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Limitless Public Relations

Why public relations is like taking your brand to the gym

Posted on by Michael Gregory

When talking to businesses and individuals new to public relations (PR), Limitless Public Relations’ director Greg Wilson is proud to be full of explainer-analogies. A consistent one is that PR is like taking your brand to the gym.

Why? Well weirdly for someone selling PR, the starting point is that nobody needs to go to the gym.

If you think of your business as a human body, then you might think of having a sales function as being like water. Without a sales function, be that online, in person, over the phone, whatever, your business will die just as quick as your body would without water.

But sales on its own is not enough to keep you alive for long. For a long life, your sales function needs to be supported by marketing. If sales is like water, then marketing is like food for your business.

In the same way your body needs food to grow and develop, marketing feeds your business. Lead generation is provided by SEO, PPC, telemarketing, networking or whatever you use to generate interest. Sales conversion is provided through your website, or your salesperson and their literature, or a mixture of both, dependent on the nature of your business.

You are what you eat

Like food, marketing comes in varying degrees of quality – often linked to price. Cheap food, like cheap marketing, is rarely the best. And like cheap food, cheap marketing will keep you alive, but it won’t necessarily allow you to live your longest or best life.

Good quality food however will put you in good health. Likewise, good quality marketing will do the same for your business.

So there you have it. With food and water, you will live. What more do you need?

This is where the PR analogy comes in. While you need food and water to survive, you will not die if you don’t go to the gym. Similarly, your business will not die without PR in the same way it would without sales and marketing.

The honest truth is that good PR and brand awareness is not essential to achieving sales. There are many, many businesses out there whose brand awareness is zilch, and they still get sales.

So why do it? Well, it’s because brand building is an activity reserved only for those who want, not just to survive, but to excel. It’s for those who want to pull ahead of the pack, stand out from the crowd, and be a big name in their industry. It’s for those who want to invest in long term growth, with an aim of one day being the obvious choice, so that sales is no longer a struggle. To achieve a scenario where customers gravitate to you, because you have gravity. And not just customers, people too, because aspirational businesses will grow better when they have the best people working for them. It’s about understanding the payback you will receive by increasing your overall attractiveness.

Why you need a consistent PR approach

Making the step-up from sales and marketing and into PR is big business thinking. Lifestyle businesses need not apply. If you’re going to go for gold, once your sales and marketing is up and running, you’d better hit the gym.

A common mistake many businesses make when looking at PR is that they think in terms of rocket-ship based analogies like the “big launch” or military style “campaigns” – single battles that can be won in a day for glory that will last forever.

But PR isn’t like going to war. It’s like going to the gym. If you go to the gym once and do a massive session, hit every machine, lift every single weight, when you look in the mirror afterwards, guess what? No difference. Why did you even bother going? Waste of time, and now you’re just tired.

But if instead, you go to the gym consistently, three times a week, doing a basic set, perhaps gradually building overtime, guess what happens when you look in the mirror after a year? Better still combine your efforts with a healthy diet, how do you think you will look after 5 years?

Other reasons brand PR is like going to the gym include:

  1. People do it to thrive, not just survive
  2. Consistency is as important as intensity
  3. Results come from commitment, overtime – not overnight
  4. You’ll get better results if you take professional advice
  5. Ignoring professional advice can lead to injuries
  6. There’s never a bad time to start – except too late
  7. The positive results benefit your entire being
  8. A mixed programme works best
  9. The more you do it, the easier it becomes
  10. You never “complete” the gym – it’s a lifelong commitment and attitude

Big brands don’t become big brands overnight. They build overtime, and so it is with public relations. So, when do you want to start?

If you’d like to know how we can help, please email enquiries@limitlesspr.co.uk

Celebrating International Women’s Day

Posted on by Claire Stephenson

Claire Stephenson talks about International Women’s Day, where we acknowledge the challenges that women face on a global level for equality but also recognise achievements and gains that have been made.

Challenge

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day, where women from across the world are celebrated for their social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. It is an annual event which is marked on the 8th March for well over 100 years now. The focus of IWD is centred around highlighting women’s achievements, whilst continuing to raise our voices and awareness over the barriers that women face. Barriers include the greater equality for women and the speeding up of gender parity in the workplace and beyond. These are still areas of concern for many countries.

This year’s theme is Choose To Challenge. The focus is directed towards calling out gender bias and inequality whilst encouraging women to use their voices collectively to increase inclusivity and balance. There are global events occurring all month for International Women’s Day. The pandemic has seen and events transfer to online rather than in-person like in previous years. The upside to this however, is that a more global conversation can be had on these crucial issues. Grassroots work is essential to challenge for gender parity on a more global level.

