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Introducing The Student Perspective – a series about comms, from tomorrow’s stars

September 12, 2010 3 Comments

Tomorrow sees the launch of The Student Perspective – a series of guest posts from the future stars of comms.

Posts in this series will cover the usual fodder seen here (inc. PR, marketing, branding and internal comms) but the thoughts and opinions within will come from the freshest minds in the industry – those of PR & marketing undergraduates.

If you follow the work of David Clare (@davidjmclare on Twitter and once an intern of mine at Cagle Comms) or have ever checked out the articles submitted to @behindthespin (a PR student magazine), you’ll know how valuable such insight can be.

Stay tuned for the first post in the series tomorrow (Monday 13th) at 2pm.

And if you’re a PR/Marketing/Journalism undergrad with a passion for comms and something interesting to say, please send a short summary of your post idea and we’ll get things rolling.

Filed Under: Guest posts, Marketing, Public Relations, The Student Perspective Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Advertising for a freelancer – getting the right replies

August 9, 2010 12 Comments

For many companies – particularly startups – contractors offer a vital resource for keeping things running smoothly. If you have a job that requires a specific set of skills, but can’t offer enough work to constitute a full-time, in-house position, freelancers offer the perfect solution.

But when looking for a provider, often it isn’t practical to go through the same rigorous interview and assessment process as you would for a permanent employee, so how do you get quality work without the HR headache?

In my opinion, word of mouth recommendations are great when you can get them, but otherwise, advertising online (via your website or a job site) is the way to go, and then it’s all in the job description:

Make the title count

The first step to attracting quality bids is to make the most of your post title. Whether it’s on a general job site like Reed.co.uk or a site specifically for freelancers like People Per Hour, front page listings tend truncate titles to around 30 characters, so it’s wise to keep your title below this mark and get straight to the point. For example, rather than writing ‘Help needed with sales letter for accountancy firm’, you could write ‘Sales letter (accountancy)’.

Write clearly

As a provider on several freelance job sites, I read dozens of job listings per week where the project description is so vague, it’s almost impossible to fathom what the advertiser is looking for.

While this might present a challenge to the service provider looking to place a bid, the main victim of the vaguely worded project listing is the buyer themselves, who not only risks receiving dozens of irrelevant bids, but might even go so far as to accept a bid from a provider who has a false notion of what is required.

Be specific

When it comes to the project description, bidders will find it much easier to price up a project if you are explicit about what’s involved. So, for a web design project, for example, aim to explain how many pages are needed, what functionality the site must have, whether you will need a logo and so on.

Outline required skills

If you any specific skills requirements, such as being able to work with a particular piece of software, you should list them and state whether they are essential or preferred. It is also worth mentioning what industry your company operates in, as this can attract bidders with useful experience. For example, an accountant who already understands the typical transactions of a firm in your sector might be better placed to give industry specific tax advice.

Sell yourself

To attract strong bids, you should also consider giving some details about your company’s achievements and reputation. Just as with any job, people may be more inclined to apply if the company has an appealing profile.

Set a realistic budget

It is also important to be as realistic as possible about your project’s budget. If your budget range is very low, you may not attract the standard of provider you are looking for, and if it is unnecessarily high, you might find people bid higher than they otherwise would. If you have time, research what constitutes a realistic budget before submitting your listing. Alternatively, mark the rate as ‘negotiable’ and judge what constitutes a reasonable price based on the bids you receive.

Clarify with bidders

Finally, remember that you are not bound to agree to work with someone based on their initial bid alone. If a bid looks great, but doesn’t answer those last minute questions that have arisen since you posted the project, ask them. A good provider will be happy to discuss your requirements in more detail before asking you to accept their bid.

(This post is adapted and updated from a post I published on PeoplePerHour.com in March 2009)
Filed Under: Copyediting, Featured, Freelancing, Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Giving it away: a look at content marketing

June 10, 2010 1 Comment

This is a guest post by Toby Reid, the founder of In A Fishbowl, a business reality website that follows the progress of three entrepreneurs.

If you are in the service or advisory sector these days then, as unnerving as it sounds, your best marketing strategy is to give away everything you know for free. When you think you have given away nearly all the information you have, go and dig up some more and then give that away as well.

It is called content marketing and here are three reasons why you should be doing it:

Reason 1

Because you will no longer gain and maintain customers by guarding and restricting access to information you hold. “We can tell you this but we could tell you a lot more if you pay us”. Really?…

NO and double no. Those days are gone. They are gone because with the internet nearly all information is freely available. Conceptually, people refuse to pay for something that can be found free elsewhere. They may not find it, or understand it when they do find it, but that doesn’t matter because the damage is done… they have already switched off from you.

