Welcome to the blog of Wendy McWilliams , Managing Director of WMC Public Relations, which is located in Melbourne, Australia.

Through this site, I will provide insights into how businesses can utilise the PR tools employed by professionals to help their business grow. Using public relations can help to develop customer relationships, shape market perceptions and build valued brands. 

Please click the link below to visit WMC PR's new website:

www.wmcpr.com.au

PR blog : latest entry

Monday, 26 March 2012

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

With Easter just around the corner, this month I'm looking at Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): what does it mean and what CSR initiatives can you implement in your business? I review (and applaud) two businesses that have firm CSR policies and practices in place.

From Wikipedia, the definition of CSR is... a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards and international norms.

The goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders.

If CSR is not already entrenched in your organisation, it should be. All areas of your business should comply, including:
* workplace safety and employee training,
* product development and materials sourcing,
* packaging,
* product performance,
* pollution control and waste management,
* the complaints process,
* advertising and marketing,
* community service obligations,
* corporate philanthropy

At WMC Public Relations we applaud companies that take CSR seriously and are pleased to provide two examples of local companies, and their employees, who really do contribute to society through CSR.

Tasty Trucks: Colin Lear established Tasty Trucks in 1989 and since then they have been providing morning tea and lunch to factory and office workers, arriving on time each day and providing a fast and friendly service. The business is expanding rapidly, but earlier this year, more than 15,000 people a day are served from their mobile vans.

For the past 15 years, Tasty Trucks has been donating vast quantities of sandwiches, rolls, pies, salad packs, cakes and other freshly prepared meals to St Vincent de Paul Society's soup vans, which go out every night to feed Melbourne's homeless.

The community also benefits from Tasty Trucks in another important way with employees volunteering as part of a monthly roster system to help out in the soup vans.

To me, this is ground roots CSR. But Colin has taken CSR further. A feature of the vans is to utilise the energy from the engine to heat water that keeps the ovens hot. The fan forced ovens also have a gas assisted burner. The vans and the refrigeration system run on propane gas, which is one of the cleanest fuels available. This makes for a very energy efficient and environmentally clean vehicle.

Using the knowledge Colin and his team gained in developing their vans, Tasty Trucks has also been instrumental in helping St Vincent's design and build their soup vans which fully comply with the requirements of food handling laws.

That is a perfect example of CSR. To read about Cummins' CSR program, visit http://www.wmcpr.com.au/category/ourblogs/

What are you doing to further your organisation's CSR policies? Comments welcome.

Thursday, 1 March 2012

The Importance of Web Content

How often do you visit a website and find out of date material? Frequently, in my experience. When you do, it makes you less likely to rely on that site for the information you are looking for, or to pick up the phone and call them.

Having a website requires an ongoing responsibility to maintain it. For most companies it is their most powerful marketing tool, so it seems logical that it should be the best it can be.

Let's assume it is easy to navigate and you keep track of the number of visitors to each page, how long they stay, where they go after landing on the site, etc.

Providing browsers (customers!) with the information they are seeking is pretty simple and you'll find it all within your organisation. It is just a question of having someone who can pull it all together and present it professionally. This is a role easily handled by the company's PR Officer or external PR consultant.

Firstly, provide facts: on your products and services. Any upgrades or variations should be communicated as they are released.

Where possible include photos, particularly in-situ photos that show off the product in its ideal environment - be that industrial, commercial or residential.

Provide a blog. This could include entries from more than one person in the company and invite comments.

Include white papers and other technical data sheets that add value to your offering.

Testimonials and case studies are also good to include as they give a third party endorsement of your products/services.

Provide a photo and short bio of the managers.

Have a news section where you can place the latest media releases and photos that can be downloaded by the media as required. You should also include published articles on this page.

FAQs are still ranked highly in terms of page visits, so consider adding a Q&A page of the most frequently asked questions.

Product pricing is important even if you don't have an online shopping basket. Include the RRP if you can and include a link to the seller's website.

