Kate Betts Blog
May 2013
Today’s topic for discussion is … tomorrow’s too late
20th May 2013
As a journalist there was nothing more exasperating than someone you wanted to comment on a story ringing back ten days later with their response.
They have missed the boat, the horse has bolted. They have missed the deadline. Their contribution simply won’t be used. They have been offered the chance to be quoted or appear in front of thousands of potential customers/ clients/ contacts and they let it pass them by.
Meanwhile the journalist has contacted their competitor and featured them instead.
News is new. It is not something that waits while you ponder over whether to respond and how to respond. It has gone. The moment has passed.
If it is bad news it will simply run without you and the damage will be done.
Ask Findus who took days to respond to the horsemeat scandal. The horse literally had bolted by the time they responded. The damage was done.
So whether it is good news and an opportunity to get some good publicity, or bad news and the opportunity to limit the damage – you must respond as quickly as you can. And yes, that can mean coming out of the meeting or delaying that trip away. Today’s news is for today. Tomorrow is too late.
November 2012
Remember your reputation when dealing with a crisis
8th November 2012
What do you do when you are thrust into the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons?
Something has gone horribly wrong and the press want an interview. Maybe a member of staff or client has been hurt or worse. Maybe a product has had to be recalled or you have been slated in an official report.
You feel defensive…… You may think 99% of the report is actually ok. You may not really know the cause of the incident. You think it might not really be your fault. It could just be a tragic accident or mix-up.
Be careful! You must judge the public mood before you say anything. Trying to justify your actions when the public see you as a demon will backfire. Think of Sharon Shoesmith, who refused to say “sorry” over the death of Baby P. And did you see Emma Harrison of A4E on Channel 4 News? (Link here – it is worth watching!)
Or maybe you are fed up with press intrusion and just “want your life back” as the head of BP said he did. Or maybe you think you are being bullied like Emma Harrison even though you took over a million pounds in dividends last year.
At Capital B Media we work a lot behind the scenes with organisations facing bad news. Very often it really is a case of damage limitation. They have messed up, they must hold up their hands and admit it. They must learn the lessons of the mistakes they made and not try to gloss over and use spin to hide anything.
After all your reputation – the very survival of your organisation – could be in jeopardy. And the public are not stupid.
July 2012
There's no such thing as bad publicity - or is there?
27th July 2012
I often hear people say “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”.
Try telling that to the bosses at G4S or the person at the Olympics who mixed up the North and South Korean flag. Or the BP boss who said he wanted to get his life back in the middle of the oil leak crisis… or for that matter Gerald Ratner whose flippant comments about his company’s products wiped millions of their share price.
There is such a thing as bad publicity. And if it is does happen how you deal with it really matters.
“No comment” is a disaster. It will just add to the damage done. It looks like you really don’t care and don’t know what to say or do.
And that is just the point – if you are caught out suddenly (and usually bad news is sudden) – you may not know what to do. So don’t wait until bad things happen to try and work it out; have a contingency plan in place.
Crisis management is not made up on the hoof once the crisis has happened; it is something you must plan before. It must cover all possible scenarios and use all the relevant communication channels.
How are you going to communicate with your customers or clients? Your staff? The general public? Who is going to deal with the crisis if it happens on a Sunday, in the middle of the night or while the MD is on holiday?
Are you going to utilise social media to communicate your message direct? Have you thought of setting up a special website to use in case of a major crisis (a so-called dark website)? Who is going to front the media interviews? And has your spokesperson been media-trained?
All this needs careful planning before; not after the crisis happens.
March 2012
Joined up thinking – getting business is more than just bagging a free bit of publicity
12th March 2012
A great bit of media coverage is fantastic for a business or organisation. But it is only a small part of promoting what you are doing. You need to make sure all your marketing links together and works. If I hear you on the radio talking about your new product will I be able to find your website via Google? Have you sorted out your Search Engine Optimisation?
