Why reading ‘The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ will help develop a PR brain for your farm enterprise or rural business

 PR  No Responses »
Oct 032011
 

"It's an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, Man had always assumed that he was the most intelligent species occupying the planet, instead of the *third* most intelligent. The second most intelligent creatures were of course dolphins who, curiously enough, had long known of the impending destruction of the planet earth."

Douglas Adams, 'The Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy'.

A much loved radio play and book, 'The Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy'  takes an ordinary man, Arthur Dent (in his dressing gown), on an extraordinary journey. Douglas Adams' brilliance is in his ability to look at life side on, find the quirkiness and entertain us by juxtaposing the everyday and the bizarre.

If you want to get regular coverage in the press and media for your farm enterprise or rural business, you need to send stories (or press releases) to newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations. For those stories to have any chance of getting published, you need to find that all important angle that turns your story from dull to daring, everyday to extra-ordinary, boring to brilliant. Juxtaposing the everyday with the unusual, absurd or unexpected is one sure fire way to find an angle.

What's the point of trying to get coverage in the media?
Free publicity, that's what it's all about. For a new or expanding business, stories in the press are a great way to get across your business name, brand and ethos.

What does a PR brain do that's so special?
The PR brain makes connections between the world of your business and the world of your potential customers to create great stories. Why? To amuse, entertain or inform readers. Happy readers make happy editors.

A PR brain has certain key attributes.

  • highly observant.
  • people watcher
  • avid reader.
  • collector of stories.
  • endlessly curious
  • thinks laterally
  • understands drama
  • delights in the absurd
  • excels in detective work

Feeds on video, film, art, music, TV, news and popular culture
(So go ahead spend the afternoon at a gallery or catching a movie….. it's all "research")

Tools the PR brain uses.

  • Thinking laterally. Place foodie stories in gardening magazines. Less competition
  • Juxtaposition: photo of tractor and wigwam sent to the farming press by Wigwam holidays , instantly put the idea of a wigwam campsite into farmers' minds.
  • Curiosity: ask your customers for their stories. Remember the mother who gave birth in a car? Of course she named her daughter "Kia".
  • Camera: Build your photo library. A picture can be the story. Goat up a tree. Snoozer in a deck chair. Use the image to find a story. 'Napping Britons miss out on release of new time management software'.
  • Notebook: jot down ideas for stories when you're out and about, listening to the radio, watching TV, reading the papers, on Twitter, Facebook or You Tube.

When a picture makes the story

Pigs in wellies

What editor wouldn't print this little cutie?

Why do you need to develop a PR brain?
Editors get inundated with stories. Interesting, relevant, quirky and newsworthy stories are the ones that avoid the bin.

Applying the tools.
You want examples don't you?

If your customers are avid X Factor fans, launch an X- Factor style competition to find the winning cockerel crow. Get people to send in their videos and photos of their pride and joy doing the early morning performance. Write up the story of the competition and profile the winner, send to a small holder magazine and the winner's local paper, with photo of the proud winning cockerel.

Vintage is everywhere – crockery, clothes, advertising. It's nostalgia, a yearning for a golden age when life was simpler but more authentic. Dress characters up in 50s clothes and getting them to pose around your furniture drinking tea out of vintage cups for a Vintage Day. A good photo with story is bound to get you a piece in the local paper. Link your business with values of authenticity and simplicity.

Rugby fans in your target audience? Produce limited edition six nations products e.g. ear rings or cup cakes. A good photo and short piece will be timely if you get it released in the run up to the tournament.

Go now and buy or borrow Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy. It won't tell you how to write a press release but it will tune up your sense of the absurd, a great asset for any PR Brain.

© Juliet Fay 2011.
 

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New! for 2012 – Business writing for an interactive audience
Currently I am developing a new course for business owners who want to improve their understanding of business writing techniques and get practical help to make writing easier. The course will combine workshops, home study and online support. I am looking for your input to decide on the focus for this first intensive course.

What are the 3 most things you find most difficult in your business writing?

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 Posted by Juliet Fay at 6:05 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Why expecting the unexpected helps you write sales copy

 copywriting  No Responses »
Feb 032011
 

Every time I see a Learner Driver, I remember the words of my driving instructor.