Videos are the latest must-have, not just for Google rankings, but because visitors to sites want to see how a product operates, what new information they can learn, what the plant/factory looks like, etc.

If appropriate, provide a page of links: include distributors, dealers, retailers, industry associations, affiliates, etc. This type of page needs to be checked regularly as links can be broken for many reasons.

For the contacts page, make sure there is at least one email address for enquiries. Needless to say this should be checked at least twice a day and the enquiry methodically processed. An automatic response email is a good idea saying the enquiry has been received and a response will be forthcoming within a certain time period.

Tip 1: consider international users when presenting information, especially currently and dates. Write out the month so there is no confusion: 8/7 means August 7 in the US but 8 July to Australians and Europeans.

Tip 2: make it easy to print anything at your site including press releases, blogs, bios and product information.

If you need any help in creating effective web content, please contact http://www.wmcpr.com.au

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Producing a newsletter

Before you think about producing a newsletter (for external audiences), you need to determine what its purpose is and whether the effort will justify the reward.

Believe me, there is considerable effort in publishing a professional newsletter that is interesting, attractive, error-free, is actually read, and works on all levels.

While e-newsletters are more typical these days, there is still a place for hard copy newsletters.

As part of the planning process, some important questions that you need answers to are:

1. Do you have a database of customers, prospects and other stakeholders or can you create one?
2. Could you buy an opt-in mailing list to add to this list?
3. Do you have someone to manage its production?
4. Can you source enough new information - and photos - for every issue?
5. How often do you want it come out?
6. Have you got a budget for it?
7. Is the web infrastructure in place to allow for feedback?
8. What statistics are required to check its success and is management supporting it?

If all these answers were positive and the reward for a successful newsletter will be beneficial, then you are probably ready to make further investigations.

Other aspects to be part of the planning process include:

* A name of the newsletter.
* A template that complements corporate graphics.
* Someone to research and write articles and edit others.
* Is this person good at catchy subject lines and keyword placement for SEO.
* Sourcing a photo, graph or illustration to go with each story.
* Appointing someone responsible for its production and meeting deadlines.
* Who will do the graphic design/web uploads/hosting?
* What web analytics software will you use?
* Who will be responsible for list hygiene?

I realise there are a lot of questions to be answered, but producing a monthly newsletter is not easy unless you have a reasonable budget and staff with time on their hands. If this isn't the case you could consider a bi-monthly or quarterly newsletter, which still requires staff time and a financial commitment.

Having hard copy newsletters are great for handing out to customers and prospects, suppliers, new staff, attendees at workshops or seminars, the media and any other stakeholders.

There is a lot more that has to be covered before a newsletter can get off the ground, but these are the basics that need to be addressed first.

Extra Tip.
Wondering what stories could be included in the newsletter? Here are some ideas:
* new products
* product enhancements/upgrades
* interesting end user applications
* special offers
* exhibitions & trade show participation
* new orders/contracts
* profiles of relevant people/companies
* videos
* export successes
* new applications
* tips
* survey results

Newsletters and e-newsletters are bread and butter for WMC Public Relations. Check out our services at http://www.wmcpr.com.au

Saturday, 3 August 2011

Employee Communication

Within an organisation there are usually three management categories responsible for employee communication: HR, PR and the supervision or management of the person in his or her specific role. In fact, all managers should be effective communicators.

HR plays an important role in maximising the return on investment in employees. This involves recruitment, training and development, industrial relations, workforce management, record keeping and change management, amongst other functions.

Public relations also has a distinct role in employee communication while there is also some coming together of HR and PR functions on specific issues, such as industrial relations.

One of the key reasons for using PR in employee communication is to foster good management/employee relations. Knowing that one-way communication is of little or no value at all (ie management to employees) it is important to have mechanisms in place that allows the free and flowing transfer of information between all parties, particularly from the bottom up.

