BizConnect - Making your business famous

Here's my latest contribution on Standard Bank's BizConnect about making your business famous, and how to effectively use Public Relations (PR) to do so.
 
If done correctly PR can generate a lot of media interest without you having to invest in the high costs associated with advertising. However, it is not ‘free’. 

You have taken the leap of faith and ventured out to start your own business; you know that your product is great and priced just right – however apart from you and those closest to you, it’s the best kept secret, no-one else knows about it. Next step is to get the word out there so that the sales can roll in. So you think to yourself that you need some free publicity and turn to a public relations (PR) consultant.

If done correctly PR can generate a lot of media interest without you having to invest in the high costs associated with advertising. However, it is not ‘free’. You will still need to invest in the expertise of a PR professional to guide you through the media liaison process.

There’s a lot more to it than just ‘quickly writing a media release and sending it out’. You are investing in someone’s expertise who knows how best to speak to your audience using different media angles and channels, as well as their extensive database of journalist contacts; something which they have taken years to build and foster.

It is however important to know that PR cannot be used as a direct marketing tool. Media generated through PR is to generate awareness of your business and to build credibility in the long run. PR is not necessarily going to lead to direct sales. Journalists will sniff out a self-promotional media release a mile away and quickly discard it. For a direct return on investment you will need to invest in advertising.

What’s the difference? Surely media is media?

With advertising it’s paid for space that is yours, you can choose how that space looks and what it says, you have total control over the message. With a media release, it is up to the journalist what information they choose to use from it, if any.

There is no control over what part of the release gets used or not. It is a lot trickier to get unpaid for media coverage. That is why it is regarded so much more credible than paid for media. You therefore need to position the media release in such a way that it is newsworthy and/or an interesting read without blatantly advertising your product or service.

Something which is really important to know when you do venture into the PR space, is that very often the first introductory media release, the release about the launch, will most likely receive the most hype and media attention. When investing in PR, it is important to realise that it is a long-term relationship that you are building with your PR company and the related media. It can’t just be a once-off exercise.

You need to keep the momentum going by feeding the media with interesting, different stories and angles. Yes, it is up to the PR company to come up with interesting angles, however you do need to provide the content which they will package accordingly for the appropriate media. After all you are the expert in the field; you work in your specialisation on a full time basis, and your PR partner will want to support you all the way.

How else can you market yourself?

My advice is to first make sure that the building blocks inside your business are in place; it does not help if you go on a huge communication drive and the business flows in, but you don’t have the capacity to deliver.

PR forms part of an important building block, however before thinking that PR is an easy and ‘cheap’ way to create awareness, first invest in your website. This is still the first port of call for many people to get information about companies. Also consider social media, pending who your target audience is, they are also more than likely to look you up on Facebook; however do keep in mind that you need to keep the momentum going there as well.

When things start getting busier and you don’t have a dedicated person (not an intern) to manage social media and the website for you, you stand a good chance of losing credibility with an outdated page that was last updated in 2011.

When is the right time to start with media?

Stability of the business is a good gauge – when you start out there are a lot of things that need your attention; focus on that first. Then, when you are ready to make a long-term investment with a PR partner; the time is right – however make sure that you choose wisely. More on that next month.

A couple of tips for young leaders

Last Tuesday evening I chatted to Naledi Moleo on her SAfm show about people getting into the workforce, and the importance of building a reputation from a young age. The conversation was based on the article I had written for Leadership Magazine on the topic.

My top five tips for young leaders when it comes to building their reputation:

• Leave the party when you are having the most fun - don't feel obliged or  pressured to stay until the bitter end;

• Be wary about late night cavorting with colleagues and clients - they still need to respect you in office and board room the next day;

• Get into good grammar habits, even when sending text messages;

• Dress for the job that you want, not the one that you are applying for;

• You don’t have to go overboard, but make sure you are clean, neat and presentable (Ladies, if you can’t sit comfortably or pick something up off the floor, it’s too short!)

(the full article is on page 110 of the March 2016 edition).

Here's a fun video on resumés.

What people really think of your resumé

[Also have a look at some of my other tips when it comes to recruiting].

Which App do you appreciate the most?

Aren’t apps wonderful! There’s pretty much an app to monitor, remind and track every part of our lives.

Apart from the ‘normal’ ones that comes standard with smart phones these days, here’s a list of my four favourites:

1.     Todoist – as mentioned before, I love check lists and ticking things off them. This is a wonderful app to keep track of things that need to be actioned each day. You can also include recurring items. One of the features that I really like is the “karma” feature where you can set yourself daily goals and along the way you get points for reaching them. It also keeps track of how many days in a row you’ve managed to reach your daily target. As you accumulate points you move up the karma levels from “Beginner” all the way up to being “Enlightened” when you’ve completed 50k+ tasks. Currently I am a 'Grandmaster'. [Recently I had achieved a streak of 102 days of consecutively ticking ten things off daily – sadly and annoyingly, I forgot to update it at the end of the day, and I’m now back to three days.]

2.     SnapScan – after a morning networking session in Sea Point and having to track down an ATM to draw money for parking, a friend told me about SnapScan – no more having to scrounge around for loose change to pay for parking or having to walk blocks to draw money. It’s linked to your credit card, so your phone basically become the credit card; super convenient.  

