ISSUE ONE, FEBRUARY 2007

From the editor -  

How much is one idea worth?  There is so much information in the world today that we need to be selective about what we spend our time and money on.  A 400 page book rarely cuts it for me anymore as I'm not sure I will get a competitive ROI for my time or my money.  A while ago I asked myself how much one idea was worth and decided I want an idea I can use at least every hour I read or for every $20 or so that I spend on books, magazines, newsletters, seminars and the like.

With this spirit in mind, I have designed 'The Business M Powerer Magazine' to deliver ideas you can use at a price that offers you great value for your time and money.  It is a bi-monthly electronic magazine written for business owners and managers who want actionable advice on how they can empower their business (without the big consultancy fee).  As you can imagine, the title picked itself.

'The Business M Powerer Magazine' will focus on public relations, advertising, marketing, communication and customer service and bring you advice, ideas, inspiration, interviews, tips and more.

As well as all of the articles, interviews and snippets, there will be a bonus 20 'M Powered Ideas' each issue, so over the course of six issues in a year there will be 120 actionable ideas or, put another way, a year's worth of expert public relations advice for much less than a couple of hours of my time.  The first issue is complimentary and you can read it below.  A subscription form for future issues can be found on the last page and is also attached here.

As well as this new electronic magazine, we are launching two other initiatives also designed to make expert public relations advice easily accessible and affordable for business owners and managers.

'The Business M Powerer Program' offers six months unlimited email contact with me to work on empowering your business.  We can follow the program outlined in the magazine or set one designed to meet your business's specific objectives.  The program could include one on one advice on: media relations strategy; media release writing and distribution; speech writing and making; developing a public relations program; reputation building and management; newsletters and websites; and any aspect of empowering your business using public relations, communication or customer service techniques. The program reduces the investment in public relations services to approximately 20 per cent of the fees normally associated with engaging our services or those of most senior public relations experts.  Clients using this service will receive a free subscription to 'The Business M Powerer Magazine'.

'The Business M Powerer Intensive Program' includes the standard six month program and a free subscription to 'The Business M Powerer' but commences with us undertaking a diagnostic communication audit of your business to assess the degree to which the individuals and organisations you do business with understand your business.  From there we will work together on a detailed stakeholder mapping process that identifies every individual and organisation that affects or can be affected by your business.  Once complete we then commence the six month Business M Powerer Program.

Full details about subscribing to these new services can be found on our website or on the subscription form at the end of the magazine or attached here.

I will be happy to answer readers' questions as well, so we will include a 'Q and A' in the next issue or whenever there is a need.

I hope you enjoy this first issue with our compliments and I look forward to welcoming you as a subscriber to future issues.  Please let me know what you like and loathe about this issue and I will respond to your needs as best as I can.

Karen Morath*
The Business M Powerer
karen@mpowercct.com

PR University

Each issue there will be an article about some aspect of public relations with an emphasis on how you can use it in your business.  Topics will include - reputation, environmental scanning, marketing communication, publicity, touch points, two way communication, key messages, B2B, media liaison, role of talk back and letters pages, media lists and guides, branding, stakeholder mapping, advertising, sponsorships, e-marketing (email, SMS), profile raising and more.

PUBLIC RELATIONS EXPLAINED

The academic definitions centre around managing and valuing relationships with the individuals and groups (known as 'publics' in textbooks) that affect or are affected by your business.

A practical and introductory way of looking at public relations in terms of how you can use it to empower your business is -

'doing good things and telling people about them'.

Virtually every client I have ever had in more than 20 years in this business has told me that their competitors are getting more attention than them, that they feel misunderstood, that they can do more than the next guy but they are not winning the business, that they just need to get the word out...

What happens invariably is we discuss all of the 'good things' they are doing in their businesses right now.  There are always many stories to tell.

The problem is - always - that they are not 'telling people about them'.  They are not telling their stories to anyone, much less in a planned and proactive manner designed to reach those individuals and groups that affect or are affected by their business.

The idea is to identify the three, seven or 20 things your business does well, or differently from its competitors, uniquely, expertly, authoritatively, interestingly.  What do you do that's new, the oldest, the best, in partnership with someone else who is interesting, that is setting a trend, bucking the system, creating a new future, is cheaper or lined with gold, led by an expert, based on new research or that is or will benefit someone in some way?  Make a list.

