THERE’S a worrying trend that’s been creeping into magazine publishing over the past few years, and it seems to be getting worse.

We tigers are sick to the back teeth of being asked to pay for advertising space in order for magazines to run news stories. It goes against every law in journalism, it’s wholly unfair to the business associated with the press release and it breaches some pretty important publishing guidelines. What’s more, as far as we’re concerned, it’s a sure fire way to stop us EVER wanting to place spend with said publication and we’d probably advise our clients to do the same.

The thing is, everyone at Turquoise Tiger is a trained journalist. We’ve worked our way from the lowly ranks of junior reporter, all the way up to editors and publishing directors; we know what makes a good story and we know how journalism’s supposed to work.

Here’s a simple checklist all editors worth their salt should follow:

1. Is there a real news angle?
2. Does it fit with our readership in terms of circulation and topic?
3. Is there space? Is it strong enough to push something else off the page if not? Is it too time sensitive to hold over until the next edition?

If all appropriate boxes are ticked, the piece will run. Never – NEVER – should advertising spend have any bearing on whether a genuine news or feature story should run.

How times change!

In my dim and not-too-distant past, I was involved with revamping a number of flagging business to business titles. In every case, I had to stand my ground with advertising sales staff who didn’t quite understand why we shouldn’t just bolster the coffers by running ad-heavy copy in the news section, as a way of encouraging companies to advertise. Every time, I explained why this was a short-term solution that, ultimately, would result in the death of the publication. Every time I explained why, said sales person completely understood and stopped trying to push the issue.

Here’s why promising ‘ed for ad’ doesn’t work long-term:

1. By and large, people like to read good quality content. That’s why they’re called NEWSpapers, not ADpapers.
2. If we scrap editorial integrity in favour of ad spend, the quality gradually begins to slide. Once this happens, we start to see ‘news’ stories with no real angle and feature pieces that are very obviously advertising puffs.
3. Over time, readers will notice the change in editorial content and feel fed up with being duped into reading advertisements in place of quality articles. Eventually, they’ll stop reading altogether.
4. When people stop reading, the very advertisers who pushed for product plugs in the news pages will stop giving said magazine their spend. What’s the point of advertising in a publication nobody reads?
5. The magazine is dead in the water.

Honestly, it’s not rocket science. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

I don’t know whether the current trend is down to desperation because of a tough economic climate, or if it’s down to too many sales people having overall control of editorial teams (yet another no-no in our book!), but whatever the reason, the fact is they’re heading towards a situation where NOBODY will see the ad you’ve paid for OR the editorial you’ve forked out to have placed.

Here are a few points to think about:

1. Next time one of these problem magazines approaches you for advertising copy, try turning the tables on them. Explain that you place your spend with magazines who support you with genuine editorial opportunities, and that you’ll be happy to consider advertising with them if you’re given due consideration when editorial opportunities arise.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask about readership. There’s a massive difference between circulation and readership and, although readership figures are notoriously difficult to ascertain, any magazine worth working with should be able to give some steer on reader demograph and, ideally, reading habits (ie, which sections are most popular, whether magazines are kept or thrown away, etc, etc).
3. Regardless of how impressive the circulation might seem (and do they have ABC figures to back up their claims?), put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Have you seen the magazine yourself? Do you bother to pick it up and read it? If not, why not? Is it because it’s stuffed with ad features posing as news stories? If so, you have your answer right away.
4. If they insist they’ll only run editorial if you advertise, or if they try to entice you to spend more by promising an extended editorial, you might want to mention they’re in breach of PPA (Periodical Publishers Association) guidelines. They state that any paid-for editorial MUST be clearly marked as an advertising feature and that readers must not be misled into believing that paid for copy forms part of the editorial section. You can read more about this here.

To be clear, not every business-to-business or local magazine is guilty – there are still plenty of really great editors out there who still pride themselves on editorial integrity, and there are plenty of fine salespeople out there who understand that stories should be placed on editorial merit, which is totally divorced from ad spend. By and large, these will be the publications respected within their fields, the ones people genuinely want to support, and the ones who clearly mark any paid-for editorial as ‘advertising feature’.

So there you have it; nobody’s business coffers are bottomless these days, so be careful when placing your ad spend and, now you know the rules, don’t get burnt!

ARE you wondering why people aren’t engaging with your business on Facebook? Have you set up a page, gathered plenty of ‘likes’, but still nobody’s using your wall? Maybe people are responding to your comments, but they’re still not leaving their own posts?

If this is the case, it may well be that you’ve missed a little setting in your page editing suite. It’s really easy to do and, to be honest (sorry Facebook!), the gang in charge haven’t made it that simple for page owners to spot.

So, if your Facebook wall is showing nothing but a string of your own page logo, with only a smattering of comments, it’s time to check your settings. Don’t worry, it’s really simple and the Turquoise Tigers are here to hold your paws.

If you’re on the original Facebook layout (pre- timeline change), here are the steps:

STEP 1: Sign into your Facebook page and click ‘Edit Page’ at the top right hand side. This will take you into your editing suite.

