Dealing With Journalists: Be on the Ball to Kick Some Media Goals
May 11, 2012
By Kerry McDuling, McDuling PR
When distributing a media release or contacting the media with a newsworthy story, it is important to remember that the media work to very tight deadlines and may require your input at short notice. Your ability to provide the information they require on time will ensure you remain a preferred contact on your topic of expertise in the future.
Being Immediately Contactable
Provide your contact details on the media release and on the email in a prominent position (e.g., at the top of the media release and on your email signature). A landline, a mobile phone number and an email address is sufficient. Once you have distributed the media release, ensure you are contactable on all of the numbers you have provided and also ensure you have access to your email account.
If you are not confident that you will be immediately available and contactable on the numbers you provided, then consider distributing your media release at another time when you are more readily available to respond to media requests.
If you miss that important call
It might happen that you miss a phone call from a journalist. Don’t panic – not all is lost. Journalists will almost always leave a message and upon receiving it, you need to return the call immediately, even if you suspect you have missed the deadline. This will show courtesy and ensure you will be considered next time a story opportunity arises.
Journalists will only call and leave a message once – after that, they will go elsewhere and you have missed out. You need to be available and provide the information they require in a timely fashion if you stand a hope of being a regular contact of theirs in the future.
Responding to emails
If the matter is less urgent, journalists may contact you by email – in other words, replying to your initial email to them requesting further information. However, treat this with no less priority than you would a phone call and respond appropriately at your earliest opportunity.
Remember that journalists often work out of normal working hours and may require your input early in the day (for example, for breakfast radio) or in the evening (for a print edition of a metropolitan newspaper.) Don’t be surprised or put out – that’s the nature of the beast!
MORE GREAT POSTS BY KERRY MCDULING
- Be Controversial to Win Attention
- How to Build Your Journalist Database
- The Biggest Problem all Businesses Face
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Kerry McDuling – McDuling PRKerry McDuling is a publicist and Director of her own public relations and publicity consultancy McDuling PR and exposure speciality business, Stratosphere Me – building brands and developing profitable business opportunities for companies, authors, speakers and entrepreneurs.
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Is Publicity and Media Coverage the Magic Bullet for My Business?
March 2, 2012
By Kerry McDuling, McDuling PR
Small businesses and solopreneurs mistakenly believe an article in a newspaper or an interview on radio or TV will literally turn their business around.
The answer, based on my own experience, is no, it won’t. Even if you manage to achieve a slot on morning TV, an article in your local newspaper and a number of radio interviews, your book will not suddenly start to sell like hot cakes and your phone will not ring off the hook.
Why then do people spend time and money pursing publicity through the media if the result is quite clearly not worth the while?
The truth is publicity and presence in the media is not a magic bullet – more of a long-term business marketing strategy.
If you appear in the media on one occasion, chances are much greater that your audience will read it and forget about it shortly after. If anything, it will simply provide valuable credibility for your business to those customers and clients who already do business with you. But it is not likely to cause people who haven’t heard of you to make a purchase, unless there are extraordinary circumstances at play – for example, if you operate within a very specific niche and have targeted your publicity perfectly.
The best goal to have for your publicity efforts is to aim for consistent and regular media appearances, in a variety of media that all target your desired audience. This way, your name and business will start to become recognisable and when consumers are ready to make a purchasing decision, they are more likely to go with who they consider to be the sector/industry expert. Remember – it is perception that matters in this instance, so whoever is more visible commentating on your industry sector, is who they will perceive to be the expert.
Here are some tips to ensure consistent media coverage:
- Include publicity as part of your marketing and business plan. If you don’t make a concerted effort to focus on this as often and seriously as you do your accounting, for example, chances are it won’t get done.
- Where possible, plan months ahead for the topics you will present to the media. If your funds allow, work with a public relations specialist to help you prepare your media schedule and put it into operation.
- A journalist contact database is like gold! Especially one that has come to respect your input and relies on your contribution. Build it and treat it the way you would your VIP clients!
MORE GREAT POSTS BY KERRY MCDULING
- Sending and Receiving News Updates via Social Media
- Go Viral – Publicity using Video
- Building a Personal Brand for Increased Exposure
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Kerry McDuling – McDuling PRKerry McDuling is a publicist and Director of her own public relations and publicity consultancy McDuling PR and exposure speciality business, Stratosphere Me – building brands and developing profitable business opportunities for companies, authors, speakers and entrepreneurs.
