Newsletter Archives - Page 33 of 39

Doing It Write

March 24, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, communicating with clients, communications, growing your business, how to communicate with clients, marketing, writing

Communication is at the core of everything we do in life.

And writing is at the heart of all communication.

From very early times, humans have striven to tell stories in a way that is preserved for future generations. From cavemen drawing images on walls, to hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone, to manuscripts and books, and now to abbreviated conversations through the technology of texts, we have told our stories.

Now, I’ll admit that I’m a bit old-school. I’m a bit of a stickler for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. I prefer telephone conversations rather than text messages, especially for any conversations of length. And, if I’m looking to memorialize something, I am more likely to rely on email than on a text message.

But I also am a realist.

I recognize that technology has changed the substance of communication, if not the inherent value of it. Probably half of our current population has grown up in a world that doesn’t know what it was like before the age of computers. Although most of the younger generation can type faster than I can, none of them grew up with the experience of learning the keyboard on a manual typewriter. These are the folks who can text nearly as fast as they speak. Which is probably why I still prefer telephone conversation.

Typos and Auto Correct are the bane of my existence!

In so many ways, technology has improved our ability not only to communicate, but to communicate with people at great distances from us. And this communication happens in an instant.

So, how are you communicating with prospects and clients?

The art of writing is not lost. If you are not already providing a newsletter – or at least regular email updates – to your clients and prospects, I urge you to consider starting this immediately. Yes, in a world of messages of 140 characters or less, people still like to engage at a deeper level.

Don’t stop doing your short posts on social media, and don’t stop making and uploading videos and podcasts. But don’t forget the art of writing. There is something permanent about the written word; something that strikes to the core of all of us.

And although I admitted being a stickler for proper spelling, etc., language continues to evolve. Many words that were abbreviated for the purposes of text messaging have now become normal in many areas of our language. Who hasn’t included “LOL” in something that they have written?

So my final thoughts for this article are to encourage you to keep writing, in whatever form makes you comfortable. Just keep doing it! And 100 years from now, people will have an indication of how we communicated, just as we look back in history at others.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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Are You Content With Your Content?

March 22, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, branding, business, communicating with clients, communications, growing your business, marketing, small business marketing, social media, video marketing

The English language is a funny thing, isn’t it?

Many words, depending on their pronunciation, have different meanings. The word “content” in the title of today’s article is a great example of this.

To be content is to be satisfied, or happy with the current state of things. And content is also the substance of something, such as a book, website, etc.

So, back to my question: are you content with your content?

We all know that to attract prospects and clients, we have to engage them. One of the best ways to engage them is through content. But not just any content. You have to provide something of value to them, something that stirs emotion and reaction and stimulates their desire to know more.

Many business owners, although great at delivering their product or service, don’t really understand the value of providing good content on a consistent basis. Keeping your clients and prospects interested is the key to keeping them engaged.

Now, I understand that as a small business owner you may not see the correlation between the service or product that you sell and simply writing about it on your website or blog. But just think about this for a minute; if you can provide insights and help educate your client or prospect, what would you expect the result to be?

Consider your own behavior as well. If you are researching something online, do you simply find a provider and run out and purchase from them, or you check out a few different sites and interact more with those sites that are providing a more personalized experience?

We all like to do business with people we like, know, and trust. In our current world of electronic communication, it can be difficult to establish and build that relationship. Therefore, it helps your prospects and your clients understand and trust you and your business by learning about you through your content.

There are many ways that you can provide content as well. Consider sending an online newsletter to folks who subscribe to it on your website. Think about writing articles about topics that are pertinent to your business and posting them on a regular and consistent basis to your website. Determine which social media platforms your clients and prospects use, and post updates and interact with them regularly there. If you are camera shy, get over it and make a few short “how-to” videos, explaining certain processes on a YouTube channel that you set up and link to your website.