"Mirror, signal, manoeuvre"

It was drummed into me, that I must always look in the mirror before I did anything. Just in case someone was trying to overtake me, or a motorcyclist was alongside or toads had fallen from the sky.

"Anticipate what other drivers might do." he told me.

How terrifying was that? There I was, trying my best to control a metal box on wheels, trying to keep it on the right side of the road and trying not to collide with stationery objects and yet I'm supposed to anticipate unexpected events like small children running into the road, drivers pulling out to overtake me, motorcyles appearing out of nowhere.

Anticipate stray balls.

Yet after years of driving that is exactly what we all do. We anticipate unexpected events. As we drive along and see children playing with a football on the side of the road, we subconsciously prepare for the ball rolling into the road and children running after it.

Look out for unexpected objections

When you write about the benefits of your product or service, your best efforts can be sabotaged by unexpected objections, ones you haven't anticipated. Ones you haven't even considered.

You may have spent hours working out a fantastic promotion or special offer. You've done all the leaflets or created the content for a web page. You've sent out the emails and though you get some interest, people aren't buying.

Why unexpected objections are preventing people from buying

There are a huge range of objections that people have. Many of them you generally anticipate, such as: Am I paying too much? Will it last? Will it work? Can I return it if it is faulty?

But you'd be amazed at some of the unexpected objections your customers have. They may be tiny even trivial concerns, but they can prevent people from buying.

An example of a totally baffling objection to buying meat in a Farmers' Market, came out of a customer survey done by the market organiser. Some customers said they didn't buy the meat

'…because of the chillers [mobile refrigerated units].'

We were amazed. For those who attend Farmers' markets selling chilled products, the chiller is seen as a necessary but expensive piece of equipment to enable you to keep your products at the right temperature. It is seen as a pre-requisite to selling meat in a market situation.

Now a comment like that needs further investigation. What exactly about the chillers was the problem? It could be:

  • the fact that they were mobile – they didn't trust the electricity supply
  • didn't like the look of them – were they unclean, old, damaged?
  • couldn't get at the products – they were behind glass
  • could get at the products – so thought it was unhygienic
  • felt too much like buying meat at the supermarket

How do you get to the bottom of unexpected objections?

That story of the Farmers' Market chillers illustrates why the only way to ferret out these objections is to ask. Ask your customers and if you don't understand the answer, keep asking, until you get to the bottom of what is bothering them.

Another simple objection that can have a devastating effect on trade is if customers think you're closed. There is a sign on the door of Carmarthen Provisions Market that says 'Come in, we are open". Clearly this is a response to feedback that customers walk on by, because they don't realise the market is open.

Not realising you're open can happen online too. If people go on your website and links are broken or information is out of date, or wrong, they can think you too are "closed".

When do you need to find out about unexpected objections?

Every time you develop a new product or promotion. Talk to your potential customers and find out about any small objection that might stand in the way of a sale. Mary Portas, Queen of Shops, regularly takes to the streets to question shoppers about a particular shop and why they do or don't shop there. She also tests out new ideas on unsuspecting passers by, to see what would make them go for it and what would prevent them.

Learn from an expert and do the same with your customers or potential customers.

Once you have this information you can use it when you write your sales copy. If you find out, for instance, that people don't like phoning you because you only have a mobile number, you could then ask more questions to find out what it is about this that puts them off.

You could tackle this in various ways, depending on how much it is hurting your business:
give the landline number but explain that it is on answerphone because you are out working
suggest people text your mobile with the word 'enquiry', then you will call them back
engage a telephone answering service that gives you an 0845 number and answers calls when you're unavailable.
Unexpected objections, like a stray ball, can throw your sales off track

Talk to your customers and find out where their concerns lie.

 Posted by Juliet Fay at 3:53 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

How to sell more by making conversation

 Selling  No Responses »
Apr 162010
 

I stopped at a surf shop on the Gower Peninsular over the holidays looking for some kit for my children.  It was a tiny shop and the owner was sitting outside enjoying the Easter sun.  As I approached he smiled and asked me how I liked driving my car.

I answered, he listened and we went into his shop.  I hadn't said one word about what I wanted to buy and the owner hadn't mentioned any surf products but already I was feeling good about being there.