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Sending and Receiving News Updates via Social Media
February 17, 2012
By Kerry McDuling, McDuling PR
Over the weekend, many would have been shocked and dismayed to discover that songstress, Whitney Houston, had passed away. It has been said that this talented woman inspired a whole generation of artists. One of the most popular ways that this particular piece of news reached Australians would have been via Facebook, and not via the radio or TV, or newspapers, who were yet to run the story when it broke.
Collecting news via Facebook or other forms of social media is actually quite convenient because if you require more specific information, you can simply ask for it via these channels, and it will more often than not be supplied immediately. This eliminates the need to go trawling through news reports on public news outlets for information you are looking for.
Whether social media will replace all or a part of the need for traditional media remains to be seen, especially as it bleeds across into disseminating news in the areas of politics and business too.
You can also use social media to effectively disseminate your news, both to journalists and directly to your audience/customers.
Here are my top tips:
Firstly, make sure you have a presence on the various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.
- When you have news, post it there. Facebook and Twitter don’t allow room for your entire news broadcast, but they are perfect to provide links back to your blog for the full report, or even brief updates on news you have previously shared.
- Make sure you collect an audience across these channels. There is no point sharing news here unless you have people to consume it. There are plenty of tips to gather your audience specific to each platform, but generally, be active in relevant groups on Facebook and invite relevant people to “add” or “like” you. Hashtag relevant words to your industry in your Twitter updates and follow others so they are more likely to follow you.
- Post regularly and make sure it’s interesting and relevant. Whether your posts are all news oriented or personal as well depend very much on your publicity strategy, the nature of your industry of work, and the posts themselves among other factors. But the golden rules are regularity and relevance to your audience.
- Have an end goal in mind. Always! What are you hoping to achieve? This could be to build your profile as an expert in your industry with the view to gaining a reputation, or to sell a certain product or service. But an end goal will help you develop your news posts accordingly.
MORE GREAT POSTS BY KERRY MCDULING
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Kerry McDuling – McDuling PRKerry McDuling is a publicist and Director of her own public relations and publicity consultancy McDuling PR and exposure speciality business, Stratosphere Me – building brands and developing profitable business opportunities for companies, authors, speakers and entrepreneurs.
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Four Ways to Improve Your Business Pitch
January 24, 2012
By Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
If you had to get up tomorrow, or a week from now, and pitch your idea to an audience, how would you go?
James Stevens, Roses Only, Lindley Edwards, AFG Venture Group and Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen's Network
Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) recently gave four women the opportunity to pitch in front of a panel of judges (Dragons’ Den style) and an audience of about 60 other business owners.
These four entrepreneurs weren’t pitching for money, but were none-the-less expected to do their best to convey their message and provide enough information (but not too much) about what they were offering. In exchange, they got some business advice to help them improve their pitch and further their ideas.
I was on the panel, along with James Stevens of Roses Only and the delightful Lindley Edwards of AFG Venture Group.
Four courageous women took the stage:
- Nikki Hills, founder and managing director, Mouths of Mums
- Michelle Teague, entrepreneur looking for her next venture (Invisible ink name badges!)
- Angela Elliss, founder and managing director, Australian Home Design Directory Group
- Julie Ankers, founder and managing director, Statement Pieces
Overall, they all did a great job pitching their ideas.They (obviously) knew their business and were very passionate.
Some of the areas that they could have done better at were clarity of message, succinctness and being specific about what the outcome of the pitch was.
Despite the evening event being a great networking night for a bit of fun, the women did get some great advice from the panel, including these four areas below:
Four Ways to Improve Your Business Pitch
Length of Pitch. How Long Should Your Pitch Be?
Most presenters exceeded the suggested time limit. If you have an audience (whether with your bank manager, investors or a potential business client) and they have allocated a certain amount of time for a meeting – then stay within the boundaries. It shows you respect their time.
It’s easier to speak for a long time than to speak succinctly for a short time. So, practise, practise, practise.
Say what you need to say with the most punch and fewest words.
If you’re compelling, you can ask for extra time to expand, but don’t take it without checking in or you risk losing people’s focus.
A Clear Message Cuts Through
Nikki Hills, Mouths of Mums
It was not always clear what the intentions was behind the pitch each woman gave.
What do you want the audience/panel to do? be very clear in your outcome and state it.
