Making the case for PR

Press, or media, relations activity is a core element of many successful businesses’ communications strategies, particularly in knowledge-intensive sectors such as professional services. Yet many people can feel wary about PR and are unsure how best to tackle building relationships with their key publications and editors.

Primarily, PR is about being noticed, heard and understood, by the right people, at the right time, and in the right place.  PR is one of the most effective marketing tools in the communications mix, as it can harness the influential power of the media, whilst retaining its credibility with the public.

There is no guarantee that PR will create the coverage anticipated or hoped for, as we can only influence (rather than control!) what appears in the press. Instead, the skill lies in identifying angles for stories that are most likely to generate interest among the readers and consumers of your key publications. Developing good relations with your industry’s key and most influential press and editors helps to secure their commitment to covering your newsworthy stories and features.

For a friendly chat about how PR can help your business please call Hilary or Diane on 0115 822 6364 or drop us a line.

Sue Carr to be guest speaker at first Trent College networking event

V Formation's Sue Carr has been invited to be the guest speaker at the first Trent College Business Network event. Sue's speech will focus on marketing in the current climate and how to maximise the benefit from limited resources.

The Trent College Business Network is a business community, reaching out to parents of pupils at both Trent College and The Elms as well as the local business community. The network aims to create opportunities for networking with like-minded business people as well as the exchange of business contact information.

The first networking event will take place on Wednesday 25th January at 6pm - 8pm in the Obolensky Building.

To book a place at this or a future event please visit Trent College or email jo.slater@trentcollege.net.

Are you scared of being a twit?

So you’ve pretty much got the hang of Linkedin and quite a few of us are proficient facebookers, albeit away from the corporate world. So why do so many of us find Twitter to be a tad too scary? Is it the 140-character limit? The fear of posting something more twitty then witty? A quick brainstorm in the V Formation offices has thrown up this handful of unbeatable reasons for joining the Twitterati:

1)    Twitter is perfect for content-rich industries such as professional services.
2)    It’s based on trust. If people like what you write,  they will follow you. If they don’t, they will disappear.
3)    It lets you engage directly with current and potential buyers of your products and services.
4)    You can reach huge audiences – 50 ‘retweets’ can put your content in front of thousands.
5)    It’s cost - and time* - effective.
6)    If your clients and prospects are in the tech, media, fast growth and start-up spaces they WILL be on Twitter.
7)    It’s the best news feed! From XFactor through to the Euro Crisis, Twitter tells you what’s happening.
8)    Twitter can drive traffic to your blog and your website – and you can measure it through analytics.

*Keep focused and don’t let yourself be lured down alleyways of interesting (but perhaps irrelevant) content.

Read V Formation's Guide to Getting Going on Twitter or contact us.

Legal directories.. is it really that time of year again?!

With the deadline looming for the 2012 Chambers and Legal 500 directory entries, why should firms invest the time and effort in producing a compelling entry?

It is fair to say that legal directories alone will not win you new clients but a strong ranking can help secure client buyer decisions and act as an invaluable reference for lateral hires and new recruits. With ever-increasing competition within the legal services market, it is worth investing the time to ensure your firm is fairly ranked against its competitors.

V Formation has helped clients take the pain out of directory entries and secure improved rankings. For more information on how we can help your practice please contact Hilary or Sue.

Brady Solicitors crowned Property Management Law Firm of the Year

Longstanding V Formation client Brady Solicitors was crowned Law Firm of the Year in front of 450 guests at the 2011 Property Management Awards at Lords on Monday 5th December. Brady Solicitors held off strong competition in the hard-fought legal category, with the judges commending the firm for its '...outstanding growth, focus on customer service and excellent and effective systems.'

Managing Director Clare Brady commented: 'This is a fantastic recognition for the whole team at Brady Solicitors. We have grown three-fold over the past 18 months and have worked very hard to put in place the people, processes and systems that can make our clients' lives easier. We are committed to becoming the one number one firm for legal property management work and winning Solicitors of the Year feels like a tremendous boost.'

For help and advice with a winning approach to business awards, please contact Hilary.

Marketing on a shoe-string

Tight budgets and smaller teams can prove a real challenge to marketers tasked with delivering the same or better results as before. However a review of current marketing and business development activities against the objectives of the firm can help marketers to refocus their efforts to ensure the desired results are achieved or exceeded.

In this article Sue Carr explains how, with careful planning and tweaking of the marketing plan to use existing channels more effectively, marketers need not feel daunted by the pressure of reduced resources and can be ready to embrace new challenges. For support with getting creative on a limited budget please get in touch, we'd be pleased to chat things through over a coffee.

Is anybody listening? The value of open dialogue with clients.

As marketing and business development budgets continue to be 'sticky downwards' it can be tempting to cut expenditure on client listening programmes. We are often guilty of complacency when it comes to client loyalty and we perhaps forget that they too are facing their own commercial pressures and may be vulnerable to being poached by a hungry competitor.

Listening to your clients' needs and acting on this feedback can help you to protect your valuable relationships. An ideal client listening programme involves face-to-face meetings with a cross-section of clients to gain an independent assessment of the strength of the relationship and to understand areas in which the firm is excelling and areas where improvements can be made.

It's important to use an independent interviewer, whether from within the firm or an external provider. An independent reviewer will be less likely to 'edit' the responses before feeding back and, in V Formation's experience, clients will generally open up more to an independent interviewer. Done properly, client listening programmes deliver real in-depth, quantitative and qualitative knowledge that can be used to strengthen client relationships and guide future developments and innovations.

Investing in such a programme may seem to be an additional cost, but if it generates greater client loyalty and provides you with insights into how you can improve your service, then it will swiftly pay for itself. And at the end of the day, if you are not listening to your clients, someone else will be! Talk to Sue to find out how you can deliver a clear payback from client listening programmes.

Do you know how to stay safe online?

When V Formation was recently asked to deliver some Linkedin training as part of a major outplacement programme we decided that as well as the 'hearts and minds' part of the training we should also give delegates some advice on how to keep themselves (and their data) safe.

Anyone who's ever had their Twitter account hacked or their Linkedin details hijacked will be all too aware of the importance of protecting themselves online. V Formation's Sue Carr has put together this vital advice on how to protect yourself, your data and your reputation in the digital world.

For details of our Linkedin training or more information on how to stay safe online please do get in touch.

PS: And if you have teenagers with a Facebook addiction you might want to share this advice with them too!