I was introduced to the Kiva website in a Gender and Politics class this past year.  Kiva’s purpose is to connect individuals to third world entrepreneurs through a person-to-person micro-lending experience.  As the first of its kind, Kiva partners with knowledgeable microfinance institutions in order to have access to exceptional entrepreneurs around the world.  On the Kiva website, lenders choose a specific entrepreneur to support by lending as little as $25.  Empowered by their new loan, entrepreneurs are able to either start or continue to grow their business.  Lenders are repaid as entrepreneurs succeed. 

What I found most amazing is the number of women seeking loans.  Microfinance programs have been targeted towards poor women.  This not only supports a strong message of gender equality in often male dominated societies, but it also reflects that women in these societies are a better financial risk.  Women, without income in third world countries, frequently have more to lose as they are usualy responsible for children and extended family.  Once she gets a loan, a woman’s status in her community improves and she is able to be more assertive and confident in her home and in her business.  

-Katrina

As a university student, I am accustomed to hard work being the greatest source of positive results – good marks and a high average. Being in the work world has shown me that there is much more to the formula of success than simply hard work.

Favourable results depend on the relationships you have with superiors and co-workers who should have an opportunity to get to know your character and understand your motivations. In this way, you can learn to work “smarter” rather than “harder” because tasks are laid out more efficiently based on an understanding your superiors have of your skills and of your willingness to be challenged.

It is important to spend your time viewing your employment as more than just a job: focusing on the end results and making those results your passion rather than attending to the mechanics that get the job done. The employer places a value on the completion of a task, honouring that will often lead to the employer taking a personal interest in your career with more challenging assignments.
- Katrina

I always get a ton of questions from business owners on how to get good PR for their company so I have asked PR expert Theresa Coles to share her insights on how to build effective publicity for your business. She will be guest blogging in this Friday spot for the next few weeks. Feel free to email any questions you have on PR to info@fmwalsh.com and Theresa will be happy to answer them.

One question I’m often asked by new clients is how good my relationships with the media are. Earlier in my career that question used to elicit the fairly typical “Of course they’re very good!” response. Over the years, however, I have learnt to answer the question more accurately: my relationships with the media are good, mainly because I’m very careful about not bothering them with anything less than a good story!

In my view, good media relations is primarily about the story you have to offer.

That’s not to say that good relationships aren’t important, and that building relationships isn’t an important part of any media relations program. However, no matter how good your relationship with the journalist, without a good story, you’re not going to get exposure. It’s amazing how good your relationship with the media can become if you have a few really good stories to offer them.

What the media needs is extremely changeable, and it’s really up to the editor or producer to decide what is newsworthy on any particular day. Ultimately this is decided by the public.

So the question is: “What’s the news value in a company’s activities, products or services?” Once you’ve given this some thought, it’s amazing to see how many possibilities exist to offer the media something they can use, and get the kind of exposure your client wants.

________________
Theresa E Coles
Principal: Syllable Words and Ideas
is a former journalist who “crossed over” to public relations some 15 years ago. She provides public relations services, with an emphasis on media relations, media relations training, issues management and crisis communication. You can contact her at 604-960-0515.

On Saturday I had the honour and pleasure of speaking at the Beyond Pink Conference to 225 delegates - what a great conference! Lots of energy and good information shared, great connections made. This conference is the launching pad for a brand new organization - Young Women In Business

This group is the brainchild of a group of extremely bright and talented university students who spotted an opportunity in the market and in four months, launched the group, organized the conference, got major corporate sponsorship and sold out the conference.

This is a great example of thinking big. Instead of thinking of all the things that could go wrong or might now work, this group just went out and did it! Keep an eye on them, everyone, because they are going to be very big indeed.

Two cool things happened while I was in LA this weekend.

The first is that the Easter Bunny drove by on a Harley on Easter Sunday morning - I love this city!

The second is that I attended the West Hollywood Women’s Leadership Conference on March 22nd - what a powerhouse event. Put on by the City of West Hollywood, it attracted over 100 women from the political, public service, non-profit, corporate and small business arena. Amazing women with amazing stories.

My favourite story of the weekend was the web designer who when she started out her business was charging very little for her services, and hence, making very little money. A year ago, she decided she had enough and did two things to significantly increase her profitability. First, she raised her hourly rate significantly and second, she started charging clients for all the changes and extras they wanted. She admitted she was worried that she would lose clients and go out of business. What actually happened is that she has never been busier and clients happily pay her prices. That’s the funny thing about being confident in your value to clients - you don’t have trouble charging what you are worth and you don’t have trouble asking for payment. Negotiating a decent salary or charging a fair market price for your product or service is not imposing on others or being pushy. It is good business. Make sure you put it into practice.

