How to Shine Online

Editor's Notes

• #16: Necessary evil? Remove one of those words. Part of business for centuries. Part of marketing mix. Grapes grow on bushes but money doesn’t and whilst wine might make your head spin, it’s money that makes the world go around. Once you’ve made a good product, you have to let people know about it. That involves making some noise and invariably that involves finding a medium or two to distribute your message. The internet is making it possible to talk to your customers directly, but to build a brand you will need some independent opinion to support you – who do you target?
• #17: Whilst I write about wine and receive hundreds of emails a month from wino PRs, my day job is running a software company. In that role, I BUY PR and maybe that gives me a balanced perspective? Let’s see. Here are some of the traditional media titles we target. Let’s do a quick straw poll – how many people have heard of the BBC? How many have heard of the New York Times? Anyway, the common theme here is that we target these titles because they offer genuinely independent well researched opinion. So it is highly valued by the reader.
• #18: We also target “new” media. Let’s try that straw poll again – who has heard of Mashable? How many people can pronounce GigaOm? How many have ever read Horses for Sources. Horses for sources is a super-niche blog targetted at the business process outsourcing sector and yet has 110, 000 subscribers. We target these titles because they are well read. The message carries a long way and to a highly relevant audience. Perhaps without the total rigour of the Financial Times but nonetheless, highly influential.
• #19: I do have some view on ethics – you can read about them on my blog. But, I also think it is time to move on from the obsessive ethical introspective neurosis that seems to be flooding the blogsphere recently. All anyone can expect is honesty. Tell people why you write and who your intended audience is. What is your interest. How do you fund your activities? What are the commercial relationships you have with advertisers, suppliers and PRs. And be honest about what you write. Whatever your take, if a friend asked you privately, would you say the same as you wrote? You have a responsibility to be open and honest and in return this will attract the attention of the right type of PRs – but also the wrong ones. As both a buyer and a seller of PR, I should point out that there are good PR people and bad PR people.
• #20: Louise asked me to leave the audience with one thought and here it is. The word is integrity. For me, this applies to all aspects of business. You do have to look at yourself in the mirror every day and be comfortable that you have been fair to your suppliers, your readers, your customers, your partners and yes, even your PR contacts. If you feel guilty enough that you don’t feel able to discuss your activities openly, then you are acting without integrity. In which case, perhaps I ought to disclose that this image is not mine. I did a Google images search and stole it from a blog called Source Metrics. See, none if us are squeaky clean.
• #41: Long term shareholder value Meeting short-term sales and profit targets Investing in the future Building and maintaining a reputation Doing things sustainably (environmentally, financially, socially)
• #42: 3 definitions of PR – This represents the cynical view……!
• #43: A colourful illustration of the difference between advertising and PR
• #44: A more formal definition
• #45: Consumers Trade customers Employees Shareholders Suppliers The ‘influencers’ themselves are not the audience, but they can be very helpful in influencing the audience you are targeting
• #46: Journalists – TV / Radio / Print / online News / features / lifestyle / specialist Trade journalists Opinion-leaders (buyers, sommeliers) Bloggers Whether or not you target a particular ‘influencer’ depends on the audience you are trying to reach
• #47: 35-55 year-old – used to be very male-dominated – now much more even £7-£12 per bottle everyday spend Happy to buy by the case. Able to receive case deliveries Wine ‘enjoyers’, rather than wine ‘connoisseurs’
• #48: What they see in the supermarket Direct marketing communication Friend or family recommendation Word of mouth Medals Read about it in a newspaper? NOT REALLY Read about it in a blog - NO
• #49: If PR is to be worth doing, it needs to contribute, in synergy with advertising and other marketing, to moving customers towards the more profitable end of this scale Much of our PR effort has surrounded our other activities The journey of the Irene Sponsorship of the England cricket team The Affordable Art Fair Customer Events Classic FM Live
• #50: When you have the attention of an audience, you have to tell them a good story. We often go back to Tony’s story to remind ourselves of how we got here. There are LOTS of stories to tell at Laithwaite’s, whether it is about how we find our wines, or how we look after our customers. We specialise in telling the story of our own wines
• #51: How bloggers can help: Keep in touch. Let us know who is reading your blog Understand what we are up to, and how it is relevant to your readers Come along to one of our tastings Tell us (honestly) what you think.