Then work out who you wish knew these things about your business.  This list might include existing customers, staff, potential customers, industry associations, local organisations, industry and news media.

After you have done that, that is identified the good things you are doing and who you would like to know about them, work out how best you think you can tell them.  This list typically includes email to staff, media releases, breakfasts or lunches with existing clients, a newsletter to potential clients and industry media.  This might be different in different circumstances but this model would fit most businesses like a glove.

Plug this information into a planner (we call ours the M Power Communication Calendar, a copy is attached) and make a commitment to yourself to make the 'telling people about them' part of the equation as important as the 'doing good things'.  Commit to your program for three to six months and results are assured over time.

NEXT ISSUE - We will look at 'touch points'.  What are they and how can they empower my business?

Communication Toolbox

Here's where we will look at the tools of written and verbal communication and how they can empower your business.  In the first year's issues, we will cover letters, speeches, media releases, articles, newsletters, phone calls, emails and more.

DIY MEDIA RELEASES

Great media releases take several years not just to learn how to write, but why to write them and when.  Where to send them, when and how takes even longer.

But 'good enough' media releases with great stories to tell can indeed be good enough.

Here's a template that will get you through the basics:

Letterhead

Media release 

                                 Title that explains the story you are telling

First paragraph summarises the story.  WHAT is happening or has happened?  WHEN?  WHO is involved, will benefit or will be there? WHERE is it taking place or what area does it cover? HOW will it happen or how did it?  WHY is it occurring?

Second paragraph follows after a line of type between the first and second paras and provides any additional information.

"The Business M Powerer advises that the second or third paragraph is a great place to quote your spokesperson," said Karen Morath, managing director of public relations consultancy M Power.

"Sometimes you will need two or three paragraphs for the quote," she said.

Ms Morath said to be sure to note that titles such as managing director are not capitalised as if you read newspapers you will see that journalists write like this and it is our goal to fit in with their style as best we can.

The basic idea of media release writing is one idea per paragraph, again echoing the style of journalism.  Sometimes that means one paragraph is only one sentence but some contain two.

Very few media releases need to be longer than one A4 page or its electronic equivalent and some are only four or five paragraphs.

The least important information should be in the bottom paragraphs.  Assume they won't even be read.

Importantly, when you have nothing else to say, stop.  No fancy ending is required.

For further information:

Name and telephone number of person taking enquiries from the media.

Contact name
Title
Phone number

Date

Here are two examples of media releases about the same thing, both following the template.  One's a shocker and one's a winner.  I am sure you will be able to identify which is which.

EXAMPLE A

Media release

                                               MELBOURNE-BASED PUBLIC RELATIONS
                                               COMPANY LAUNCHES NEW E-MAGAZINE

M Power, one of Australia's fastest growing public relations consultancies, has launched The Business M Powerer, an electronic magazine full of tips and ideas about communication and public relations.

The first issue of the magazine is out now.

M Power managing director Karen Morath said she is really thrilled with the magazine and she hopes lots of people subscribe to it.

"I have been in public relations and communication for more than 20 years so I think I have plenty to offer business people who might want to subscribe to the magazine," she said.

Ms Morath said she hoped The Business M Powerer will be really successful.

The magazine, which will be published six times per year, will include sections on a range of communication tools designed to empower businesses to fulfil their goals.  There will also be a bonus 20 tips that can be used immediately, in each issue.

The Business M Powerer will cost $400 plus GST for a 12 month subscription.  Go to www.communicationempowers.com for information or to subscribe.

For further information

Name
Telephone
Date

EXAMPLE B

Media release

                                           NEW E-MAGAZINE TO
                                           HELP BUSINESSES GROW

A new electronic business magazine will help business owners and managers to have a voice in increasingly crowded market places.

'The Business M Powerer' was launched this week by Melbourne-based public relations consultancy M Power and will be published six times per year.

Magazine editor Karen Morath said the magazine reflects her company's philosophy that communication empowers and it is designed to equip business owners and managers with the skills to build their businesses, foster relationships with customers and suppliers and boost their profiles in the market place.

"I have worked with hundreds of organisations over the past 20 years and most struggle to effectively get their message out.  The magazine is written to help them," she said.