These are just a few examples of simple ways to interact and build trust with your clients and prospects. If this is an area that you aren’t comfortable with, consider outsourcing this service. You will find that you will gain a huge advantage from that small investment.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

How To Market Your Financial Services Business

March 15, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter, Video Blog agapi marketing, branding, building your business, finacial services marketing, financial services, growing your business, insurance, marketing, mortage broker, science of marketing, small business marketing, video marketing

To those of you in the financial services business, welcome to our “How To…” series!

This series will provide some marketing tips and strategies for different business sectors. Today, we start this series by giving some ideas to the financial services industry. If you work in any of the areas of this industry, you will want to watch it; if you work in another niche, you will still benefit.

Watch our video here, or watch on YouTube.

Transcription of video:

Hi, Nancy Boisvert of Agapi Marketing & Consulting here and I wanted to talk to all of you professionals out there in the financial services industry today.

I know there are some you who are independents, but the larger portion of you do work under the umbrella of a larger corporation, and I do know that many times you folks tend to defer your marketing to the larger corporation. And that’s fine if that’s working for you. But I guess my question to you is, what is setting you apart from all the others? That comes down to branding. So what I’m going to discuss with you today is ways to set yourself apart from your competition.

I wanted to address just a handful of ideas, give you some tips and some ideas that perhaps you can implement.

Now, one of the things that we all know is that people like to do business with people that they like, know and trust. So, assuming that you’re getting a large portion of your prospects from a pool out there, and not necessarily from referral business, how do you get people to like, know and trust you?

Well, that boils down to, first of all, being seen as an expert in your field. And how do you do that? Well, there’s a handful of ways that you can look at doing that.

One of the things that you can do is set up your own YouTube channel. I’m doing this video here in my home office just to show you that you don’t need to be fancy, you don’t need a lot of expensive equipment, and you don’t need a studio to do it. What you need to do is shut your door, turn off your phones, get in front of your Webcam and share a little bit of your expertise and your knowledge with the people who are your target audience. So you can do that.

Another thing you can do is write a book. Now, don’t get intimidated; I’m not talking about writing “War and Peace”. I’m talking about putting together a 30 to 45-page book that you can sell on Amazon – or just give it away to your clients and prospects. But what I am suggesting is that if you do you have it published, that also helps enhance your reputation as an expert. If you don’t have time to do that, consider ghostwriter.

Another thing that you can do is send out newsletters on a monthly basis. Now, I know you’re governing company probably does have some sort of newsletter, some sort of monthly communication that they can provide, but again loses all that personal touch. If I know that you’re just one of 400 agents under the umbrella of specific Corporation, what is it that makes me want to stay with you or do business with you, instead of somebody down the road who has the same shingle? So, set yourself apart from your competitors.

Do “lunch and learns”. Bring in a handful of people once a month. Invite a dozen different people, bring in a guest speaker and present something and give people something that they’re going to remember. They’re going to have a lunch, they’re going to get some information, they’ll have some one-on-one time; a really, really great way to get people to build that trust factor with you.

So that’s just a handful of things that you can do.

What I’d like you to do is connect to my website. I’ve got a link here on this video. You can connect connector there. I’ve got a transcript of this video on there in case you wanted to print it off or some of the ideas. But what I’d really like you do is give me a call or drop me an email. No obligation. Let’s just explore what it is that you’re doing and let’s see if there’s some way that I can help you build your business and become more popular to your target audience out there.

So I’ll leave you with that. Thank you very much for watching the video and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Bye for now.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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The Case Against Using Video

March 10, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, building your business, corporate video presentations, growing your business, marketing, online video marketing, small business marketing, social media marketing, video marketing, youtube marketing

So you don’t want to use video for your marketing?

Well okay, let’s outline the justifications for not using video:

1. People will criticize how I look
2. People will criticize what I say
3. I hate the camera!
4. No one will watch my videos
5. It’s too expensive

Do any of those points look familiar to you?

