10 tips on how to make your business story newsworthy

It’s not about you – it’s about them!  Ask yourself - what impact will your news have on the readers, listeners, viewers, the community at large?

Contextualise - tap into a wider trend.  What’s the macro view? What trends are taking place in your industry sector? Or, create your own news – surveys are excellent.

Comparisons are good - What’s going on in other markets e.g. EU, US, UK, Emerging?

Celebrity Endorsements - They work!  But make sure celebrity’s brand image matches your brand values

Customer Testimonials -High profile clients – use testimonials in press releases, on website, on social media, blogs

Every press release should have 5x W’s and 1x H in the first two paragraphs – Who, What, Where, When, Why and How? 

    
Key Opinion Leader
An independent KOL adds credibility e.g. nutritionist for food industry

Imagery
A good photo or video can get you coverage even if story is not strong

Reactive Media Relations
If story breaks in the media that is relevant to your industry – be prepared to comment – quickly.  Position yourself as industry expert. Have your ‘boiler plate’ written. Use Google alerts to keep track of news relevant to your industry – and of your competitors!

Writing Style Tips
- Keep it short - particularly for online and broadcast media
- Write in the 3^rd Person - “You” or “I” should only be used in quotations

 - Make sure the tone is relevant to type of media you are targeting
- Include your contact details - mobile number, email address & date of issue

Photo: New York Times newsroom, 1942

www.diyPR.ie 

5 tools to fire up your blog, why watches are all set to the same time & mistakes business leaders make

5 tips to fire up your blog

There’s actually only 5 tips in this article from PR Daily – 5 suggestions on how to fire up your blog.  These include a couple of tools you can use to generate ideas for the blog, one which generates a title for your blog and even one that generates the content.  I haven’t tried any of these yet but tempted ……!

http://bit.ly/1WnWLQR

Why watches are all set to the same time in ads!

Have you always wondered why watches are all set to the same time in ads?  No, me neither!  In fact, I never noticed – but as this article says, that means the advertisers are doing their job properly!  Apparently all watches are set at 10.10 – this frames the brand name and logo and gives the watch a ‘smiley’ face!  I just had to include this essential fact in my blog!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/watch-watches-time-adverts-same-10-10-a6948421.html

Mistakes Business Leaders commonly make

Ireland’s leading executives were asked about the mistakes they commonly see business people repeating – these include:

·       Creating a Yes man culture;

·       Not thinking strategicially;

·       Ignoring technology;

·       Trying to do it all;

·       Working in, not on, the business and

·       Not listening.

Worth a read….

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/common-pitfalls-top-business-leaders-sure-avoid-101328585--finance.html

www.grainnebyrnePR.ie

PR coup - or disaster - for Betfair, VR headsets come to Ireland & Radio celebrates centenary here

PR coup – or disaster - for Betfair?

“Switching Saddles” – the campaign in the UK which has seen dual Olympic gold-winning cyclist, Victoria Pendleton switch the bike for a horse could be one of the best PR coups ever – or a major disaster, according to this measured article.  Her enthusiasm for her new sport is accepted as being completely genuine.  But if, when participating in the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham on Friday 18^th March, she, her horse, another rider or another horse has an accident due to her inexperience, fingers will be pointed.  But well done to Betfair – not an official sponsor at Cheltenham – who, so far, are reaping the publicity rewards.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/mar/07/victoria-pendleton-cheltenham-festival-pr-genius-disaster

Virtual Reality – arrives in Ireland within next few weeks!

With VR headsets arriving in Ireland shortly, this article looks at how some Irish companies are working with it.  Plans afoot to use the headsets for viewing houses and training the defence forces for peacekeeping missions.  A Waterford company, Immersive VR Education is launching Apollo 11 based on the NASA mission, having raised money initially on Kickstarter.  They also have a Titanic project in the works and VR lectures.  A Sligo-based company, Mind Myths plan to use VR to improve wellbeing and mental health.  Should be some really interesting VR stuff emerging over the next few months…

http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/vr-development-ireland-2641856-Mar2016/

The Rising isn’t the only Centenary!