The first issue of the magazine is out now and includes articles on public relations, communication tools and motivation as well as a regular feature interview and 20 actionable ideas.

'The Business M Powerer' is available at www.communicationempowers.com  The annual subscription is $400 plus GST.

For further information

Name
Telephone

Date

                                                       ****

Your media release will be a winner, not a shocker, if it talks about the benefits that your company brings to others rather than talking about your company itself.

Once your media release is a winner, it can be posted, faxed or emailed to the journalist/s you have identified as being relevant to your industry or the topic of the release.  Under no circumstances should you call them.  If they're interested in your story they will either call you for any information they don't have or print your story.

NEXT ISSUE - We will cover the role of speeches in a communication toolbox and look at how to write and deliver speeches for a variety of occasions.

Customer Focus

I can't go past this quote from www.hillandknowlton.com/blog to set the mood for this section.

"Client service excellence isn't about doing the things no one else can do; it's about doing the things anyone can do, but just don't."

The way organisations treat customers is the great un-doer of all of the effort they go to to woo those customers to them in the first place.

Public relations and communication shouldn't only be part of your business up until the point at which your client signs on the dotted line or walks into your shop or calls you or whatever they need to do to invest their time and money with you rather than someone else.  And they always, always, have options. But it is so common for people in a position to know and do better to completely drop the ball.

If you are a customer of 3 Mobile Phones, where they read scripts to you, don't ask any questions and dictate the terms of the relationship, you will have experienced poor customer treatment.  There is no way it can be called customer 'service'.  Yet that company, like most others, invests heavily to attract customers.

You can read of my experience trying to get some IT services into my home office on my website at www.communicationempowers.com   Shannon Noll "knows how hard it can get" and so do all of us when we are in consumer mode.

Our challenge as business owners and managers is to do better when we are in supplier, partner or vendor mode, whatever fits our business model.

Do you do the things anyone can do but just don't?

Do you

• Keep communicating - formally and informally - with your customers/clients once they are 'on board' with you and even after they move on?
•  Put yourself in the position of your customer and give them what they need or want, by listening, asking, pre-empting, observing their behaviour patterns?
•  Do administration things their way?  Emailed invoices vs mailed.  Acknowledge their billing cycle?  Match their communication style - are they emailers or callers?
•  Do what you say you will do when you say you will do it?  The notion of underpromising and overdelivering is nonsense. Just deliver on your promises.
•  Seek first to understand them?  (One of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits)

Self Talk

Running a business is hard work.  It's long haul, intense, high stakes - often every hand can make or break.  Swinburne University's Professor of Entrepreneurship Tom Mackaskill says you're not really an entrepreneur unless you've lain awake at night wondering how you are going to make payroll tomorrow.  I can see you nodding from here.

Everything that it takes to lead, drive, manage and inspire starts inside our hearts and heads.  'Self Talk' will look at every aspect of motivation, inspiration and wellness, starting in this issue with one of the most obvious elements of nurturing the self - the holiday.

Before you say you haven't got time, the business needs you, you have staff away, you have to pay for your son's braces or whatever else, consider these facts.  Holidays -

•  are as important to your health as watching your cholesterol or exercising
•  have been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack in men by 30 per cent and in women by 50 per cent.
•  can cure burnout.  The last stage of chronic stress is very difficult to get rid of but two weeks' holiday can do it.
•  can increase productivity both before the holiday and after it.  US sales trainer Zig Ziglar says if we all worked every day as well as we do on the last day before 'vacation' we would be extremely productive.  Refreshed and energised minds are extremely productive when back from holiday.

From Joe Robinson's Work to Live. You can buy it here.

5 minutes with...

Each issue we speak with the owner or manager of a business that is going places. 

Meet empowered business owner Scott Kilmartin of haul -

Q. What's haul?

A. Melbourne-based accessories brand with a green/designer slant.  haul makes
laptop sleeves from vinyl advertising billboards, streetwear bags from truck
inner tubes and photo albums from old number plates.

