Yesterday I held a consultation for Savarona restaurant in Great Eastern Street, London. Now the consultatation is an intensive two to three hours of PR planning, questions and strategy and it usually culminates in me heading off to the nearest coffee house to mull over what I can do for my client over a frothy cappuccino and some tme alone. Yesterday however, my new client insisted that I sit sit tight for an hour and taste the menu - or at least a lrage chunk of it. So, starter after starter was brought out to me - delicious olive oil laden Turkish dishes that tasted both healthy and delightful. This was followed by a sample of the best of the main courses, such a tender lamb in a smoked aubergine sauce, plus a selection of desserts - and when it became obvious that I had fixed on my favourite, they even ordered up an extra portion for me to enjoy.

I came out thoroughly satisfied but also eager and excited to promote the restuarant - they have a passion and an aptitude for good food which needs to be shouted about, and shout about them I will. When they get press visiting - and only show them half of the variety that they showed me - then I know that the press are going to go away just as enthused as I did - as will any customer that crosses their path. So, what can you do for your customers and the media that will have the same results?

Paula Gardner is the author of Get Noticed: Boost your small business profile in 30 days or less.

Last night I watched The Apprentice for the first time. It was the episode where the contestants had to come up with a toy and the girls had to choose between two products. One of them had good feedback from the focus group, and team were really behind it. Apart from the leader. She favoured the other option and chose that, against all advice. Ultimately she had to leave the show for showing poor leadership and bad judgement by ignoring advice. Strangely, this pig-headedness can sometimes be a good thing. There must have been many occasions when people would have given up on a great business idea (or novel) if they had listened to others. Sadly, this was not one of those times.

Paula Gardner is the author of Get Noticed: Boost your small business profile in 30 days or less.

I've been asked by http://www.speednetworking.org/ to run some You Can Do Your Own PR workshops from their base in Marble Arch. I visited a speed networking event last year and really enjoyed it. I found the speaker Gwen Rhys really inspirational, and it was interesting to meet a large number of business people (around 20), rather than the two or three you usually end up talking to at traditional events.

Indeed, one of our article writers, Jackie Barrie, was one of the first people that I met there!So, I'm really happy to be putting something together for them - watch this space!!

Paula Gardner
Paula Gardner is the author of Get Noticed: Boost your small business profile in 30 days or less.

Last Thursday was the A12 networking evening, held at the George Pub in Wanstead. Our DoubleYour Clients Through Networking ecourse is probably one of our most popular courses. A lot of people that we meet feel nervous about networking, and they also feel as though they have no real stratgey behind things. One week they visit one group such as BNI because someone says it's useful, and then another week they concentrate on online networking like http://www.ecademy.com/ because the word on the street is that this is the thing to do.

What really matters is what suits you - and what works for you.I particularly enjoy networking over food. I don't mean standing aroudn with luke-warm glasses of wine and balancing canapes in one hand and your handbag in the other. No, I mean lovely lunches or delicious dinners where you can really get to know your neighbour and find out what makes them tick. You may talk to less people but it's quality not quantity that really makes the difference in the end!

Paula GardnerPaula Gardner is the author of Get Noticed: Boost your small business profile in 30 days or less.

I had two people book up for PR courses over the weekend - and I wasn't even officially working. I love new technology! It's absolutely fantastic to come down in the morning and see that people have logged on and ordered a course. Apart from the obvious financial benefits it's exciting to take a peek at their website and see what sort of people and businesses I will be working with! It's a great thrill.

Paula Gardner
Paula Gardner is the author of Get Noticed: Boost your small business profile in 30 days or less.

It's half-term here so I've kept work deliberately quiet. What I am trying to do, however, is to take some time to work on the business, E-myth style, rather than do what I usually do which is work in the business. All I need is an elusive hour of peace and quiet to think about my future plans for Do Your Own PR . But I'm still waiting for that elusive hour!!!

Paula

Yesterday I stopped off at Space NK Apothecary to choose my own Valentine's present (I can't be the only woman who gets sent by her husband to buy her own Valentine's can I?) and the sheer exhaustion of it all meant that I had to collapse in a Café Nero for a mocha. I ended up sat next to two men. One of them was listening to the other pitch his services. All I kept hearing were the words "facilitate" and other gems of jargon and I could see the listener's eyes slowly glaze over and turn back to his Expresso. I just hope that it wasn't a journalist being bored to death by terminology and gobbeldygook (ooh, I do like that word).Lesson: "We can make it happen" is much more powerful than "We can facilitate it". Use plain and powerful language, especially when speaking to or writing a press release for the media.