Women have been stood at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic since its unwelcome arrival. From critical health care staff, to women with caring responsibilities at home during lockdown, to political leadership, women have shown strength and resilience. However, the crisis has highlighted the disproportionate inequalities that women already faced prior to the pandemic. The economic, emotional and social impacts of COVID-19 have only added to existing inequality.

Inequality

Analysis has been carried out recently by UN Women and UN Development Programme. They suggest that in 2021, around 435 million women and girls will be living on less than $1.90 a day. This will include 47 million who have been pushed into poverty as a result of COVID-19. 

The UN also raised concerns during the first wave of the pandemic, stating that COVID-19 risked increasing inequalities for women. The UN’s senior gender adviser, Nahla Valji, said:

“There is no single society where we’ve achieved equality between men and women, and so this pandemic is being layered on top of existing inequalities, and it’s exacerbating those inequalities.”

Nahla Valji

Limitless Public Relations

At Limitless, we currently have 61 people both at Associate and Director level. Out of this, there are 44 women and 17 men. All of our people at Limitless are senior, as every single one has a minimum of 10 years’ professional experience.

We’re proud of our 100% collaborative culture, which is based around an agreed framework. There’s no top-down management at Limitless and we all set our own commitments. We confidently lay our trust entirely on the exceptional personal talent of our majority-female team to ensure that we deliver our professional services to the very highest standards achievable.

On International Women’s Day, it’s a great time to reinforce our commitment to gender parity within Limitless. We’ll ensure that gender equality is a strong, positive and continuing feature within our network of people.

Photography? Who needs that?

Posted on by Michael Gregory

Best-selling author and acclaimed photographer, Brian Lloyd Duckett, gives his views on how photography plays an important part in forming opinions.

When we see a business – whether it’s appearing on a website, in a magazine or newspaper or on social media – we form an impression. A ‘picture’ develops in our minds about that business which, once formed, is difficult to change. It’s all about first impressions.

And ‘picture’, here, is the key word. The image, or set of images you’ll be looking at, has a huge impact on how the world perceives your organisation, whether you’re a small dental practice, a regional law firm or a global consumer brand. Yes, it’s all about image.

This is where photography comes in. The good news is that you’re in control: you can decide on what images the world sees; you can shape that image to the extent that you’re leading people down a very focused path in terms of what they think of you. You’re in complete control. Or you should be . . .

The bad news is that too few organisations use photography to its full potential. Take PR photography, for example. What do you think a picture of four blokes in grey suits standing in front of a giant cheque says about your business? How do pictures like this link to your brand values or your messaging?

Photography by Brian Lloyd Duckett.

Public Relations is an interesting case in point. Photography should be at the heart of any campaign – but sadly it’s often an afterthought; it’s the ‘giant cheque’ scenario – or a z-lister cutting a ribbon, all big smiles and gleaming teeth but no substance. Any photography used to support PR (or any marketing) activity needs thinking through. Find a photographer who’s not only a good photographer but one who understands branding and communications; one who will collaborate with you to develop and shape a brief. This work up-front always pays dividends later in terms of campaign reach and cut-through but too often it gets overlooked. ‘Let’s brief a photographer’ comes late in the conversation – when it should be near the beginning.

Then there’s the portraits of your directors or employees. Do they show thought, humanity and attention to detail? Are the pictures fully on-brand and on-message? We often see forced, cheesy portraits that tell us nothing – either about the person or about the organisation they represent. But it’s such a simple thing to get right! As one candid marketing director said to me recently about photography, “Getting it wrong is easy. Getting it right is even easier – but how many of us do that?”

I’m sorry if all this sounds harsh but every week I see opportunities missed and marketing spend wasted because photography has taken second stage. It needs to be right up there at the start of the conversation – not chucked in at the end as a ‘PS’.

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Brian Lloyd Duckett is a commercial photographer with offices in Liverpool and London. He provides organisations from entrepreneurial start-ups to global brands with distinctive imagery to support their marketing and PR activity.

www.duckettphotographer.com

Tel 07948 528656

Want to know how the media works?

Posted on by Michael Gregory

Here at Limitless we can provide you will all the knowledge you need when dealing with the media. Our media training experts have all worked in major news organisations such as Sky, BBC, ITV including national and regional newspapers, so they know exactly what the media wants, particularly in our digital age.