If I find your website, does it look good and will I be able to make sense of it when I get there? Will I understand what you offer? Will I be able to contact you easily or order the goods on line? Will you reply to my email in a timely and professional manner? Or answer the phone and deal with my query?
Does your marketing material all sing from the same hymn sheet or is it all a bit out of tune? Does your business card say “professional” or “got it free off the internet”?
By all means use PR as a means of getting credible (and free) publicity, but make sure all the rest ties in together.
January 2012
Don't cut back on the marketing
3rd January 2012
We all know that 2012 is going to be a tough year…. and lots of you will be thinking about cutbacks. One of the first areas you might think of cutting back is the marketing budget. After all you have to buy the raw materials and pay the rent, the utility bills and the staff, but who needs to spend all that money on marketing?
You – that’s who.
If I don’t know your goods or services exist how can I buy them?
If your competitor is still out there telling the world about their goods and services I will go to them. Even if I am an old customer I may wonder if you still exist and then I read about your competitor so I go there instead.
There’s a saying: “When times are good, you should advertise. When times are bad, you MUST advertise.” It comes from research in America in the early 1980s that showed that companies that did not cut their advertising budget during a recession did better during the recession and after than those that did.
The smart thing to do is to see if you can do the advertising and marketing differently. Maybe you can cut the budget by using different ways of getting yourself “out there”. Are you using social media? Is your website up to scratch and your SEO sorted? Are you sending press releases out to the media?
You don’t need to spend loads of money on traditional advertising or mailshots. These days you can do it cheaper and more effectively. Editorial coverage has far more credibility than adverts anyway and it’s free!
Make 2012 the year you re-think your marketing. Times are changing, marketing needs to change too. But whatever you do, don’t stop telling people you exist.
November 2011
Is it worth paying for PR?
15th November 2011
If you run a business it is possible to do your own PR. In fact I have spent the last four years going round Yorkshire and the East Midlands running a seminar called “How to get free publicity in the media” or, as I like to call it, “DIY PR”.
I do believe a lot of small businesses can do their own PR up to a point. But you need to put effort into it, you need to find time to do it and you need to have the inclination to do it.
And there may become a time when you don’t have all of those – or the company just becomes too big. So this is when you need to call in outside help. We all need to bring in others to help from time to time, whether it is legal experts, financial experts, marketing experts or PR experts.
I spent the first few years running my business doing all my own accounts, but now they have just become too complicated – so I pay an accountant. He knows what he is doing, and the time I save getting him to sort out capital allowances and dividends is time I can spend focusing on running the business and doing things that I do understand. (And he saves us money!)
It may also be that writing is just not your strength. And even in these days of social media and all sorts of clever methods of distributing information, if that information is not written in a way that can be easily understood it will be ignored. In other words, press releases that are better written have far more chance of being used – it’s obvious. So there may come a time when it is worth calling in outside help. But before you do; ask, what they can do that you couldn’t? You wouldn’t engage a plumber who is no better than you at plumbing, so does that PR agency really add value? Do they have contacts and skills that you don’t? Unfortunately, as with builders and plumbers, there are a lot of PR cowboys out there.
September 2011
How to get free publicity when there's no story
29th September 2011
There are lots of ways of getting yourself in the media for free - and no, I don’t mean getting arrested!
If you run a business - free positive editorial coverage helps raise your profile and enhance your reputation. Some times it might be because you have a story to tell - and journalists need stories; some times it might be because you are commenting on a story – and journalists need experts, and some times it might be you simply getting coverage as a business person.
For example lots of newspapers have columns that ask more personal questions, like what was your first job, first car, favourite book or restaurant; lots of radio stations have people in the studio to review the papers or chat about what’s in the news, and lots of radio stations have competitions and chances to pick your favourite tunes.
It means your name gets mentioned and the more mentions the more likely your name is to stick in someone’s mind. So when they Google your goods or services and a whole load of names appear, your name is the one that sticks out.