STEP 2: You should now be in the ‘Manage Permissions’ area. If not, just click that option, on the left of the screen, and you’ll end up in the right place. Now, your screen should look something like this:

Look at the area where it states ‘Wall Tab Shows’ and check what’s in the box. You only have two options here – ‘All posts’ or ‘Only Posts By Page’. If the latter option is selected, you can only post messages to your page if you’re one of the page admins, so you need to ensure ‘All posts’ is selected.

STEP 3: Click ‘Save Changes’ at the bottom of your screen.

If you’re on the new Facebook Timeline layout (compulsory post March 2012), here are the steps:

STEP 1: Sign into your Facebook page and click the ‘Manage’ dropdown at the top right hand side, then select ‘Edit Page’ (pictured). This will take you into your editing suite.

STEP 2: You should now be in the ‘Manage Permissions’ area. If not, just click that option, on the left of the screen, and you’ll end up in the right place. Now, your screen should look something like this:

Look at the area where it states ‘Posting Ability’ and check both boxes are ticked. You only have two options here – ‘Everyone can post to insert page name here timeline’ and ‘Everyone can add photos and videos to insert page name here timeline”. If these are not selected, you can only post messages to your page if you’re one of the page admins, so you need to ensure they’re ticked. If you’re really unsure about allowing people to post pics and vids to your page, you can choose to untick the second box but, with the ability always there to moderate your page activity and remove things you don’t like, it seems a bit silly to stunt people’s ability to engage with you.

You’ll also see options for post visibility and tagging visibility. Notice the option to only show your own posts immediately, with everything else needing to be moderated first. In our picture, you’ll see this option is unticked; in our view, it can be quite demoralising for a page fan to go to the trouble of posting on your page, only to have to wait for you to okay it first… it’s yet another barrier to engagement. Of course, never say never, and for pages who get a high level of spam or unsavoury material, the option to moderate first is always open.

STEP 3: Click ‘Save Changes’ at the bottom of your screen.

That’s it – simple! Now you can start REALLY engaging with your audience and encourage them to post their own comments, experiences, questions – anything you like – on your Facebook wall!

TIGER TIP: Despite everything we teach people about social media, some businesses are still afraid of allowing people to post on their Facebook walls. Our advice? If you want to stay ahead of the game and really engage with your audience, you need to go the whole hog.

Don’t forget, you can always hide or delete comments you don’t want to display publicly, but our advice would be to respond accordingly where possible, and leave the delete button for spam or offensive messages only. If someone complains (and if it’s a fair comment), respond professionally, publicly and openly, so others can see how brilliant your customer service is!

Let’s face it, in these days of viral messaging and open communication channels, if someone wants to complain about you online they’ll do it anyway – it’s better to be open and have opportunity to respond, rather than have your customer complain elsewhere in the social media arena, where you might not be aware of the situation, or able to tackle it.

Any questions? Leave us a comment or drop us a line, as always.

IT’S a small world – especially so when it comes to business. As much as small to medium enterprises try to carve their own niche, there will enevitably be a little bit of cross-over with others in a similar field.

This is especially evident in the world of business networking. Some groups insist on professional lock-out, others allow a free for all and encourage people from the same industry to find ways of working together. Having been involved with both types of group, the latter set is our favourite – we believe there’s room for everyone in business and there’s no need for hair pulling and eyeball scratching in the scramble to win business.

If we’re all adult enough to see past the proffered contract, we reckon winning business through networking is a bit like joining a dating agency. So what if there’s only one eligible date in the room? We won’t all find him, or her, attractive, and we certainly won’t all have the same outlook and interests, will we? Well, we reckon the same applies to business.

How so?

Just as you might want to date someone with similar outlooks and aims, it make sense to pursue business partnerships with people who complement your ethos and objectives.

Still not clear?

Okay, given that us Turquoise Tigers know PR inside and out, let’s use this as an example. We like to have fun with our campaigns; we like to build relationships with like-minded businesses and we like to push the boundaries and encourage our clients to think outside the box. We know what we’re doing, we have more than 45 years’ worth of combined journalistic and PR experience and we’re thorough. That said, we don’t tend to spend hours compiling pages and pages of ‘boring’ reports that will only ever gather dust in our clients’ filing cabinets. Sure, we’ll provide regular updates and we’re able to drill right down if our clients want us to but, overall, we’d rather plough more time into our campaigns and less time on gathering pages of statistics and jargon.

When you look at our client base, we’ve worked with a wide range of businesses who, by and large, have been attracted by our straight-talking, fun-loving approach. We’re as professional as the next PR agency, but we don’t tend to starch our collars.

We certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea… and that’s absolutely fine.

Let’s imagine, for a moment, that a stereotypical accountant comes to a networking event looking for a marketeer (apologies to all those funky number-crunchers with fresh outlooks – we know you exist and we applaud you!). For the purpose of this exercise, we’re talking grey pinstripes, polished brogues and a leather briefcase. This accountant wants to attract a very serious client base and is interested in statistics, figures and processes. They have a rigid outlook and believe business is straight-faced, head-down stuff.

