At my mid-year marketing review workshop

At my recent mid-year marketing review workshop in June, I held a productive session for a small group of local business owners. We each reviewed our marketing achievements so far for the year. Then we celebrated our successes!

 
Celebrating your successes is so important, don’t you think? How often do you go from one thing to the next without stopping and taking stock? 

 

That’s why I wanted to run a mid-year marketing review workshop, so that it gave everyone who attended the opportunity to think about what they’ve been doing. I recently wrote about the importance of reviewing your content goals, so this workshop was the next step in actually doing so.

 

We started by looking at what had worked and what hadn’t. Then we gave ourselves a pat on the back for everything we’d done.

 

Even when things haven’t gone so well, it’s still worth noting it down. Then you can work out why it didn’t go so well. Perhaps it was lack of time on your part? Or maybe you didn’t have the right tools or knowledge.

 

What have you achieved lately? Write it down and then celebrate it.

 

Goal setting for the next half of the year

After the celebrations, we each set a marketing goal for the remaining half of the year.

From posting more on Tiktok to creating a lead magnet, setting up email marketing or building a website, we each came up with a SMART goal. That’s a goal which is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound.

Then, I gave everyone the time to work out the steps they needed to achieve their goal. They each came up with a list and shared it with the group.

 

 

Being accountable for mid-year marketing goals

Sometimes we all need a nudge to get things done. So, I held everyone accountable for the first step they said they would take towards achieving their goal. And then I contacted them a couple of weeks later to see how they were getting on!

I’m pleased to report that everyone was working well towards their goal and that they’d all mostly achieved their first step:

• 2 have already done their ‘one thing’
• 2 are working through it and have achieved part of it
• 1 is in progress

Don’t worry, I shall be keeping up with each of them to see how much further they get!

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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 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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