I gotta tell you straight up – all of those points played a part in my hesitation to create video. In fact, prior to the release of my first video series, I actually did a blog post about the camera shy guide to video marketing warning people about how uncomfortable I was in front of the camera.

Let’s examine these obstacles point by point.

The first point is that people will criticize how you look. You think they’ll notice the bags under your eyes, or that you don’t have that perfect smile, or that you’re having a bad hair day. Reality check: no one on this planet is perfect or without their flaws. Those icons of perfection that are paraded in front of us on TV and in print have the help of professional hairstylists and makeup artists, to say nothing of the airbrushing techniques that are used to remove imperfections. If people watching your videos are more concerned with how you look rather than what it is you are saying, then it is unlikely that those people are your audience anyway.

Which takes us to point two; people will criticize what you say. Yes, there’s always the chance that some of the people tuning into your videos will criticize what you have to say. But does that really matter? If you are imparting your knowledge, in your own unique way, you will attract the people who are your target audience. There are always people with more knowledge, or different experiences, or different ways of delivering the same information. But don’t lose sight that you, too, have a level of experience and expertise that can help others. And those are the people you will reach!

Let’s talk about point number three. To be perfectly honest, I haven’t come across that many people in my life who are completely comfortable in front of the camera. But as I learned, you will get more comfortable with it, the more you do it. I know when I first started doing video (as you can see for yourself by watching my first series), I was terribly uncomfortable presenting to the camera. I wasn’t sure where to look, I read from my notes, and I just generally came off as completely stilted. However, I persevered and am now able to focus on the information that I am imparting, rather than how people might perceive me. I am now able to look at that Webcam and not see it as a camera, but rather, I see the people who I am trying to speak to.

Item number four is the belief that no one will watch your videos. My first response is – so what? Now, I don’t mean to be quite so glib. Of course you are producing these videos to provide information and to reach a specific audience. But it is a very, very rare instance (to say nothing of the expense involved) that someone will do one video and it will become viral. You have to exercise patience and persistence. Continue to make your videos, to post them, and to share them via your social media channels, emails, blogs, or whatever other mediums you might employ. You will gain an audience, you will share your expertise, and you will significantly boost your rankings in search engines.

The final point is that it is too expensive to create video. I would agree that in certain circumstances and for certain businesses, it makes sense to hire a professional videographer or a studio to produce a video. But to share nuggets of your wisdom, your experiences, and to help others you don’t need a fancy studio. An inexpensive Webcam – even your smart phone camera – is really all you need to shoot a video. If you want, you can create an inexpensive green screen yourself and edit your background using a video editing software program which, again, does not have to be expensive. Or, create more casual videos in your office and post them on YouTube. The most important thing is to make sure that you have good lighting, good sound and a good message.

As you can see, there really is no reason not to use video for your marketing. It is the most engaging form of social sharing and for imparting knowledge, and, believe it or not, it can even be fun!

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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Is Your Business Competitive?

March 8, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, belief in your business, branding, building your business, client retention, how to grow your business, marketing, marketing during an economic downturn, prospecting for clients, small business marketing

We all know the recipe for success with your business.

You have to have a product or a service that people want, you have to have it priced appropriately, and you have to attract customers.

It goes without saying that you can have the absolute best product or service in the world, but without clients it simply doesn’t matter. Remember that eternal question? You know; the one that says “if a tree falls in the forest and is no one there to hear it, does it make a noise?”

Well, the same applies to your business.

In many cases, business owners focus on price. They or their team will research their competition and react to the cost of the service and product from their competitor to their end-user. There are many, many problems with competing for clients solely on price.

First of all, you probably don’t know your competitors cost of sales. If they are a privately held company, you have no way of knowing what their financial picture truly is. Are they operating a loss? Are they heavily in debt? Perhaps are offering a lower price but at the detriment to the long-term future of the company.