Q. Can you describe how long you've been in business and how it's going?

A. Eight years in total, the first couple of years it was a garage-based sideline,
flogging wares at Salamanca Market in Hobart.  I decided to change the name
from Urban Boomerang to haul in 2006 to play more in the streetwear space and
less in the tourism area.  The brand has evolved into a retail/online/wholesale/export beast.  Along the way I've almost gone broke twice and questioned my sanity on a
regular basis. The business/product offering was probably before its time in
terms of trends but now I feel like it's riding a wave of punters 'getting it'.  I'm adding a range of pet collars as well as watches made from soft drink cans and concentrating on exporting to the US - California initially.  This year I'm planning on haul becoming an overnight success.

Q. Your products seem to be in the media constantly.  What impact has this
publicity had on business?

A. Much... credibility, changing the perception from being a 'market' business to an
edgy brand.  Convinced sceptical retailers (oh I don't know...will people pay that?...it's
not really us...they are a bit too 'treehugger' for us) to stock the products.  I try to use a mix of old media (mags, papers and the telly) along with (not so) new media - blogs, forums, cool/trend sites to drive traffic to the website. Also we've done some stuff with companies like Frontier Touring so that bands like The Strokes and Snow Patrol end up with gear which gets some attention.  The website traffic then converts into higher margin sales, stockist info and builds the database.

Q. Can you share some tips on how you empower your business?

A. For a few years the biz has owned me and I've been a slave to it. A while back I
decided I couldn't keep working like a crazy man or I'd end up committed.  So all actions now on my part are to let go of the baby and employ more babysitters, especially ones with talents the biz needs but I don't have.  No more of me trying to micro manage everything and use leading edge technology to streamline processes from manufacturing/fulfilment/web.

Q. Read anything interesting lately?

A. The Long Tail by Chris Anderson the (now ex) Wired Magazine ed. on selling
into niche markets and the web as a vehicle to do it.  (You can buy it here.)

Q. Thanks for giving us five minutes.  In the spirit of the empowering business theme of the magazine, tell us where we can buy your products...

A. www.haul.com.au

Books and Blogs

You will always find something inspiring or practical at:

www.flyingsolo.com.au

Australia's online magazine for the soloist community.  There's a free weekly newsletter as well.

www.fastcompany.com

This is the site attached to the best business magazine every published - Fast Company.  Great writers, new ideas.  It never misses.

www.communicationempowers.com

My audacity runs to plugging my own website here.  Well, I like it, what can I say?

There are articles, tips, more than five years of free newsletters archived and you can subscribe free to our monthly communication newsletter 'The M Powerer' and our monthly missive on living a big life 'Palm trees and margaritas'.

Beg, borrow or steal Seth Godin's latest tome 'Small is the new big' a collection of his blog postings over eight years.  It's outstanding, insightful, innovative, new thinking.  Love it, love it, love it.  You can buy it here.

Or check out the blog itself at www.sethgodin.com

The work of David Maister, one of the world's gurus on professional services firms, also has some broader appeal.  He charges USD30,000 for a day's workshop, plus expenses of course, so reading his books and his blog are more realistic options.   See what he has to say at davidmaister.com.  Meanwhile, here's a snippet from February 3, 2007 -

SAD TRUTHS FOR LEADERS

I find that I keep needing to repeat these points:

• Those you lead will never have a longer-term horizon than you do
• Those you lead will never operate to higher standards than you do
• Those you lead will never be more optimistic than you are
• Those you lead will never live the vision if you don't.

Margot Spalding, director of Jimmy Possum Furniture and Telstra Businesswoman of the Year, should have a blog.  Here's what she said about her multi-million dollar business in a speech at a lunch recently:

Q. How often do you do your business plan?

A.  We don't.  Alan (her husband and business partner) and I sit at the bench at two in the morning sometimes and when the ideas really start to flow we get out the Cointreau.  Then, wherever I am in the country, I get out of bed in the morning and say 'I wonder what will happen today' and usually heaps does.

20 M Powered Ideas to empower your business right now

1. Google yourself and your business and see what customers and prospects see.  Does your website rate in the first couple of pages?  You don't have a website?  Google doesn't know who you are?  You don't exist in today's marketplace.  Fix it now.

2. Ask every one of your existing customers for a testimonial about the service you provide them and include them in all of your external communication.

3. Listen to any customer who takes the time and uses their emotional energy to contact you to complain.  Really listen.  You almost certainly have the opportunity to keep them as a long term customer.

4. How long is it since you conducted a SWOT analysis on your business? A periodic review of its strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats in the marketplace can really focus your thinking and prioritise your next steps.