As we tried on boots the owner and I discovered a connection with North Devon where his parents and my husband's family had all farmed in the 1950s.  While he pulled out different sizes for my daughter to try, he talked to my son about boards for stand up surfing and soon we had a good pile of products on the counter.

I was enjoying myself and left the shop with my arms full of stuff and a smile on my face.

What just happened there?

In a relaxed and friendly way, the owner of the shop connected with me.  He put me at my ease by having a conversation with me.  In just a few minutes he found areas that interested me by looking, listening and responding to cues.  

How did he do that?

First he asked about the car- the first thing he saw.  Then when I mentioned that we live on a farm he talked of his own family background in farming.  He listened to what I said and took his cues from that to develop a conversation. 

As we chatted I felt relaxed and comfortable -  happy to take my time in his shop.  I asked his advice on wetsuits, boots and boards and consequently bought several items.  In some specialist shops you can feel like you've stumbled into some secret society and you don't have the handbook.  You can easily be intimidated if you don't know the terminology.  Here I was entirely comfortable.

Why did he do that?

The owner has been running his surf shop since the 1980s and he has learnt that taking time to engage customers increases his sales.  Customers who are relaxed and chatty tend to linger and browse and are more willing to ask for help and advice.

Next time I'm at Llangennith on The Gower near Swansea I'm bound to go back to PJ's Surf Shop, because Peter, the owner did such a good job.  His conversation skills helped make a good sale on the day, and he has set up the right conditions for a future repeat sale.  If I need anything, I know I can get good advice from him.  So thanks very much Peter.

If you want to sell more and leave your customers with a warm glow, master the art of conversation.

 Posted by Juliet Fay at 8:22 am  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Why confronting the brutal facts is essential before you try to increase sales

 Marketing  1 Response »
Mar 302010
 

Imagine if you had a bucket with holes in the bottom.  Every time you filled it, most of the water would leak out the bottom.  The faster you tried to fill it up, the faster the water would run out.

It would be silly to keep trying to fill the bucket without fixing the holes, right?

Yet many rural businesses, like farm retail (farm shops and farmers' market stalls), are fixed on 'getting more customers' without attending to what happens to their existing customers. Are your customers coming back for more?  Or are they disappearing without trace?

If you are trying to find new customers to plug the holes left by your existing customers heading for the door then you have a leaky bucket.  What can you do about it?

Confront the brutal facts.

Why do customers leave and never come back?

Customers can leave for a variety of reasons – all of these can be altered by you:

  • can't find what they need – store layout hard to navigate
  • staff are unfriendly – have they ever been trained?
  • staff are unhelpful – is this company policy or are they feeling undervalued?
  • staff are negative – have they learnt this from you?
  • just don't feel looked after or valued – what is your staff's attitude to the customers?
  • produce isn't fresh – could stock control be improved?
  • produce isn't well presented – do you need some fresh ideas for this?
  • displays are understocked – how can you improve ordering & deliveries to avoid this?
  • favourite items aren't available – if this is outside your control can you make a feature of hard to get items by creating waiting lists?
  • deliveries are missed or incomplete – where is the system breaking down?
  • shop isn't open when they expect it to be open – does every customer know your opening hours?

Are there holes in your farm retail business bucket?

Confronting the brutal facts

Jim Collins in 'Good to Great' – Why some companies make the leap and others don't, (2001 Collins Business). talks about the Stockdale Paradox.  That is summed up as,

 

Retain faith that you will prevail in the end regardless of the difficulties

at the same time

confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

 

Admiral Jim Stockdale was the highest ranking US military officer in a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam between 1965 and 1973.  He was absolutely determined not just to survive but to survive and prosper, rather than be crushed by the experience. 

In order to do that he had to face the brutal realities of the day to day torture that was all around him.  He focused on strategies for dealing with those brutal realities while never losing sight of his overall mission – to survive unbroken.

Jim Collins noted this attitude was a feature of chief executives in top performing companies he researched for this book.

Your desire to increase customers and build sales is a good thing as long as you confront the brutal facts if there is a hole in your sales right now.

 Posted by Juliet Fay at 1:53 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,
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