Tag Archive for 'business'

SA News Distribution Service Brings The Power Of Publicity To More Companies

Published
by
Scott
on December 7, 2009
in Public Relations
. 0 Comments

A news distribution service has recently launched in South Africa, which now provides the most cost-effective way to send press releases directly to targeted journalists and editors, helping companies gain valuable media exposure. Media Alerts News Distribution will help journalists access relevant news, while helping companies easily distribute their news to all the right media contacts.
Media Alerts News Distribution uses the Encyclomedia media database, South Africa’s largest database of over 6 500 journalists, including all print, broadcast and online media, plus influential freelancers and bloggers.

Useful reporting: The service includes a report with the number of emails sent, plus a list of the media titles the release was sent to - useful for internal or client reporting and tracking of media exposure.

Benefits:

  • Publicity results are boosted by expanding the reach of the press release, with access to the largest database of contacts.
  • No need to spend hours researching to find the right media contacts, this has already been done by the industry specialist.
  • Press releases are personalised with the journalists’ names, making it stand out from the hundreds of general emails they receive.
  • The targeted approach means that the press release is sent to the right media contacts who are in the best position to use the information.
  • Press releases are formatted in the journalists’ preferred layout, helping them quickly find the information, key contacts and images.

Price:

  • R1 750 per release (includes one category of your choice)
  • R150 per additional category (over 30 targeted categories to choose from)

This is the most affordable way to individually contact every news outlet in South Africa.

If this is something that could help expand your media coverage, we’d be happy to give you more information. Find out more on our website: www.MediaAlerts.co.za/News-Distribution

Popularity: 25% [?]


PR Success Strategies For Your Business - PR Conference

Published
by
Robynn
on October 14, 2008
in Public Relations
. 4 Comments

If you’re looking to expand your media knowledge and learn highly effective practical PR skills, then the PR Success Strategies For Your Business conference is not to be missed. This full-day conference is going to be jam-packed with invaluable insights into the media, best practices in PR and publicity success strategies. 

THE DETAILS:
- 20 November 2008.
- 08:30 - 17:00.
- The Forum, Victoria & Alfred Hotel, Cape Town.
- Early Bird Special: R2500 until 3 November (R2750 thereafter).
Limited seats remaining, register here.

 

YOU WILL LEARN:
- The power of PR & how to apply it to your business.
- How to think like a journalist & understand the needs of the media.
- PR and publicity best-practices and success strategies.
- Top publicity and media relations tips, direct from journalists themselves.
- How to effectively pitch your ideas to journalists.
- Best media relationship building ideas.
- Top tips on using social media for business.
- How to use online PR to boost your exposure and reputation, plus online reputation management.
PLUS:
- A practical workshop session on mapping your message - how to define and fine-tune your core message to the media.
- Discover new publicity angles and story ideas.

Find more details on the conference and the speakers here: http://www.encyclomedia.co.za/events/.

Popularity: 24% [?]


How To Banish Bad Habits and Achieve Better Results

Published
by
Robynn
on March 7, 2008
in Success Tips
. 2 Comments

In his fantastic book, The Success Principles, Jack Canfield says that “whatever habits you currently have established are producing your current level of results”.

Now add to that the fact that, according to psychologists, 90% of our behaviour is habitual. From the way you get out of bed in the morning, to the way you eat your cereal, to the way you change gears in your car - these are all habits that you’ve created and you do them automatically without much thought involved.

Habits like these are incredibly useful, because what’s really happened is that you’ve repeated a particular activity so many times that you’ve stored it in your subconscious mind, which frees your conscious mind to concentrate on any other activity or thought.

As an example of this, remember when you first learned to drive a car? With all of the coordination and concentration required, it was very difficult to try and hold any kind of conversation at the same time. But after consistent practice, once the actions became habitual, you could then easily have a conversation with passengers, listen to the radio and perhaps even notice the billboards as you drive past.

Out with the bad, in with the good
Of course, the problem comes in when you have habits that don’t serve you. Because you’re doing many of these automatically from the subconscious mind, you’re not always aware that you’re doing it. So the first step to making any positive change is to first recognise what habits aren’t really working for you or helping you create the results you want.

But this is the easy part, right? With a little introspection you can spot the things you know you should change - like procrastinating on certain phone calls, arriving late for meetings, forgetting people’s names seconds after meeting them. But once you’ve decided what habits you plan to change, it’s important to come up with a support plan to keep you on track - and this is the hard part.

How many New Year’s resolutions have you really kept past the end of February? The truth is that habits aren’t too easy to replace, unless you understand the techniques of how to create and maintain new ones. In Jack Canfield’s book, he explains that research now shows that if you repeat a behaviour for 13 weeks, it’s yours for life. It’s a heck of a lot longer than the 21 days I always thought it took, but now at least I understand why my good intentions always fizzled out after those first 21 days.

Action steps to change your habits
So what are the tips to make sure you follow through for 13 weeks?

  • Choose to focus on one new habit at a time. Don’t water down your efforts by trying to achieve everything at once.
  • Put reminders everywhere - post-it-notes on your PC, reminders on your cell, notes on the fridge, etc.
  • Ask a colleague to remind you every day and keep you accountable for following through.