For example:
Today I’d like to tell you enough about our 2012 plans to convince you to share our message with you clients.
or
I’m looking to raise $10,000 for marketing. Over the next 10 minutes, I’ll present our marketing plan and I’ll then ask for your input on our ideas.
Tell Your Story – Set the framework
Your personal story adds colour and life and allows us to see behind the person that is doing the pitch.
When I was a panelist on the Dragons Den TV show, we dragons signed up equally on the likability of the person as well as the message and numbers. People like to do business with those they know and trust, so let the audience know you.
Similar to the clarity of message point above, tell your story, but don’t get carried away. We don’t need to know your history and every detail – just enough to make a decision or follow a call to action.
Know your facts and study your competitors
If you’re going into a new market then learn about that market, your competitors and who your competition is. As much as we like to think sometimes that we have no competition, we always do. It just may not be obvious. If you’re bringing out a new telephone (I know – extreme example) then the iPhone is not your only competition – not is every other phone – it’s actually every other way that there is for people to connect with other people.
Also, the whole market is NOT your market. There’s usually a subset of the big group who you can effectively address. (This is your ‘addressable market’.)
When it comes to the numbers, get really crystal clear about what it will cost to implement a plan. If you’re not good with numbers then it’s difficult for investors to have confidence in you. Run the details past your accountant and, again, practise talking about them so that you’re comfortable if asked questions.
Remember, you may only have one opportunity to pitch in front of a particular person or group. Pitching is an art and a science, so look to improve your skills as a presenter, speaker and do your homework.
And, good luck.
Suzi
P.S. I recently interviewed Lindley Edwards about narrative in business storytelling. You can listen to the interview here on our website or tune in on iTunes.
About DWEN
The DWEN community is an invitation-only, global community established to bring together an influential group of female CEOs, presidents, founders and business leaders to share best practices within the unique and challenging world of running high-growth businesses.
With the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) and other related initiatives, Dell is spotlighting female entrepreneurial success and creating an atmosphere where women can connect with one another, share best practices, build business opportunities and recognise female influence in business and technology.
DWEN Annual Conference: Dehli, India
In 2012, Dell’s annual conference will be at the cultural mecca of Delhi, India from June 17-19. Attendance is by invitation-only.
To learn more join the DWEN “Women Powering Business” Linkedin Community: visit www.dell.com/dwen
Being part of the DWEN community creates unique opportunities to connect, share best practices, build business opportunities and recognise female influence in business and technology. In addition to the annual DWEN Conference, the community holds webinars, Tweetchats and face-to-face networking events throughout Australia.
Michael Stelzner’s Launch Webinar creates a Flurry of Inspired Customers
January 12, 2012
By Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
When was the last time you let someone know how much you appreciated what they did? When doing business with other businesses, it’s often easier to complain about what you’re not happy with then to give credit. At the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, we are extremely fortunate to have customers who tell us what we’re doing well.
You may have heard about Michael Stelzner’s book Launch — How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition. We’ve been recommending the book for about two months and just recently had the author on the popular BOOKED for Lunch webinar series. 600 people registered to listen in while we interviewed Michael about the rich nuggets of information in his book.
The book is terrific (in fact our whole advisory board is currently reading it) and, I feel, essential reading for business owners.
Here are some of their comments about the webinar, which you’ll find in our online store. It’s still available free (for a few weeks before it goes behind the premium-members-only wall).
So, I encourage you to take a listen.
More comments about Relevance
- The presentation mostly reinforced a lot of what I already practice/believe as a marketer. All good content.
- Fantastic webinar, so much relevant information
- Simplicity, good relevant information, direct and more importantly…..showing how a
business can truly benefit by being generous. - Old ideas but represented in a new way with new relevance
More comments about the speaker – Michael Stelzner
- Enjoyed Everything. So many takeaways from Mike I don’t know where to begin!
- Michael’s content was very valuable, the webinar was well facilitated, technology worked well.
- Michael using such creative and visual language to put his excellent points across.We definitely
try to use the techniques he has outlined so it was a great way to re-energise us at the tail
end of the year when we are all looking forward to a holiday. - Great clear, concise ad generous information offered.
- Michael is very generous with his knowledge, great tips about focusing on content &
customers rather than $$ - Useful and insightful tips shared by Mike.
