NewsBusiness

This is an interesting post on the US PR/journalism related blog Journalistics. Even though the information is based on the US, it is still applicable outside the US. It’s also interesting to see that the author mentions polls and surveys as a good way of measuring the impact of PR, despite the fact that they are ‘time consuming’. Surveys before and after PR campaigns give another very useful measurement of effectiveness.

Read the full article here:

How Do You Measure PR? (read time ~6mins)

Another post from the Journalistics blog (based in the US) puts some facts and figures behind the old argument as to whether or not you should follow up a news release with a phone call. We’ve explained the pros and cons in our report “Ditch Your Marketing… and do PR instead” but it’s always useful to read actual feedback from journalists.

Read the full article here:

How Do Journalists View Follow Up Phone Calls? (read time ~4mins)

A guest post from business and marketing consultant and coach Sigrid de Kaste.

Cashflow is the lifeblood of small to medium businesses, and the right balance of buying and selling stock helps to control the amount of money you have available for day to day expenses helping ensure survival in difficult economic times.

However…

Why tracking your customer’s preferences is more important than tracking your ‘fast sellers’

When I first entered the jewellery industry I constantly heard the term ‘fast seller’. I had to find my fast sellers. Fast sellers are your ‘bread and butter’ in everyday sales and sustain the cashflow and therefore the business, I was told. I’d been in retail over 25 years and had never had such an emphasis on fast sellers in other industries.

Early on I would rely on reps to tell me: ‘This has gone well for me, everyone buys this one, you can’t go wrong with it, that’s the seller’. Funny thing, it did not sell for me! I was puzzled, was it me, or was it my team? If fast sellers are the bread and butter, why are they not bringing in the cashflow I need? The highly recommended stock did not sell fast, sometimes not at all. What to do? I turned to my previous years of experience in retail and marketing and found this answer: It’s NOT about the stock you sell, it’s about the CUSTOMER.

Why ‘fast sellers’ do not create fast cashflow

Ultimately, a fast seller is anything you buy in and are able to sell reasonably fast. Seeing that it’s your customers who are buying your goods, you need to know exactly who your customers are, what type of product they prefer, at what times of the year and for which occasion or for what reason. Having that information will allow you to buy merchandise which your customers will buy instead of it sitting on the shelves.

Improve your stock turn and cashflow with the right information

When you are learning all you can about what motivates your customer to buy you are in control of your stock purchases. Let’s use stationery as an example. If you have customers who come to you to buy document trays regularly and black is the colour always sold out, you would re-order that, wouldn’t you?  Now, if you know beforehand what your customers like and are likely to buy, every piece you buy in will sell fairly fast. So, when they buy the black document tray, and you ask would they like matching accessories, you know exactly what to order that will actually sell. And that’s what cashflow is all about.

It is your customers’ buying habits which create good cashflow

Successful marketing is about understanding the customer’s buying habits. The more detail you know about your customer the better you can predict what and when they are likely to purchase the next item. To create a good cashflow situation you need to understand in detail what your customers are likely to buy next and why.

What is a fast seller for your merchandise representative is not necessarily one for you

Merchandise representatives are not selling to your customers, they are selling to you. Your customers are unique to you and the area you are drawing your customers from. The rep wants to make sales and just because he sells certain stock really well does not mean your customers will buy the same stock. Your customers are not your rep’s target market – you are.

Collect as much detail about your customers as you can

A good point of sale system collects in-depth information about your customers. Make sure you train your team to enter the information regularly and correctly. With a comprehensive customer profile in place you can directly target each market segment you have.  You are mistaken if you think you sell stationery to everyone because we all use some stationery at some time or other. A target market is much more defined. There are office needs, home office needs, personal needs, school needs as just a few examples. Each group has very distinct buying habits. To find out what they are and collect that information will help you buy your stock to achieve good cashflow.

Now you know that all it takes to improve your stock turn and cashflow is using the right information. You can collect your customer’s details with a good point of sale system and then stay in contact with them directly to understand and market to their buying preferences. Your reps are not selling to your customers but to you, therefore they do not understand what your customers like and prefer. Tracking your customer’s preferences is what helps create fast sellers and good cashflow.