Free information is your hook to attract the attention of your target customers.

Reason 2

Brand is no longer just about logos and strap lines, it’s about voice. You want to be a market leader, be a market leading voice. It’s difficult to be a compelling voice without talking about what you know and what you think, so don’t hold back, tell them what you know. Providing quality content establishes you as an authority on your subject and gives you serious credibility in the eyes of your target customers.

Proving you’re an expert in your field sustains the interest of your target customers.

Reason 3

Because your customers still need you. In this age of free information, information isn’t your asset anymore. So give it away! But what will your customer buy from you? Well, your interpretation of the information and application to their personal circumstances, the time savings you can offer them in doing so, the peace of mind of outsourcing to an expert and the customer service you offer along the way.

The time saving, peace of mind and customer service are the benefits you offer. These can easily convert an audience of already interested targets into actual customers. But remember you have to attract their attention and prove your credibility first!

Filed Under: Featured, Guest posts, Marketing, Writing Tagged With: , , ,

How to write effective customer case studies

May 13, 2010 Leave a Comment

This is a guest post from Chris Lee, founder and managing director of PR and social media consultancy, Planet Content, and founder/editor of DIY PR and marketing blog RunMarketing.

Are you proud of what you have achieved for your customers and clients? Can you prove tangible benefits and returns on investment that really illustrate what your company does best? If you can, then this is where case studies come into play.

Publications love the “proof in the pudding” – real-life examples of where companies have used a product or service which has had a demonstrable effect on their business. Could you gain approval from a customer and draft an 800-word account on how you helped it operate more efficiently?

If you could, then this is how a customer case study – or ‘customer evidence’, to our friends across the pond – should be constructed:

Title: Hard-hitting, catching title outlining the crux of the case study in a single line (particularly benefits) – e.g. “Company X saves Company Y £X million a year with product Z”

Subtitle: Add some more quantifiable facts about the customer case study – time savings, staff efficiency etc

Introduction: You have a single paragraph with which to capture the audience and encourage them to read on, so make sure your opening paragraph is tightly written and neatly summarises all the key financial, time and efficiency benefits.

Detail: Under orderly sub-headings you should now go into further details outlining:

  • The existing problem
  • What your company proposed
  • Was the contract put out to tender? If so, what did you do that stood out to win it?
  • What challenges did you overcome, be they physical, financial, cultural etc?
  • What you did in practice and more on how benefits were achieved
  • What was the customer feedback? Include a customer quote
  • Conclusion – include a quote from your own MD, CEO or project manager

Try to keep it to around 800 words, use images and regularly deploy sub-headings to retain reader interest. Don’t forget to get permission from the customer to write the case study before you start drafting and run it by the customer’s marketing team to make amends and approve the final draft. They might not let you disclose everything, but highlight the benefits for them – free publicity, for one!

Also, keep the hyperbole to a minimum. Nothing turns people off more than sales spiel, so speak plain English and drop words like “market-leading” and “solution”.

Spread your wings

You could pitch the case study to a local publication, or vertical media outlet, depending on your target audience and the strength of the case study or customer brand. You could also build a page especially for case studies on your company website. If so, don’t forget to make sure that the text is optimised for your company’s keywords to help potential customers find you online.

Also, don’t forget to plug it on social media channels. Tweet the link to your website, or why not post it on Slideshare.net?

Here are some examples of customer case studies from corporations such as Xerox, Microsoft and Virgin Media Business. They vary greatly in style and format, from video to basic pdf.

If you’re worried that you’ve not got the right time or skills resources in-house to generate customer case studies then seek out a professional writer, it will pay off for you.

Filed Under: Featured, Guest posts, Marketing, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

A war of words: who owns communications in 2010?

May 12, 2010 3 Comments

Whilst the roles of a PR and marketer are different at face value, there is little doubt that the two areas have considerable crossover, especially when it comes to social media.

Today, Vocus (a producer of “on-demand software for public relations management”) has circulated a white paper examining the merging roles of PR and marketing, and the debate surrounding who ‘owns’ social media.

