What is a blog?

Although most of us read blogs now, I am often asked what a blog actually is. A weblog, or blog, is a personal journal on the web. Weblogs express as many different subjects and opinions as there are people writing them. Some blogs are highly influential and have enormous readership while others are primarily intended for a close circle of family and friends.

A few years ago, Web search was revolutionized by a simple but profound idea — that the relevance of a site can be determined by the number of other sites that link to it, and thus consider it ‘important.’ In the world of blogs, hyperlinks are even more significant, since bloggers frequently link to and comment on other blogs, which creates the sense of timeliness and connectedness one would have in a conversation.

NSW Small Business September

Keep your eye out for hundreds of great events for small business owners all around NSW during Small Business September. Great opportunities for learning and networking. Bookings filling fast and can be made online at:

http://www.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au/sbmonth/

The entrepreneurial Frank Team

The Frank Team have been featured in the August edition of My Business magazine. These entrepreneurial women have created a shared vision. Jessica Kiely and Karen Miles both describe themselves as social entrepreneurs, helping young people and adults in developing entrepreneurial and career skills.

See The Frank Team My Business article

So what is PR anyway?

Public relations is all about effective commmunication. It helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organisation and its target audience.

Public relations programs enhance the internal and external understanding of a company’s strategies, objectives and achievements. They build positive public image and reputation.

Many organisations don’t understand the importance of PR or media coverage for the business. This is a common problem that many businesses face even though public relations essential to the success of a business.

Public relations plays a strategic role in identifying, responding to and even creating trends, crafting appropriate messages and providing sophisticated communication methods.

Every organisation survives ultimately only on public consent, and that consent cannot exist in a communications vacuum. The PR program needs to be based on a long-term view of a business’s relations with the various groups of people that make up its public (clients, potential clients, staff, media etc).

Tips n Tricks that Make Selling a Breeze

Karen Andrews from Shine Training will be speaking at the August Women’s Network Lunch on one of the biggest challenges for businesses both large and small – how to find more clients.

Karen will be providing some straight talking on sales and the selling process: offering advice, guidance and tools that will assist you to understand and develop the sales skills required to boost your sales figures and increase your current market penetration.  

The event will take place on Thursday 24 August 2006, 11:45am – 2:15pm. Bookings close: Monday 21 August

For bookings

Media interview tips

So you have a great story, it has been pitched to a journalist and now they want to interview you. Here are some key tips for managing the interview.

Read below and for the full media interview tips sheet download Key tips for managing a media interview 

Answer plus one – To ensure you maintain control of the interview, don’t just answer the question. Your objective must always be to communicate your key messages. Use the questions as an opportunity to make your points. This is called ‘answer plus one’. In other words, answer the question then add one of your key messages or key issues outlined in your game plan.

Answer in your own time – The journalist is interested in what you have to say, so don’t get flustered if you can’t think of an answer immediately. Just take your time, collect your thoughts and take a deep breath before you answer. Don’t fill in the silence. Some journalists use it as a technique in the hope you will fill the silence with unplanned information.

The “no comment” rule – Don’t say “no comment” as it implies confirmation of the question. Say “I can’t respond directly to that for legal reasons, however, what I can tell you is…” However, never allow wrongful allegations to stand.

Don’t use jargon – Every industry has its own jargon. Remember who your target audience is and communicate in language they will understand. 

Starting a blog

Welcome to the Small Business PR and Marketing blog! It seems that blogging has reached a critical mass and everyone is thinking about starting one (obviously including me!) In the process of developing this blog I talked to expert Carol Daunt (who helped me set up this blog!). She is in the business of explaining communications technology and she believes that blogs:

• Build your profile as blogging demonstrates expertise

• Allows you to shares information with customers

• Informs people about other things your business is doing

• Generate powerful referral networks

• Creates an opportunity to network and share information with people from around the world

• Permits the kind of conversations that are necessary to truly connect with modern customers

• Creates an opportunity to build relationships with your customers

• Search engines are attuned to finding blogs

I hope you find this blog informative – as the title says it is PR & marketing tips for small business entrepreneurs.