People often question the value of going to networking events, tradeshows or conferences. They comment that the time spent out of the office is not a good investment as they rarely have the time to do follow-up with any prospects or connections they meet. They come back with business cards that end up sitting on their desk - often for weeks or months. Something you mean to get around to doing one day. Not following up on these leads is costing you money so let me outline a simple system you can put in place to use for every event you go to, so you don’t lose out. Here’s what I do:

1. Define clear objectives for every event I go to. What do I want to accomplish by going? Are there particular people or companies I want to meet? Connect with the speaker or the organizers? Before I walk through the door I know exactly what I’m looking to do.

2. Block off time in the morning the day after the event to do follow-up.

3. When someone gives me their card I’ll make a quick note of anything I need to do or remember about them; then I put all the cards into one place while I’m at the event.

4. The next day, I’ll pull out all the cards and determine the next action I need to take with each person - arrange coffee, book a presentation, call them to discuss training or coaching, or send them information they asked for. Then I do it right away. My rule is that all follow-up after an event has to be done within 2 business days of meeting that person. By blocking off 2 hours the morning after the event for follow-up, I get it all accomplished.

5. File the business cards - use the system you prefer - paper or electronic. Just make sure you get it done quickly. There is nothing more frustrating than having to dig through a pile of business cards looking for that person you want to get in touch with.

Implement this simple system and you’ll be surprised at how little time it does take and how many opportunities that will open up!

You know you need to get out there and network to build visibility and make contacts to grow your business. The challenge is that networking takes time and money and all of us have crazy schedules already. There is nothing more frustrating than joining an organization and finding out that the fit is not a good one. And sometimes you want to go to more than one event before you put your money down!

Enter ‘The Observation Deck’ - the brainchild of Madeline Chapman, with the Orange County Chapter of National Women in Construction. She wants to attract more new members to their chapter so they can realize the benefits of membership for building business success, but she also realized how tight time was for many women. So she has created the Observation Deck - any woman can drop into any NAWIC Orange County meeting at any time and stay for as long or as little as they want. A separate table will be set aside for the Observation Deck and you can check out what the organization is all about without any pressure.

This is a great marketing idea and one you want to consider if you are looking to attract new members to your organization. I hope more groups follow her lead.

A well-read blog is a great marketing tool and a fun way to write about stuff that you are interested in. The challenge is getting noticed.

I get asked all the time about how to create an effective blog that other people will want to read. Click here to read a great article “27+1 Tips for Building and Maintaining a Blog Audience” by Jarrod Hunt. Easy to understand, it is written for non-techies like me and has already given me a few ideas to act on.

An acquaintance of mine runs a very successful business; she does all her banking – personal and business – with a local financial institution where she has been a customer for over 10 years. This company is well known for its extensive marketing program that points out that they are local and their primary aim is to support the local community with great products and services. Several months back she approached them about getting a mortgage and then she waited and waited and waited. After 4 months of being asked for more paperwork, talking to different people and being told they “were working on it” she walked across the street to the competition where they gave her the mortgage she wanted in less than an hour. The rest of her banking business followed soon after. Plus she has shared this story with other business professionals, which has prompted several of them to switch banks as well.

The reason I am telling this story is that as a business owner you have to ask yourself: Does your customer service deliver on the experience your marketing promises? If you create a certain expectation of quality, customer service or product, customers will expect you to deliver on it. If you don’t, you will piss off customers. And they will tell others. This particular local financial institution has a terrible reputation when it comes to business banking. They spend a lot of money advertising their business banking program but they don’t deliver.

There is no point in spending a ton of money on marketing unless you make sure you deliver on what you promise. If you don’t meet customer expectations, they will tell others and they will move over to the competition.

Lets get something straight here first and foremost - I am female: I look like a woman and I sound like a woman but yet I have been called Mr. on two separate occasions recently.

The first was an e-mail following up on a booth I visited at CES - the e-mail actually mentioned how much they had enjoyed meeting me!.

The second was in a voice mail left from someone referred to me by a service provider. The person listened (but did not hear) my message and yet still called me Mr. To spare these people the embarrassment I won’t actually mention their names or company (although they probably deserve it for their blatant ignorance) but these occurrences served to remind me how important it is in business to know your customer.

What do you think the chances of me doing business with either of these companies are? I’d say somewhere less than zero. Not only did they offend me from the start but the first had the gall to blatantly lie in their communication (enjoyed meeting me indeed) - it did nothing for their credibility.

This was originally posted in the Out-Smarts blog.

It takes no time to pay a little attention to your customer, prospect or potential client and offending someone will be counteractive to your cause.

So next time you are planning an email or phone campaign or any marketing or sales activity for that matter, give a little thought to your audience:

1. Don’t dare to assume that the recipient is male when they could be female and vice versa. If you’re not sure if someone is male or female then its often best to avoid such a salutation.

2. If you’re not sure of the spelling of a contact’s name then omit it (you should see the collection of incorrect spellings I’ve collected over the years with a name like Mhairi).

3. If in doubt either don’t take the risk or take a little time to do some detective work to find out.

A little attention to detail can go a long way in helping you open the door to business so take heed and take time to know your audience. It will be worth your while.