For the white paper – ‘Blurring Lines, Turf Battles and Tweets: The Real Impact of Integrated Communications on Marketing and PR’ – Vocus surveyed 1,094 PR and marketing professionals last month about their experiences and views of ‘integrated communications’, which Vocus defines as:

“A management concept that ties all aspects of marketing communication, including, but not limited to advertising, search marketing, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing, together to function in a unified and comprehensive fashion as opposed to functioning in isolation or silos.”

Blurred lines

The key findings suggest that the lines between PR and marketing are blurring, with 79% of marketing and PR professionals stating that they report to the same boss, and 78% reporting formal working relationships when it comes to creating a common communications strategy.

However, whilst the roles may overlap in some respects, 67% of respondents revealed that they hold cross-functional meetings only ‘sometimes’, with a further 19% stating that they held them ‘rarely’ or ‘never’.

Turf battles

The white paper also illustrates that ‘turf battles’ remain rife between marketing and PR professionals, with 33% citing that such conflicts are the single biggest barrier to creating an integrated communications strategy. Budget shortcomings were judged to be the next obstacle, with 20% of respondents highlighting this issue.

Who owns social media?

The concept of ‘turf battles’ is further developed when the debate about who ‘owns’ social media is examined. From the results of the white paper, it’s clear that there is no consensus, with 43% of PRs feeling that they should own it, and 35% of marketers saying the same for their profession. When it comes to corporate blogs, 38% of PRs feel that they should control them, whilst 24% of marketers feel that they should.

Integrated communications

Common ground was found when participants were questioned about the benefits of integrated communications and how to measure them. 48% of PRs and marketers reported that integrated communications increase the overall effectiveness of outreach programs, and that sales and ROI are the most effective ways of assessing an integrated communications strategy.

It’s debatable as to whether this paper reflects the overall experiences of the industry, but it certainly highlights a growing feeling that social media is driving a merging of marketing and PR roles. Similarly, whether this will be resolved into the ‘integrated communications strategies’ envisaged by Vocus remains to be seen, but with the level of conflict described above, it seems unlikely that it will happen any time soon.

Filed Under: Featured, Marketing, News, Public Relations Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Using your green credentials

April 9, 2010 Leave a Comment

Colleen Smith from eFIG (The European Federation of Interior Landscape Groups) guest blogs for us this week and plants the ultimate environmental message.

We are all encouraged to be ‘greener’ and we all know some of the simplest steps, from switching off lights or turning the heating down. But being green isn’t just about reducing waste, it’s about actively contributing to a healthier environment.

As a business, one way to start your greening process is to bring in some plants. Such an investment is about more than just flashing your green credentials. Plants clean the air and refresh it with oxygen, turning your office into a more positive environment for staff and visiting clients alike. What’s more, plants can help to keep us calm and improve our concentration and productivity.

Whilst cleaning the air, they mop up the cocktail of toxins which are emitted into the air by everyday products from paper goods to electrical products which often can’t escape at work especially if there is no natural ventilation. Interior planting can noticeably reduce levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the indoor air as well as other toxins some of which are known to be carcinogenic.

Whilst it’s not as simple as to say they can help reduce your carbon footprint – the calculations are more complex – plants certainly say you care about your staff and the environment they work in.

Filed Under: Guest posts, Marketing Tagged With:

Will VoIP ever be good enough to risk ditching your landline?

April 9, 2010 Leave a Comment

There are significant cost savings to be made by making calls over the internet, but ditching the landline can seem like a big risk in a world where communications have to be consistent. Businesses aiming to project a professional image can’t subject callers to choppy sound and dropped lines, so we asked Chris Marling of Broadband Genie whether the technology is up to the job.

For a startup business to run efficiently, you have to get really mean on those bills. As well as making sure you’re thrifty when it comes to office essentials such as phone tariffs and broadband provider, without the luxury of being able to speed dial IT support, you’ll also want to make sure you can rely on all your essential communication set-ups.

The technology is there for users to be able to make calls over the internet without having to worry about expensive call time. Known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), the most common internet calling service is Skype. A firm favourite for those with family overseas, Skype is fast becoming the preferred VoIP service for those who want to be able to call landlines and mobile phones around the world at low, per-minute rates, or have the option to pay for unlimited calls in advance with a subscription.

But whether Skype is currently good enough to ditch your home phone is debatable. If you’re working from home or a small office, your phone is often your lifeline, so technical problems are just not acceptable.

Although it’s improved since its launch in 2003, it’s not uncommon for Skype users to complain of technical hiccups. As well as often experiencing problems with its initial connection to a dialled number, sometimes voice calls can seem a little distant or crackly. Outages are also a potential hazard. In the past, Skype users have fallen victim to lengthy service disruption – sometimes stretching out as long as three days. That’s bad news if you have important clients trying to call you.