More comments about the information
- ‘De-mything’ the sell, sell, sell mentality that is being FORCED down your throat when you’re looking at going online. THANK YOU. That is inspiring!
- Great content, awesome interview style.
- New ideas about how to go about launches, particularly around marketing and the ‘not sell’ idea
- Clear to listen to; interesting content
Thanks to everyone that listened in. We hope you’ll join us for the 2012 series of BOOKED for Lunch when it kicks off in February.
Does your website make you look out dated? 5 tell-tale signs.
January 6, 2012
Your website is just like a billboard. For many businesses, especially online businesses that don’t publicly trade from a physical location, your website IS the billboard that passing traffic sees.
But, does your business looking like it’s out of date when I look at your website? In this post I’ve included five tell-tale signs that you may have some updating to do to bring your website into the now.
But don’t worry. The big guys get it wrong too!
The Seymour Centre is a local theatre/performance Centre connected to the University of Sydney. I pass the theatre when walking my dog in Victoria Park in the inner city of Sydney.
The Seymour Centre, Sydney
In January, along with a number of Sydney venues, The Seymour Centre will host a number and local international acts as part of the Sydney Festival, a big summer lineup of music, theatre, art, dance.
Situated on a prominent corner near Sydney University thousands (probably tens of thousands) of cars pass The Seymour Centre each day.
As at late December the main billboard which can be seen from multiple directions as you approach the centre was still promoting acts that had passed in September. OOPS!
What a missed opportunity to highlight all the great shows they have coming up (a number of which I’ve booked to attend).
For many of us our website is our biggest billboard, with thousands (if we’re lucky) of people passing by each day.
Five Signs That Your Website Makes Your Business Look Out Of Date
- The last post on your blog or ‘updates’ section of your site is more than three weeks old
- The copyright notices on your website are not current
- Your About Us page doesn’t reflect your current business description, products and services
- The team photo on your Meet the Team page includes team members that have long left
- Any events listed on your site lapsed long ago
Updating these items is easy and a good ‘new-year’ list of things to take care of. I know we’re taking care of these very things next week when the office reopens.
Are their other areas we should add to this list? Let us know.
Suzi
P.S. The good news (!) is that I noticed last week that the billboard outside The Seymour Centre has been updated to promote the theatre’s January schedule.
MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY SUZI DAFNIS
- The business books that rocked my year, in a good way
- The three words that will shape my 2012 goals
- How to Use Social Media for Business Research
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Suzi Dafnis – Australian Businesswomen’s NetworkSuzi Dafnis is the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s Community Director and Chairperson of the Advisory Board. Suzi has been involved with the network since 1995. In 1998, she took over the network from its founder and has since managed and grown the network. She remains its media spokesperson and a champion of women in business. She is also the editor of the ABN’s newsletters, author of the herBusiness blog and presents the In Her Shoes video series and herBusiness podcast.
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Masterclass: More Effective Website Copywriting
December 22, 2011
By Belinda Weaver, Copywrite Matters
The ABN Masterclasses are small-group sessions that focus on specific member issues and offer practical advice in a hands-on way. I was honoured to present the very first Masterclass in December 2011, focusing on how to use copywriting to improve the performance of business websites.
If you couldn’t log into the live Masterclass or you haven’t watched the recording, here are the best tips on making your website copywriting more effective and engaging.
Copywriting Health Check Stage 1: Your credibility
When someone lands at your website, they get an instant impression about how reputable your business is. The look and feel of your website plays a big part in that critical first impression, but the types of pages you have also communicate a lot about your credibility.
To create the right impression, your website should have:
- Pages about your products or services
- An About page introducing yourself and/or your business
- Pages that show you’ve worked with other clients (like testimonials or case studies pages)
- A reasonably detailed contact page
All of these pages work together to tell me that you are a real and credible business.
Copywriting Health Check Stage 2: Every page essentials
Every page needs: to back up your value proportion
I call this your simple truth and it is the real benefit you offer your customers (when you get past the marketing speak and industry jargon). To work out your simple truth, imagine describing your business to someone you’ve never met. In response to your fantastically detailed explanation they say, “so what?” You dig a bit deeper. They say, “so what?” When you continue this imaginary conversation, you will eventually get to the simple truth behind what you offer the world.
Every page needs: to answer “what’s in it for me?”
