In print!

When you have a marketing budget the issue of PR is often something you start thinking about.  Dreams of making the headlines in the national dailies drift through your mind – in a positive way, of course.  The national dailies are hard to crack – unless you are launching something that is really leading edge or doing something that is VERY high profile.  

Fortunately, from a PR perspective, that’s not necessarily where your target market is usually looking for business information.  They may skim the business section, but they’re much more likely to read specialist journals or dedicated magazines that cater to their niche or industry.  These are often much easier to access as they usually run on a smaller scale.

7 steps to success

1: Make a list of between 5-12 publications that your target audience reads.  They may be digital or print – or both.

2: Visit their websites and learn as much as you can about them.  See if there is any information about submissions on the site, check for editor’s names and contact details.  If there’s an editor specifically for your niche, it’s better to contact them, rather than the editor-in-chief.  

3: Read at least a couple of issues of their publication – or a handful of articles, if they’re digital.  You need to get a feel for the kind of content they publish and their style, so you can match it.  You’ll also see how the author is identified.  If articles have a line or two at the end that says Joe Blogs is Managing Director of Acme Widgets. www.acmewidgets.eng that will give you a good indication that they publish articles from external authors and also a guide to what is acceptable to add to your article about you.

4: Create 3 article titles, with a short one paragraph summary, - for each publication.  While you can write the same information for different publications, you should never submit the same article to more than one editor, you need to rewrite it so it is a different article.

5: Email the editor you’ve identified for each publication and ask if they accept non-commissioned articles and give them your three headlines with the summaries.  

6: If the editor is interested and asks you to submit one or more of your articles, you’ll need to find out the word count expected and the deadline for submission.  Then write your article.  It’s essential that you write with the reader in mind – deliver useful information that has value for the reader and the editor will be happy to place other articles in future.  Anything that sounds like a sales pitch will almost certainly get ‘spiked’ (journalist-speak for put in the bin).

7: Check for spelling, punctuation and grammar (or get someone else to do that for you) and send your article in by the deadline.  While there is sometimes a bit of wriggle room, you need to negotiate this.  If it’s a hard deadline and you’re late, the editor will have an empty page to fill and you’ll get a reputation for being unreliable.

A few things to think about:

• Don’t get upset if they change your headline – they’re experts and know what will appeal to their audience.
• If you send images along with your article, ensure they are clearly labelled and include captions/descriptions at the end of your text and are good resolution.
• Ensure your article has your contact information in the footer on every page.
• If the magazine typically includes a picture of the writer, include a professional headshot at a minimum on 300 dpi (particularly for print).
• Don’t pester the editor.  Follow the instructions, submit what they ask for on time and let them do what they’re good at.  They may give you an indication of when the publication will come out or when your article will go live digitally, but ask once and then leave them alone.

Good luck!

I don’t know what’s working

John Wanamaker, a 19th century retailer is accredited with the quote:

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; 

the trouble is I don't know which half.” 

Many businesses say similar things about their marketing – along the lines of ‘I know some of my marketing is working, but I don’t know what is and what isn’t.’

Some marketing is better than no marketing, but just marketing indiscriminately, is like throwing stuff at a wall and hoping some of it sticks.

If you want to spend your marketing budget intelligently, it pays to choose your strategies carefully.  To do that you need to know your audience inside out.

Who are you trying to influence?

It’s not just a case of knowing the industry or business type you want to work with.  You also need to know:

What their problems are

If your offer is to be appealing to them, it needs to solve a problem – and one that they are aware of and bothers them.  If you know what keeps them awake at night, you’ve got the information you need to pitch a solution.

What skills are missing in their team

This is particularly important with small businesses.  As they start to grow the owner will employ people to pick up the work that is essential – like answering the phone, keeping the paperwork up-to-date, issuing and maybe chasing invoices, etc.  Could what you’re offering fill a gap – and can you make a compelling case for it?

What they like to do – and what they don’t

Personal style has a big impact on what people do first on their to do list.  If they’re a bit of an introvert, chatting on the phone or going to networking meetings may be way down the list.  Similarly, if they enjoy tracking all the numbers, some of the written communication work may not get done – and, of course, vice versa.  Understanding the kind of people you can help best, where they have a dislike of particular types of work – and you can fill that gap and ensure that no balls are dropped – is an important part of building your ideal client profile.

Where they hang out – online and offline

Just posting information on the feed of the platform you’ve identified as the right place to find your ideal client isn’t enough.  Find out where they’re active – are they in particular groups?  Who do they follow?  Do they belong to forums or clubs?  Where do they network offline and online?

It’s no good going to your local business networking group if your ideal client only attends specialist groups.  It won’t work to be highly visible on LinkedIn if they’re mostly active in groups.

Focus!

When you really know your audience, it’s easy to create a message that gets their attention and put it right where they’re looking.

So, instead of spending £100 on marketing and getting 5 enquiries, your £100 will double the number of enquiries you get.  

Put the effort into understanding your audience and everything just gets easier!

When is news not news?

Strictly speaking a business newsletter doesn’t fall into the category of ‘news’.  Most business newsletters are more promotion than news.  The nearest they get to news is the launch of a new product or service.

Information about what’s going on in your company really doesn’t qualify as news – unless you happen to be developing a life-saving device or working on a massive environmental change.  The brutal truth is that most people aren’t interested.  A new team member, a new premises, expansion, the latest contract you’ve won – they’re exciting for you, but not for the recipients of your newsletter.

Does this mean you shouldn’t bother sending out a newsletter?

No! A newsletter is a powerful marketing tool – but it must have value for the reader.

How to deliver value

You’re an expert in your field and you know stuff!  The best way to deliver value to your newsletter readers is to share that value.  But what does that mean?

• Tips: Share your top 5 or 10 tips on something.  People love shortcuts or clever ideas – and don’t assume that ‘everybody knows that’, what you think is obvious most people don’t know about.
• Advice: We all have something that we wish we’d known earlier, share the wisdom you’ve learned around your area of expertise to help others.  Maybe under the heading ‘I wish I’d known this earlier’, or something similar.
• How to articles: If you write an informative blog, use that as your lead article (or at least the first few 3-4 paragraphs with a link to the article on your website).
• A process: If you examine your area of expertise, you probably have quite a few processes you use to make something easier or more efficient.  Whether it’s something you’ve learned or something you’ve created, share it with others.

What’s your offer?

If you lead your newsletter with value, you can afford to add an offer in there.  However, whatever you offer should always be presented in a way that benefits the reader.

So, NOT ‘Look at our fabulous shiny new thingamyjig’

But ‘Are you struggling with [whatever your thingamyjig fixes]?

If you can offer newsletter readers a special deal or price, better still – as long as you’re clear it is ONLY for them – and you don’t offer it anywhere else.  Make them feel special.

Give them an easily clickable call to action that takes them directly to the page where they can get the offer.

Sign off with more value

Finish with additional value – more of the same kind of things as above.  

If you keep delivering value, people will appreciate your newsletters and you’ll get consistent readers.