PR team on the case.

There's no getting round the fact that it takes time to heal a damaged reputation.

The best PR practice of all is to walk whatever talk you choose, and to operate fairly.

Labels: Business Ethics, Code of Conduct, Harvard Business, PR, running a business