The first radio broadcast in Ireland took place during the Easter Rising week – have to admit I didn’t know that!  And radio is still a very powerful medium in this country with 83% of people here tuning into a radio station every day.  And it’s not just the older cohort of the population that listen – 77% of 15-35 year olds are ‘habitual radio listeners’ according to this article from John McGee in the Sunday Independent.  But radio hasn’t stood still – they’ve been staging live events, engaged with brand partnerships and content-focused offerings - such as podcasts and live-streaming.

http://www.independent.ie/business/time-to-celebrate-a-centenary-of-irish-broadcast-heroes-34514674.html

www.diyPR.ie

11 Instagram tools & Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen on doing business in China...

11 Instagram tools

A very useful article detailing 11 tools to make better use of Instagram including “Videohance” which produces 15 second videos - although introduced in 2013, videos are still not widely used on Instagram – photos tend to dominate, so video is a great way to stand out.  Another one I like the sound of is “Word Swag” where you can overlay text on your photos.  “iWatermark” helps prevent others using your photos without crediting you. “Flipagram” helps make a collage of your photos while “Diptic” produces a scrapbook effect.  And if you’re always blaming the quality of photos on your phone - like me - try “Camera+” to help improve them!

http://bit.ly/1UjaZBu

Llewelyn-Bowen & doing business in China

The flamboyant designer, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen advises people who want to do business in China not to listen to advice about how difficult it is to do so.  While he refers in the article to British brands, the advice would apply to us here in Ireland also. The key he says is understanding what your brand stands for and how it resonates with the Chinese market.  He stands for every day, affordable design which is appealing to the growing middles class in China.  He had been told that he would have to stay up all night drinking with the boss to get a deal and that the Chinese are only into minimalist zen design – wrong on both counts according to his experiences to date.  Worth a read….

http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/feb/29/laurence-llewelyn-bowen-china-exports

What to look at before you leap

For anyone thinking of making the leap into entrepreneurship, there’s some good, practical tips here.  These include; Don’t get too wedded to your idea; Do the research; Ensure you have a mix of Creativity + Discipline + Stamina; Ask yourself will it make money; Work out your costs - and then double them and likewise with the timeframe that you expect to be up and running. Do a risk analysis and it’s recommended that you take advice from people who have run their own businesses, who’ve walked the walk.  And, interestingly, build a team - as Enterprise Ireland say they will “almost never” invest in a one man band.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/start-ups-look-before-you-leap-1.2548299

www.diyPR.ie

Donald Trump's Comms Strategy, marketing trends 2016 & latest radio listenership figures

Communication Strategies from Donald Trump

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that The Donald has outperformed all expectations and the cynics to date.  Why is that?  This article from “PR Daily” spells out his excellent communication strategies.  Trump is very clear on what he stands for – “Make America Great Again” and he resonates with many Americans on this topic.  Also, he knows how to tap into emotions, he speaks the language of his audience, he has a clear narrative and he deliberately sets out to be different to his opponents.

http://bit.ly/1PzP2uo

Marketing Trends in 2016

Marketing people are more interested in what underpins a trend rather than in the trend itself, according to planning agency, MCCP – and this gives brands staying power and impact with customers.  In this article from Michael Cullen, he reports on a talk on trends for 2016 given by MCCP.  They warned that brands which don’t empower green customers will be punished, that food brands must focus on natural ingredients and that marketers should care less about technology and more about the outcome.  There’s a wealth more to read about here….

http://www.independent.ie/business/media/getting-inside-the-minds-of-consumers-34442029.html

RTE performs strongly in JNLRs

RTE performed very well and increased its listenership by 64,000 in 2015 according to the most recent JNLRs (Joint National Listenership Research).  The top 4 programmes are:

1.    Morning Ireland

2.    Marian Finucane, Saturday

3.    Liveline

4.    News at One.

RTE Radio 1’s Sean O’Rourke now has more listeners than Pat Kenny in his last year at RTE – Sean is up by 33,000 since last year and now attracts 331,000 daily.  Ray D’Arcy’s show has added an impressive 22,000 listeners since he took over, bringing it to 215,000 while Mary Wilson’s “Drivetime” has 18,000 more listeners this year.

6,000 more people are tuning into Newstalk Breakfast since last year and now 171,000 every day enjoy the spats between Ivan Yates and Chris Donoghue.  Not such good news for Pat Kenny who has 9,000 fewer listeners than last year at 133,000.

At Today FM, both Ian Dempsey (breakfast show) and Alison Curtis (weekend) increased by 6,000 bringing them to 187,000 and 141,000 respectively.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/radio-1-builds-recovery-as-today-fm-slides-jnlr-survey-1.2521540

www.grainnebyrnePR.ie

Raise funds for your business? 3 blog tips from Cisco & Unbelievable Brands

Raise funds for a Cat Café, Topless Male Waiters..?!!!!