This is the question your website visitors are asking from the moment they arrive on your website. Rather than simply describing what your business does, remember to link your services back to the reasons your website visitor is looking for a solution. How are you making their life better?
Every page needs: a headline
Your headline is the attention grabber for your page. As prime real estate, it’s useful to focus on the key benefit you offer and your main keywords. Imagine if your visitor read nothing else on the page, what is the most important thing they need to know? Another great tip is to make your page headline specific. If your headline would make sense in any other industry, there is an opportunity to make it more specific to your business.
Every page needs: a call to action
A call to action simply instructs your website visitor to perform an action. While you might think it’s obvious that you want people to email you for more information, register for your event or download your free report – a specific call to action will improve your response rate. Make your call to action clearly visible and actionable.
Copywriting Health Check Stage 3: Language and Readability
Once you know your key marketing messages and the benefits your target audience will care about, you can look at the way you communicate those messages. How well your audience understands your message is the key to action and fancy, formal language can sometimes do you more harm than good.
Here are some tips on making your copywriting easy to read and understand:
- Imagine speaking directly to a single person and write like you speak
- Keep your paragraphs relatively short and focused on one idea
- Vary the lengths of your sentences to create a changing rhythm
- Use whitespace to some breathing room around your copy
- Break up long sections of copy with subheadings and lists
Remember, always keep your simple truth in mind and make sure your website copywriting answers the question: what’s in it for me? Oh, and don’t forget those headlines and call to actions!
You can download the live Masterclass now and see my Copywriting Health Check applied to three member sites (along with more tips for effective website copywriting).
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Belinda Weaver – Copywrite MattersBelinda is a professional marketing copywriter who confidently walks the line between writing effective copy and creating an engaging brand personality. You don’t have to choose between them! The words you use really do make a difference and offline or online, you will get more clicks, calls and sales with the right words. It’s that simple. Belinda also empowers business owners to write great copy and the Copywrite Matters Facebook & Twitter pages have FREE weekly tips on copywriting and marketing. She loves to chat about SEO, websites, good business and all things marketing. Say hi and join the conversation!
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Ho Ho Ho, A’ Christmas Networking We Go
November 14, 2011
By Nerida Gill, Admin Bandit
Image by Pixomar*
“’Tis the season to be jolly,” goes the famous carol and I suggest the same applies to our small business activities at this time of year.
No, I’m not suggesting we turn Christmas into a cold, commercial transaction, but I do believe the many parties over the coming weeks give us the opportunity to celebrate our strong relationships and build new ones.
I’m well aware, of course, that many people think the words “work” and “party” are an oxymoron. Or, in fact, just a plain “moron” — we’ve all witnessed those awkward moments of silence or, worse, alcohol-fuelled liberation!
However, it doesn’t have to be that way. I have some ideas to make sure the Christmas parties you go to this year are fun, full of good cheer and networking successes.
When you’re the guest
My number one tip is probably the last one you’re expecting — it’s okay to decline an invitation.
You see, it’s about quality, not quantity.
And by that I mean attending a handful of Christmas parties with a networking strategy in hand is better than blindly chasing every balloon and streamer in town.
Consider these ideas:
- Look for parties hosted or attended by compatible businesses
- Find out who else is going to a party and create a list of people you’d like to meet, especially key decision-makers
- Always talk to your host and don’t be afraid to ask for introductions
- Aim to have quality conversations with 5-7 people
- Keep the conversation light and social — your aim is to meet people and have fun, not close a sale
- Don’t limit yourself to work parties — potential contacts have social lives too!
When you’re the host
Throwing a Christmas party is a great way to say “thank you” and reinforce existing relationships, not to mention reach out to new potential contacts.
One of the hardest things about organising an event is to provide guests with incentives to attend. Willingly. You want people to a come along feeling confident and relaxed… and I have three ways to achieve this.
First, entice them with a gift.
This could be:
- A Literal gift, such as a goodie bag, discount voucher or door prize
- A memorable location, such as a museum, chic café or charter boat
- A guest of honour, such as a personality or expert in your field
- An activity, which could be anything from a magician or string quartet to wine tasting or a cooking demonstration or even a guest lecture or workshop. Just make sure your activity doesn’t cause embarrassment or discomfort… not everyone wants to go paintballing or do karaoke!
Second, make sure your party is easy to attend…
…which means sending invites that let your guests know exactly what to expect.
