How do you create content your clients will love?

Follow my 5 top tips to help you create the best content to keep them coming back for more.

1. Get to know your audience

Remember, you do not sell to everyone! If you haven’t already worked out who your audience is, or if you haven’t reviewed it for a while, spend some time on this now! I can’t emphasise how important it is to know your target audience. Be specific – the more detail you capture and the more you know your audience, the easier it will be to attract them.

Things to consider include their:

• Age
• Gender (if relevant for your products/services)
• Location
• Interests
• Goals they have / what they want to achieve
• Pain points – what problems or issues are they facing that you can resolve? See tip 2 below.

By gathering this information, it helps you to build a picture of them. That way, it’s so much easier to know exactly who you’re trying to reach with your content marketing. And you can then create content that will appeal to them specifically.

You will probably have more than one audience type, so do this exercise for each one. If you buy my Comprehensive Content Planner, one of the templates in it will help you work out your audience types.

2. Work out their pain points

I think this is the most important aspect to work out for your potential clients. Knowing the answer will help you frame your services or products as a solution to their problems. Put yourself in their shoes and consider:

• What do they most struggle with?
• What makes them scratch their heads?
• How do you solve their problems specifically?

Focus your content writing on what they need and talk directly to them. If they can see you’re addressing their challenges, they’re more likely to read on and be tempted to buy from you.

3. Plan & create informative content

Now, this is the juicy bit! It’s where you can get creative and come up with useful content that engages them.

Your content might teach them something, show them your expertise or explain how you address their pain points. You could include things like:

• Tips
• Advice
• News
• Industry info or data that’s relevant to them
• Case studies or testimonials to show how you’ve helped people like them.

By addressing each pain point that you can help with, you’ll make them feel like they’ve learned something of value. This can inspire them to consider using your services, as you’re showing them you know your stuff.

4. Keep your content simple

This is soooo important! You need to make it easy for people! Don’t over-complicate it or confuse them. Here’s how:

• Keep your sentences short
• Stick to one idea per piece of content
• Break your content down into smaller chunks – such as tips or bullet points
• Use simple language and active voice, e.g. “Here’s how I can help you” rather than “You will be helped by…”

Above all, think “Will an intelligent 10-year-old understand what I’m talking about?” If not, change it so they do!

5. Put your client front & centre

And last but not least, remember it’s not about you; it’s all about your client!

• Talk directly to them
• Write as if you’re only talking to one person
• Use ‘you’ rather than ‘we’
• Make them feel loved and included.

Not only is this friendlier but it’s also easier for them to understand. It’s like you’re having a conversation just with them. It will help them value your content and keep coming back for more.

How else can you create more love for your clients in your content? If you’d like my help, buy my Comprehensive Content Planner or book a Content Power Hour with me.

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I recently wrote some small charity PR tips for the Givey fundraising website. Here’s an extract from my article.

As a small charity, it’s easy to think that you might get overlooked by donors or that it’s difficult to promote what you do, compared to the bigger, household names. But there are plenty of things you can do – here are my top tips:

1. Act big and be consistent

Just because you’re a small charity doesn’t mean you can’t act like a big one to market yourselves. You don’t need a big budget to ensure your branding and messaging are consistent. Do you have a good, responsive website? Are your logo and branding consistent everywhere you use them?

2. Have a plan

If you don’t have a plan for raising awareness of your charity, how are your potential donors and supporters going to find out about you? By having a clear plan, you’ll know what you need to do and when.

3. Reach the right people

Who is your target audience? What age/gender are they? Where are they based? What interests are important to them that will resonate with what you do? By honing this down, you will be able to establish where best and how to reach them.

4. Get your existing supporters involved

The people you help and their families, your volunteers and donors are your biggest advocates. Write up some of their stories as case studies; ask them to speak on your behalf and spread the word about you; get them involved in activities that their friends and families can sponsor them for. But make it easy for them to stay ‘on-message’.

5. Tap into the news agenda

How can you piggyback on hot topics in the news? Offering up comment, advice or tips to journalists related to current news topics is an excellent way of demonstrating your expertise. Don’t forget awareness days and weeks too.

For the full article and to download The Givey Digest, packed with advice from other charity experts, go to https://blog.givey.com/2018/06/06/the-givey-digest-2018/ 

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Here’s what you need to know for free accounts

Mailchimp recently announced some major changes to the way it operates. No longer simply an email marketing tool, the platform now offers an all-in-one Marketing Platform, as it calls it. This includes the ability to create landing pages, Facebook and Google ads and postcards directly within the platform.

