Rachel was the Sunday Times Enterprise editor so she obviously knows how she wants to be approached and what will encourage her to write about your business.

Rachel’s advice was this:

• Remember that national journalists get loads of emails a day – so yours has to stand out

• Pick one journalist for a publication where you’d like your story to be featured

• Think of the exciting story in your business, the quirky angle (eg ‘I work out of a cow shed’ ‘I used to be an accountant and now I’m an acrobat’)

• Send them an email with a pithy subject line summing up your story, and one gripping sentence within

• Don’t send them a press release – they don’t have time to read it, and they’ll want to write the story themselves.

This is spot on for the nationals who have the resources to devote to researching and writing a story and for whom, an exclusive is paramount.

Local newspapers, on the other hand, have increasingly diminishing resources. In Wiltshire, for instance, until recently The Gazette and Herald, The Wiltshire Times and the Swindon Advertiser were separate papers with their own editors. Nowadays all three papers share an editor with a vastly reduced editorial team.

The knock on effect is that the remaining pressured journalists are often very pleased to receive well written, relevant pieces with a decent photo they can slot into a free space.

See the kind of stuff we’ve got into the press here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/secretagentmarketing/sets/72157622451666003/

And if you haven’t received your free guide, How to Write a Press Release, written by Agent Pete (former regional newspaper editor, and founder/editor of Wiltshire business news site www.chambernews.biz and hyperlocal news site www.marlboroughnewsonline.co.uk ) sign up to our e-list at

www.secretagentmarketing.com/signup

Or email me if you’re already on the list: agentlouisa@secretagentmarketing.com

Now, if working out the story in your business, or coming up with pithy one liners or writing in general isn’t your thing, then you probably need someone to do it for you, like us…

So what’s the big problem with good ideas? Why are they the bane of entrepreneurialism?

Because, Gavin explained, they – or the lack of them – is the excuse people use not to start their own business. Or because they are worried their big idea will fail.

And here is why he thinks you don’t need a ‘good idea’:

• You can nick someone else’s idea

• Your business can solve someone’s problem

• Almost any idea can create a business

“In the gold rush,” said Gavin, “the successful business was the one that sold the shovels.”

So what makes a business? According to Gavin it’s all in the execution and timing. You don’t have to be the first (it’s better to let the pioneer make the expensive mistakes and develop the market) but don’t be late to the party. Do it better than everyone else – give great customer service and understand what (enough) customers want. And whatever you do, don’t price yourself too low, a successful business is rarely the cheapest.

“Look at the macro social climate,” he advised, “Remember SoLoMo – social, local and mobile.” For instance: home baking, local food and remote working. Check out these sites: www.trendwatching.com and www.springwise.com

Rachel Bridge, former Sunday Times enterprise editor and author of How to Make a Million Before Lunch, advised budding entrepreneurs to start small and flexible: “You don’t need a massive business loan,” she said. Start a business around your day job until you are making enough money to quit – get a smart phone to keep on top of emails and calls during working hours.

There’s plenty of free stuff out there to promote yourself – free websites at www.moonfruit.com and here at WordPress, of course, social networks Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can easily outsource parts of your business you can’t do yourself whether through lack of expertise or resources, such as pay-as-you-go fulfilment company www.mywarehouse.me

Which also highlights that helping businesses to successfully Do-It-Themselves is, well, big business.

And the most important point for my money? Factor your own income costs into your business – or you don’t have a business, you have a hobby.

I’m hired to write positive news stories about businesses like yours, and when those articles appear in the press my clients look at me with a combination of admiration and stunned disbelief.

To me, of course, it’s easy: ask questions, write answers in notebook, craft answers into sparkling editorial copy, send to newspapers, bask in glory on my blog, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Ask me to put up a shelf, though… actually, don’t. I didn’t say I was an expert in everything.

Now I’d like to share my expertise with you:

You can promote your own expertise to raise your profile, build your credibility and, ultimately, win you new business.

Marketing commentators – usually Americans – talk enthusiastically (and loudly) about being part of the Expert Economy.

Demonstrate your expertise, they say, and customers will come knocking at your door, hoping to benefit from your skills and knowledge.

If you’re reading this blog, it’s more than likely that you run your own business or hold a senior position within a company or organisation.

That means you’re an expert too. Now stop being so modest and capitalise on it!

As well as using traditional methods like PR, you could start a blog like this one* or make a video and post it on YouTube.

Pick a topic within your field of expertise and start writing or talking about it. Chances are, when someone Googles “How to…” they’ll come across your blog or video.

Better still, take the ‘Google Gamble’ out of the equation. Promote your blog or your video by “harnessing the power of social media,” as those loud American marketing commentators love to say.

Use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, as well as direct communication like newsletters or emails, to tell people about the blog you’ve just written or the video you’ve just made.

If you’re a better chatter than writer, face-to-face networking is another way of demonstrating your expertise, and once you’ve mastered the art of the elevator pitch you can move on to guest speaking, if you have the nerve to stand up in front of a room full of people (there are experts who can help you with that, too).

Keep demonstrating your expertise, in all the ways available to you, and I guarantee that next time someone needs the kind of service you offer, they’ll come to you. And next time a friend or colleague of theirs needs expertise of the kind you offer, you’ll get a referral.

In future communications, I’ll be looking in more depth at individual ways in which you can demonstrate your expertise.