Apart from the obvious, include:
- A finish time
- The purpose of your party; for example, to celebrate increasing sales by 15% over the year
- Who is attending; for example, a select group of loyal and supportive friends, customers and associates
- The names of guests of honour, MCs or entertainers
- A dress code
- What refreshments will be served; for example, a buffet dinner or coffee with sweet Christmas treats
- Any speeches or activities that will occur.
Third, create a comfortable atmosphere and make meeting new people painless.
Do this by:
- Allowing guests to bring their own guest, such as a colleague or family members
- Providing name badges with big, clear writing. Don’t just write a person’s name… add their business, association or link to give context and spark conversation
- Making something happen early… have a welcome speech or some entertainment 15 to 20 minutes into the party to create a sense of unity and open opportunities for interaction
- Having an MC to guide guests through your party
- Having people whose job is to greet guests, start conversations, introduce people and keen an eye out for anyone at a loose end
- Making sure your refreshments are top notch!
Consider an e-party
In these days of global workplaces, not to mention impossible parking, an e-party or, more formally, a virtual event is perfect if you want your Christmas party to be a learning-based event, such as a seminar, workshop or q and a.
A successful e-party has five aspects:
- Technology: while you can buy e-conferencing software, I recommend small business owners keep it simple and use Facebook, blogs or a forum on your website
- A compelling topic: grab interest by discussing a trend, an item currently in the news or a problem that needs solving
- Purpose and structure: know precisely what you want to achieve and have a chair to introduce experts and guide discussion
- Engage participants: create interest and facilitate discussion with videos, images and plenty of opportunities for questions
- Time: give a specific timeframe, ranging from an hour to a number of months.
To give you an idea just how successful even a simple virtual event can be, my friend has been following an ongoing thread on an Australian horse forum that allows horse owners to ask a snake expert questions. Seventeen pages and 3,683 views later, the thread is still on a hot topic on the front page!
MORE GREAT POSTS BY NERIDA GILL
- Entrepreneurial Qualities: Lessons from the Life of Steve Jobs
- Keeping Up With Your Brand: A Reality Lesson from the Kardashians
- Are You Responsible? How Small Business Can Give Back
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Nerida Gill – Admin BanditNerida Gill is the creator of Admin Bandit, a web-based accounting package designed specifically to make keeping the books easy for volunteer treasurers in community groups. After winning numerous business awards, Admin Bandit is in a growth phase after recently attracting external investment.
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Four End of Year Tribal Connecters
November 2, 2011
By Kate Tribe, Tribe Research
How are you connecting with your tribe for the end of the year? It is time to start implementing some ideas. Here’s four of my tips.
Find a way to support a core segment of your business
At the end of last year, I wanted to help other small business owners. I took on a Christmas mission to buy all of my family’s presents from Australian SMEs.
- It allowed me to think creatively about what to buy because I wasn’t just walking into a department store to find the best option. I needed to think about the business owners I knew and if their product or service would be great for one of my family.
- It helped me to understand the buying process of my friend’s businesses and give them feedback about it.
- I advertised the purchases along the way so that they were promoted at the same time.
- I had a story to tell my family when I gave them their gift.
I wrote about my Christmas mission at the time.
Individual presents for clients
Don’t select one item and give to every client. It might be quicker to select one item, like wine, and give it to all clients that you’ve decided to give a present to, but it isn’t as special. Another way to give a special thank you is to make it. You can do it in a way that shows them another side of you and is generous.
Connect clients together that could help each other
Instead of going on individual lunches with various favourite clients, take two or three out together so they can meet and network. It will educate your clients about other work you do and allow them to find out some of the other amazing people you know. A slightly larger group makes it more fun and saves you time.
Find a way to reconnect in the new year
Instead of sending end of year cards, utilise the quieter period in January to write new year cards. It will allow you to enjoy the end of the year and you’ll be top of mind at the start of the year.
MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY KATE TRIBE
- Customer Feedback Survey Response Rates
- More isn’t always better when getting survey participants
- Grandpa didn’t understand the term networking. It’s just good practice.
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Kate Tribe – Tribe ResearchKate Tribe is the founder and Managing Director of Tribe Research. Kate has developed Tribe Research into an innovative and creative company focusing on accessible ways for business, non-profit and government sectors to grow from a better understanding of their tribe. Tribe Research aims for customers to explore their tribes of clients, customers, suppliers and staff, to uncover their views, and drive change in each clients business. Kate understands that as leaders of an organisation you need to be clear-headed about your marketing and business planning priorities and has made this a primary focus of Tribe Research’s solution. Kate believes that getting to know your tribe should be an enjoyable journey of discovery that gives you a clear head and direction to move forward, to drive change in the right direction.