However, this transformation means Mailchimp is now also changing the way it charges you for its services. If you’ve got a free account, you will notice the biggest impact.

The free account still exists and you can still have up to 2,000 contacts in it. BUT, the way Mailchimp categorises your contacts is changing. So, if you’re close to the 2,000-mark, you’ll want to take note, to avoid getting charged unnecessarily.

If you are already using some of the features that are being removed from free accounts, most of these will be ‘grandfathered’ in – you will still have access to them where set up but you won’t be able to add new ones.

As many of my clients are using free Mailchimp accounts, here are the main changes you need to know:

The way contacts are categorised

This is the biggest change to Mailchimp and will have an impact on both free and paid accounts. Up until now, the system only counted your subscribers in your contact count. From 15 June 2019, subscribers, unsubscribes and non-subscribes (those whose info you might have for non-email purposes such as postcards) count towards your total.

What this means: you’re more likely to reach the 2,000 contact limit quicker. To avoid getting caught out, go through your contacts and get rid of any you don’t need. If you have lots of unsubscribes, you can now archive these, so they don’t count towards your total.

Archiving is better than deleting because it will still keep the data so you can’t accidentally send to someone who has chosen to unsubscribe from your list. And you can un-archive contacts at a later date if you need them back in your active contacts.

No more unlimited templates

When the changes come into effect later this month, you will only be able to choose from the five basic templates in a free account. This will be fine for most people, as you can still customise the templates with your branding, colours, images etc.

What this means: any existing templates that you’ve been using, including custom HTML templates, which are not from the basic range will still be available to you. But you will only be able to create new ones from the basic range going forward, unless you upgrade your account.

Only one user

Up to now, you have been able to add multiple users to your free account (did you realise this?). Any users you already have will remain but you won’t be able to add new ones unless you upgrade your plan.

However, if you have a PR or marketing person like me, an agency or virtual assistant helping you with your Mailchimp, you can still add them as a user providing they have an agency account. Here’s how they can turn on agency status if they don’t already have it.

Only one audience

As with users, you have been able to add as many lists (audiences) as you wanted. But now free accounts are limited to one list. Any lists you have already will remain but you won’t be able to create new lists going forward.

Single automations

Automation for free accounts was only introduced a short while ago, so many of you may not be using them anyway. If you are using them, your existing automations will remain but you can only create single-step automations going forward.

What this means: you can automate one email sequence to go out, such as a thank you or welcome email when someone signs up to your list or downloads your lead magnet or free giveaway. It is possible to create more complex automations with workarounds. See Robin Adams’ Mailchimp Answers blog for more information on this.

These are the main changes affecting free Mailchimp accounts. If you have a paid for account, there will be less impact to you, especially as the pricing structure is now simplified.

For more information on the changes to paid accounts and how these might affect you, see Robin Adams’ Mailchimp Answers blog or join his Mailchimp Answers Facebook Group.

If you would like help managing your Mailchimp account, writing or sending newsletters or email marketing, drop me a line.

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How PR can help your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Following my recent talk for Networking Cupper on how PR can help your search engine optimisation, I’ve turned my talk into some top tips.

1. PR is part of your off-page SEO

PR is about raising awareness of what you do, helping others to recognise your brand. By its very nature, PR activity has the potential to drive customers to your website. You might hear this referred to as off-page SEO.

Off-page SEO is essentially anything you do outside of your website to help improve its search engine rankings. This includes things like link building and social media traffic. It also includes PR and marketing activity.

Whether you are publicising your business through media coverage, social media, leaflets, brochures, networking, email marketing or any other PR or marketing activity, this can help prospective customers find your website.

Tip: Be sure to include your website address in your marketing materials and email signatures.

2. PR and SEO need great content

Most of us working in PR spend a lot of time creating content for our clients to tell their story or position them as an expert. And Google loves great, authentic, original content. When search engines are trawling the web to index websites, they look for fresh content and will rank pages according to their relevance on certain topics or keywords.

So it makes sense to ensure your website has plenty of great content relevant to your business. This not only shows search engines that your website is worth indexing but also helps to position you as an authority on your subject area. After all, more people are likely to buy from you if they trust you know what you’re talking about.

The best way to add regular content to your site, aside from the specific pages that talk about your business and its products or services, is by keeping a blog. According to Hubspot, 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog.

Your content needs to include your keywords but don’t stuff it jam-packed full of them – search engines are now wise to this ‘over-optimising’ and will penalise you. It’s more important to write naturally, for the reader. Write as if you were in conversation with your customer, talking directly to them.