Don’t forget when you do appear in a column or as a guest on the radio you need to think about what you are going to say. Merely answering “Fiat, Audi, yes…” to the questions in the “Me and my car column” is hardly going to enhance your reputation. And if you are not careful you can even damage your reputation. Only last week I read a column about solicitor and his career choices and his answers: “idling, not doing much, professional footballer…” would not inspire me to engage his firm.
Any appearance in the media needs planning and preparation. Careless words could cost customers, share value and jobs. As I always say: just ask Gerald Ratner.
July 2011
When the media comes knocking you must be ready
5th July 2011
So you’ve sent out the press release. It passes all the tests: it’s about something interesting and it is well-written.
It gets picked up by the local paper, which cuts and pastes it straight into the next day’s edition and onto the website.
But don’t forget that radio and TV may want to interview you.
And you have just gone off on holiday. Or you are spending all day stuck in a meeting with your phone switched off.
And you know what? The journalist who likes the story, but can’t get hold of you has three choices: ditch the story, hold the story (which is getting old because it is all over the papers) or they will go and find someone else to interview about it….. and that other person could well be you competitor.
So think before you send out a press release: will you (or a colleague) be available for any subsequent interviews? Does your receptionist or assistant know that the media may be calling?
Have you got time to deal with any calls from the media?
The calls could come at any time. Often very quickly. As I write this I have emailed out a press release and four minutes after I pressed send the client rang to say two radio stations had rung up in response.
The deadlines might seem ridiculous, but news is a constant cycle of new things. It is planned at short notice. The media may well want to interview you in a matter of minutes or maybe hours. And you need to be ready. If you put them off and don’t do the interview you miss the chance of the story getting used. You also give the impression of not being very media-friendly. So next time I want a comment on your area of expertise I don’t bother to ring you; I ring your competitor.
May 2011
Use PR to shout about your business
2nd May 2011
If you don’t shout about what you do your competitors will… and they will get all the business.
People can’t buy from you if they don’t know you exist. PR is a really good way of getting your business out there and it needn’t cost much. That is especially important when we all need to tighten our belts.
And the great thing about editorial mentions is that they have credibility. The third party endorsement of a journalist is worth so much more than an advert. This is particularly true of high-quality goods and services, where research shows that brand value is improved far more by editorial mentions, rather than advertising. If, on the other hand, you sell fast moving consumer goods, such as baked beans or toilet paper, maybe you should spend more on adverts.
It is worth remembering that you don’t need to do something amazing or pioneering to get editorial mentions. Our newspapers, radio programmes and TV shows are full of interesting things. Just interesting, not unique. And they need this stuff day in day out, hour in hour out.
Yes, you can do a big stunt to get media coverage. Giving away a donkey with every purchase will get you media coverage. But you don’t need to do something so dramatic to get in the papers. Believe me.
I spent 20 years writing stories about people and organisations doing interesting things. It is the bread and butter of news. As a journalist the donkey stories are nice, but you need stories every week, day, hour and so you write about interesting things – and I am sure your company is doing something interesting…
January 2011
At least King George VI didn't have PowerPoint to contend with
29th January 2011
Colin Firth as George VI may have stumbled his way through his speech, but at least he didn’t have the backdrop of a load of over-long bullet points, followed by a laptop that locks him out after ten minutes. And all that after a battle with the temperamental projector that refused to even recognise the laptop to start with.
They do say that people would rather die than speak in public – but is it really that bad?
At Kate Betts Media we now run courses for people to improve their presentation skills. It might be a business presentation to a few colleagues or a larger, more formal setting.
Whatever the situation there are a few tips to remember. Firstly remember: most people do not want you to fail ...unless you are really unpopular!
Just like doing a media interview: you must prepare. Practise, practise and practise. Get a friend or colleague to observe, or record yourself and play it back.
