What You Did in the Sixth Grade

You sat at your desk, sharpened pencil in hand, and watched as your teacher wrote the rules on comma usage and apostrophes on the blackboard. You dutifully memorized the list of prepositions, and wrote carefully on your wide rule notebook paper that you will never end a sentence with one of those words. These rules have served you well your entire life. However, many of those standards, much like the clothes you wore during adolescence, are out of date. If you don’t stay current, you

look as if showed up to work today sporting a polyester leisure suit.

Don’t take my word for it. Check out the list below with links to sage grammarians.

Two spaces after a period – Stop it now!

Ending a sentence with a preposition – Not the offense it once was, or ever was. Worth taking a look at. (Although my fingers did have a hard time ending a sentence with at. It didn’t get any easier the second time I did it.)

Adding an apostrophe s to a word that ends in s – (ie. James’s book.) This is still hard for me to accept. The extra s appears awkward, and seems as unnecessary as wearing suspenders and a belt.

Capitalization of a salutation, or a complementary close – No change here, but the following is a common mistake:

Best Regards,
John Doe

I figured it was time to clear up the specifics of this rule.

The hard part is being bold enough to change. When do you compensate for others? You want to appear fashion-forward, not ignorant. I’ve seen people get fist-pounding mad about ending a sentence with a prepositions, “Didn’t you go to school? That’s not correct!” This is why it is important to remember your audience. Afraid to end a sentence with a preposition in your peer reviewed case study? Fair enough, but if you’re running an ad campaign targeting the youth of America, keep it casual.

If only the English language had slick ad campaigns with good looking models informing all of us of the latest style changes.

Look, commas have a new cover girl!

6 Points to Winning Fans for Economic Development

I recently completed a public relations and marketing plan for a North Texas community interested in growing its tax base. Economic development has its fans, but not everyone in the community is a cheerleader for growth. Some homeowners want things to stay the same. Others are frustrated that new restaurants and stores aren't coming in fast enough. Six days before the big game seemed like the prime time to list tips for scoring points with the public.

The one thing every PR/Markeitng Plan must have

Never has it been easier to create a whiz-bang public relations plan. There are more tools available than ever before. Start with media placements, events, newsletters, brochures, and sales sheets. Then juice it with social media. Link it, hash tag it, post it, make it tweet and tumble. Do these things and your company will see more profits, and be more highly regarded.

Right?

Maybe not.

The critical element in all of this is measurement. Was it the whiz, or the bang that made customers react to your efforts? How does someone know if all the moving parts had an impact? Which caused the biggest reaction? What should you keep doing? What needs to be scrapped, or changed? The hype comes easily, the value is harder to define. 

All of these things are great, but the most critical element is measurement. This can be click through rates on your email blasts, amount of media coverage, increased phone calls, unique URLs created placed in your brochures, and much more. If your campaign is generating likes, follows, phone calls and more – congratulations! But, if all that noise isn’t supporting your long term goals, or increasing your profits – it is time to re-evaluate.

The business development process that works

My face was flush as my feet dangled high in the air. I was five years old, gripping the cold metal handle of a seesaw, and staring down at my older sister. I shouted at her to let me down. She complied by standing up abruptly. My seat slammed down to earth, smacking my backside and bruising my tender ego.  

Today, as a business owner, I have a new position on a teeter totter that has nothing to do with child’s play. Each day work productivity faces off against business development. Devoting time to billing hours is easy to justify, and so is shirking a networking event or putting off a blog post for one more week. But I have to manage my own business development as I would a client’s, or I would have no business – or credibility. I created the following framework to avoid the whack of financial stress brought on by an immediate, unexpected shift in my work load.

Sales sheet – I use a simple Excel spreadsheet to track the contacts I make each day. It includes the name, date and method of contact I used for each individual. My goal is to contact five people every business day.

Blog – writing posts requires the most time and creativity. 

Newsletter – my electronic newsletter goes out monthly (usually). I share case studies and demonstrate my abilities.

Social media – I’ve taken a different approach to Facebook and Twitter. Rather than have hundreds of followers, I’m interested in an engaged audience group. This keeps the process manageable for me, and gives me quality over quantity.

Networking – I target different groups each month.

Volunteering –  I volunteer because I enjoy making a difference. Meeting new people and creating new relationships is a side benefit.

Nothing listed above is revolutionary, but the routine creates a sense of balance and keeps my business from slamming into the ground. 

Make a Flyer that Gets You Business

A friend asked me to review her new flyer while we talked on the phone. This wasn’t the scheduled topic of our conversation, but it was a simple request and I really wanted to see what she had developed. She emailed it to me and we sat in awkward silence as we waited for her creation to appear on my screen. Her team spent a lot of time on it she told me. She really thought I would like it.

When I fixed my eyes on the flyer, I saw what I’ve seen so many times before – a great design that was consumed by a copious amount of content. “It’s very comprehensive,” I said. A quick glance told me there were nearly 1,000 words on the page in front of me. This wasn’t a flyer, it was an essay.