We offer media training programmes to fit your exact requirements or we can deliver specific modules that focus on a particular topic, such as:

  • An introduction to today’s media landscape
  • Knowing how to get your message across
  • Preparing for media interviews in the Zoom era
  • Dealing with the media in a crisis

They are hugely beneficial in giving your team an advanced understanding of the media landscape and knowing how journalists work and what they need.

The sessions give you the confidence and skills needed when dealing with the media but can also help you with public speaking engagements and delivering sales presentations.

We offer 1-2-1 sessions or group workshops that can be either delivered online or in person.

If you’d like to know more, please contact Michael Gregory

What is the PESO model? How to get your ducks in a row

Posted on by Claire Stephenson

PESO is a well-used model within the communications industry. The acronym stands for Paid Earned Shared Owned in terms of media. It relates to the channels used to communicate your campaign messages and how they can cross over with one another.

For us as public relations professionals, we often like to call it the ESOP model as we lean to the earned media channel because securing influential media coverage is our priority.

But what does it mean? Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks created the model in 2014, although others believe Ketchum’s Don Bartholomew developed it previously in 2010. Here’s the breakdown of what it means:

PAID: The channels you pay to place your campaign message on.

EARNED: Coverage secured about a cause, product or a business on an influential media site.

SHARED: Sharing of your campaign message by people through social channels.

OWNED: Editorial created by you to sit on channels controlled by you.

The diagram below, which is our version of Dietrich’s, shows channel examples so you can see how they interlink. The middle section is the area you should aim to be working towards: a positive reputation that helps you to succeed.

No individual channel is more important than the other in the PESO model. The amount to which you use them will ultimately depend on your overall communication objectives, who you want to target and, of course, your budget.

When planning your communication strategy, we always start with one single powerful question: what do you want to be known for? Once that’s clear, we work with you to determine your messaging strategy.

We then apply the PESO model, and depending on your objectives; we may use one or many elements of this model.

It sounds simple. But in all reality, the best campaigns often are.

If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you achieve your communication goals, drop us a line.

Creating powerful brand messages that matter: know your ABCs

Posted on by Michael Gregory

There are millions of ways to describe an approach to communications-thinking, but whether it’s a public health campaign or a drive to sell more of your products, your audiences need to understand your brand messages easily and quickly.

We have a simple but effective process to test brand or campaign messages in a three-stage filter:

Accuracy

It has to be accurate.  Just has to be. Your target audiences, whether in a B2C or B2B environment, want promises to match their expectations. And they have many ways to check what you say is accurate. And true.

Advice: Check, check and check again.

Brevity

Don’t overstay your welcome with a message. Make it brief. If you can’t make it succinct and reduce it to a few words, it’s likely that it’s too complex for your audience. You can expand later, but for getting attention, be brief.

Advice: Use the delete button wherever you can and don’t be too smart.

Clarity

Be clear. Use straightforward language, appropriate to the audience. If it’s red, say it’s red; not a delicious splash of vibrant crimson.

Advice: Test your message on a colleague. Is it clear first time?

Want to know how we can help develop your key messages? Feel free to drop us a line or sign up for regular informative tips and advice.

The wisdom of crowds and the power of ‘buzz’

Posted on by Michael Gregory

One thing that Greg Wilson learnt early in his career, even before he was in public relations, was that people follow the crowd…

As a graduate in the late 90s looking for my first marketing job, I naively came up with the idea that if I could get my mates’ band a record deal, it would look amazing on my CV. I dutifully got a whole load of CDs printed and developed a “promotional pack” to send out to record company A&Rs, inviting them to a “showcase gig” at a renowned A&R pub in Camden. I hammered the phones asking if my beautiful promo packs had been received, did they like the CD? Were they coming to the gig? Several said yes. But on the big day, to massive disappointment, all-round, not one record company showed.

When I called to ask why, I remember one particularly honest response. The promo pack was very nice, he said. He even really liked the CD, but he was only ever really interested in coming to see bands who already have some “buzz”. Put simply, “selling” a band to a record company doesn’t work. Not unless they’ve already heard that you’re one to watch.

When that happens, the direction of travel is reversed. Bands with “buzz” often ended up with record companies fighting to sign them up, to the utter dismay and disbelief of all the other bands who are pitching themselves so relentlessly.

This was an early lesson that the perceived “wisdom of crowds” trumps salesmanship and fantastic marketing every time, no matter how beautiful your sales pitch is.

But how exactly do you define “buzz”? Well following the music business example, it was hearing the band’s name from venue owners, promoters, sometimes rival artists – basically anybody who didn’t have a vested interest in the band’s success – before receiving the CD and gig date. It was about being seen to already have fans. A following, if you like.