Got the picture? Great!

Most networking events have at least one marketeer/PR/social media advisor, but should they all be setting their sights on this new blood? Seriously? We reckon that’s a bit daft!

In no way would Turquoise Tiger be an ideal match for someone looking for stiff, starchy PR. There’s nothing wrong with that approach – it’s just not us. Would they be a good fit for another PR agent in the room, though? Maybe. Would we point this business in the direction of a marketeer who might be a better working partner? Absolutely! Of course, we’d hope our learned friend would return the favour some day, but that’s not the be all and end all.

If we really are to adopt a ‘plenty for all’ attitude, and if we’re going to continue networking with colleagues and peers from similar industries, isn’t it time we all had a serious think about what we want to get from our business relationships?

Sometimes, just sometimes, it’s worth remembering that good relationships reap the best dividends and that, every so often, snatching that ill-fitting client just to stop a competitor getting there first might lead to a really unhappy marriage.

Please do leave us a comment; we’d love to hear your thoughts.

IF US Tigers had a pound for every time we’ve seen promotional opportunities missed because companies have failed to come up with decent photographs we’d be very ‘fat’ cats.

Photographs are one of the most commonly neglected areas of business marketing plans, yet a decent image library is a really simple thing to create that can reap dividends on the promotional front.

During our time as journalists we’ve seen some of the world’s most groan-worthy shots – from the infamous pointing picture and dull cheque presentations (even if it’s a big cheque, it’s still boring!), through to rows of suits shaking hands –there are far too many to count.
But, oh, for that rare moment of joy – a strong, good quality image that sells a story, really captures the essence of the message and has reader appeal.

As marketers, we speak to journalists all the time and guess what? They still get bombarded with boring, poor quality imagery. The digital age has certainly made it easier for us to take, produce and store images but lots of people still don’t properly understand the difference between a low resolution and high resolution image. The result? The publication can’t use your picture and, sometimes, that means the end of any article too. What a wasted PR opportunity!

Imagine this scenario: the regional paper is keen on running a story on your business – great news! However, they need at least two or three pics to go with the article – one of your MD, pictures of your warehouse/office etc… What do you do? Do you coolly agree that you’ll have a selection of high resolution images emailed to them in the next hour when you’ve gone through your image bank, or, do you break out into a cold sweat and wonder how you’re going to source a camera, round up key personnel, take pictures and get some ready in time for deadline?

Going back to basics

If you fall into the latter camp (as a lot of businesses do), here’s some homework for you.
Let’s start with the basics. Do you have a decent camera on site? It’s always a great idea to have a digital camera on hand as you never know when a good picture opportunity might present itself. It doesn’t have to be top end, whizzy and do everything bar make the tea – just a camera that can provide high resolution imagery (jpeg or tiff files at a minimum of 300 dpi* are often the standard requirement for printed publications, but check with them to make sure).

Tiger Tip: Always make sure you check the settings on your digital camera to ensure you’re taking high resolution imagery, not low resolution. The camera will often use the words ‘large’ or ‘super fine’ but check your user manual to be sure.

In an ideal world, with a big enough budget and enough time, it’s always great to work with a professional photographer to put together a company portfolio. Nothing beats collaborating with someone who will have the ideas, time and expertise to present your company in a professional way.

However, if budgets and time are a little tight, even putting together your own shots can be useful. Perhaps a staff member is an amateur photographer and would relish the chance to show off their skills (always a good idea to quality check first though!). If so, get them involved, make sure you give them a picture credit for their work and encourage them to do their thing.

Firstly, think about what pictures you’ll need to start off your new company portfolio. We’d suggest a good selection of shots of key personnel, ie directors, department managers etc – anyone who is likely to act as a spokesperson for the business and/or who may be quoted in any future press releases – plus some good team shots. If you have products, take some of these too (it’s advisable to get professional help with these, as it’s crucial to get lighting/setting correct to show them at their best). Work out who in your business needs to be photographed and get a date in the diary to hold a photo session, or sessions.

Ensure you get a good variety of exterior and interior office/warehouse shots – maybe some of your staff at work (if they’re happy having their picture taken, of course). Try and be creative with the pictures, don’t just take a picture of a group of people in a line or over pose the shot; be inventive, find unusual locations for your photo session, don’t be scared to experiment with relevant props or tilt the camera at an angle to produce a livelier framed photo.

Chill out, man

Above all, spend time ensuring those to be photographed are relaxed. Many, many people hate having their photograph taken and that can show in the finished product, so do something to make them feel at ease.  If time and deadlines allow, why not plan in a day or half day and put on a buffet lunch, play some music to create a good atmosphere and share some positive company news with them.

When you’re actually taking your shots it’s important to take a wide selection of portrait or landscape images (vertical or horizontal). Our experience working on news and picture desks tells us that if you supply both types of pictures you may well stand a better chance of getting your photo included with an article.