5. Do a SWOT analysis on yourself as well.  What are you good at?  What is best outsourced?  What is your greatest unique contribution to the world?  What can you do that others can't?  Should you focus on product development, training, sales, brainstorming?

6. Take your most valued customer/employee/supplier out for lunch and tell them why.

7. Draw up a plan to do this once a month.  In a year, you will have strengthened your network just by taking the trouble to demonstrate what's on your mind anyway.

9. If you read something you enjoyed, pass it on to someone else with your recommendation.

10. Send thank you letters, notes or cards to any one you really should thank.  If you keep a stash of stationery and cards in your desk drawer, including some birthday cards, it will be much easier to act on your inspiration.  An email is better than nothing but communicates so much less than something handwritten.

11. Reward people who refer to you.  Maybe it's just with a card from your desk drawer or you call or email them, but it is a generous act that is potentially valuable to you and should be acknowledged.  It staggers me how rarely anyone thanks me for the business I send them.

12. Public relations and communication with the people and organisations you value needs to be planned and consistent to be effective.  Use the M Power Communication Calendar in this issue to start your 12 month plan.

13. Ask some people whose opinions you value, but perhaps aren't customers already unless you are on very good personal terms as well, to critique everything tangible about your business.  What can they tell about what you do and how you do it by the way you look and dress, how your office is presented (unless you're home-based and where customers never go won't hurt them), your choice and presentation of your car, your stationery, website, the way your phone is answered, your observable policies and procedures, the presentation of the product you sell if you sell one...  Perception is reality and the people you ask don't need to know anything about what you do to have a meaningful appreciation of how you do it.  Plan to do this annually, however much it hurts.

14. Use the power of saying 'I don't know'.  Almost no one does it.  They seem to think it is in the customer's interest to tell them something incorrect or half true or even just plain wrong.  If a customer or prospect asks you a question and you cannot answer it in full, accurately and honestly and for whatever reason, say 'I don't know but I'll get back to you.'  This is one of the most under-appreciated tools of customer service in a world where we think we need to know everything.

15. Busy-ness can be the enemy of effectiveness and the thorn in the side of focus. So can over-planning.  I know a very big organisation that carefully, thoughtfully, efficiently and in accordance with individual and organisational KPIs does all of the wrong things.  Concentrate on your 'alpha projects'. What one, two or three things would you like to look back on having completed by the end of this financial or calendar year?

16. Don't listen to accountants.  Too many business owners and managers think accountants know about business and businesses.  For years, I was among them.  If you can find one that does, please refer them to me.  Meanwhile, let's acknowledge that we know our businesses better than anyone else and when there are tax forms to be filled in and corporate administration obligations to be met, let accountants get their hands dirty while we concentrate on driving our businesses to meet our individual goals.

17. Call some of your customers and ask them how they would describe your business and how they would improve it if they owned or managed it.  Have your pen poised.

18. Make a three month plan to implement these improvements and advise the customers that suggested them that you have made the changes.

19. "If you misuse language and ignore grammatical guidelines, people won't pay attention to what you have to say," said John McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun, discussing media releases.  This applies equally to email, letters, flyers and advertising. (M Power runs workplace spelling and grammar workshops so if you think your team could lift its game in this area, let us customise one for your needs. Contact us here.)

20. Never pass up an opportunity to tell your customers what it is you do.  If they don't know about a service you offer, they can't benefit from it (see tip above!) 

About Karen Morath, 'the business m powerer'

• dangerously close to 25 years experience in public relations and communication fields
• has advised chief executives and business owners in most industries
• has a Master of Arts in Communication, a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Politics and qualifications in public relations and management
• has owned and operated communication consultancy M Power since 2001 and ran a home-based public relations business for three years before that. Visit www.communicationempowers.com
• teaches public relations part time at Monash University
• is also a speaker and writer
• writes two e-newsletters 'The M Powerer' and 'Palm trees and margaritas'.  Subscribe free at www.communicationempowers.com
• lives and works in Melbourne, Australia
• truly, madly, deeply believes that communication empowers.

Copyright Karen Morath 2007

The second issue of The Business M Powerer will be published and emailed to subscribers on Friday, April 20, 2007.

To subscribe click here or use the form below.