Paula Gardner is a PR coach and author. Read more about what PR coaching can do for you here

Well, we are talking more a personal guru cum mentor than client here, but wealth coach Nicola Cairncross is organising the UK's very first wealth conference in March. It's an exciting prospect and you can not only read about here but watch and listen to Nicola's invitation. I've worked with Nicola and know that she talks some very powerful stuff! And, you'll be able to see not only Nicola but also internet whiz-kid Guy Levine, Lean marketer Debbie Jenkins and business coach Judith Morgan - what a potent line up!Try it now!

!http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=1031474

I now write a bi-weekly column for www.fashion-capital.co.uk. Do check it out!

Yesterday I stopped off at Space NK Apothecary to choose my own Valentine’s present (I can’t be the only woman who gets sent by her husband to buy her own Valentine’s can I?) and the sheer exhaustion of it all meant that I had to collapse in a Café Nero for a mocha. I ended up sat next to two men. One of them was listening to the other pitch his services. All I kept hearing were the words “facilitate” and other gems of jargon and I could see the listener’s eyes slowly glaze over and turn back to his Expresso. I just hope that it wasn’t a journalist being bored to death by terminology and gobbeldygook (ooh, I do like that word).

Lesson: “We can make it happen” is much more powerful than “We can facilitate it”. Use plain and powerful language, especially when speaking to or writing a press release for the media.

Paula
www.doyourownpr.com

I spent Saturday afternoon delivering the how to do a press release section of Joanne Mallon’s Attracting Publicity workshop. It was interesting to see how many people easily grasped the mechanics of putting a press release together, but yet still harboured anxieties about actually getting on the telephone and talking to journalists. To be honest, even the most experienced of PRs feel trepidation every time they pick up the phone to speak to a journalist, but there are ways you can minimise the stress and maximise your results.

The Do Your Own PR Top Ten Tips for Calling Journalists

1. Recognise that if you want to get publicity you will need to do this. You can’t yearn after a higher media profile for your business without to some extent making friends with the media. So, take a deep breath and get on with it.

2. Prepare yourself; Make sure that you know your subject inside out, especially if it’s at all technical. What are the latest concepts and buzz-words? Who are the current celebrities or big names of your industry?

3. Find the right time. Fitting your calling in half an hour before you leave for a client meeting is not going to put you in the right frame of mood.

4. Start small. Tackle the local press first, or even the editor of a website. Build up both your confidence and experience.

5. Listen to how they sound. Are they busy? Do they sound stressed? Were you unfortunate enough to call them during press day (or a Test Match)? Take your cue from then and if you feel that you aren’t getting their full attention, do offer to call back at a better time.

6. Listen to what they say. Don’t just read from a pre-prepared spiel without taking into consideration what they are saying. Don’t presume you known what they are going to say.

7. Never leave messages asking them to call back. Not with the receptionist; not with a colleague and certainly not on voicemail. They hardly ever call back and you’ll earn yourself the reputation of a stalker.

8. If you have follow up actions to undertake – a fax or photographs to send for instance – then do it immediately, while it’s fresh in both your minds. And always make sure you do it yourself rather than hand it over to another member of staff. The journalist has just spoken to you, and to hand them over to someone else is just confusing.

9. Make notes on your call. When you should call back? Is that person approachable or just so harassed you should only call them when you know you’ve got something strong enough to interest them?

10. Yes, some journalists will be short with you, just as some will be incredibly interested and supportive. Don’t take it personally – whether they’re lovely or just too run off their feet to bother with all the conversational niceties it’s the story that matters, not you. Just take it as it comes and cultivate some detachment. Keep the overall picture in mind.

If you’d like to feel a lot more confident calling journalists then check out our Cold Calling Crash Course. It’s a 5 day ecourse that’s also suitable for cold calling prospective clients. You’ll be taken through tried and tested methods that PR’s use to help them build up relationships with the press, plus get a practice telephone session with me at the end of the ecourse – and I promise that I’m lovely and encouraging with lots of constructive help and ideas. Do take a look at:

http://www.doyourownpr.com/products/the_cold_calling_crash_course.asp

One of my clients is putting together a collaborative project, creating and auctioining a quilt for the Tsunami victims. It’s a project open to everyone, and you can particapte by sending a 15 x 15 cm square (aprox. 6 inches square) out of a textile medium and embellish your contribution. The square can be of fabric, wool, felt or something else that you can figure out. Beads, threads, fabric manipulation, collage, quilt, transfer, paints... all mediums are welcomed. You can find out more at http://kukulla.tripod.com/tsunami/tsunami.html

Until next time,
Paula Gardner
www.doyourownpr.com