Finally, another really, really basic requirement is to ensure you have a high resolution, print ready logo. There’s nothing worse than discovering the logo supplied is only low resolution (fine for online work but NOT for printed promotional material). Believe it or not, this does happen all too often.
If you’ve had your logo professionally designed, make sure you receive both a low resolution and high resolution version for your image bank.

So, now you have the beginnings of your very own image library and it’s time to rock and roll. But what should you do with the pictures when they’re taken? How should you store them? How can you use them to promote your business?

Watch this space for part 2 of our Tigertastic photo guide… coming to a screen near you SOON!

*dpi stands for dots per inch – literally; it’s how many little dots are crowded together in an inch of space to create your picture. The more dots, the clearer the image. Online images only need to be 72dpi, whereas images for print usually need to be a minimum of 300dpi – it’s a good idea to aim for about 10cms across at 300dpi, so your pic can be used across at least two newspaper columns.

WE were disappointed to read this morning’s Telegraph article claiming Brits are fed up with brands cluttering up their social media space.

Being huge advocates of social media for business, we decided to dig a bit deeper and find out what was actually going on. So, we followed the links from the newspaper’s rant, sorry, article, to the people who came up with the statistics – TNS Digital life.

Surprise surprise, the survey actually looked at whether people wanted to BUY PRODUCTS on social media. Well, of course they don’t – that’s not what it’s there for. If we want to buy a product, or to find out more about a particular product, we go to the website, or look at a catalogue or even pop along to our local Argos branch, right?

So, we make no apologies for branding this survey – and the resulting Telegraph article – as being ever so slightly misguided.

What TNS Digital should have been probing is which brands are using social media properly and which ones are making a total hash of it… ie: which brands are using social media to ENGAGE with their key audiences and which ones are using Twitter, Facebook et al to bombard people with advertising messages and product shots.

Here’s the problem…

Too many brands are still completely missing the point with social media. It’s called SOCIAL media for a reason, people! Social media channels are not just another outlet for your product messages. Social media provides a very real opportunity for you to engage with your target audience; build trust, get back to basics and work out why they buy from you in the first place – what are their interests? Where do they hang out? What do they want to talk about? Social media provides a platform for you to become an expert in your field, to share information and engage in useful, live conversations with people who are interested in what you have to say.

If your business is in fashion retail,  for instance, don’t talk about your latest range of bangles… talk instead about the latest trends, who’s wearing what, tips for putting together the perfect outfit, style advice, offer to answer people’s fashion questions, etc, etc, etc. See? When you use social media to share useful information there’s a much better chance of your messages becoming viral; share information that people actually want and they’ll pass it onto their friends who, in turn, will forward it to their circle, and on it goes.

And don’t forget the power of social media when it comes to customer service. Show you’re on the button and keen to help and advise and people will come back to you time and time again, AND tell their friends to do the same.

Why should they follow you?

Try this out for yourself. First, are you following any brands? Why? What makes you keep in touch with them? Secondly, try searching a few of the big brands on Twitter… look at them as a consumer and ask yourself which ones you’d actually want to engage with.

Treat people as you’d want to be treated and you probably won’t go wrong.

PS: Want a bit more detail on why your business SHOULD be using social media? Check out this video.

US Tigers pride ourselves on authenticity. We like to be transparent and we like the businesses we work with to understand exactly what we’re doing for them.

That’s how it should be, right? See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil… just concentrate on the good stuff.

So, it seems astounding that we should come under fire from some quarters of the business world for revealing too much. Apparently, when we tell you how social media works, how to generate positive PR for your business or even how to write a blog, we’re letting out too many trade secrets.

Some businesses (who will remain nameless here) reckon we should be keeping our cat traps shut. Why? If we show our potential clients how to do something, they’ll go away and do it themselves, thus doing marketing agencies out of a job.

Now we know how Penn and Teller felt when they feared being kicked out of the Magic Circle!

Thing is, we wholeheartedly disagree, right to the bottoms of our stripey paws. Maybe it’s too simplistic, but we look at it this way… we know how basic accounting works, but do we do it ourselves? No! Why? Well, we might want to understand the mechanism and know what we’re paying for, but we’d rather spend our time doing what we do best and concentrating on our core business. We’d rather be working with our clients to improve their businesses than messing about with numbers; we leave that to our accountant.

Lightbulb moments

When we first started delivering workshops and seminars on social media, we couldn’t quite understand what all the fuss was about. Why were so many people getting those lightbulb moments and wanting to work with us when there were so many social media experts out there far longer in the tooth than us?

It soon became clear. Many of our delegates had been on social media workshops before, yet they still turned up to ours. Why? Almost every person we spoke to said previous courses had left them feeling blinded by science and even more confused. We don’t work like that… we like to explain exactly how it all works and demystify the process. It’s not rocket science, and we don’t believe those in the know should be turning it into one.

LimeStripes

For us, authenticity is key to any business… and that includes our own! That’s one of the reasons we started working with Something Beckons; they have similar values to us and we have complementary skill sets. We both had people asking us to unveil the secrets of online marketing, so we decided to run social media workshops together. LimeStripes – a blend of both our brands – was born.