Just like doing a media interview: do not overload the audience. They will not remember most of what you say, so pick out two or three (maximum!) salient points and repeat them.
Just like doing a media interview: keep the language simple.
In contrast to a media interview you need to project your voice. If you are presenting to more than about six people you need to use a more formal and less conversational style. Think Barack Obama.
In contrast to a media interview you need to ditch the umms and errs and use silence for dramatic effect and as time to gather your thoughts.
In contrast to a media interview you have technical equipment to master. So make sure you know how it works. Getting locked out of the laptop because you haven’t used the mouse for five minutes is not fun. In one lecture theatre when I was in front of 150 people not only did the laptop switch itself off, but the projector and all the lights went off automatically too! So make sure you reccy the venue.
And calm those nerves. Breathe deeply; in through the nose and out through the mouth. Remember you are the most interesting thing about your business. Visualise success.
December 2010
Send your seasons greetings to working journalists
21st December 2010
Just think of all those people who have to work over Christmas and New Year: doctors, nurses, firefighters, shopworkers, taxi drivers…. journalists.
And the thing to remember about journalists is they are working while a lot of people they rely on for stories (councils, Government, PR agencies etc) are off with their feet up in front of the telly.
And what that means is that there is a news vacuum. There is plenty of space to fill and not much to fill it with. I can remember reading radio news bulletins on Christmas Day when the only thing I could fill them with was: the Queen said something, the Pope said something and there was an earthquake in a distant land…..
So now is the time to get your press releases out - especially if they are topical (snow, ice, Christmas trees, New Year resolutions to lose weight/ stop smoking/ get fit).
The trouble is if you are like me all you want to be doing right now is putting your feet up in front of the telly….
November 2010
Grab the moment. Remember news is new
29th November 2010
Anyone who sells snow shovels or trains huskies should grab the moment. Journalists up and down the land will be looking for snow related stories this week, but they won’t be next week if it is raining. Now is the chance to get some free publicity for your business if it has any link with snow.
A couple of weeks ago there was a demand for royal experts or wedding planners. In the New Year it will be going to the gym, losing weight and clearing off Christmas debt. Great media times for people who run slimming clubs, exercise classes or give debt advice.
But it’s not always that predictable. Next week it could be chocolate or astronomy. Who knows what will be the topic of the moment.
And that’s why it is worth getting your contact details in the minds and contacts books and databases of journalists now. Be cheeky – offer yourself as an expert for the future. Law, financial advice, flower arranging, dog training… you never know when your specialism is going to be the topic of the moment.
A friend of mine does acupuncture. We got her some free publicity over her new clinic. A week later the Government announced free acupuncture on the NHS for bad backs. Immediately she got a call from the local radio station asking for her thoughts. A nice bit of free publicity for her practice. Her name is now in their contacts database under A for acupuncture. You could be in there under B for blacksmith, C for cat expert, D for divorce lawyer… right through to Z for zoologist.
And don't spend a week writing that press release about your huskies. The moment will be gone. Remember news is new.
October 2010
Reputation, reputation, reputation. Is perception reality?
29th October 2010
What do you think of Lord Sugar? Haringey Children’s Services? The Pope? Your local fire service?
Have you ever come into direct contact with them? Possibly, but possibly not. And yet you have probably got an opinion about them. And much of that will be based on what you read, hear and see in the media.
And it isn’t just ordinary folk who are influenced by media coverage, decision-makers also read, hear and see the media.
So whether you are part of an organisation trying to build a better relationship with the public, a business trying to get more customers or a firm trying to win a contract – your reputation goes before you.
Seeing public relations as an add-on or an unnecessary waste of money is dangerous. If you business is relatively unknown – you are cutting off a valuable and credible way of raising your profile. If it is well-known – you are allowing others to control your reputation.
Arguably profile and reputation are as important as your product or service. It may be all I know about you. And some people would say: perception is reality.
September 2010
When is off the record off the record?