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ProBlogger Training Day – Top tips to improve the performance of your blog
October 27, 2011
By Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
Last Friday, Australian Businesswomen’s Network members and bloggers Yvette Vignando, Vivienne Kane, Alycia Edgar and Johanna Baker-Dowdell and I (along with over 300 others) attend the ProBlogger Training Day in Melbourne. The one-day event was been created for bloggers of all levels to come together to learn and network – with the goal of building better blogs.
We decided to put together our top take-aways from the day – ideas that resonated with us and that we think you will find valuable.
“Create a profile of who your ideal readers would be.”
Attending blogging conferences is always enriching for me especially because of the variety of people I meet there with interesting niches and fascinating blogs. But the ProBlogger conference had an extra edge for me because some of the speakers were also at the top of their game when it comes to blogging and monetisation of a blog.
Reflecting on the messages and information that would be especially relevant to the general blogging community, these are the ones that stood out for me:
- Be careful to value your blog and its niche when dealing with requests for PR. Phoebe Montague (aka Lady Melbourne) stressed that it is not usually a good idea to use your blog to work for free or very little. So for example, instead of reviewing a product worth $50 in return for keeping the product, consider charging a fee (perhaps double that) for the review – the income pays you for your work.
- It’s not always possible to write with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in mind, but make sure you write on your main topics regularly to keep your Blog optimised. (And by the way, although we don’t use WordPress for the happychild.com.au blog, we were told that there is an Editorial Calendar plugin for WordPress that could be useful.
- Create a profile of who your ideal readers would be and then use it to create posts that are relevant to them.
- “Branding is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” Try to understand what your blog’s brand is and make sure that this clarity is reflected in what you write.
— Yvette Vignando, happychild.com.au
“Motivate your readers to come back.”
The most important points for me from the morning sessions were:
- Don’t assume your reader is you – it’s probably a much broader audience than that.
- When you write, write as though you are speaking to one person – make it personal.
- Your “voice” and content should differentiate you – be authentic.
- Motivate your readers to come back – ask questions and be a problem solver.
— Vivienne Kane, Minuteman Press Prahran
“Nothing is more important then being yourself”
When trying to attract readers, nothing is more important then being yourself, including sharing personal insights, anecdotes and your own photos. Productivity can be an issue if you’re blogging as well as working, so write posts in batches and use comments and questions to help source new topics.
When putting together a strategy for blog content, brainstorm ideas and then ask readers which topics appeal to them.
— Johanna Baker-Dowdell, Strawberry Communications
“There is a fine line between giving away too much and devaluing your paid products and services.”
A comment by special guest Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week: “a lot of teaching fails from too much information, not too little,” rounded up my learnings at the ProBlogger event.
Sonia Simone of Copyblogger, in an earlier session, had spoken extensively about tribes and the know, like and trust factor with some great information, but the message I truly received from this uber-intelligent person was this:
If you start to develop a tribe, people will pay to be a member, for access (without trolls). People will also pay for exclusive access to you, advanced training and Q&A sessions are like gold.
In other words, while freemium is a great model from a marketing perspective, there is a fine line between giving away too much and devaluing your paid products and services.
Sonia summed it up beautifully (IMHO) — “How can you become their latte so they can’t live without it?”
Put the really juicy stuff behind the paid wall, value those that are paying money for access, but still provide great free content as a marketing tool.
— Alycia Edgar, Coastal Accounting Services
And me…
“Always make it clear what you want people to do.”
- Put more YOU on your blog and in your posts.
- To create trust – show up, pay attention, don’t lie.
- Don’t dilute the sales funnel with distractions. Focus the message.
- Sometimes selling does not involve money – often you’re selling a concept.
- Your readers cannot find your old content – so repackage content to make it more readily available.
- Always make it clear what you want people to do.
— Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
I really enjoyed the day.
The speakers were first class (I’d recommend you put the next one in your schedule if you want to be a better blogger or just create better content for your social media and your website).
You can read more about the Problogger Training Day here.
And I also recommend you subscribe to Darren Rowse’s Problogger blog here.
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