When we work together as LimeStripes, we make sure everyone goes away with a clear action plan. If anyone’s stuck, we work with them until they understand. We give our delegates easy-to-understand work books to take away with them and they even get free access to our online LimeStripes academy – a members-only area where they can exchange ideas, ask questions and get help from others who’ve been on LimeStripes workshops. We’re making it as easy and hassle free as we can. No secrets. No rocket science. No mystery.

So, to those businesses who feel we’re giving away too much, maybe you should take a long, hard look at your own morals. Why did you get into this line of work in the first place if you didn’t want to help other businesses as much as possible? It may be news to you, but that’s what they pay you for!

SEARCH engine giant Google has been tweaking its algorithms again and this time, it’s claimed the changes will affect more than a third of all searches.

The modification – hailed as “a significant improvement to our ranking algorithm” by Google Fellow Amit Singhall  –  are designed for queries about recent events and hot topics, “recurring events” and “frequent updates”.

The “Freshness Algorithm” builds on Google’s “Caffeine” initiative (completed last year), which was designed to provide results that were around 50 per cent more up to date than Google’s previous index.  Let’s not forget last February’s “Panda” initiative, which was a slap in the face to content farms and gave Google’s YouTube higher visibility.

What does this all mean in real terms? Over to Amit: “Given the incredibly fast pace at which information moves in today’s world, the most recent information can be from the last week, day or even minute, and depending on the search terms, the algorithm needs to be able to figure out if a result from a week ago about a TV show is recent, or if a result from a week ago about breaking news is too old.

“We completed our Caffeine web indexing system last year, which allows us to crawl and index the web for fresh content quickly on an enormous scale. Building upon the momentum from Caffeine, today we’re making a significant improvement to our ranking algorithm that impacts roughly 35 percent of searches and better determines when to give you more up-to-date relevant results for these varying degrees of freshness.”

So what?

Why is this important? “If I search for [olympics], I probably want information about next summer’s upcoming Olympics, not the 1900 Summer Olympics (the only time my favorite sport, cricket, was played). Google Search uses a freshness algorithm, designed to give you the most up-to-date results, so even when I just type [olympics] without specifying 2012, I still find what I’m looking for”, explains Amit.

Now, just for a minute, look at that last paragraph and replace the sporting references with news about your business area. Does that change your perception somewhat? Can you see how engaging in regular online communication could have yet more positive impact on your Google ranking? Does this help you understand the power of a properly managed, regularly updated blog even more?

In Turquoise Tiger land, the announcement comes at just about the perfect time. Only days ago, we were providing business consultation to a fantastic company that wanted to make sure its social media efforts were on the button; one of their marketeers wanted to know why they should bother with all this consumer engagement, rather than just go for fast-return product offers. Of course, after a short explanation, he was more than happy to engage, and Google’s strides to tailor its search results more and more towards individual needs only serve to cement that message.

Future predictions

Social media and marketing methods are changing all the time; it’s a fast-paced world and nobody really knows what the future holds. That said, we like to keep our finger on the pulse at Turquoise Tiger, and we do have a few predictions of our own…

Although there’ll probably always be a place for traditional search engine optimisation, we reckon Social Search will have more and more impact over time. Let’s face it, when Google’s already put so much effort into honing its search results, right down to an individual’s online peers, it’s not likely to take any retrograde steps. So, although the jury’s still out on Google+ (and despite Google’s less than perfect tracking of Twitter), it seems likely that discussions on social media platforms will become increasingly important as far as web search results are concerned.

We all now understand there’s been a fundamental shift in the way people communicate; news finds US these days, rather than us having to search for it. Advances in technology have allowed people to report what’s going on around them in real-time, and live reports come from all kinds of people… as journalists and editors, Turquoise Tiger hates to admit it, but Joe Public is no longer reliant on reporters to bring them current affairs. What business people need to understand is that news doesn’t necessarily mean gossip from celebrity land… it can also mean news about your business, your product area, your customer base, your services, your events, etc, etc, etc. Geddit?

Let’s hand back over to Amit to explain what those three information brackets – recent events, recurring events and frequent updates – are all about:

• Recent events or hot topics. For recent events or hot topics that begin trending on the web, you want to find the latest information immediately. Now when you search for current events like [occupy oakland protest], or for the latest news about the [nba lockout], you’ll see more high-quality pages that might only be minutes old.

• Regularly recurring events. Some events take place on a regularly recurring basis, such as annual conferences like [ICALP] or an event like the [presidential election]. Without specifying with your keywords, it’s implied that you expect to see the most recent event, and not one from 50 years ago. There are also things that recur more frequently, so now when you’re searching for the latest [NFL scores], [dancing with the stars] results or [exxon earnings], you’ll see the latest information.

• Frequent updates. There are also searches for information that changes often, but isn’t really a hot topic or a recurring event. For example, if you’re researching the [best slr cameras], or you’re in the market for a new car and want [subaru impreza reviews], you probably want the most up to date information.