After more than 20 years in the public relations profession, the same still goes. If your buyers can see evidence of your greatness, outside of what you are telling them directly, they will follow that crowd wisdom – and buy-in to all your empirical evidence that you are the right choice.

This is the lesson for sales and marketers who are unsure about the value of PR. Hone your marketing and your sales pitch all you like. But if you want to be a superstar, make sure you have the “buzz” to back it up. Be the one to watch before you try to sell, and selling will suddenly seem easy.

In fact, they may just come to you.

Limitless rebrands to support expansion plans

Posted on by Michael Gregory

Limitless has undergone rebrand of it’s visual identity to mark the start of a five-year growth plan for the agency.

The strategic public relations and brand communications agency is to expand nationally and internationally through organic growth, joint ventures and acquisitions. 

Michael Gregory, who joined Limitless alongside existing directors Greg Wilson and Richard Slater in November 2020, said: “The pandemic provided us with a chance to recalibrate the business, focus on what we do best and rebrand our identity. And that’s to help our clients be known for what they want to be known for.

“It’s a simple proposition and one that gets to the heart of the matter. It helps us to shape campaigns that achieve clients’ brand and communication objectives.

“The next five years are going to be exciting for us and all our partners. We’ve got realistic plans in place to grow the business domestically and internationally. We’re talking to like-minded partners in the UK and Europe, to collaborate or form structured partnerships that will benefit clients.

“Our growth will be fuelled by doing an excellent job for clients. That’s the sure-fire way of getting to where we want to be.”

Get in touch HERE to book an initial free of charge strategy session.

Are you making the most of LinkedIn?

Posted on by Michael Gregory

Launched in 2003, LinkedIn is the dominant social media for the business world. Now owned by Microsoft, as of December 2020, LinkedIn has 760 million registered members from over 150 countries.

In our digitally led-world, it’s the place to engage with likeminded professionals, build your network and establish commercial relationships.

Our social media strategists can help you use LinkedIn effectively with our bespoke training programmes. These workshops will help you make the most of this important business networking platform.

We also deliver LinkedIn training modules and cover the following:

  • LinkedIn Basics – how to get started
  • Creating a profile that works – making sure you stand out from the crowd
  • Using LinkedIn – mastering LinkedIn to build your networks
  • Company pages – how to set up a company profile and make it work for your organisation
  • LinkedIn content strategies – how to create a calendar of compelling content
  • LinkedIn advertising – how it works and measuring activity

If you’d like to know more, drop us a line at enquiries@limitlesspr.co.uk

Why a strong brand is crucial if you’re thinking of selling your business

Posted on by Michael Gregory

The joys about working in the public relations industry are that we often get involved with interesting projects and people. One of the projects we enjoy most is when a client is looking to sell their business.

It’s a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas. Once we know the client has reached an agreement to sell their business, we’ll undoubtedly lose them. However, we love these projects.

The work we do helps our clients increase the value of their business. A business with a strong brand, an excellent reputation and a high media profile will undoubtedly attract more buyers than a company that, while it is very good at what it does, has a low brand profile.  

Like most things, there is a flip side to this. There are very savvy investors looking for a great business with relatively low brand profile. They acquire it and then start building the brand to achieve a higher valuation when they come to sell. And nine times out of ten, they’ll succeed. The simplest way to put it, is polishing the business and making it shiny for sale.

Strong brands always have perceived value. Think of mega-brands such as Virgin, Nike, Rolls Royce or Tesla. These businesses are worth a lot of money not just because of their products but the brand and how it has been executed. However, many organisations are now realising it’s not just the preserve of those companies to have valuable brands. Smaller businesses are just as reliant on their brand, in fact, more so as they’ll want to attract new customers.

Investing in the brand from the outset is vital if you want to grow a sustainable and attractive business. If your business has a strong brand its more likely to help increase the price paid for a business.

We aren’t saying that having a decent brand is going to be the answer to generating an excellent company valuation; a strong brand comes into being if it has a brand purpose which feeds the culture of the business and is focussed on delivering a great product or service. It’s why major companies spend millions on developing their brands and building positive brand experiences.

When selling a business, there’ll always be several factors to take into consideration that will influence the value. Generally, a company is worth anywhere between one to potentially five times net profit. Fundamentally, it’s only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

There are various of schools of thoughts on how to value a business, but it can be argued that a recognisable and valued brand will help to drive a value up. Why? Because it shows investors that they’ll be taking over a business already primed for success.

So, if you’re a business owner that’s thinking about building your brand, drop us a line to see if we can help you achieve an increase in your company’s brand value.  

For informal chat, email Michael Gregory.