Information Junkie

There are many advantages to using the Internet to do business. For example, you can contact lots of people and work wherever you want. But you do not have to limit yourself to online publicity only.

Press releases are a great way to gain exposure for your business. They may sound formal and complicated, but they are simply documents containing information, submitted to the media, in hopes the media will feature the information.

Press releases follow the same standard format. You can find example press releases online. They should include facts about your company and details on special events or promotions that you will soon have. Press releases can be sent to newspapers in your area or online media sources.

Never underestimate the power of a simple business card. Whether it is a simple act of giving someone your card, stapling your cards to the bottom of a flyer or putting magnet on the back of them and sticking them to the outside of a mailbox, there are many ways to promote your business with them.

Be on the look out for public events that your business could sponsor in order to gain more publicity. If your business is related to children, you could get more in the public eye by sponsoring a little league team. A local health fair would be a good place to get some publicity if your company deals with health issues.

Many groups, clubs, and organizations in your area would no doubt be interested in having you come and give a speech in front of a group. Even though this can be nerve racking, if you have the courage to do so it can be a powerful publicity booster.

Try to find a group whose members are probably in your business’s target market. Then contact them on the phone and ask if they would be interested in having you come to give a presentation.

The Chamber of Commerce in your area would probably be very excited to have a web designer come give a presentation. You could talk about websites and any related topics that you know how to speak about.

The people who hear your presentation may be so enamored by your presentation that they will want to do business with you or at least they will be willing to suggest you to other people who need to work with a web designer.

When you think of publicity, you may think of paid ads, press releases, and the like. When you think of email, you probably think of it as a communication tool; They may seem very different, but you can blend the two and use email as a publicity tool.

Email programs tend to allow their users to add a signature line at the end of all emails that they send. This signature line is automatically attached to your messages by your email program and can include information like your name, web address, phone number, and slogan.

Adding a signature line to your emails can expose your company to individuals who would otherwise be unaware of the products and services it offers. The information in your signature line will be sent to anyone you write to as well as people who receive a forwarded message from you.

You can boost publicity by means of email by using an autoresponder to keep in touch with individuals on a mailing list that you create. Such a set up works well if you design an e-course related to your companys market. If you are most interested in reaching mothers who are worried about health issues, your e-course could be about why using organic baby food is so beneficial.

There are many autoresponder services to choose from, so do a little research and find one that fits your needs and budget. When you sign up with one, you will be able to create forms to gain subscribers. When you create a form, you will be given a small amount of HTML that you can install on your website or blog. An opt-in box will appear on your page, and when people fill out their name and email, they will be added to your list of subscribers.

You can write emails ahead of time and load them into your autoresponder, and as you gain subscribers your emails will automatically be sent to them. You can specify how many days apart you want the emails to be sent. Sending one email or lesson per day is very common with e-courses. On day 1 you can send your subscribers a welcome email, on day 2 they will receive lesson 1 of the e-course, on day 3 they will receive lesson 2 and so forth.

Emails that you send with an autoresponder should all include some kind of call to action. If you design an e-course for organic baby foods, use this as an opportunity to include affiliate links to e-books or links to any other product that you are working to promote or sell.

People turn to the internet to gain information. Email is a great way to deliver information to them and promote your products and services at the same time.

An executive profile is a brief, but detailed report describing the particular attributes of often high power executives. A company’s CEO, President, Vice-President, Director of Marketing as well as other department heads may be represented to the public in the form of an executive profile developed by a Public Relations Firm.

Fortune 500 Companies often search far and wide for the right person to fill a high profile position, when they have that person in place they want to let the shareholders, the media, and the public know exactly why they have selected said person. An executive profile is the best tool for a company to accomplish this goal. Having not just a qualified person, but the most qualified person firmly in place is an important thing for a large company to be able to share with the public, and in particular, with it’s share holders.

What is Often Included

Experience and Education

The number of years spent in the trenches of a company before taking the reigns and the years of experience in the same or similar fields is often described in detail, as are degrees, awards and affiliations with educational institutions.

Where an executive attended school to receive his bachelors, masters and all subsequent degrees and current status with any of those institutions are detailed in this section. Many high power executives like to give back to the educational institutions where they got their start and will remain involved with those institutions in some way, shape or form - whether it be just by financial contribution or as an acting member of the board. This loyalty is an important part of being an executive and is often one of the first highlights of an executive profile.

Business Data

How an executive ended up where they are encompasses a large part of an executive profile, what they currently are in control of and what they have done in the past that makes them qualified for their current position. This part of the executive profile lets the reader know exactly what an executive had to go through to get to the point that they are at.

Personal Accomplishments

Some executive profiles will include a more personal section detailing impressive personal achievements that may not necessarily have much to do with their role in a particular position in the corporate world, but help ad an element of character to the profile.

Roles in non profit organizations, appearances in the media, acts of charity and roles of leadership or participation in the community may all be detailed in an executive profile.

Business Accomplishments

This can be the broadest section of the executive profile depending upon the level of success and executive has achieved. Each large step forward an executive has made can be detailed in this section; from increases in revenue, decreases in spending, new product launches, scholarship programs, charitable affiliations and environmentally efficient advances are all things that would likely show up in an executive profile.

Capability of improving the company’s finances in one way or another is often a large part of this section. Taking a company from six figure profits to seven figure profits, no matter how it is done, is a huge accomplishment and often the highlight of an executive profile.