Another problem with competing solely on price is that you don’t know what your competitor is offering behind the scenes. Do they have any guarantees? What kind of support do they provide to the customer? And what, if anything, is included in the purchase price?

One of the biggest dangers of competing solely on price is that you erode the value of your product or service. If you price your product or service to low, it is perceived as having little to no value. And if you price your product extremely high and then offer discount after discount, it raises the question of your company’s integrity if you can afford to sell the product for so much less than your original price.

In order to be competitive in your niche, you have to provide value to your clients. And, of course, you have to ensure that your prospects know about the value that you provide.

Which of course, all comes back to marketing.

It is well known and well documented that people are willing to pay more for a service or product as long as they believe that they are receiving value for their investment. You don’t even have to have the best product or service, with all the bells and whistles. Customers are looking to do business with companies and with people that they can trust.

By making sure that your clients feel comfortable doing business with you, and that they believe that you will stand behind your product or service, you will stand head and shoulders above your competitors. Simply putting yourself in your clients’ shoes will go a long way to being authentic with your clients and prospects.

But the flip side of this is that people have to know how you treat your clients and prospects. They have to feel engaged and connected with you, your corporate vision, and your business morals and ethics. And this is where marketing comes in.

How do you communicate these critical components to your clients and prospects? Do you have a proper marketing strategy and structure in place? Do you follow through with your marketing plan? Do you obtain testimonials from satisfied customers, demonstrating that you can be trusted to do what you say you will do?

It doesn’t matter if economic times are tough or if you are flying high; the concepts and the principles remain the same continue to market your products and services and be sure to demonstrate your integrity and you will weather any storm.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

What Happens When You Don’t Have a Plan

March 3, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, belief in your business, building your business, how to grow your business, marketing, small business marketing

Not having a plan will lead to a marketing fail.

Yesterday, while I was contemplating what I would write about for today’s post, I had a telephone call from an associate who was contacting me to pass on a referral. While discussing what the referral was looking for, the conversation unfolded to a general discussion about how a startup gets business. My associate stated, “they just need to hire a sales person and have them pound pavement.”

So now I’ll tell you why that response is a marketing fail.

Don’t get me wrong! A salesperson can be one of the most valuable assets a company has. But simply having a salesperson on your team is not the answer to effective marketing.

Let’s set the scenario.

You’ve just started your brand new business. You’ve opened shop, got your phones in place, and have hired your salesperson. And now, understandably, you expect the salesperson to generate sales for your business. But have you equipped your salesperson with the tools achieve success?

Whether you are starting a new business or running an established business, you have to make sure that you have a detailed roadmap if you expect to arrive at your destination. Simply put, if you expect to get from A to B, you have to consider all of the potholes and signposts along the way.

There seems to be some resistance to the requirement of a business plan from some people these days. Some of the “newer thinking” believes that you only need a written business plan if you are looking for financial support or investment. I would argue that, whether we apply the formal term of “plan” or not, we actually make a plan for everything we do in life.

For example, when you’re going to the grocery store, more often than not you have a list of items that you need – or at least an idea of why you are there. Or… you’re going to take a vacation. Most people don’t just spin the wheel and jump on a plane to the destination that showed up without planning for it.

If these types of every day events require a plan, why should something as important as running your business not need a plan?

So, back to our salesman.

When you created your business plan, presumably you ensured that you have gone through all of the steps, including market research. A large part of any business plan talks to the issue of who you will sell your products or services to, and how this will be achieved. This is the stepping stone for the fleshing out of a more detailed, longer-term marketing strategy.

The reason why so many people claim that “marketing doesn’t work” or “marketing is a waste of money”, is simply because they are doing what I term “ad hoc marketing”, which I wrote about in greater detail in an earlier post.

Essentially, ad hoc marketing is when someone makes a decision to apply a marketing tool without ensuring that it is a cohesive part of a larger plan. Throwing a website up without defining the purpose and the structure. Putting together a brochure without ensuring that the design, layout and content are appropriate for your audience. Sending a salesperson door-to-door without the appropriate materials to support their sales efforts. These are all examples of ad hoc marketing.