3.     CamCard – this is a marvellous  timesaver. Instead of manually having to type in the details of someone’s business card, all you do is take a photo of it, and it converts the photo to text and automatically saves it into your list of contacts. It does not always pick up some of the colours and fonts so you do need to double check the details; it is however really easy to edit.

4.     Strava – it’s a bit of a toss-up between Strava and Runtastic; I’ve been using Runtastic a lot longer than Strava, however more of my friends are using Strava. The app tracks your activities such as running / walking / cycling; I have a friend that even tracks his kite surfing. It tracks your route on a map, distance completed and the speed. You can track your friends and see what they are doing and give each other ‘kudos’. There are also a number of challenges that you can sign up for (haven’t tried them yet).

What are some of your favourite apps and why? 

Le or le, what is le answer?

Not necessarily strictly business related, however I do like to get writing standards and protocols correct.

Is it le Roux or Le Roux?

Some time ago I read the following writing guideline, which I really like and have been using since. However after a conversation with a couple of Le Roux’s, few know about it, so any guidance will be helpful. Google has also not been too helpful.

Here goes: sons all get the capital “Le” and daughters the little “le”. If you marry a “Le Roux” then the wife also becomes a capital “Le”.

What is the correct use of a seemingly basic surname?

Putting things into perspective...

Rather humbling. 

Leadership Magazine: Is there real value in having a vision?

Leadership Magazine article: March 2016 edition on page 54 and 55

Is there real value in having a vision?

                                                                                   

Being strategic by having a vision and mission along with supporting objectives and goals is a concept that gets lectured ad nauseaum at management courses. Any institution worth their salt in business management focusses on clearly defining and refining the strategic intent of their business. But what does it truly mean and how does it impact an organisation’s reputation?

Has the concept of strategic intent become stale amongst South African businesses?

All business owners know that they need to be strategic; at minimum they must have a vision that is translated into a meaningful mission, objectives and specific goals. It is the first building block of knowing what the business is about and where it is heading. Despite this, not many companies realise the important link between strategic intent and reputation. Employees play a fundamental role in a business’ strategic intent as their work contributes towards achieving the vision. Communication of the business’ direction to employees is therefore critical.  

I have sat around many boardroom tables discussing this connection. When the topic of vision and mission is discussed as an important link to reputation management, the scenario invariably plays out along these lines: the executives nod and think to themselves that they have this ‘sussed’ - they have a vision and mission statement; it’s in a shared folder or on the website and available to everyone.  Someone will then proudly start to recite the vision, only to be interrupted by a colleague announcing that it has changed to something else, with another co-worker chipping in that that version was also recently changed. Chaos and mayhem ensues for a couple of minutes as the colleagues try to remember and define what the company vision actually is. The initial smirkers then realise that there is a crater the size of the moon between the intended, actual and perceived strategic intent of the company. It goes without saying that this has a major impact on the ultimate reputation of the organisation. When internal perceptions are misaligned and a business’ employees don’t know the vision of the business, how are they supposed to help achieve it?

If there is such confusion about the direction of the company, based on a small sample of colleagues around the boardroom table, just imagine how big this gap is between other stakeholders associated with the organisation. If an organisation can’t be aligned internally, there is no way of expecting external stakeholders such as customers, partners or the media to be on the same page.  The bigger the discrepancy and misunderstanding of the strategic intent, the bigger the impact and threat will be to the organisation’s reputation.

Corrective action to bridge this perception gap can be taken by aligning the core concepts of the strategic intent to key communication initiatives. This is done by identifying the key messages that need to be communicated to the different stakeholder audiences and bringing it into all communication activities. Even though there are different audiences that need to be communicated to, the crux of the message should be the same and aligned to the overall, single-minded strategic intent of the company. Once these messages have been identified, it is important to regularly communicate these messages to the identified stakeholder audiences through the most appropriate channels of communication. These channels differ from organisation to organisation, however, very often the most effective channels of communication are not necessarily the most expensive. As part of the communication process, it is also important to have feedback channels in place for stakeholders to give their input, as this allows the organisation to confirm whether the messages are being understood, that the initial communication gap is being narrowed, and that the business is heading in the right strategic direction.

Research also plays an important role in testing and measuring the success of the business’ strategic intent through its communication activities and the impact it has on an organisation’s reputation. When we measure an organisation’s reputation with our unique Repudometer® tool, we analyse the vision, mission, goals and objectives of the organisation. We test key concepts from each of these elements in the survey to determine exactly what stakeholders’ understanding is of the organisation’s strategic intent. Through the analysis we can then ascertain whether the concepts and terminology used to define the business’ direction is appropriate and understood by all. It allows us to identify gaps and pick up on any misaligned perceptions that may be out there. From the results, we offer customised recommendations to help take the organisation’s reputation to the next level by shaping the strategic intent into a clear direction and assisting the organisation with focussing on creating new capabilities to maximise future opportunities.

Are visions and missions going out of fashion? The terminology may be a bit stale, but the concepts are unlikely to be eliminated any time soon, especially when it comes to building, enhancing and improving reputations. 

For more information on managing and investing in your reputation, visit www.reputationmatters.co.za or call +27 (0)11 317 3861. We are also on Facebook www.facebook.com/yourreputationmatters and Twitter @ReputationIsKey