Okay, now you understand, right? Especially those frequent updates!  Social media is, first and foremost, a platform for engaging with your audience and building some real rapport with your customers and potential customers, but a positive impact on your Google ranking makes for some very tasty icing on the cake!

A WHILE back, using Facebook, we asked you which of these four subjects you’d like us to blog on:

• Generating Positive PR
• Effective use of QR Codes
• Public speaking
• Capitalising on Twitter search options

Well, (drum roll please) the results are in and we have two equal winners – PR and QR Codes Today we thought we’d get the ball rolling by talking about the latter topic.

What’s a QR code and how can it benefit my business?

QR, or Quick Response codes have actually been around for some time (Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave created them in 1994 to track vehicles during the manufacturing process) but it’s only in recent years where you will probably have seen them popping up all over the place – from on a box containing your favourite breakfast cereal through to adverts placed by brands in regional and national media.

In case you’re one of the few people who haven’t seen them, we’ve even included a special Turquoise Tiger one. See above. If you have a smartphone then simply download one of the free QR code applications, point it at the code and see what happens!

A QR code is, quite simply, a form of barcode – like the ones that drive you mad in supermarkets by going beep as your weekly shop goes through the till. QR codes are matrix barcodes, or two dimensional barcodes, which enable you to store lots of information in a small space.

NERDY HEALTH WARNING: Look away now if nerdy geek speak turns you off and skip to the next paragraph! The code consists of modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of any kind of data (e.g., binary, alphanumeric, or Kanji symbols) and can be downloaded at high speed. The amount of data stored depends on the way the QR code is laid out, but it can vary from between 4k and 7k worth of characters.

Welcome back non nerds!

So, that’s all well and good you may ask, but just how can something like this benefit my business? The answer’s simple. QR codes are an amazing asset to your online PR and marketing , adding another dimension to your promotional work and giving you a real chance to tap into the mobile market and show clients and customers who you are and what you can do. Not only do they allow you to connect with mobile phone users, they provide you with a cost effective way to keep your customers and potential customers up to date with any of your products and services. By scanning the QR code they are directed to a mobile web page where they can find out more about your products and services.

Something for nothing

A quick Google of free QR sites will provide you with a variety of sites where you can create your own code, even customising it to match your company colours. Some QR generators will even provide you with analytics so you can check how many times codes were scanned. Then you can reproduce it on all kinds of media – from company marketing literature and product packaging through to posters, banners, print advertisements and even t-shirts The choices are endless.

A really effective way to monitor the impact of using QR codes in your marketing can be to create a separate landing page to direct the QR code to. Here you can offer customers special offers, discounts on your products and services or a competition where they can win a great prize. It’s vital you reward your customer for making the effort to engage with you so don’t just leave them hanging, incentivise them and you’ll encourage their interest and eventually their loyalty. Not only that but you’ll be able to build a much fuller picture of the types of people and businesses interested in what you have to offer.

Whatever the size of your business, QR codes can pack a powerful punch for you. Just imagine sending out a delivery to a client or an invoice with a QR code on which offers them an exclusive special offer, for example. Perhaps it’s a new client and you want them to ‘meet the team’. Why not film a short video introducing yourselves that can then be included in a QR code and send out with all your traditional marketing literature. Statistics show that anything that includes ‘rich media’, ie video or audio as opposed to plain text will always attract more interest. It’s what us Tigers call the Harry Potter effect – you know the bit in the films where the paintings and newspaper images come alive.

Despite this technology having been around for some time it still has the novelty factor in its favour and you can really milk this for all it’s worth with some careful planning. You may hear some people talking about AR (Augmented Reality). This has a similar effect with links to moving images or more information embedded in an image or real world environment. For more information on this here’s a good link to check out http://www.HowStuffWorks.com/augmented-reality.htm . AR certainly takes things a step further, and there are some exciting developments afoot, but there’s still plenty of scope for making use of QR codes in your business marketing.

Turquoise Tiger’s top 10 tips on using QR codes for your business:

1. Include a QR code on your business card. This can then link to your website or a YouTube video of you talking about all your products and services. Keep it brief though. Remember, there are limitations to data storage and you don’t want to turn a potential new customer off before they’ve even started working with you. The great thing about this is that it’s easy to update this data and keep it fresh.
2. If you have a retail premises or a customer area of your offices then use them prominently on signage and displays so people can investigate. Why not record a brief vlog (video blog) and include some top tips on your area of expertise.
3. Do you attend events and exhibitions? How about wearing your QR codes with pride? Some promotional printwear companies have started printing QR codes on T-shirts… a great gimmick with the right link.
4. If you’re still sending out hard-copy mailers, think about the potential for including QR codes on your envelopes and letters. We’ve even included PR codes as a ‘PS’ in letters.
5. When it comes to QR codes, size IS important. Always do a test scan before sending out QR codes with your literature… too small and they may not work.
6. You don’t need to be monotone with your QR codes. Some of the free code generators allow you to use your corporate colour to create your graphic.
7. If you’re using an outside design agency or printer, be absolutely sure they won’t need to ‘squeeze’ your image to fit the print space. Your design department needs to be absolutely sure they’re submitting the correct dimensions, so your helpful printer doesn’t inadvertently render your QR code useless by distorting the dimensions.
8. Don’t be boring. Whatever web wonders your code leads to should be engaging. Your end-users need to feel it’s been worth their time to scan your QR.
9. Don’t overuse them. If you’re using QR codes every five minutes, your customers might lose interest. Less is more.
10. Be creative. If you’re desperate to get cracking, that’s great, but do make sure you’re coming up with real ideas to engage with your audience, rather than creating a weak message just to use a QR code.