In the meantime, if you’d like me to work with you to develop your marketing skills, or you just need someone to crack on with your PR or marketing for you, call me on 01672 811515 or email me at agentpete@secretagentmarketing.com

And if you want to read some of the stories I’ve written about other professionals, head over to http://secretagentmarketing.wordpress.com

* I use WordPress, an open-source blogging platform that has grown into a fully fledged content management system and has spawned a cottage industry of themes and third party apps that perform a multitude of tasks.

Alternatives include Blogger, which is owned by Google and has been integrated with Google Accounts, or Tumblr, one of the fastest-growing blogging platforms in 2011.

Good news: they’re all free!

However we are all about supporting young people and social cohesion – we also work in two cooperatives after all, one of which, www.welovemarlborough.co.uk, often works with young people on arts and culture projects.

So we were excited to get involved in a Birmingham-based project positively affecting the post-riot lives of young people in Birmingham.

We’ve been working with a co-operative called The Future Melting Pot which is leading a couple of very innovative and extremely worthwhile projects.

In the first, a Prince’s Trust funded project called Outreach, their volunteers interviewing hard-to-reach teenagers and young adults about their perceptions of the riots.

They’re hoping to find out what led young people to take to the streets, vandalise their communities and commit acts of theft, arson and assault.

More importantly, they’ll be asking the young people what they think can be done to prevent more social disorder in the future.

The second project is a Citizen’s Inquiry, funded by West Midlands Police and hosted by Birmingham City Council.

What makes this Inquiry different is that the young people will be questioning the adults – some of the most influential officials and community leaders in Birmingham, including West Midlands chief constable Chris Sims, Dawn Roberts of the Justice Department and Paul Tilsley, deputy leader of Birmingham City Council.

The ethos of The Future Melting Pot is helping young people to help themselves. With this in mind, rather than taking a lead on the press campaign, by the power of Sykpe we’ve been mentoring and training 15 year old Alex Brown.

With our help he has created a press release for the local and national media. Over the next few days and weeks he’ll be interviewed, photographed and filmed about the initiative, in which he’s heavily involved – in fact, it was Alex who made the funding application to the Princes Trust.

We’re excited to see how it turns out, and, in our own small way, help a community heal.

See the press release here.

Updated: See the coverage in the Birmingham Mail on Friday, February 10 here. Alex was also interviewed by BBC West Midlands on Saturday, February 11.

www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2012/02/10/citizen-inquiry-into-cause-of-birmingham-riots-97319-30301354/

How To Write a Press Release

Secret Agent Marketing is delighted to announce its first publication – How to Write a Press Release for local and regional press.

The step-by-step guide has been written by Peter Davison – or Agent Pete as he’s known in these parts – who has seen the PR industry from both sides.

He was a journalist and newspaper editor for 13 years before moving into press and public relations in 2006.

Recently he has moved back into journalism while maintaining his role as public relations consultant to businesses and organisations around the UK.

How to Write a Press Release is aimed at beginners – self employed, small businesses and those within larger organisations whose role includes press communications.

To get your free copy sign up to the Secret Agent Marketing mailing list at www.secretagentmarketing.com/signup

Read more at http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/how-do-i-set-default-merge-values-like-dear-customer

He is the founder of Gu chocolate puddings; rather expensive but utterly delicious, found in Waitrose, etc. The business value increased from £0 to £30 million in seven years.

After getting fed up trying to launch Utterly Butterly in Belgium (they weren’t interested in margarine and thought the name was fraudulent) James had an idea for his own business, inspired by his addiction to chocolate and the Belgium attitude to ‘dieting’ – same gorgeous food, just tiny portions.

And the way he tested his product? He walked into Waitrose and snuck an empty Gu box with the other desserts. A shopper picked up the box, put it into her basket, and the rest is history.

I was there mainly because I’m interested in the psyche of a successful entrepreneur. James values were: joy in your product, passion in giving the customer something fantastic that they will love, caring about your customer and your staff/workforce, resilience / roll with the inevitable punches and being really innovative with your marketing.

He spent £15-£20,000 on a PR campaign and got back about £1 million worth of publicity, compared to TV advertising which did nothing for him. He also sold his desserts to Virgin Airlines because their brands had the same exclusive but quirky values. That was a really great bit of exposure for Gu because as well as being put in front of a lot of captive consumers, the only foods unaffected by the tastebud dulling effect of aeroplane air conditioning and altitude are whisky and chocolate.

James sold his £30 million business two years ago because his business partner needed to sell his share (to support his 15 children!) and is he enjoying his life of luxury? “I really miss it,” he said.

The stand-outs for me today were:

Gibbons Gardening who gave me a packet of meadow seeds and had a conversation about how wrong it is to weedkiller nettles. And anyone who has a monkey for a logo can do no wrong…

e-motion electric vehicle company who sell electric bikes. This may be the way forward for someone like me who lives in the middle of the countryside.

Red Penguin consulting for having a randomly coloured animal as a name.

CS Handwriting Analysis – though I was too frightened to show Christina mine…

Young at Heart – who will do an artery age check to see if you are furry on the inside

Inner Flame – who do team and confidence building through fun activities for 14-19 year olds

Solomon Training – who help unemployed people with their basic (and beyond) maths English and IT skills.

Severnprint for their total commitment to quality and eco-friendly printing (and because they gave me lots of free notepads).

And also: Frank Stobrawe from PAT Testing Services who gave me (dare I admit it) some handy tips on marketing via Amazon and QR codes!