24th September 2010
As a journalist I used to write “OTR” in the margin of my notebook when an interviewee had announced they were going off the record.
But it is a really risky thing to do as an interviewee. Imagine you gave me as the reporter a really juicy piece of information… what do you expect me to do with it?
Forget all about it? Try and check it out with another source? Quote the information but not where it came from? Tell everyone down the pub?
It is a really dangerous game to play and you need to think why you are doing it. You also need to be very aware of the reporter who says “off the record then…. What would you say about….?”
Why are they asking you? What are they going to do with the information?
There are a lot of reporters who do respect off the record, but a lot who don’t. And do you know who you are dealing with?
There are times when “OTR” is useful – but only in the hands of people who regularly deal with the media and know what they are dealing with.
While working as a press officer many years ago I did occasionally use “OTR” with reporters I knew well and could trust. It can be a method for suppressing a story that really has no basis. For example: reader complains to paper about the way they have been treated by the organisation. This could lead to bad publicity for the organisation. But what the reporter hasn’t been told is the other side of the story – perhaps the way that person has been behaving or some background information that can’t be made public.
By telling the journalist that information it can kill the story off and save the organisation’s reputation.
But even that doesn’t always work. I remember once a reporter from a weekly paper saying to me when I tried the “OTR” approach: “That’s all very well and I realise it effectively makes it a non-story, but I’ve got a gap to fill in the paper, so I am going to run the story from the reader’s point of view anyway.”
You win some, you lose some….
So unless you are an experienced PR person – don’t even try off the record – I say (on the record).
August 2010
How often should you send out a press release?
31st August 2010
I often get asked how often should you send out a press release? My reply: when you have something interesting to say.
A lot of people believe they should have a marketing plan that includes sending out press releases at certain intervals. One a week, three a week, once a fortnight… once a week every week for ten weeks…
All bad advice. Think of it from the journalist’s point of view. They only want to hear from you when you have something interesting to say. They are not interested in hearing about your company just because you want to promote it. They want stories. So if you haven’t got a story to tell don’t send out a press release.
There are lots of other ways to promote your business. Volunteer to answer questions in those daft columns you get in the paper that want to know your favourite places in Yorkshire or go on the local radio and comment as an expert on something in the news. Use social media: tweet, blog, join discussions on LinkedIn. Go to networking events. Even pay for the odd advert.
Meanwhile a story idea will come to you: your company has won a new contract, a member of staff is off to walk the Great Wall of China for charity or you’ve got a great case study of a client you have helped. And do think outside the box. I loved the wedding planner who started telling me because of the recession some of her clients were ditching the posh hotel on honeymoon and going camping. That is worth a press release.
So think: will it really interest a journalist? Otherwise you’ll write one that ends up in the bin – as 97 per cent do.
Prevention is better than cure
12th August 2010
While I agree that frontline jobs have to be protected as much as possible in all the cuts – let’s hear it for the backroom boys (and girls). Someone has to make sure the fire engines stay on the road, someone has to make sure the police’s radio and phone systems work and someone has to make sure someone ordered paper for the printer in the social work office. Frontline workers need back up.
And all those frontline jobs that are literally, or metaphorically, fire-fighting are made a lot easier if the problems are prevented in the first place
It literally is a case of prevention is better than cure. Getting across fire prevention messages (check the batteries in your smoke alarm), health promotion messages (take regular exercise) and crime prevention messages (don’t leave valuables in your car) makes social and economic sense.
PR, marketing and advertising do have a place in a post-cuts world – even for the public sector.
Surely stopping the problem in the first place is better than dealing with the aftermath. Getting the message not to cook chips late at night is surely better than having to be rescued from a burning building.
There maybe a need to reduce spending on PR, marketing and advertising (the Government’s communications agency the COI has already announced it is cutting 40 per cent of its workforce), but we need to keep some of the lines of communication open. It could even save lives.