Want to raise funds for a fledgling business idea?  How about crowd-funding?  And the quirkier the better – or maybe not!  The Irish Times here highlights 5 would-be entrepreneurs who are seeking crowd-funding including a café where you can play with cats while you have coffee, a restaurant with topless male waiters in tight shorts and ‘food you will rave about’ and the one I really liked – a drone to help monitor the treatment of animals.  Interestingly, the drone idea has raised the most funds – the others very little to date.  The cat café idea fascinates me – I know they have the cafes elsewhere in the world – but why a Cat Café and not a dog one?  Cats don’t really interact with you unless they feel like it – and/or unless there’s food involved.  As the proud servant of a cat called Millie, I wouldn’t pay €10 to have a coffee and play with her as I’d be hanging around for hours just waiting for her to deign to give me a few minutes’ attention!!  I’m not sure how they got the cats in the pic above to be so co-operative!  Maybe Japanese cats are different?!

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/sip-coffee-with-cats-or-have-dinner-served-by-a-man-in-tight-shorts-1.2510906

3 Tips from Cisco on maximising your Blog

Okay we’re not all the size of Cisco or anywhere near it (I’m a SOHO myself – small office, home office) but it’s always interesting to see how the big boys do it – so here they offer 3 tips to having a successful blog.  They recommend – activating your employee base, inviting guest bloggers and experimenting with social media – but not relying on it.  They post an amazing 27 pieces of content to their blog every day – but they only promote about 3.  Interestingly, they say they get more traffic from RSS subscriptions than from social media.

http://bit.ly/1nNed3q

Unbelievable brands

Don’t use “we believe” or “we passionately believe” in your marketing messaging, begs the author of this article in The Guardian.  He cites a few examples of brands with genuine beliefs and values including Ella’s Kitchen and Honda’s Hate Something, Change Something campaign.  Introduce real people behind the brand and, if appropriate, get Moral.  But not all brands have such stories – companies like Unilever with its many sub brands have to take a different tack.  So Walk the Walk he says and rally around a cause that’s worthy of belief, time and effort.  Another example he gives is of Volvo’s commitment to road safety which saw them develop a glow-in-the-dark paint.

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2016/jan/22/unbelievable-brands-give-values-bad-name-marketing

www.diypr.ie

2016 sensory marketing trends, luxury brands & experiences & SMEs can afford TV ads

Sensory Marketing Trends for 2016

The “multi-sensory mix” is what it’s all about this year apparently.  Expanding the use of Virtual Reality, combining video and print, 4D cinema taking off (can’t understand why this has taken so long when Disney have been doing this for at least a couple of decades), capitalising on the power of touch with Direct Mail, and using the power of smell to good effect.  An example of the latter was McCain last year wafting out the aroma of baking potatoes at bus shelters and rewarding commuters with vouchers who high-fived the poster if they were having chips for tea!  I’ve said before that Chips for Tea campaign is clever.

http://www.marketingweek.com/2016/01/18/top-sensory-marketing-trends-for-2016/

Successful Luxury Goods Marketing

Luxury branding is all about creating luxury experiences – the store is a Temple where customers experience the brand rather than just buy the product. Luxury brands should advocate beliefs and attract customers whose beliefs align with their own.  Consumption ‘rituals’ should be created which allow the customer to experience the brand.   Exclusivity in admittance to the ‘club’ is key – not just any old customer can join. These are just some of the tips in this article – which is from November 2014 – but still worth a read.  However, I can’t help but think when I read it that a considerable number of what would be considered mass market brands are trying to market their goods in this way?

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2014/nov/25/luxury-goods-marketing-ferrari-le-labo

SMEs can afford to advertise on TV

TV Advertising used to be only affordable by the big brands – but no longer, according to this article – it is referring to the UK but would apply to a lesser extent here also.  The author has made and will air his company’s TV ad for £50,000 sterling.  Production costs are lower due to greater choice and you can buy media time in small chunks on channels that are relevant to your brand.  He advises going for a small media buying agency as you will be a more important client than if you were with a larger agency – this makes sense.  Planning, content and evaluation are all key.  And, of course, you can use your ad or parts of it across other platforms.

http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/jan/13/tv-advertising-growing-businesses-cheaper-budget

www.diyPR.ie