This flyer uses bullet points and a fun design to
make for easy reading.

Flyers are a great resource. You can have one written, designed and produced inexpensively in a matter of hours. The problem is a lot of flyers don't get read because the message isn't clear. The business owner wants to tell their customers everything about what they do and answer every possible question. That’s asking a lot of one sheet of paper. A flyer should serve as a written elevator pitch - quickly and easily digested by anyone.

The most successful flyers can be read aloud in about 15 seconds. Here's three tips for making better flyers.

1. Determine the call to action. What do you want people to do? Call for an appointment, come into the store for a special offer. Decide the desired response and lead with that in your text.

2. Make the copy brief and use bullet points. Does it pass the 15 second test?

3. Know your audience. Are you selling to mothers, business professionals, teens? Make sure the design relates to them, and doesn’t detract from your core message.

Bonus tip: Read every flyer that comes your way. How quickly can you determine what the seller wants you to do? Can you find the contact information? Could you explain it to your neighbor after just an initial glance?

An impressive flyer can be found anywhere - even your front porch. My doorbell rang and to my surprise the man standing before me handed me a flyer that was far better than his competition. He used bullet points to describe his landscaping services, included a couple of pictures and made his contact information easy to find. Can you recall the last flyer you received from a landscaper? Before that moment, neither could I.

One might argue that a landscaper has a simple message to deliver, and therefore his flyer was easier to produce. But you should be able to describe your business, no matter how complex, in the same manner to anyone. You may not cut grass, or trim the hedges, but you sell something to a group of people. If you can’t explain what you deliver in quick fashion, nobody else can either.

Why Women Aren't Eating Your Food

The banquet room at a posh Dallas hotel was buzzing when a waiter thrust a tray of skewered chicken between me and two other women. The grill marks looked appealing and the smell told me butter was involved in the preparation. He raised his eyebrows, tilted his head and smiled. Together, as if on cue, we shook our heads no and smiled politely. We stood in silent agreement on this issue - there is no lady-like way to gnaw chicken off a stick.

Later in the evening I was sipping the house chardonnay while speaking to an attorney at a local health care company when the same waiter offered soft tacos. Shredded lettuce spilled over the top of each flour tortilla. An orange sauce, that may have been a creamy salsa blend, had been poured over the top. The waiter had only a napkin to offer. There was nary a plate or utensil anywhere in sight. It would have taken me at least three bites to finish. The attorney snagged a taco and bit into it. He nodded his head in the affirmative, even though I had stopped talking. Lettuce spilled out and landed on the floor after his first bite. His second bite left sauce on the corners of his mouth which he then licked. He crumbled up his napkin and wiped his hands on his black trousers. Had I attempted a taco, I’m certain the sauce would have left a permanent reminder of the evening on my white jacket.

That night a lot of food went back to the kitchen untouched. I’m certain it tasted as good as it looked, but a cave woman I am not. The thing to remember when planning the hors d’oeuvres list for your next event is that women want small portions. Anything larger than a cracker will likely get waved-off.

I once worked with a caterer who rolled grapes in blue cheese, making the perfect bite-sized snack. A fruit tray is an easy sell, as long as the fruit is cut in small portions. Food at these type of events should be appetizing and functional. I want the people I meet to remember me for the topical information I shared, not the food left on my jacket, or the mess I left behind.

 

The Candle Maker's Difference

Candles are a necessity for a home that houses a young boy and his dogs. This month, the aroma of pumpkin spice fills the air masking the odors given off by smelly socks, a piece of fruit forgotten, and pets gone too long without grooming. I have never given much thought to lighting a candle. The flick of a butane lighter sparks gratitude for the fragrant helper, a reminder to extinguish the flame before lights out, and not much else.

The candle buying experience for me is as mundane as setting a wick ablaze– sniff, check price, purchase. I was on step three of my routine at a craft fair when a candle maker managed to add value to my experience. “Let me tell you something,” he said. “When you burn this the first time, be sure to let the wax melt all the way to the edges so it creates a level surface. That way you burn the wax evenly all the way down instead of creating a well which leaves you with a lot of unused wax,” he explained. I smiled. As a public relations professional all I could think was – well done. In approximately 60 seconds, he just changed my candle buying experience from ordinary, to novel. He reminded me he was a craftsman, and that he valued his work and my business. “You didn’t know you were going to get that lesson did you?” he said with a chuckle. No, I didn’t, but as a small business owner I should have expected it.  

He made me think about the level of customer service I provide to my clients, and reminded me to continue to identify ways to raise the bar. There is always room for improvement. 

Small Business Saturday is November 24. Recognized as a day to celebrate the contributions of local business owners. For small business owners everywhere - your support is appreciated.

How to Create a Media Kit

A media kit is a three dimensional tool that breaks through the two dimensional plane of emails and texts. Reporters at major news outlets receive hundreds of emails from public relations professionals every day. As an assignments editor at the CBS affiliate in Dallas, I can remember watching emails penetrate my inbox every second during peak hours. Breaking through the noise takes creativity.