Make sure that you are not jumping into the “ad hoc marketing pool”. If you do, I can guarantee you that you will be dissatisfied with your results and will spend money needlessly, with little to no chance of a return on your investment.

Take the time to create an appropriate marketing strategy and review it on a regular basis to ensure that it is meeting your needs as your company grows. And, don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t have the time or the expertise to develop your marketing strategy, if this is the case. It’s better to bring in a consultant to help you develop this strategy and pay them once, than to struggle with your marketing, paying over and over again for things that just aren’t working.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Illusions Of Grandeur

January 7, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, belief in your business, building your business, business, business plan, growing your business, how to grow your business

When starting a new business, most entrepreneurs dream of success.

Let’s face it; if they didn’t, why would they even start?

But starting business is a lot of hard work. It’s one thing to have an idea that you believe is viable, but it’s entirely something else to turn that idea into a successful enterprise. There are many steps to go through when starting a business and, like everything, it starts with a plan.

It’s funny how many people shy away from creating a real, tangible business plan that is actually in a written format. Sure, lots of people spend a lot of time thinking about the steps to move their business forward. But without having something written down, it’s easy to miss critical elements of building a successful plan, and perhaps even worse, it’s easy to be seduced into thinking that success is yours for the taking.

We’re all familiar with the phrase “illusions of grandeur”. Simply put, it is the illusion that you have attained something grand. Did you catch that vital word in the previous sentence: “illusion”.

Without creating a solid foundation for your business, you truly will end up suffering from delusions of grandeur. Let me give you a couple of examples.

I’m familiar with a couple of startups that have been created over the course of the past year. Both of these businesses are founded on brilliant ideas but, unfortunately, both businesses also suffered from the lack of a fleshed out business plan. Both of these startups had evidence that there was a desire for their product, and both of these businesses were taking advantage of the technology of the mobile app.

One of these businesses hit the ground running and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the development of their concept. They had investors and they had their concept, but they blew through all of their money before they had proven their concept in the marketplace of the real world. They leased “brick-and-mortar” storefronts in three different countries, all before even getting out of the gates. In the case of this business, failure to develop a solid business plan, with a comprehensive marketing strategy, appropriate budget allocations, and a timeline resulted in the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars with no return.

In the second example, the business concept again was based on something that was clearly desired in the marketplace. However, in this case we had nearly the opposite issue. Well over $100,000 was invested in this business, with the key difference being that the founder of this company was reluctant to bring in any investors due to the dilution of the founder’s ownership. Once again, the concept lacked the foundation of a business plan. With no budgets, no timeline, and no core marketing strategy, it became difficult to manage the requirements of moving the concept to market. As a result, the founder reacted with a series of knee-jerk decisions that simply ended up costing more money and bore no results.

So as you move your business forward in 2016, revisit your business plan to make sure that it is current. Things change, as do economic circumstances, so make sure that you are tweaking your business plan to reflect the realities of the times.

And if you haven’t written down your business plan, do that first! Avoid falling prey to the illusions of grandeur.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Time For A Digital Diet?

January 5, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, branding, communicating with clients, communications, digital fatigue, digital marketing, how to communicate with clients, marketing, small business marketing

Happy New Year and welcome to 2016!

Traditionally, the beginning of the new year is a time when many people make resolutions. There is something about the clean slate of a brand spanking new year that seems to motivate people to change, or at least alter, some of their habits and to make a commitment to doing things differently.

Many of the most common resolutions seem to be to exercise more, eat healthier, or go on a diet to lose those extra pounds. And we all know that gym memberships skyrocketed this time of year, only to see attendance dwindle after a few weeks.

But what about trying out a digital diet?