Good luck – do let us know how you get on!

BLIMEY! What a lot of fuss and panic. Mass hysteria. Social media spammers running around like headless, errm, twickens…

Okay, so maybe there’s just a smidgeon of hyperbole in our intro but, really, Google’s suspension of its Realtime Search isn’t the end of the world. Since the announcement, on July 2, that Google’s agreement with Twitter had expired, we’ve heard all kinds of kneejerk reactions, largely from businesses trying to use Twitter to boost their search rankings.

Calm down. It’s okay. DON’T PANIC!

It’s no big secret that Google is busily beavering away on its own social media offerings… we’ve all heard the stories about its bid to create a Facebook rival and many of us have noticed Google+ being rolled out (click the link to find out more). With all this going on, is it any wonder that the internet giants have decided to allow their Twitter agreement to slide?

Realistically, how many of you actively used Google’s Realtime Search capabilities? Well then. Realtime allowed us to look for ‘live’ results, from people talking all over the web, when we tapped in our search term. These results didn’t come only from Twitter, although it was certainly the dominating force.

If you were one of the minority who actually did use Realtime Search, how useful were the results? Honestly? Despite being social media advocates, we Tigers never really experienced greatness from Realtime. Why? Well, if we’re searching for ‘outer Mongolian welly wanging’, we want real information on the activity, forthcoming events, how to get involved etc – not someone saying ‘I love outer Mongolian welly wanging’. What use is that?

I know. We’re being flippant. Lots of people were banking on Twitter to boost their search ranking on Google. And that’s where it all went a little bit wrong. You see, there are businesses who get Twitter and use it properly, and then there are Twits. The Twits, as far as we’re concerned, have been screwing it up for the rest of us.

Let us clarify: in business terms, Twitter exists to help us locate, meet and engage with our key audience. Regardless of Realtime Search, it is still one of the best, free business tools available. Used properly, Twitter allows businesses to share information, gather information, find new leads and build solid, long-lasting, authentic relationships with our customers and potential customers.

This, on the other hand, is how The Twits use the service: “Ooh, another opportunity to drive our sales messages to a wide audience. Wow! We can spam the globe! We don’t even need to be present – we can just set up hard-sell auto tweets! Fantastic! Spam, spam, spam, spam…”

So, while the rest of us devote our efforts to engaging with our audiences, The Twits set about spam bombing our Twitter streams with utter rubbish. And if we complain? Well, they’ll rarely respond, because they’re rarely present and rarely bother to check. Why should they? They’re too busy with their obnoxious, 80′s style, pushy sales methods and, anyway, they’ve downloaded a free spambot to tick the Twitter box.

Just before we end our Twits rant, could we ask the so-called social media expert who tells everyone to include a website link in EVERY tweet to stand up? Ladies and gentlemen, this takes Twit to a whole new level.

Turn off The Twits

All things considered, I don’t think we’ll really miss Realtime Search too much and, if it disincentivises The Twits, it could be a wise move.

What does it really mean for my business?

Honestly? Not a lot. Google’s crawlers will still be able to access all publicly available Twitter information, so we’re really only losing the archives. Will people still be able to search for your Twitter comments and mentions? Yes! Will you still be able to use Twitter to engage with your target audience? Yes! Will people talking about your services via Twitter still spread your message and help you with viral, word-of-mouth marketing? Absolutely, YES!

Long term, we don’t know what will happen. Google says it hasn’t ruled out further collaborations with Twitter and we can be certain that it won’t be doing a U-turn on its Social Search ideas. To quote Google: “Our vision is to have google.com/realtime include Google+ information along with other realtime data from a variety of sources”.

In the meantime, if you’re desperate for ancient, archived tweets, other search engines still have their Twitter agreements in place – Topsy, for instance, can search back to 2008 and, at the time of blogging, Bing Social Search and Yahoo also had deals with Twitter.

We do hope this has eased some of the panic. Twitter’s just as powerful to business users as it’s ever been. Just keep tweeting!

AT Turquoise Tiger, we like nothing more than a challenge. So, when we asked YOU what you’d like us to blog about, we had every intention of delivering.

Thing is, we’ve had a veritable smörgåsbord of requests. Wow – you guys are demanding, and we love it!

So, rather than trying to answer everything at once, we’ll start with the most popular suggestion: PR. In this blog, we hope to present a quick snapshot of public relations, perhaps provide you with a few tips and some simple do’s and don’t’s.

