e-Quip Your Business: Free Online Tools

The Internet has changed the face of business. No matter what your business, the Internet can be used to extend your reach. There are many FREE online tools that you can use to promote your business and stay in contact with customers.

In this workshop, Carol Daunt, Founder & CEO of LearnTel, will share those that she finds useful in running her business. You’ll immediately want to put some of these to use! Discover what the following FREE tools are and how they can be used to support business:

• Online Surveys
  Blogs
  Wikis
  Podcasts
  Discussion Forums
  RSS Feeds & Aggregators
  Chat/Instant Messaging
  Online Calendars (public & private)
  Video Streaming
  Various other interesting bits & pieces!

At the end of the workshop you will have an understanding of the options available to you and be able to make an informed decision about the use of these tools in your own business. You will receive course notes with all of the links you need to get started.

Venues & Cost (Interstate dates to come in July)
May 1 (3:30pm – 5pm AEST) – Webinar from your computer: $99 (GST inclusive)

May 2 (9am – 12 noon AEST) – Face-to-face at 111 George St, BRISBANE: $145 (GST inclusive)

For info & Register

The importance of having a media policy

A media policy is essential to maximising all media opportunities – for any type of business, even if you are working from home. The following is an example of a media policy which you can use for your business. It should be treated as one of your key policies/procedures.

Example media policy
All media calls are to be treated as important calls and we must ensure that we respond to the journalists’ enquiry and/or interview request in a timely and informative way.

It is important not to respond to any questions on the initial call.

The person taking the call should say:
• “I’m not the best person to talk to, but I will organise for the right person to call you back.”  OR
• “I am not an expert in this area, but I can get someone to call you back.”
• For spokespeople – “I am in a meeting at the moment, but will call you back as soon as possible”

The person taking the call must ask:
• What is your name?
• What publication are you calling from?
• When is your deadline?
• What information are you looking for or what is the topic of the interview?
• What is your phone number?

Once you have this information, tell the journalist that a spokesperson will call them back before their deadline.

If you can’t locate a spokesperson, contact your PR consultant (provide the number in the policy).

If you can’t locate a spokesperson or your PR consultant before the deadline time, call the journalist back and explain the situation, saying that a spokesperson will call as soon as possible. Do not to do the interview yourself.

Before the official spokespeople undertake the interview they should:
• Review key messages
• Write out a game plan – what do you want to get across to the journalist?
• If possible, find out the journalist background and personality.

Get the most from a media interview

So you have distributed your media release, you have had some interest from journalists – and now a couple of them have called you for an interview. What do you do?

The most important thing to remember is that this is an opportunity for you to get your messages to your customers through the journalist. You are in control of the interview.

The first step
It is important not to respond to any questions on the initial call. To maximise the opportunity, you first will need to organise your messages.

Ask the journalist what information they are looking for and the format of the interview (if it is over the phone, one-on-one, live or taped).  All journalists work to a deadline, so find out what their deadline is and set a time to call them back. Make sure you call them at the agreed time.

You can’t ask to see the questions or the story in advance. Remember you cannot change your quotes or edit the story after the interview. More often than not, the journalist will be interviewing other people to ensure the story has a balanced view, so do not expect to be the only person interviewed or quoted.

Setting your agenda
Before you undertake the interview you will need to write out a game plan. You should prepare one before each and every interview. The game plan covers key issues, possible questions about the key issues and the answers for each possible question.

It is important to write these out – don’t do it from memory. If you are doing a phone interview, have the plan in front you for easy reference.

Develop compelling messages
What are the critical messages that you want to communicate? Key messages are the core messages you want your audience to hear and remember. They create meaning, headline the issue and allow you to control the interview.

Your key messages are what you must say and get across in the interview – irrespective of what questions the journalist asks.

With your audience in mind, and focused on your objectives, you should work out in advance of the interview what you must say on the topic concerned.

Understand the journalist’s role
The journalist’s role is not to try to catch you out, but to establish the facts and report on them objectively. If you focus on waiting for them to ask a tricky question, you will not be in control of the interview.

Journalists are looking for the truth. If you try to get a story by making claims that cannot be substantiated, it will not lead to a story. The article will not be published and they will certainly never ask you for an interview again.

Ensure than any information such as statistics you provide the journalist can be substantiated.

Know the real audience and objective
Try to develop an understanding of the audience the journalist will be writing for so you can set your agenda accordingly. It is worth looking up the journalist’s publication on the internet or buying a copy. If you have time, read some articles they have written so you can understand their style.

Practice, practice, practice
After your preparation, you should review your game plan and do a practice interview. Close the door to your office, take the phone of the hook and spend 10 minutes going over your key messages and answering the questions from your game plan. Remember this is your opportunity to get your messages to your audience, so make full use of it

How to write an article that will get published [part 1]

Feature articles, case studies, analysis, user stories, opinion pieces are useful PR tools to project an individual’s or company’s thoughts, services, activities, philosophy and expertise.

Before putting pen to paper have a think about how it will be sold or used. Your writing, research or thoughts will be published if they are pertinent, entertaining, informative and well written. It is critical to adopt an external and objective perspective.

Articles will not be published if the writing is padded, inconsequential, boring, uses too much jargon, or is overlong, theoretical or irrelevant. In short, it must pass the “So What” test if it is ever going to achieve a wider circulation than a sub-editor’s bin.

Articles have a better chance of passing the “So What” test if they:

• Refer to issues and organisations everyone knows about. How your new business process works in theory is dull – how it will measurably benefit BHP is fascinating.

• Apply to this market. A case study on Telstra is more interesting to Australian readers than one on Hong Kong Telecom.

• Give a clear business benefit. How your company’s new system could be used to enhance shareholder value in many (unidentified) companies is inconsequential; how it could cause Coles Myers shares to increase in value by 25% is compelling.

• Are relevant and timely -How a law or judgement could be applied in a hypothetical situation is irrelevant and idle speculation; how it could be applied in the Hunter Valley dispute is topical.

Networking – ask the expert

Lynette Palmen, founder of  Women’s Network Australia recently answered these questions on networking for me -

Do networking events really work?
Compare the results of networking with other forms of acquiring business such as advertising, cold calling etc and you’ll soon realise that the grape vine is a gold mine.

Essentially any event can be turned into an effective networking exercise. For novice networkers the most important rule is to remember networking is not necessarily a skill you are born with.

Self-promotion does not sit well with many people. It takes practice, patience and confidence in the fact that you do have something valuable to contribute.  
 
What is the role of networking for a SME?
SME’s are often working with limited budget constraints. It is no secret that networking is one of the most cost effective ways to increasing profile and acquiring new business. Building your professional networking contacts is not about attending a few events and flicking your business card around.

It takes time and effort and it will take a good two years to start seeing measurable results consistently flowing into your business. Networking is not an overnight wonder it only works if you position yourself well, create a profile and repeat the exercise.

If you take all three concepts on board two years down the track you will enjoy the benefits of 80% of all new business being generated through your first, second and third level generation networking contacts and their referrals.

Lynette will be running a 2007 MASTERCLASS on Self-Promotion and Networking. Covering how to turn your networks into your personal ladder for business success and making the right connections and creating Win | Win relationships. When: Wednesday 18 April 2007, Where: The Vibe Hotel, 111 Goulburn Street, Sydney, Time: 9:30am – 2:30pm, Ticket Price:WNA Member $149, Visitor $199, Book