I’m not talking about giving up all of your technology and all of your digital devices. In fact, you probably received some newer, updated gadgets for Christmas. And we all know that technology isn’t going anywhere, and is fully integrated as a part of our society.

Indeed, technology has changed the way that we communicate. It has truly opened up a global marketplace for businesses, and has allowed for individuals to meet and discuss issues with people all around the world.

But after advancing at warp speed, it seems as though a bit of digital fatigue is starting to set in. Perhaps the pendulum is starting to swing back to a place of balance. At least I hope so.

Over the holidays, those of us in Canada witnessed a television commercial produced and promoted by Telus that encouraged people to “unplug” for the holidays. Now, for those of you who are not familiar with this corporation, it is worth mentioning that Telus is one of the three major providers of Internet and mobile service in Canada. I think a message like this, coming from a corporation who obtains much of their revenue through the use of digital technology, speaks volumes about the misconception of our so-called connections and friends that have resulted from our love affair with technology.

I also recently saw an ad online for a chief marketing officer for a new startup. The business model for this new startup is about building community by actually meeting people face-to-face, in real life. Gee, what a novel idea! Their concept is kind of a mash up between a networking group and speed dating. They intend to hold networking groups in various locations with electronic signs over each table that mentions the topics of discussion at that table, allowing people to mingle and become involved in whatever topic they choose. Now, call me crazy, but I think it is ludicrous to think that something as time-tested and commonplace as a networking group has to disguise itself as an “online mimicking forum” in order to attract and entice people to actually meet with others face-to-face.

Now don’t get me wrong. I think technology is amazing, and has created benefits that were only dreamed of 20 years ago. But the flip side is that people have forgotten how to interact personally with others. We all know people who boast of having thousands of online friends. But how close are these friends? I see people posting pictures of family dinners, kids receiving awards, family vacations… You get the point. And, to be frank, I don’t like it. First of all, I think it has the potential to be dangerous, especially for small children, to be exposed and shown all over the Internet. Secondly, maybe it is because I am a more private person, but I don’t see the benefit or the sense in sharing personal, private family moments with all of my connections online. Of course, some of my connections are family and friends, who are actual real, personal connections. For those folks, I find other ways to share these moments, either by private message, email, telephone call, or personal visit.

So, for 2016, why not try to take a digital diet. Don’t turn your back on technology; simply make a point of unplugging from time to time. Maybe you should turn your phone off after business hours. Or put it in another room while you’re having dinner with your family. Make a point of taking the time to meet face-to-face with people. There is great value, and pleasure, and actually looking in someone’s eyes.

Technology makes improvements that assist us in our day-to-day living and our needs. It is meant to serve a purpose for us, not to enslave us.

Just think about it…

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Are You Being Strategic With Your Marketing?

December 15, 2015September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, building your business, business, client retention, communicating with clients, entrepreneur, growing your business, how to grow your business, marketing, marketing strategy, public relations, small business marketing, strategic marketing

What is it, to be strategic with your marketing?

I was having a conversation the other day with a business colleague about strategic marketing and we were discussing various obstacles that present themselves when growing your business. One of the most common obstacles appears to be that of the failure to identify your ideal client.

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, one of the most important components of your marketing strategy is that of being clear on your target audience. Without a clear understanding of who your ideal client is, the implementation of your marketing strategy can never be honed to that specific audience. And without being able to target your marketing efforts, you will end up wasting time, energy and cold, hard cash.

I have repeatedly written and spoken about how the implementation of a proper, focused marketing plan is not only critical to the growth of your business, but is also a solid financial investment in the future of your business. However, we need to address the reality that there is a bit of an emotional disconnect, especially with small business owners, when it comes to parting with their finances to support a marketing program.

I get that.

But without investing the appropriate resources to properly market your business, you run the risk of being “forgettable”. In order to grow your business and to be seen as relevant within your industry, it is imperative that you are continually communicating to clients and prospects alike. Existing clients like to know that the companies they do business with are continuing to be viable in the marketplace, and prospects won’t even find you if you’re invisible.