If you think that setting aside an hour each week where senior management and employees sit around a table eating company-bought sandwiches and talking about work issues, think again. This probably won't cut the mustard these days. Staff aren't going to raise an issue with the thought of being singled out as a troublemaker.

As employees are the people who usually have good ideas about how things can be run better, perhaps it is better to have off-site facilitated workshops on a team-by-team basis, without senior managers present. This is more likely to highlight problems in the workplace and provide suggestions on how they can be resolved.

In our arsenal of tools, PR practitioners can be instrumental in conducting attitude surveys, producing newsletters (electronic and hard copies), maintaining intranets/private websites, running employee competitions, producing videos (by the CEO giving a company update, for example), implementing staff recognition and reward programs, and using the web and social media to establish and maintain a sharing of information and two-way dialogue.

Also, if your organisation hasn't done a communication audit, plan for one to be done - both formal and informal. Management need to know what is working well, what isn't and what could work better.

Employee communication is just one of the many roles undertaken by the PR professional. Check the website at
http://www.wmcpr.com.au/services for the other functions we can provide..

Thursday, 21 July 2011

Surveys and research

Surveys and other formal research can be instrumental in many types of PR campaigns. For example, WMC PR has conducted surveys for numerous clients in Melbourne who needed quantitative and qualitative information to help them plan future marketing strategies. Even the humble suggestion box is a great way to get feedback.

Whether you want information from existing customers, potential customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, community groups or other stakeholders, surveys are an excellent tool to gauge statistics and opinions.

The information gained can not only be used to help your own organisation plan for the future, but also used to create media announcements to help promote your business.

Would you like to know the answers to these questions?

Q: Do your customers know exactly what your organisation does?

Note: You may be surprised to know that some customers know you for one thing only and have no idea that you offer other products/services.

Q: Are your customers satisfied with the products and services you deliver?

Note: If customers are not returning, perhaps there is a specific reason that you can address easily and quickly.

Q: How well is your brand known in the marketplace?

Note: If 1000 people were given the names of five similar products, where would your brand be ranked?

Q: What do your employees like and don't like about working for your company?

Note: Unless you know, you can't do anything about it. Being an employer of choice means you attract good staff and having good staff gives you a competitive advantage.

Q: What do you know about your customer or potential customer?

Note: If you provide product service and support, it would be beneficial to know the average age of equipment in use in the industry.

Other standard surveys include exit or post conference surveys, course evaluation surveys and "made up" surveys.

What is "made up" I hear you ask? The results of these surveys appear regularly in the daily press and online media. It's where a company has commissioned a large survey on a subject that is relevant to their business and published the findings.

Here's a simple example, ABC Recruitment conducts research (through a reputable organisation) to ascertain the percentage of employees who are happy in their job. The figure could possibly be quite low, which would have implications for the broader business community to lift their game and provide a better workplace and more suitable job position. It could even be linked to increased depression in the community if an independent authority provided added analysis. Result: ABC Recruitment gains considerable coverage, linked to a survey that it created to achieve this desired objective.

I look forward to your comments on surveys and general public relations in general.
 

Wednesday, 6 July 2011

Measuring Your PR Program

In order to evaluate the success of a PR Program, various criteria can be applied and research undertaken. I have listed below some of the more common measurement tools.

It is important before a PR program starts that the senior staff involved or responsible for the PR program give their expectations of the PR outcomes. This will assist in determining the evaluation methodology to be employed in generating a "return on expectation".

Assessing the value of something can be a subjective measure, which relates to personal measures of expectation, worth and importance. However, a return on investment is a quantitative financial measure that relates expenditure with business results. Of course, research is essential to prove both value and determine the ROI.

The following measures of PR performance can be used:

One should note that most of these measurement activities do require a dollar investment. It is best to decide on which methods will be used when the PR Program is being developed.

PS I welcome any feedback, questions or queries. Just drop me a note at info at wmcpr dot com dot au.

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