Are you ready? Then we’ll begin…

In the olden days, when everything was sepia and newspapers still used paste-up boards, there was little for the humble PR agent to do but send out press releases, build  relationships with journalists and, occasionally, wine and dine the editors in a hope to win favour for their clients. Did this produce results? Well, yes, but they weren’t always the right ones! Press releases were often successful (provided there was a real angle, and not just a few hundred words of finely-veiled sales messages). Getting to know the journalists was also a good idea – it sometimes led to them tipping you off or asking for a comment from your client if a relevant story was running. Wining and dining the editors? Well, yes, that produced results, too – fat editors and an even fatter PR expense account, which was often passed onto the client.

Us Turquoise Tigers are lucky enough to have been on both sides of the table – as well as being brilliant PR cats (what’s that about self praise?), we’ve been editors and journalists, so we know what the editorial teams really want in terms of news, features and story ideas and what NOT to do as well.

Things have changed a lot since those not-so-golden days. Today’s PR agents should know which aspects to hold onto and which to ditch, just as we need to be aware of the never-ending gamut of PR opportunities that exist outside of the traditional newsroom.

Used properly, press releases are excellent and not likely to go out of fashion any time soon. Strong relationships with key editors and journalists should be essential, as should be the ability to SUGGEST ideas and drive targeted news to them, rather than sitting back and waiting for them to ask for the odd comment. Wining, dining and fat expense accounts, however, can safely be locked away in 1985.

Newspapers and magazines aside, we now have websites, social media sites, forums, e-zines, networking groups and a gazillion-and-one other arenas in which to spread your PR message.

Here are our top ten PR tips, compiled just for YOU:

1. If you’re sending a press release, make sure you have a real story to shout about. If you’re sending nothing but plugs for your business, or trying to rehash old news, you’ll probably be passed direct to the advertising department. Either that or filed under ‘spam’ and consigned to the scrap pile.
2. Similar rules apply to social media. You should definitely be making use of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube et al, but don’t just churn out sales and marketing messages. Be chatty, inclusive, offer advice, connect with your target audience and ENGAGE with them. By all means, if something amazing is happening with your business, services or products, share the news, but don’t just talk about you and your products.
3. If you’ve sent out a press release DO NOT contact the recipients to ask if they’re planning to publish your news. Unless you want to make enemies. Fast. Editors and journalists just don’t have the time for this kind of contact and they’ll probably see you as a nuisance.
4. Take time to do your research. If you’re aiming at newspapers and magazines (online or print), get a feel for the kind of news they like to run, find out who the best contacts are to send your PR to, check when their deadlines are. How do they prefer to receive press releases? Email? Post? An online form? Is there a particular contact on the news/features desk you could get to know? When’s a good time to engage with him / her?
5. Don’t write War and Peace. If you’re sending a press release, keep to the point. Provide key details, a relevant quote and, if appropriate, a picture. Always provide contact details, so journalists can choose to get in touch if they want to expand on your story. Remember, if you’re sending an image to appear in print, it needs to be a much higher resolution than you’ll need for a website.
6. Don’t be too precious. Once you’ve written your press release and sent it off, you can’t expect to control the content that appears. Sometimes, if you’re lucky (although it’s really lazy journalism), your press release might be printed in full. Remember, though, journalists are trained to write their own news stories from information provided – they’re really not supposed to just cut and paste your press release in its entirety. Unless you’ve paid for the space, you have no say in what’s written OR the chosen headlines. So long as the information is accurate and not taken out of context, you should be happy to see your news appear in print.
7. Keep abreast of current affairs and look out for opportunities to comment. If something relevant is being talked about, it’s a great chance for you to share your point of view. Don’t be afraid to chip into conversations happening online and, if you’re quick off the mark, there’s nothing to stop you sending out a press release, offering your comments on the situation.
8. Generate your own PR. Don’t just rely on publications and websites to spread your message; why not produce your own newsletter and send it to your target audience? Remembering the golden rule of no hard-sell, why not offer tips, advice, commentary, even competitions? Position yourself as an expert in your field and share some of your extensive knowhow with your customers and potential customers. There are plenty of free online tools to help you produce your own newsletter (Mailchimp’s one of our favourites), and plenty that offer list management, so that new people can sign up to receive your updates.
9. Whenever you send out a newsletter / write a press release / blog remember to make use of all those social media channels. Send out alerts and updates to help your message go viral. If you’re producing a blog or newsletter, consider adding a ‘share’ button to help your viewers spread your news as well.
10. Finally, just keep going. Don’t be put off if you don’t get the results you desire straight away. A big part of PR is relationship and awareness building and you need to maintain that momentum. A one off campaign can work wonders, but a properly planned, sustained PR strategy can produce longer, stronger results.

We hope our tips have been helpful – obviously, there’s much more to a properly-conducted PR campaign and, if you choose to employ a professional agency, they should be able to work with you to come up with, or generate, regular publicity opportunities you may never have thought of. That’s their job, after all.

Good luck – do let us know how you get on!