Future Plans

It’s important for every top executive to be able to show success in the past, as well as success in the present, but it is equally important to have a solid plan for success in the future. Impending product and service developments and future endeavors to help grow the company’s future market share are often broached, without giving away too much confidential information.

Plans for future business involvement in the community, with charitable organizations and with environmental causes could also be broached in this area on and executive profile from Polaris Public Relations.

Top executives rarely get to the positions that they are in by resting on their laurels, it often takes years and years of continuing education and countless hours of hard work to be worthy of and successful in one of these positions. An executive profile displays all of the details of how the world’s most powerful and successful business men and women got into the positions that they hold today, and gives the rest of us a small bit of insight into exactly how hard they had to push themselves to get there.

There are several elements factored into a quote from a PR firm. There is also the fact that no two quotes will be the same because every individual seeking out a public relations firm needs something a little different. The public relations firm provides a number of different services that benefits each and every business that seeks out what they have to offer. However, the quote is based either upon what kind of budget the business has to work with or what they are hoping to achieve with their public relations.

Budget

As stated before, the budget may determine what kind of quote is received. The most common PR services include press releases, internet marketing, and the development of public relations strategies. There may be more advanced services such as print marketing campaigns and actual public speaking on behalf of the company. Those two services can become quite expensive. However, the other services can be quite affordable and the firm can work with you based on your budget.

That makes budget a very important part of determining what you’re going to pay. If you say you need an extensive internet marketing campaign, but you only have $10,000 to spend, the PR firm will give you a quote of what they can provide you inside of that budget.

Fees and charges

It isn’t uncommon to see fees such as service fees and such. It is customary for a fee to be charged for providing the service or any other fees that the PR firm finds to be necessary. It can vary from firm to firm, so it is a good idea to get quotes from various firms to see what types of fees they are charging. As for the quote itself, there is no charge. Quotes are free because they are used as tools to acquire your business.

As for what is not included in the quote are such items as late fees. Some PR firms may only require that you pay a small percentage up front and the rest later. If you pay the balance late, they may have some kind of late fee tacked onto the amount. Of course this isn’t going to be included in a quote because they don’t know if you’re going to be late paying your balance.

There are also service charges for each service you choose. You may choose to have a single press release written but, then again, you may wish to have a packaged deal that includes having a public relations strategy drawn up. How you bundle your services will also determine what type of charges you have to pay.

Here is an example of some of the fees and charges you may have to pay:

- A monthly retainer fee saying that you will stay on board so that their efforts are for nothing. - An hourly project charge for every project. - Any possible out-of-pocket expenses that is foreseeable. - A counseling fee for any counseling that is needed. - A flat fee for the time the agency puts into the project.

Remember that these are just quotes, so the amount quoted may differ from the amount actually charged. However, the quote gives you a great tool to know what types of expenses you are looking at. Just expect to pay as much as 20% more so that you have enough money on hand to make sure you can pay for everything as it comes. By using this strategy, you can employ a PR firm to take care of your interactions with the public and get your business rolling in the direction you want it to.

It is important for an organization to have one or more spokespeople who are experienced and can stay calm when communicating during a crisis. Crisis communication is how people know what is going on and it is very important when it comes to public relations. This is why it is important to have an adequate number of spokespeople for your organization because sometimes it isn’t sufficient enough to have just one person doing the talking. It looks better on the public relations side of things if you have more than one who are both on the same page and can effectively speak to the media and people on a face-to-face basis.

There are several things that must be done in crisis communication. It isn’t just a matter of looking at the situation and coming up with a response within five minutes. To give a proper response, it is important to evaluate the situation and follow a certain set of rules to make sure the public gets the adequate information. These steps are:

- Developing and delivering at least three key points about the situation. These messages must be relayed in such a way that everyone can understand what is being said. Sometimes these messages do not have to be anything extensive, depending on the situation. Such an example is when a company is going through a lawsuit. Most companies do not allow commenting on pending litigation, so the spokesperson may simply say, “no comment.”

- Make sure that all employees are up-to-date on what is going on. This creates consistency and allows for adequate response for various situations that may arise during a crisis. Many times this interaction should take place face-to-face instead of in a memo.

- Make sure you identify who can be trusted with information and who cannot be. These can be considered your unofficial spokespersons if they must be asked questions. These are the people who will adhere to what you tell them to say. In crisis communication, it is important to stay sensitive to various pieces of information that could cause an even bigger issue.

- A rumor-control system should be put in place. This means that the system must be up and running, allowing others to ask questions and get immediate answers before they begin communicating their speculations with others. What starts out as a question soon becomes fact when it is passed from person-to-person. This can cause a situation to become much more difficult. Rumors result in new issues that must be given attention. This can take attention away from the issue at hand.

Just make sure that those on the inside know exactly what is going on because they are just as important as those on the outside wanting to know what the crisis is, how it is going to impact them, and how to rectify the situation. It is even fair to develop key messages for employees, but to have key messages that are used for those on the outside as well. It is important to implement a system and a strategy that will not cause any type of mass panic, depending on the situation. Sometimes those situations are limited to a company and other times they can influence an entire population.

Just be sure to not jump the gun. Instead, develop strategies that will relay the message effectively. Both inside and outside communication go hand-in-hand in order for things to run smoothly. This shows that crisis communication in public relations is very important when ensuring the safety of people, their affairs, and of those directly involved with the situation.