Archive for the 'Hints & Tips' Category

The Dominos Effect - Why you can’t ignore online PR

Published
by
Emily
on April 16, 2009
in Hints & Tips and Online PR
. 1 Comment

Its often difficult to explain to clients the importance of monitoring their reputation online and justifying time and money spent on online communications can be a challenge.

This example will help!

On Monday, April 13, 2009 a couple of Dominos employees took it upon themselves to post this video on YouTube


Within 2 days the video had over 690,000 viewers and was shaping up to be a real social media nightmare for Dominos

On Digg - the video was favored by over 5,000 viewers

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… causing a twitter storm!

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And here’s a snapshot of Google News results for

Dominos Pizza…

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Apart from the obvious  - Dominos problem was they allowed the video to gather attention for 48 hours before responding with this statement

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The moral of the story?

This could happen to any one’s brand - we know that.  What is key is to constantly monitor social media and respond immediately! A global franchise like Dominos simply can’t afford to ignore what’s being said about it online.  Dominos have learned that the hard way.

But its not just global brands, we all need to keep an eye on what’s being said about us online.  This is the new ‘crisis communications’.  If somebody is going to say something negative about you or your brand they are most likely to say it online.  If you are not monitoring the internet, like Dominos, you could have over half a million people knowing the bad news before you do.

So here are some tips for small businesses…

  • regularly ‘Google’ yourself
  • set up Google alerts to monitor your company name, brands, the names of key personnel
  • set up a Twitter account and get int the habit of searching for your company/brand names
  • respond to any comments about you as quickly as possible, interaction and communication can work wonders!

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Microsoft Bizspark Innovation Accelerator

Published
by
Emily
on February 24, 2009
in Hints & Tips
. 1 Comment

Really interesting day at the Bizspark event in Dublin today.

Thanks to everyone who came to my presentation  - if you’ve any comments/feedback I’d love to hear it.

(Also anyone who was at Bizcamp Dublin, this is a similar presentation!)

Bizcamp.ie - A business conference by you
Counting down to bizcamp.ie

Preparing for PR: Chosing the right PR consultant

Published
by
Emily
on January 20, 2009
in Hints & Tips
. 1 Comment

Last week I blogged about ways you can get yourself ready for outsourced PR and save yourself some money.

This week is all about where to start looking for that PR person…

1) Decide on your budget

As I discussed last week you need to have a clear idea of your goals (get 5,000 more sign-ups, raise investment, boost sales, change perceptions, announce something new etc etc).  With this in mind, you now need to work out how much you hav884071_budget_cutse to spend on PR.  This is crucial - its not a good idea to say “how much do you think I should spend?”.

As you would with any other expenditure, check what you can afford.  Thinks of it in terms of investment and give the perspective PR company/person a ballpark figure.  They will either tell you to get lost (some PR companies are simply not interested in small accounts!) or they’ll go and devise a plan to get you the most out of your cash.

How much should you spend = how long is a piece of string? For example, I have a client with a €200 onlinePR budget with which she wants to attract more traffic to her website -  I would think of that as minimal, but not impossible.

As a guide, think about what you need done in terms of hours for example writing a press release (if all the information required is supplied would take at least 2-3 hours.

If you want an event, like a launch or press conference, think about the costs of hiring a venue, photographer, speaker, DJ etc etc.  Remember to ask your PR company to get suppliers to bill you directly - some PR companies are in the practice of adding 20% to these suppliers costs for the pleasure of paying for those things themselves and adding it to their final bill.

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The right, creative, innovative PR professional will be able to make the most of your budget, whatever you have to spend.

2) Go forth and seek…

962544_business_womanThere are a number of places you start your search for an Irish PR professional to suit your needs:

Remember: Some PR consultancies specialise in different fields/industries/areas of expertise while others will turn their hand to anything - if you are looking for something in particular, narrow your search terms and be sure to mention it in your initial contact.

3) What should you look for…

PR is all about relationships, its not just a cliche!  If you don’t click with the person immediately its unlikely to work.1029084_reaching_2

Look for some knowledge of who you are and what you do (if they have had time to do some background research between your request to meet/talk and the actual meeting!).  At the very least, knowledge and understanding of your industry is crucial.  If you’re selling a service to web developers - a PR campaign based on traditional media outlets is not going to cut it.

Ask about how their company works - if a team of 5 are looking to earn from your custom, its likely to cost you more.

Ask for details of how they charge, the hourly rates for account executives, account managers and account directors.  This is not an unreasonable question.

Two like signs make a plus! If you are a modern, innovate company look for a modern, innovative PR consultancy.495330_creative_cubes

Look for creativity - national newsrooms receive up to 300 different press releases between 7am and 12 mid day daily - yours needs to stand out.

Seek out someone with energy, who allows themselves get excited at the thought of representing you.

Finally, harping back to my ‘Get Flexible‘ post - look for a bit of flexibility.  If you don’t want a retainer initially, don’t be bullied into signing up for one!

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Preparing for PR: Some tips to save money!

Published
by
Emily
on January 12, 2009
in Hints & Tips
. 9 Comments

So, you’ve set aside a budget and decided you’re going to invest in a bit of PR be it traditional or online PR.  What’s next?

Well I would suggest you save yourself a few bob by getting your house in order first (remember: PR is charged by the hour!). Here are a few money saving tips….

1) Compile a company history883161_full_portfolio_1

Whoever you hire is going to need access to a verbal history of your company, brands, executives or any other relevant information which they may eventually use for a press release or as a ‘hook’ on which to generate a bit of media attention.

If you can hand a PR professional this information on on a disk or email you are going to save them the job (and the hours) of trying to compile this company history, nagging you for the info and getting it into a word doc - you’ve already saved yourself money!

Don’t worry about trying to compose a masterpiece - that’s why you’re hiring a professional.  But do try to have your company blurb in chronological order and highlight anything you think is a newsworthy fact or of particular importance.

2) Get your website ‘Media-ready’1105360_internet

Journalists, especially those in the ‘traditional media’ (newspapers, radio, TV, magazines…) will more then likely hit your website on receipt of a press release about you or your product.  You should endeavour to have all the information they need on your media page (newsroom, information centre - whatever you want to call it as long as its clear).

Here, you should have a well written company history (might need some PR help for this, but you can have the bones of it done, as above), quick links to descriptions of what your offering, any previous media coverage, photos (again you might be better to leave this to the PR person) and an up-to-date company news section with any announcements and press releases.

Most importantly you will have useful contacts for key staff members.

An office phone number, which will be put through to a receptionist during office hours, who will then have to have a think about who is best to deal with the media, is not useful.  Journalists do not work 9-5.  They will need a mobile number of someone who is cleared to deal with media queries and authorised to give an answer.923068_man_calling_outside_1

The best person to deal with the media is the PR person - but if you are working with an outsourced consultant this may not be practical or budget friendly.  A media trained CEO is the next best person to answer the journalist’s call (via the mobile number given on the website).

Remember, a journalist does not normally get any pleasure out of calling people very late at night or very early in the morning, but sometimes its necessary - try not to bite their head off!

3) Have a good idea of what you want….

Its very difficult to give a client what they want if they’re not sure themselves!  Before inviting anyone to pitch you ideas try and have a good idea of:1028209_man_thinking

  • what you want to achieve (sales, better feedback, brand recognition)
  • who you want to talk to (your target audience or your ‘publics’)
  • what methods you like
  • what methods you don’t like
  • what your competitors are at

If you can get these on paper - all the better!

In my next post, I’ll be giving some tips on finding the right PR consultant for you…

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