The Positivity PR Virus

June 17, 2010 By 23 Comments

Let’s face it, it takes hard work to be an overnight success. When my novel College.com (sadly, now out of print but available for GBP:0.01 ) was published at the end of the 90s and the Times gave me “Debut of the Week” it had taken me nearly three years of really hard graft to get there.

I remember sitting in my apartment in Copenhagen back in the summer of ’96 slogging my guts out to write with only my Mac and the European Football Championships for company. Everyone else was enjoying one of the hottest summers I’ve ever experience in the Nordic region.

copenhagen positive communication

2 minutes from my Copenhagen apartment


Building a business is pretty much like writing a novel. You forego luxuries and free time whilst you’re doing the hard work and just as many writers fail to place their novel, a lot of companies don’t make it past their first year.

The Long and Winding Road

Even if you do make it to second base and are growing your business slowly by word of mouth, networking, all woven together with bits of duck-tape marketing, there comes a time for a lot of businesses when you’re just not getting noticed anymore. You plateau. Get stuck where you are. And nobody seems to notice you even if you’re desperate for some PR.

Kick-start Your PR

With midsummer a week away, here’s what you should do; grab hold of some of that sunshine energy and give you and your business a great shot of positivity. Positivity can be infectious and spread like a virus to your client base.

Why not:

  • Send off a handwritten postcard – not a flyer, pretending to be a postcard, mind! – to 10 former clients wishing them a great summer!
  • Send another ten tickets to an exhibition or an open-air theatre performance
  • Dare yourself to do something different with audio or video on your business blog (just like the super-positive Gini Dietrich did this week).
  • Suggest coffee and ice cream at a great downtown café with a valued customer to simply chew the breeze before the holidays
  • Give away a free book (like Danny Brown) did last year so someone can read on the beach this summer

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Interview: Gini Dietrich Talks Business Podcasting

June 8, 2010 By 24 Comments

Despite the increasing prevalence of online video content in the B2B market, people are still podcasting.

To find out more about the whys and what-fors I interviewed Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Dietrich, an outstanding online communicator, PR-expert and blogger at SpinSucks.com (the Fight Against Destructive Spin). She also recently joined the mic alongside Joseph Thornley and Martin Waxman for InsidePR, a brilliant North American podcast, that takes up industry issues related to PR and communications once a week.

gini-dietrich on podcastingGini and I chatted via email between the US and Stockholm.

Jon: As a business owner yourself why are you so involved in podcasting?

Gini: I began podcasting for two reasons:
a) My philosophy is that we never recommend something to a client we haven’t tried ourselves, and have seen some success and return-on-investment. We have a lot of clients who want to provide rich content to their customers and prospects, but have no patience or skill when it comes to writing. It’s important that I understand how podcasting works in that realm in order to best advise them. I also have a need to understand the technical pieces of everything we do so I can explain it to another business owner in a meeting.
b) My podcast co-hosts are two of my favorite Canadians and we’ve been trying to find a reason for a couple of years to work together. The InsidePR opportunity arose, they needed a U.S. contingent, and it took off. I really love it because it allows us to create markets internationally that, as boutique firms, have never had access to before.

Jon: In the last year or so the rush has been to video. After all, YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the planet. So why should businesses persist with podcasting, especially given that fewer people subscribe to podcasts than watch online video? (i.e. the Is Podcasting Dead-question!).
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PR Agencies, Steven Gerrard, and Your Business

April 6, 2010 By 12 Comments

So Ian Wright reckons Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard should move on at the end of the season and link up with former team-mate Xabi Alonso at Real Madrid.

Steven Gerrard

Time for something new?

I suspect Gerrard will move on when the season finishes, and it will disappoint me to see Stevie G – our very own Captain Marvel– go; however, I’ve seen it coming. Watching his form dip this year I’ve sensed he hasn’t had the same spark as in previous seasons. Gerrard’s look of utter dejection when Fernando Torres was substituted with over 20 minutes to play on Sunday against Birmingham City really suggested he’s lost his faith in manager Rafa Benitez and possibly the Liverpool cause. So the June transfer window could be a case of “Thanks for the memories and Good luck elsewhere!”

Is Your PR Agency Delivering?

Even the best partnerships go stale eventually– even if you have a lot of respect for each other.
And whilst your ties with your PR agency might not as be as emotional as Liverpool fans’ affection for Gerrard, every relationship should be scrutinised from time to time. Especially when business is concerned.

Traditionally, PR agencies have earned their money getting media outlets to cover your business, handling promotion, media relations, crisis management, and a whole host of communications activities.

Whilst many PR agencies have years of extremely meaningful and valuable off-line experience that’s still of value, it’s not so evident how adept many are at coping with online communications, PR and social media.

Pick Your PR Agency with Care

Before you start looking for an outside company, make sure you clearly define your PR objectives. If you’re looking for an agency with online skills, and are unsure how to evaluate, there are a number of factors to look at.

For starters, ask lots of questions about online skills, targets reached, social media campaign, etc. Certainly don’t be swayed by just one person. Agencies are well aware that the net is incredibly important and most have someone who can give you the hard sell. But don’t be bamboozled by a brilliant sales person or project manager. You should ask to evaluate the team that’s likely to work with you.

For example, ask for links to Twitter accounts, examples of Facebook Pages, blogs, etc. It doesn’t have to be agency work; a personal presence on these channels is okay.

Remember, having 30,000 followers isn’t a sign itself that an agency or PR person gets social media. But you should be able to get an idea of the kind of work they’re doing with, say, Twitter by looking at their stream.

Evaluate with Grading Tools

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