If Leicester City Can Do It Then So Can You!

As a Southampton FC supporter I can’t help look at the phenomenal achievement of Leicester City this season, without despondently asking why it couldn’t have been my team. However, it has also given me and supporters of teams the hope and belief that actually it could be us. What is more, this optimism is infectious. 

Leicester has shown that with a combination of great team spirit, strong leadership, talent, hard-work, the right strategy and tactics, and a touch of luck, the seemingly impossible is possible.

The world of PR and media relations may be far removed from the glamorous world of premier league football (despite what some would have you believe), but many PR professionals, whether working in-house, or agency, should look at what Leicester City has done and ask themselves, what seemingly impossible goal can I try to reach. For many it will be hitting the front-page of a broadsheet newspaper, an interview on Newsnight, or a stint on the BBC Breakfast sofa. For others the aspiration may not be so bold but similarly challenging, whether it be to get a prized customer to agree to a case study, or winning a top industry award.

Often the greatest challenge is being brave enough to challenge yourself. Have the courage to build a compelling story and then pitch it to a forward-planning team, producer, editor or reporter. Yes, you will get knocked back, but Leicester didn’t win every game they played! However, every time they were beaten they learned from their mistakes, prepared and played again.

Often, PR professionals can become a little too battle weary, cynical and sceptical. Put us in a room together and we are often own worst enemies, discussing why certain things simply won’t work (why won’t the client understand!) before even giving them a go.

Leicester couldn’t win the Premier League but they did. Think about what you want to achieve and start working towards it. You will learn more, enjoy more and hopefully win more. 

Author: Graham Thatcher, Director at Chief PR Ltd

Raise your company profile by the power of one

Get into conversation with a PR or marketing professional about content and you may find yourself wishing you never asked.  

The mantra rolled out is along the lines of “content is king, you need to create and curate great stories that resonate with your market if you want to get noticed.” They are right (yes, I am a PR professional so you might expect me to say that!) but what if you simply don’t have the time or resources available to fill a library? Harness the power of one.

Most entrepreneurs/small business owner managers do not have time to sit down and write story after story, there are already too few hours in the day. But raising the profile of your fledgling company, whether to attract investment, a buyer, new talent, customer or business partners is an essential. The great news is that with the web and social channels there are a plethora of platforms that you take advantage of to do this. So, let’s focus on doing just one thing and leveraging it to its fullest potential.

The first step it to write a piece of content. Easier said than done you might say but it really is simple once you have done it the first time. Give yourself an hour limit (schedule it in your calendar) and think of a hot topic, or emerging issue in your market right now and just start writing your perspective on it. Aim for no more than 600 words. You will be surprised just how quickly you get there. There you have it a piece of content. The next step is to pass it over to a colleague for a quick sanity check!

Now, you need to capitalise on the time you have invested. The first step is put it somewhere people can see it and the obvious place is your website. What is more if you are using a tool such as WordPress to manage your site it will offer some guidance for your search engine optimisation.

Once your story exists in the digital world you need as many people as possible to read it. Log on to LinkedIn and share an update from you company and personal pages, being sure to include a link to the article. Next, log in to Twitter and post a tweet, again linking back to the article (a good tip is to highlight several key points from your article and create around half a dozen Tweets and keep linking back). For many, Facebook has fallen out of favour but if it works for your business then be sure to do the same here.

Next, send a message to everyone in the company asking them to share it across their own LinkedIn and Twitter profiles to expand the network of potential readers. All of this can be done in a matter of minutes. The final step takes a little more work, but just a little and the rewards can be huge.

Go online and look at the publications and blogs relating to your market (or those you are targeting). Grab their contact details (save them in a list for next time) and send them your article, along with a good quality portrait photo of yourself, inviting them to publish it on their website. If they do, then be sure to share the links.

Discipline yourself (or task another) to do this once a month and you will have the early foundations of a great content programme from which to build upon. For example, each quarter you can take your three pieces of content and use them to create an e-zine to share with customers and partners.

One hour, one piece of content, once a month!

This article was first published by Growth Business in April 2016.

Author: Graham Thatcher, Director at Chief PR Ltd