Tip: keep your content regularly updated with new blog posts and/or a social media feed, such as Twitter, embedded in your site.

3. Media coverage creates authority links

Generating media coverage is an excellent way to boost your search engine optimisation.  This is because search engines trust the content on authority websites such as news or lifestyle sites. Links back to your website from these sites (which have great SEO themselves) signal to the likes of Google that your content can be trusted too.

Media coverage is third-party endorsement for your business or brand. People take more notice of editorial content than they do of paid adverts. The added benefit of online coverage is that endorsement is a key factor in how search engines decide to index and rank websites.

So getting some coverage for your business raises your profile and gives more visibility to your website.

Tip: the more influential the site where you get some coverage (e.g. a national newspaper, the BBC, a well-known blog etc.), the more highly search engines will regard your site.

4. Get your business on listings sites

In the same way that links back from media coverage help to improve your search engine optimisation, so too do links from well-regarded listings sites and directories. They’re another way of raising the profile of your business and therefore a key PR tool.

There are plenty of listings sites around, both for your industry and your geographical area. Getting listed on Google is the obvious one to start with. If you’re registered with any professional  or membership bodies, make sure you’re listed on their directories, like I am with the Public Relations Consultants Association.

Check out what’s available to you locally as well. Sites such as The Best Of or TownTalk for your area are a good place to start but there will be those specific to your locality such as Beckenham.net or WoW Bromley here in Bromley. Some of these sites will also let you put up your own news or blog posts.

Tip: make sure what you write for each directory listing varies slightly and provide a link back to your website.

5. Get recommended!

We all know the power of word-of-mouth and recommendations. How many clients have you got because someone has recommended you? Capturing these recommendations or testimonials online is a powerful way of promoting your business and will, of course, help with your search engine optimisation.

People take note of other people’s opinions. How often do you look at reviews on TripAdvisor or Amazon before you buy something? The same goes for your business. And the beauty of online recommendations is that they’re also third-party endorsements in the same way media coverage is. Because someone puts up the review or recommendation themselves, others are more inclined to believe it.

Tip: your customers can leave reviews for you on some of the listings sites mentioned above, as well as on social media like your Facebook business page, Google My Business page or LinkedIn. WoW Bromley even pulls in social media reviews into your local listing.

So there you have it, my tips for using PR to help boost your search engine optimisation. Have you already tried any of them? There are many more things you can do, of course. To help you understand more about SEO, I have invited local SEO specialist Rachel Hodges to write a guest blog for me in May.

Don’t miss Rachel’s blog post; add yourself to my mailing list to receive it as soon as it’s published.

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My recent survey on small business PR and marketing habits has revealed that more than half of micro businesses lack a PR strategy or marketing plan for promoting themselves.

Survey respondents revealed that 60% do no planning for their marketing or PR. However, the good news is that, among those who do plan, some 20% say they review their PR strategy regularly.

The survey also revealed that most micro businesses in the Bromley area (those with 1-5 employees or sole-traders) do their own PR or marketing (80%) and that the main channels they use are social media (100%), their websites (80%) and business cards (73%).

Considering that most small businesses, especially one-man or one-woman bands, are pushed for time and resources, it’s natural to want to do their own marketing. While this approach will save money, it means their marketing might be haphazard and therefore not as effective as that done by a specialist, ultimately affecting the bottom line.

Failing to plan is planning to fail

The big risk when doing your own marketing without a strategy is that you might find you’re only pursuing new clients when you need them. This means you could miss out on opportunities to grow your business. Instead, planning and investing in a constant stream of activity will help to keep your business ticking along nicely and avoid those peaks and troughs.

Planning how you will promote your business is key to helping you raise your profile and generating more leads. Knowing what you’re going to do and when helps you stay organised and ensure you’ve a constant flow of marketing activity happening. It also helps you deal with the unexpected.

The survey results

Here are the key figures broken down in more detail:

• Most do their own marketing (80%)
• Most don’t have a strategy (60%), however those that do and review it regularly 20%
• 100% use social media, 80% a website, 73% business cards, 46% blog, 40% email marketing
• The most popular social media tools are: Facebook page, Twitter, LinkedIn & Pinterest
• Businesses are interested in: strategy development (50%), blogs, social media support & developing materials (each 35.7%)

Competition winner

As a thank you for responding to the survey, I held a prize-draw for a free PR planning session with me (worth £160.00). I’m delighted to announce that the winner of that session is Jane Altree of Altree Rose baby massage and reflexology. I look forward to working with Jane and giving her some constructive ways to help her promote her business.

