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A couple of examples of PRs getting it wrong (according to the media representatives involved) and being publicly wrapped over the knuckles for it were highlighted by Mumbrella  and one of its readers today.  Read http://mumbrella.com.au/mark-learns-the-sorry-bloggers-pr-dance-5529 and http://www.smh.com.au/national/black-day-for-ivy-league-20090514-b4tr.html (Cat got their tongue).  

Tough break for the PRs in question as mistakes are easily made as we all know and being slammed in the media in a way that could likely jeopardise your career and the reputation of your company is harsh to say the least.

But then again, we all need to be kept on our toes and if nothing else the above two examples should certainly ensure we do that.

Thanks to Mumbrella, Ben Glazier and Sean Nicholls/Erik Jensen for reminding us that any media approach involves risk and exposure for both our clients and ourselves, and that there’s no room for laziness and lack-of-thought in the PR game.

Although any publicity’s good publicity isn’t it?  For MarkComms I think it was today.

Sally

I’ve never been a fan of ‘networking’.  The sort of networking where you enter a room, cockily stride up to someone, hand outstretched, and tell them your name which is neatly reinforced by the dinky name tag on your chest, that is.  

Not that large networking events aren’t fantastic.  I go to them quite often, often meet people that are interesting and always learn something.  But I can’t say any of the people I’ve met at these type of events have made long-term contributions to my career or the success of my business.    

The people that have are the people I’ve picked up along the way.  You know, the girl you worked with for a few months before she went on to another industry, your Mum’s best friend, who just opened a coffee shop, your old boss, the guy who used to do the photography for your favourite client, your lecturer, etc.

When I started littleBig Marketing & PR the first thing I did was send an email to EVERYONE I knew – that is friends, family, colleagues, suppliers, etc. – past, present and prospective.  I let them know what I was setting out to do and encouraged them to get in touch if they or anyone they knew might need my services.  Within one week of sending it that email generated my first three clients.  You could say it generated every new client from then on also, thanks to word of mouth and the experience gained from the connections it instigated.  

See I never realised the strength of my network until I tapped into it.  And tapping into your existing network is even easier now thanks to social marketing tools such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  

I guess the moral of the story is, don’t stress out about networking, networking, networking.  Your network is developing everyday without you even trying.  Just endevour to create and maintain good relationships in every area of your life and you’ll have a fabulous network – no awkward conversation required.  

Sally

Just some quick tips re: using your email list, no matter how big or small it may be…

• Send to it regularly.  We’re all very conscious of not bombarding the inboxes of our subscribers however some of us are a bit too conservative.  We suggest you mail your list at least once a month.  If you’ve got something good to write about once a week is fine and sometimes even more is great, depending on your business/service.   You’d be surprised how quickly an email list will expire.  People leave their job (and their email address) or forget who you are all too soon.  Before you know it that list of 5,000 people you sent to three months ago, is now only a list of 4,000 because of new bounces and unsubscribes.  
• Keep the content brief and succinct but… put ALL the key points in the email rather than expecting the reader to click through to a website.  You’d be surprised how few hyperlinks within emails are actually clicked on.  
• Don’t think ‘my list is too small to bother with’.  It’s usually the smaller lists that have the better open rates.  You’re probably closely connected with the people on your email list so they really want to read what you have to say.  If 40 people out of your list of 100 open the email and 5 of those people call you to take advantage of the offer in your email, just think what that might do for your business?  
• Always promote a reason for people to forward your email on.  This might be in the form of a competition, a referral program or some other promotional function.  You’re emailing your list anyway so why not use the opportunity to grow it?  This also relates back to my first point about emailing your list regularly.  Ensuring you’re actively growing your list will help compensate for the email addresses that will be lost between campaigns.  The more on your list, the more opens, the more sales/bookings/traffic/etc…  

Email marketing is a great, cheap way to speak to your audience, research it, spoil it, provoke it, refine it and grow it.  Contact us if you want to know more!

Sally