Unfortunately, many small business owners make the mistake of randomly advertising their service or product without the development and implementation of a strategic marketing plan. Is it any wonder, then, that they end up disappointed and think that “marketing” doesn’t work?

The most important point that I can make is that advertising is not marketing. Marketing is about the creation of a strategy, based on your corporate values, goals, and ideal client, among other things. It is comprised of many components and nuances, with the end result being a unified approach to communicating effectively and efficiently to your target audience. Advertising, on the other hand is merely the implementation of one element of a strategic marketing plan.

So, as we are wrapping up 2015 and preparing for the next year, be sure to do a full review of all aspects of your business performance. Take a good look at any marketing or advertising campaigns that you have done over the past year and ask yourself if there was a strategy behind the process, or if it was simply implemented as a means to an end.

An investment in hiring a marketing strategist to help you identify, create, and execute a strategic marketing plan can help you attain your goals, financially and professionally. Maybe 2016 is the time to realize that your business is best served by focusing on your core competencies and outsource this component for growing your business.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

How Public Relations Adds Value To Your Business

December 8, 2015September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, building your business, business, communicating with clients, communications, PR, public relations, small business marketing

It occurred to me today that I’ve never posted anything specifically about the role of public relations.

And, as a public relations and marketing expert, it’s past time that I did so!

Public relations, marketing, and advertising are nearly always lumped together, as though they are all the same thing. Indeed, nothing could be further from the truth.

As I have expressed many times in the past, marketing is about a strategy, while advertising is one way of implementing that strategy. Public relations, while also a part of marketing strategy, is about building awareness for your company.

PR is the art of obtaining free exposure for your company. It provides the opportunity for you to share your corporate beliefs, values, and products and services to the public. There are many ways to achieve this.

One of the most familiar ways to obtain PR is through a press/media release. There is definite perceived value when your release is seen as newsworthy. But remember that the media is inundated on a daily basis with releases from others who, just like you, are looking for coverage for their latest announcement. So, make sure that you truly have something important to share, and deliver it in a way that demonstrates its importance and sets you apart from the rest. Press/media releases are useful for announcing new products or services, new offices or changes in staff; any change or improvement to your business.

But PR is about more than just media releases.

The options that exist to help your company gain free exposure have grown exponentially over the years. Proper use of social media, for instance, can generate a lot of very positive public relations for you. Other options include participation in charitable events, such as charity runs, golf tournaments, assisting at a local food bank, helping out at a soup kitchen, etc.

All of the examples mentioned above will help you gain exposure for your business, while also demonstrating some of the fundamental values of your company. Let’s face it; most people truly do like to give back and to help others, whether physically, emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually. And public relations provide the ideal opportunity to prove that you and your company have some very closely held beliefs and values.

This brings us to the fundamentals of marketing. The goal of marketing is to attract clients and prospects to do business with you. And what is that common theme that runs through all marketing? People like to do business with people who they know, like, and trust. Public relations is another avenue to gain credibility in the marketplace.

There is also a flip side to PR.

Public relations also has a very important role in maintaining a corporate reputation.

There may be times, no matter how hard you tried to do the right thing, that someone or something doesn’t go as planned, resulting in negative publicity for your company. Enter public relations.

There are two sides to every issue, and at least two sides to every argument. And no matter how much you try, you will never be everything to everyone. There will be times when something happens that’s outside of your control, or some group or organization launches an attack on your business or your industry. Proper messaging, targeting, and use of public relations can help turn the tide, stem the negativity, and reinstate your credibility.

Like everything, there is a proper strategy and method required in order to implement a suitable and effective public relations campaign. If you are inexperienced or lack the time to dedicate to the development of an appropriate PR strategy, it is well worth your investment to hire a PR consultant to assist you in focusing your campaign.

Until next time…

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