Want to get on top of your own PR and marketing? To book your 2-hour PR planning session with me, contact me now. You’ll also find my monthly newsletter packed with PR tips helpful. Sign up to my mailing list so you don’t miss out.

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The Chancellor has just set his Budget and as we near April and a new financial year, many businesses will also be planning their 2016-17 spend. As you plan your budget (regardless of the time of year you do it), remember that it’s worthwhile setting aside something for marketing and PR. After all, to win new business, you’ll need people to know about you!

While it is possible to market your business on a low budget, it’s nonetheless a good idea to plan some spend – marketing is a vital investment for your business to prosper and grow.

Here are my tips on things to consider when setting your marketing budget:

1. Review what you did last year, what it cost and what you gained

Begin by looking at what you did last year. Which marketing channels did you use (email marketing, social media, your website, press coverage, leaflets, adverts etc.) and how much time and money did you spend on them?

What results did you get for each channel?

By analysing your past activity, you’ll get a better understanding of what works for your business and, perhaps more importantly, what doesn’t. This will help you allocate your money to where it is most effective, increasing your return on investment, and saving you money on things that haven’t worked. Understanding what hasn’t worked and why will also help you improve your marketing and PR tactics over the coming year.

Tip: Remember to account for time as well as money. Some activity might be relatively cheap or free but if it’s a drain on your (or your staff’s) time, that’s also costing you money.

2. What outcomes do you want your investment in marketing and PR to deliver?

I’ve touched on the importance of planning your PR and marketing strategy in previous posts. Deciding your budget should be part of this planning process. The simplest way is to decide what you want to achieve (your goals), write down the things you can do to get there (your strategy) and then roughly cost up each item. Balance this with the revenue you think you’re likely to generate from each activity in the short and medium term to give you a clear picture of what your marketing spend can deliver for you.

Tip: Sometimes it can be worth spending on a higher priced activity if it will generate a lot of business. For example, trade shows can be pricey, but if the trade buyers  of a particular show are your target market, you may decide there’s one particular exhibition you can’t afford afford to miss.

3. Assess how well your digital profile reflects your business

In an increasingly digital age, it’s imperative that your customers can find you online, and when they do, that they get a good impression. It’s a good idea to know how your business comes across online and whether you’re getting found easily. When did you last Google your company?

Here are three free things you can do to increase your impact online:

• Google listings – Google My Business puts your business on searches, maps, and Google+. Ensure your business is properly listed and check that your address, opening hours, website URL are all correct, so your customers can find you. Your customers can leave reviews, which – if positive – will help you to rank higher in search engines. So, encourage them to sing your praises here and on other review sites relevant to your business.
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – this is a big topic in the online world, helping you to rank higher in search engines. It’s about ensuring you have the right metadata and key words on your website, as well as making sure the content is fresh, authentic and relevant to your readers. Good use of links, images, video and social media will also help you rank higher. Google Analytics is a very useful free tool to help with SEO.
• Social media – pick two or three sites that fit well with your brand and use them well. This is much more effective than trying to be all things to all people across many different social media platforms. Once you’ve decided on the most relevant sites for you, post frequent, timely, relevant and interesting content that will engage your target market.

Tip: While they are free, SEO and social media are time consuming, so it may be best to invest in the services of a specialist, freeing you up to spend your valuable time running your business.

4. Decide how much to invest

It’s generally a good idea to spend 5-10% of your annual turnover (gross revenue) on marketing and PR. Depending on what you want to achieve, you might want to consider spending more, especially in the early days.

Remember, to be most effective, marketing and PR need long term, continuous activity. Successful marketing campaigns last anywhere from three to twelve months. Planning your budget with this in mind will help your return on investment and help spread the cost for you.

Tip: The smaller your turnover, the higher your marketing percentage is likely to be, especially if you’re just starting out with your business.

5. Monitor and review regularly

Once you’ve reviewed and adapted your marketing budget and activity, put time in your diary to review your progress regularly. By checking at intervals throughout the year, you can tweak anything that’s not working or do more of something that’s working well, making your money work harder for you.

Tip: every three months is a good interval to check your progress – and be sure to do a full review annually.

So, what are you waiting for? Start planning your PR and marketing budget now! If you’d like help putting your marketing budget or strategy together, contact me to arrange a no-obligation chat.

Image courtesy of Serge Bertasius Photography at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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When you network with your business in mind, you’re raising your profile, meeting people who could help you, opening up new opportunities and engaging with potential clients. This means networking is a crucial part of your business development and it’s a good idea to include it in your PR and marketing strategy.