The obvious answer is to keep a landline for incoming calls, but use Skype or another VoIP as a way of cutting back on expensive telephone bills, especially if you’re often calling overseas. At the moment, most broadband providers ask you to cough up for phone line rental anyway, so just having a phone on your desk seems like the obvious answer.

Of course, there is one way you can connect to the net without the obligation of line rental and that’s by using a mobile broadband dongle. Technically you can use Skype with mobile broadband. As long as you have a good 3G connection you should be offered enough bandwidth to talk online and you may even be lucky enough to use the video calling function without too many issues. Additionally, 3 UK even allows Skype to be used on their mobile phones.

However, other providers aren’t as relaxed about VoIP use over their networks, and although the likes of Orange and Vodafone haven’t specifically blocked Skype, their terms and conditions for VoIP make the rules a little hazy.

Additionally, last month 200 million Nokia users with a Symbian smartphone were given access to free Skype use. Shortly after, O2 said it would be blocking this service on its network as VoIP is strictly prohibited within its excessive use policy.

Industry experts have predicted sales of VoIP hardware to rise significantly this year. And with improved sales should come a more reliable service.

The future certainly looks promising for VoIP and with obvious money-saving benefits it’s a great feature for small offices. For now, however, if you do want to make the move over to Skype, or another VoIP service, it’s worth keeping your desk phone handy. Just in case.

Filed Under: Guest posts, Marketing

How to get the best from your BT Tradespace profile

March 29, 2010 Leave a Comment

This a guest post from Amy Cutbill, Communities Manager, BT Tradespace.

I’m often asked “Why should I get a Tradespace profile” or told “Well, it isn’t doing much for me, so I don’t do anything on it”.

The truth is, if you give your Tradespace some TLC and keep it updated with fresh content, you will soon be seeing the benefits! If you just register your business name and never do anything else, you won’t get the brilliant results you are hoping for.

When setting up your Tradespace site, or taking a fresh look at your existing site, the best thing to do is imagine you are the customer you are wanting to attract – imagine them landing on your Tradespace profile. What would they think of you when they got there? Would they instantly know what you offer? Would they want to buy from you or get more information? Chances are, if you just have a business address and business name, they won’t go much further. But if you had a logo, a header image that suits your business/product or service, an ‘about us’ description, news and posts, images, products to purchase or services and perhaps some video… you’ll be well away!

People want as much information as possible before they make a purchase these days, they want to know what other people think of the item/business and they also want to know who they are buying from; using your Tradespace allows you to give them all that. You are able to show them the person behind the business and most importantly, show them you care about their business. People want to buy from people they know and trust after all.

One of the great benefits of BT Tradespace is the fact that you can add so much content to your site, you can add keywords to all content you are adding which all helps in getting you noticed. BT Tradespace profiles do very well on search engines such as Google and we often hear from people that they have their Tradespace site ranking higher than their actual website.

You can also network with other businesses on BT Tradespace. By getting involved in the communities on site, or creating your own you can meet like minded people, get advice on new ideas and build a support network for your business. Community activity also helps you get noticed online, Google picks up the activity so make sure you give your posts relevant keywords to get yourself seen!

We’ve recently added some new features to the site and there are even more ways to network and increase your visibility. By using the Fan feature, you are able to build up and manage your online reputation. By adding some Q&As to your free customer service community, ServiceSmart, you have yet another way to increase your online visibility as Google also picks these up very well.

We’re a friendly bunch at BT Tradespace and are always looking to promote the fantastic businesses & content on site, so if you are on BT Tradespace and you have something you think we should be featuring on the site, please do get in touch or you can always find us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/bttradespace).

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Featured, Guest posts, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

The problem of defining a marketing budget

March 25, 2010 Leave a Comment

pile of moneyThis is a guest post from Crispin Read, co-director of Optimum Financials, specialist bookkeepers and accounts support. As Crispin knows a thing or two about how to use accounts to guide business decisions, I asked him for his experiences when it comes to deciding on a marketing budget.

Google for ‘How Much Should I Spend On Marketing’ and you are going to get about a half million pages of suggestions – from the sublime to the ridiculous; from everything you can afford to a clinical 20% of all revenue.

Taking the cold hard 20% of revenue as an example, let me tell you my story as a specialist bookkeeping service of three staff serving Lincolnshire and the East Midlands.