July 2010
BP chief gets his life back after PR gaffe
26th July 2010
You may be the chief executive of a massive company, but if don’t know how to deal with the media it can lead to your downfall.
And it won’t help your company’s share value or reputation.
Just ask BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward, who famously said he “wanted his life back” at the height of the oil spill crisis. Looks like he has his life back now and plenty of time to mull over that PR gaffe.
Just ask Gerald Ratner, who famously said his company’s sherry decanter and glasses were crap and a pair of their ear-rings wouldn’t even last as long as an M&S prawn sandwich. Ratners’ share price plummeted and he was sacked from his own family business.
And more recently add to that Gordon Brown, who forgot that a radio microphone doesn’t stop working just because you get into a car and drive off.
PR gaffes are costly. Soundbites can come back and bite you where you least want it. That’s why knowing how to deal with the media is vital.
And it’s no use dealing with the crisis once it has happened. You need to plan ahead and make sure you know who is going to say what when things go wrong. Because they will go wrong… just as sure as eggs is eggs as Edwina Currie knows. She famously said most eggs carried salmonella and was forced to resign as a junior health minister…..
Paul the Octopus can tell us a thing or two about media coverage
15th July 2010
What can we learn from an octopus? Well, quite a lot really when it comes to media coverage. Paul the Octopus hasn’t just got coverage in the local press – he’s gone global. He now his own iPhone app and, as I write this, there are negotiations for a possible transfer to Madrid. What great media coverage for Germany’s Oberhausen Sea Life Centre. If only the Deep in Hull or Sea Life in Scarborough had thought of it first.
It just goes to show that the media love a daft story. Whether it’s liquorice allsorts figure Bertie Bassett getting married or Walkers launching a competition for a new flavour of crisp - the media lap it up. I remember years ago running a front page story at the Northern Echo saying the Wensleydale Creamery was offering a year’s supply of free cheese to anyone who found the Wallace and Gromit puppets. They had gone missing in New York and the creamery had just got the rights to stick the pair on the labels of their Wensleydale cheese. Daft, but true.
So when you are thinking about ways of raising your company’s profile – don’t dismiss the daft stories. They could bring you in a lot of free publicity.
Is Twitter just a load of chatter or does it have a place in marketing?
2nd July 2010
The old PR is all about getting editorial coverage in newspapers, radio and television and their associated websites.The new PR is all about social media and having control over the output. But what about the outcomes?
I believe traditional media still has the advantage of credibility. And people are still into traditional media, whatever the social media gurus would have us believe. According to RTL, the parent company of television channel Five, we watched an average of 225 minutes of television a day in 2009. That’s more than any time since 1992.
But in order to get into traditional media you either have to pay a lot for advertising or get past the gate-keepers of news editors and producers. So why not turn to social media? Where you have control of where, when and what is published. And it doesn’t cost anything like as much.
I have been trying to understand how useful Twitter is in promoting a brand.So many people are following so many people on Twitter that the message probably just gets lost. Can you really build up a relationship with potential and current customers or clients when there are over 100 million registered Twitter users?
Well, perhaps you can. Just ask PC Ed Rogerson of North Yorkshire Police. I am particularly interested in this example because we at Kate Betts Media are doing some work looking at what applications social media has for the police in communicating with their communities. PC Rogerson has hundreds of people following his Tweets and believes the 40% drop in crime in the area he covers is at least partly down to his 140 character communications.
But what about getting a following for your product or service? How can Twitter help there? Maybe it is more about promoting the brand and getting your name out there than directly promoting your business. No-one wants to read Tweets that are blatant promotion, but they do want to read interesting thoughts and snippets of information (spare us though that you had porridge for breakfast!). It is also worth keeping an eye out for what people are saying about your business. If people are talking about you, why not interact with them? If you deal with a customer complaint, it may prevent a possible viral forest fire.
Or you could just use Twitter as an alternative to the water-cooler chatter. That way you don’t even have to get up from your desk to engage with your colleagues.