Where to network

There are lots of different places you can network both informally and more formally as part of a group. Some offer membership subscription options, some are ‘pay-as-you-go’ and others are free. Most professional associations and trade bodies offer networking events for members too.

Whatever your preferred style or preferred time of day, you’ll be able to find something that suits you. I find it helpful to try new groups to see which ones I like best. Here are just some examples of groups you could try:

• 1230 The Women’s Company
• 4Networking
• ABC Networks
• Athena
• Beckenham Business Association
• Federation of Small Businesses
• Ladies who Latte
• Your local Chamber of Commerce

Where have you been networking? Do you have any others to recommend?

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My assistant for the evening was first year Career Academy student, Nadia, who I’m mentoring. We spoke to many young people about their career options and gave them advice on how to get into PR or other creative industries.

Although the event was primarily about apprenticeships, we also told a few people about the Career Academy programme and Nadia was able to give first-hand advice on her experiences so far.

Nadia says: “The event was a great opportunity for me to represent my course and give other people an insight into what it’s like. I think it’s important to give the student perspective, not just the teacher’s or employer’s view.”

Interested in a career in marketing and sales within the property sector, Nadia was also able to see what it’s like to be involved in exhibiting at an event and she helped me set up our table.

“I also saw that a lot of preparation goes into putting on an event like this, including the planning and the set up,” Nadia continues. “I discovered that Jane couldn’t simply turn up; she had to make sure she had plenty of leaflets and business cards, contact the industry bodies for information on careers in PR and create some handouts to bring with her.”

Nadia also learned about the importance of networking: “As well as finding out more about working in PR myself, I saw how networking can help your career. Jane made a useful contact and I also spoke to someone who used to be an estate agent, who gave me some useful tips and advice.”

I sit on the College’s advisory board for their Career Academy, which helps students bridge the gap between education and work. The two-year programme gives those aged 16-19 valuable access to employers, work experience placements, masterclasses and workshops and helps them build their professional network, alongside Level 3 BTEC study (equivalent to 3 A Levels).

For more information on the Career Academy programme, visit the Career Academies UK website and to find out more about PR apprenticeships, see the PRCA’s Apprenticeship programme.

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“Spring forward, fall back.” How many of us remember whether the clocks go back or forward this way?  In case you haven’t heard by now, we’ll enter British Summer Time (BST), and lose an hour’s sleep in the process, this coming Sunday, 30th March.

Most people probably know we change the clocks to make the most of the longer daylight hours in the spring and summer months. But did you know the idea is only just over 100 years old?

Until I did a bit of research for this post, I thought we’d had Daylight Saving Time (as British Summer Time is also known) for much longer than that. And I was particularly interested to learn that the man who proposed the idea, a keen horse rider William Willett, was local to Bromley, riding regularly through Chislehurst and Petts Wood!

While we’ll all get an hour less in bed on Sunday, I think it’s a small price to pay for lighter evenings and the general optimistic feel we get with springtime, longer days and the hope of a forthcoming good summer.

Mother’s Day

Sunday 30th March is also Mother’s Day in the UK, so I think the hour less in bed this weekend is a bit harsh on mums and kids everywhere. Don’t make it harder on your mum by forgetting that the clocks go forward!

Don’t let it affect your business!

Seriously though, forgetting about the change in the hour could have serious consequences for your business and its reputation. PR is about maintaining a good reputation, after all. What will existing clients or potential new customers think if you turn up late or don’t deliver projects on time because you’re still an hour behind everyone else?

It might sound obvious, but there are some simple things you can do to ensure you don’t miss out or affect your business:

• Change your office clocks early – before you leave on Friday evening, go round your office and change any clocks to the new time. That way, they’ll all be displaying the correct time when you come back in on Monday morning.
• Remind all your staff that the clocks will be changing – tell them verbally if you can, and get them to add a reminder to their phones and calendars.
• Don’t schedule early Monday meetings – it will take most of us a few days to adjust to the loss of an hour, so don’t schedule any crucial meetings for first thing on Monday. That way, even if you or any colleagues are a little late, they shouldn’t miss out on anything vital.
• Be prepared at home – change all your clocks at home before you go to bed on Saturday night and set yourself an alarm!
• Check your gadgets – most electronic devices and computers automatically update themselves to BST these days, but you may still have some that don’t, so do a quick manual check.

Of course, if you have the luxury of lying in on Sunday morning, you shouldn’t have to worry too much. But don’t forget to wish your mum, grandma or other female relatives who are mothers a Happy Mother’s Day. Perhaps not too early…

Image courtesy of Danilin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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