“The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him - and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that will help him achieve the success he desires.” - J. Paul Getty (Widely regarded as the richest man in the world by the late 1950s.)

Popularity: 6% [?]


Ten Excellent Networking Tips

Published
by
Robynn
on February 28, 2008
in Communication skills
. 20 Comments

Having just attended two networking events in an equal number of evenings (PR-Net and 27 Dinner), I had the opportunity to practice some of the tips I learnt from Colette Carlson’s “Communication secrets to change your life” seminar last weekend. I’m still learning and some of these tips take a bit of practice (they don’t call it net-work for nothing), but I’ve found them to be incredibly useful:

1. Wear your stripes

Make sure to introduce yourself at every opportunity. Let people know who you are upfront. Don’t lose an opportunity by simply saying “Hi, I’m Robynn”. Rather say “Hi, I’m Robynn Burls, the owner of Encyclomedia, the online media database for the PR industry. And you are?” Now people know who you are and it opens the opportunity for them to ask you more about what you do. 

2. Introduce yourself to the loners - you’ll be their hero

No-one likes to be standing alone at a networking event, it’s embarrassing! It makes you do stupid things like pretend you’re checking email on your cell (and we all know you’re really only trying to look busy).

Make a point of walking up to the person and introduce yourself. The loners will be so grateful to finally be involved that they won’t be able to forget you. Remember, the objective behind good networking is to become memorable in the minds of others.

3. Bring outsiders into the conversation - more hero-factor

When you’re chatting in a group and you see that certain individuals are being side-lined, pull them back into the conversation by saying “John, what do you think about that?” By giving him the opportunity to get back into the group, you’ll make yourself more memorable to John.

Also, when you are talking, be inclusive and connect with everyone’s eyes, not just the person who asked you a question.

4. Lost and alone? Start a conversation

It’s always tough, if not a little daunting, when attending an event alone. Don’t get stuck in a quiet corner playing with your phone. Walk straight up to the busiest area, normally the bar, or around the registration table. Remember to smile, it makes you look more approachable - people like friendly people. Find another person and casually comment ”I don’t know anyone here. How about you?”

There you have it, you’ve started a conversation and it wasn’t so difficult. The fear of doing something is always far worse than actually doing it.

5. Embarrassing silence? Prepare ahead

We’ve all experienced that dreaded lull in conversation where you nervously take a gulp of wine, hoping someone will think of something to say by the time you’ve swallowed. Now you can use this silence to your advantage. Depending on the type of people attending the event, take some time out beforehand to read some recent blog posts or newspaper articles related to their field of interest. Find something quirky or humorous (no front-page dreary news stories please) and keep it at the back of your mind.

The moment people start fidgeting and looking around, you can add “hey, did any of you read Dave Duarte’s post about Nokia’s hilarious “position art” campaign?” If someone says yes, then invite them to tell the group about it. Not only have you saved the conversation, for which everyone is enormously grateful, but you’ve also given someone else the opportunity to tell a story. This once again makes you more memorable in the story-teller’s mind.

6. Ask unusual, but appropriate questions

Aim to create conversations that connect. You need to be a little strategic and use the short space of time that you spend talking to someone to build rapport (find common ground). Talking about the weather or the view is only convenient when you can’t think of anything else meaningful. Don’t waste an opportunity, rather prepare some questions ahead of time. Remember, there’s a bit of “work” in networking.

You could say something like “tell me what you do on weekends”. This is a clever question because it lets the person speak about their passions. People find it easy to talk about things they’re genuinely passionate about, so you can easily accelerate the conversation from there. If someone says they like to go hiking, then simply say “oh, tell me about that”.

7. Focus on others

It’s better to be interested than interesting. It’s a funny thing, but research has shown that the more you get a person to speak about herself, the more she will remember you as being interesting.

8. Make notes of people’s interests

When you get home after a networking event, make a note of everything that you can remember about the people you met - how many dogs and cats they have, what their children’s names are, what their hobbies are, etc. You could put this into a spreadsheet and categorise it by event or industry. Preferably synch the spreadsheet with your phone so you can quickly check the details again on-the-go.

The next time you meet the person, try asking how the wife’s rowing regatta went and see how his face lights up!

9. Give before getting

Once you know what a person’s interests are, take it a step further than simply bringing it up the next time you meet. Use the information to help you connect and build a relationship. Use Google Alerts, Amatomu, Muti or Afrigator to search for new content relevant to the person’s interests. Then send a quick email with a link to the article or blog post saying that you thought he or she would find it interesting.

Wow, now you’re making a real impact in the person’s mind. Try to help others get what they want and you become a trustworthy, memorable contact.

10. Close a conversation with class

When at a networking event, it doesn’t serve you to spend the entire evening chatting to one individual. The objective is to meet as many people as possible who can help you get your ideas, interests and agendas heard (whether that’s making a new bunch of friends or finding potential clients).

So when you find yourself stuck in a long-winded conversation, take advantage of a natural lull. Confidently say “well, it was really lovely meeting you Fanie, I hope we get to meet again soon. Enjoy the rest of your evening”. Then you’re free to shake hands and move on back to the bar where you can start again and meet someone new.

Popularity: 65% [?]