Stockturn and cashflow are part of marketing and marketing is about communication between seller and buyer, the CUSTOMER. As a seller I have always made a point of learning all I can about what motivates the buyer/customer.  And because it’s not about me but about the buyer/customer, I make sure to use the buyer’s language to present the product or service in all promotional material. To help be successful in understanding the buyer I have always invested in a very efficient point of sale system, however keeping records in a spreadsheet is just as effective to at least get started.

Sigrid de Kaste
Business Marketing Coach and Mentor = Marketing Makes or Breaks You
Enquires: Sigrid.dekaste@mail.com
www.sigriddekaste.com

We all know that bad spelling doesn’t get you any extra marks at school, but does it have any real commercial impact in business? With such a huge number of examples of bad spelling (can you spot the mistake on this page?) around us every day from adverts in magazines to billboards to television captions – does any of it really matter?

The answer is, on balance, yes. Why?

A lot of people know how to spell and when they come across a spelling mistake in copy they are reading it is – at best – a distraction. At worst it gives a bad impression or provokes a laugh – not always the impression you want to leave. Often typos – where a typing accident has caused a misspelling – are more tolerated, but they too indicate the absence of proof-reading. A perfectly spelled piece of copy will provoke no negative reaction – it simply allows the reader to concentrate fully on what you are trying to say. It’s difficult enough to craft an article or a news release to capture people’s attention without spoiling the effect with spelling errors.

So our advice is:
•    always use a spellchecker on your computer (set to ‘English-UK’ or ‘English-Australia’)
•    if in doubt check the dictionary
•    pay particular attention to apostrophes (or if uncertain leave them out entirely)

The most common error – its/it’s

It’s really easy to get this one right – just ask yourself if you could say ‘it is’ or ‘it has’ instead – if you can, it needs an apostrophe – if you can’t, it shouldn’t have one. ‘Its’ without the apostrophe indicates possession – that is, whatever is referred to belongs to something. In this example:

gap
“Google has taken the unusual step of releasing a preview of it’s new and improved search algorithm”

‘It’s’ refers to Google’s algorithm, and you clearly can’t say ‘releasing a preview of it is new and improved search engine’.

So the word here should not have an apostrophe. It doesn’t take long to check these things – and it’s always worth it!

Saw this great article by Andrew Wilson on the Marketing website this morning and thought it would be worth sharing with you.

Who thinks their a copywriter?

In the last few days another major US brand has announced it will launch in Australia, and will promote itself only via PR and social media sites Facebook and Twitter. B&T and Franchising have both covered the forthcoming launch of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream down under. The company was founded by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in the US 31 years ago and the brand is sold in 30 countries, with 700 outlets worldwide. One in three Australians are already aware of the brand.

The company (now part of Unilever) will – according to B&T – focus on engaging “18-34 year old students and young professionals by using traditional PR and social media as well as sampling campaigns in Sydney and Melbourne.”

Brand manager Caroline Simpson told Franchise magazine “Our targets spend time online, so hopefully the fun of the brand will come through on the website,”

The company will also run a flavour naming competition online to build brand awareness.

An Australian PR company has been appointed (unfortunately not News Equals Business), but the launch campaign will have no above-the-line advertising component at all. News of Ben & Jerry’s PR only approach comes hot on the heels of a similar announcement by US retail chain Costco for its Australian launch.

Nothing beats a good publicity stunt. Although the News Equals Business weekly blog post is not due until Thursday, this list of 70 top publicity stunts compiled by UK PR firm Taylor Herring was too good to resist. Referenced from an article on Australian Anthill about Kyle Sandilands recent fall from grace, the list was much more interesting than the musings on Mr Sandilands’ fate.

It’s also topical as I’ve also just finished reading Peter Shankman’s book all about PR stunts Can We Do That?!, published by my former employer John Wiley. Shankman’s book is a great read and a great inspiration for PR types and entrepreneurs alike. Highly recommended.

Here is the list of the 70 top publicity stunts.