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Banner stands that deliver

May 13, 2011 By 1 Comment

So many people I meet at networking events have acquired a pull up banner stand to promote their business. They use them at their own events and exhibitions too and they’re often missing a trick in making this highly visual marketing aid deliver potential leads.

Let’s take a look at the logistics of how a banner – or any exhibition stand – works.

1. It needs to grab the attention of the people who are passing by or in the vicinity. A logo or company name doesn’t do this. Actually most people are not interested in the name of your company first and foremost, they want to know what they can get. Bland headlines don’t work ‘Perfect payrolls’ isn’t enough ‘Payroll is boring’ is much more likely to get people interested. Yes, one of my clients has used this one!

2. It needs a small amount of text – and that needs to be loaded with benefits. In other words it needs to tell people ‘what’s in it for me’, not just what is nice to have. Three or four bullet points should be more than enough.

3. The contact details – web address, email, phone number – need to be at least half way up. Remember that there are people about and not only are we less inclined to look down at the bottom, but when there are people in the way you can’t see anything that low down.

4. It needs some visual imagery to give it energy, but nothing overpowering and mostly situated in the bottom third to half as it’s less important if people don’t immediately see this.

Banner stands are there to get attention and get a conversation going – not to tell people everything you want them to know about your business. Less is definitely more!
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Filed Under: Marketing, Writing Skills Tagged With: , ,

Thoughts about blogging

May 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Last month I blogged almost every day and I chose to use the blog to share my knowledge and hope that readers found that useful. I’ve had a week or so ‘off’ and now I’m back on a slightly different tack. The next batch of blogs will be my ramblings on writing both from a creative point of view, but also the technical side of getting the ‘is’ dotted and the ‘ts’ crossed.

I don’t know about you, but I am old enough to have been taught English in an era where grammar, punctuation and spelling were important. I meet many people who are fussy about them and who form opinions about the writer as a result of their accuracy.

It’s interesting that, if people get it right, nobody notices. I rarely come across someone saying “How refreshing it is to have a piece written with perfect punctuation.” However, if I had a pound for everyone who has had a bit of a rant about someone writing ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’, using apostrophes incorrectly or some other sin against the English language I’d be rich!

Blogs tend to be relatively informal and many people forgive the odd error – we’ve all been guilty of occasional typos, but consider what happens when people find an ‘error’.

  • Those who aren’t influenced by correct English will just carry on reading.
  • Some of those who are fussy about English will have a momentary pause as they register the error and then will continue reading.
  • People who are pedantic will stop, start an internal conversation with themselves about the error, possibly start an external conversation with someone else and the message that they were reading will be completely ignored.

This means that every error you make can disengage potential purchasers of your services or products. Anything that gets in the way of your message is bad news!

There’s another, but more subtle, effect of poor English too. If you can’t be bothered to make the effort to get your English right (or to have someone who is good at it to either write it or check it) then what does that say about your approach to service deliverables?

A little stray apostrophe can have a huge impact on your business. Now there’s a thought!
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Filed Under: Blogs, Writing Skills Tagged With: , ,

The structure of an effective press release

April 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Having a story is only half the battle (although probably a big ‘half’), the next step is delivering something that an editor will notice. There are a number of things that help to get your press release read and published.

One – a good headline. This needs to be engaging, interesting and generate enough curiosity for the reader to make them want to read more.
Two – a strong first paragraph that sets the scene and keeps the reader interested enough to want to read more. It’s not good practice to put your company name in the first line or headline, it can turn people off as they immediately classify the article as ‘advertising’.
Three – statistics and data that validate your story.
Four – quotes from relevant people, especially experts or known names, but your managing director or a key member of your team will do if they have something interesting or, better still, controversial to say.
Five – a point at the end so your story comes to a clean end rather than petering out weakly.

These are my tips to give you a better chance of your press release being considered for publication.

  • Head the press release up with ‘Press release’ and ‘for immediate release’ (or, if your story cannot be published until a certain date, ‘for release on [date])’
  • Ensure that each page carries your contact information (name and phone number) at the foot of the page so the editor can get hold of you if necessary.
  • Don’t put your contact information (web address, company phone number, email) into the press release itself, put these at the end for information.
  • Don’t try and sell your products or services; that will get your piece ‘spiked’ (deleted in todays terminology).
  • Stick to no more than two pages of A4, preferably one if you can get your story down to something short and focused. If the editor is really interested he or she will ring you for more information.
  • If more than one page, write ‘mf’ (meaning ‘more follows’) at the foot of the first page and ‘ends’ after the final paragraph and before the information for the editor. This ensures that the editor knows there is another page if someone prints it out and the pages get separated.
  • If you are attaching a photo or other visual put a caption in under the editor’s notes. Ensure you identify everyone in photographs by position.

    • If you are hoping to be published in a particular publication it’s a good move to read some previous copies and ensure your item is in keeping with their style.

    Develop your own press list that includes details of local and national publications you want to be in and also professional journals and relevant magazines that might be interested. Invest some time in finding out who the right contacts are and find out what they are looking for and you’ve got a much better chance of getting noticed.

    Be persistent – regular good quality press releases will, eventually, get published.
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    Filed Under: PR Tagged With: ,
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