The routes we chose

The majority of marketing that we do at Optimum Financials is:

  1. Telemarketing
  2. Membership of tight referral networking groups
  3. Loose networking groups
  4. Advertising
  5. Web-based approach including new website, blogging, and email marketing

Quantifying results

Clearly the ideal is to know your target market and the channels you need to use to get to them, so that they can choose your products and services.  One of the first steps that we took was to engage a marketing consultant who specialises in supporting SMEs to help us define these very points.  After this, however, when you are starting out there is a temptation to spend as much as you can afford until you can work out what works and what doesn’t.

So, the most important question became, ‘how can we quantify which marketing method is the most effective?’ because, as one commentator has said: you have to insure against those impulse decisions which may result in nothing.

Because there are many ways in which you can calculate your marketing budget I suggest it matters not which method you choose, only that you quantify the results.  After all, this decision is like any other business decision – you need to show a return on your investment.  So whether you decide to invest 20% of revenues on Marketing, or everything that you can afford, each marketing method will have costs and revenues which must be quantified allowing you to calculate that ‘return on investment’ (ROI) .

Our marketing results

In terms of ‘getting out to the market’ – we do this well, we do a lot of marketing.  Some of this is a time investment, and some is an outsourcing investment.  Ultimately, based on what we have said must be done, we calculate our marketing AND sales based on the ROI as we see below:

Budgeting table

The jury is still out on web-based marketing, although as with each method with the exception of telesales/marketing there is a fairly long lead time and I don’t expect technology to provide any quicker results – just a quicker way to achieve a presence.

Factors influencing your return

In conclusion, my results suggest that doing almost anything consistently will produce a return.  That return will be dependent upon:

  1. What type of business you are
  2. The value of your product/service
  3. How likely you are to gain repeat purchases
  4. The cost of the marketing method

And if you don’t know how to answer those questions, well – that’s when you might need to ask for help.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Guest posts, Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Six questions to help your designer frame your words effectively

March 15, 2010 3 Comments

Tick boxes

This is a guest post from Andy Clayton of printing.com Lincoln & Newark.

So you’ve written – or had someone else write – some great copy all about your business, ready to go into print. The question now is how do you make this into a leaflet / brochure / flyer / booklet (delete as appropriate)?

This is where design comes in, and where things can start to go wrong. The common myth is that design is all about making things look pretty, but this is far from the truth. Design is fundamental to the success of a print marketing exercise: it’s about making the copy work, creating mood, attracting attention and initiating an action. For this reason, the first thing you need is someone who is skilled at acheiving these ends, and the next thing you’ll need is a good, clear design brief.

The following are the six questions I go through with each client before commencing any design work:

Who are you targeting?

Be specific – think about who this is actually aimed at. Every sector is different and designers will know the best way to attract the attention of different people whether it be by industry / role / gender / age. The worst answer any marketeer can hear is ‘everybody’ or ‘anyone, really’ as it is impossible to produce any material that targets everyone successfully.

What is your corporate identity?

You need to supply details of any relevant logos, images, fonts and colours so that the designer can keep to your business identity. Consistency is key in marketing. If you constantly change your image, you will dilute and weaken your message.

How do you wish to appear?

This is about how you want to position your offering in this particular piece; do you want to be seen as traditional or modern? professional or informal? luxury or budget? With this information, your designer can look at the appropriate fonts, images and colours to make sure the perception is correct.

What is the purpose?

Is this aimed at attracting new businesses who are unfamiliar with the brand or is it to give information that has been requested by clients? Designers need to know the purpose of the material so that the design can be maximised to that effect. It will dictate how the content is laid out and the focus throughout the piece.

How are you distributing?

Will you be posting, handing out or taking to an event? It is important that the design is done to the correct specification from the start as it saves time at the end. For example, if its to be posted then you need to remember the rates go up after A5 so therefore you need to either keep to that size or if it’s to be folded then it needs to be designed in such a way that the fold looks right.

What is the expected outcome?

You need to decide what you want people to do, as this defines your call to action. You need to spell out what the readers should do next and the designer needs to know this so that the design can emphasise and draw attention to the preferred action or point of contact

The questions above are there as a guide to help you create the best possible brief. By taking the time to collate the relevant information, you can reduce the time taken to produce designs, ensure your designer incorporates all relevant aspects, and therefore increase your chances of achieving success with the final piece.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Copywriting, Guest posts, Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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