Earlier this summer I had a producer tell me my story idea regarding back to school shopping for college students wasn't visual enough for her morning show. I hung up the phone scratching my head. I had given her multiple examples of visual aids, but she wouldn't budge. And then it hit me. A media kit would make the story more tangible. I worked with my client, College Planning Authority, to put together a bucket of popcorn, ramen noodles, candy, and of course the press release.

The idea demonstrated that my client had great tips on how to save parents money - such as cutting back on meal plans, and unnecessary kitchen gadgets for college students who traditionally prefer food that comes out of a microwave. The kit got the attention of another reporter who came out and shot a story a couple of weeks after the previous rejection. Success!

I used the concept again on a story about trends in maternity photography. My client Teresa Berg Photography, arranges maternity sessions that rival photo shoots seen in magazine spreads. She sets the stage with soft music, a fan blowing on the subject and fun beverages for both mom and dad. He cracks a beer while mom sips matern-itinis (an alcohol free beverage made with coconut water and a few other ingredients). An email explaining the process just wouldn't adequately capture the experience. We came up with a beautiful basket that featured a fan that plugs into a computer (I found it on sale - more about why that's important later), a martini glass, coconut water, chocolate and of course samples of Berg's work. She also received media coverage as a result.

Though media kits are a fun way to share a client's story, there are a few things you need to consider before putting one together.

 1. Most news outlets hold journalists to ethical requirements that don't allow them to accept gifts over the $25 amount. Your kit may be construed as a gift, so be sure yours stays under that amount. Hence, shopping the clearence section.

2. Media kits come in all shapes and sizes. Be creative and seek inspiration for yours.

3. Be selective. Not all reporters will be receptive to this kind of attention grabbing pitch.

4. Make sure it is something you would want to receive, and that adequately represents your client. You want this to be something they'll write a story about, or at least talk about on Facebook or Twitter.

5. Don't just stop at the media kit. You've got to continually follow-up via phone and email in order to get a response. Remember you and dozens of others are competing for the reporter's attention.

What Four More Years Means

I can't stop thinking about the next four years. Mostly because election talk is unavoidable, but also because four years ago this month I did the unthinkable. The country was still reeling from the market crash. Americans were wondering how they were going to recover their retirement plans, find work or hang on to their homes. With blinders on, I went down to the courthouse, filed my business name, and turned in my notice to my boss. The security that everyone was grasping to hold on to, I let go.

I had a great job as the director of public relations for a large hospital system. I enjoyed my work and felt like I was making a difference. Better yet, I had a pension. However, my infant son was spending 50 hours a week in daycare, and I was driving into work white-knuckled and weeping.

The last four years have been better than I could have imagined. I have had more time with my family, while simultaneously learning more about myself, others, and business ownership than I thought possible.

The most salient points are these:

-I love a challenge.

-I'm not afraid of failing.

-You'll succeed faster by helping others first.

-Don't do business in a vacuum. The accountability brought on by career coaches and peer groups has kept me going.

-Successful people tune out negativity.

-I wouldn't have made it this far without the support of family, friends and others.

If I am fortunate enough to have four more years as a business owner, it will likely mean continued growth both personally and professionally. Starting my business is the hardest thing I've ever done, but it was the best decision for me, my family and my career.

What's the biggest risk you've ever taken?

Why These Three Words Are Bad for Business

You've probably heard the opposite of love is not hate, its indifference. I'm certain most of us aren't intending to communicate that level of emotion when we let the words, "I don't care," dribble out of our mouths. However, there is an unintended consequence to this three word phrase, and it is doing more harm to your business than you think.

Telling your co-workers you don't care where you go for lunch is a minor offense, but you might end up eating the same sandwhich you had the day before. (Yes, that actually happened to me. What's worse is the waitress actually outed me in front of everyone.)

However, when a team member asks you which design you like for your company's new brochure and your response is, "I don't care. They're both good." You might think you're being positive, but what you're really telling them is the subject isn't important enough to formulate an opinion. Even though both designs might be solid, you missed an opportunity to help that person and demonstrate your value. Chances are you won't get this person's best work on your next project.

Sometimes its just easier to say, "I don't care". We don't have to make a decision or think about what's being asked. Additionally, we don't have to worry about what others think about our opinions if we don't share them. I was especially guilty of this when I was younger.

Don't harbor concerns about what everyone thinks about your opinions. If they don't appreciate your candor, they'll stop asking for your thoughts.

My plan to conquering my occasional colloquial crutch involves asking questions. Here's what I've come up with so far:

-What's your preference?

-What is the goal?

-Are there any specific pros or cons you can share with me?

-Why is this important to you?

-Can you tell me why this decision poses a challenge?

Don't miss the opportunity to take your first step in overcoming indifference. Share your thoughts in the comments section below on how we can all do a better job of editing out those three trouble making words.