Business Consulting Buzz - Quick Links

Your Arsenal in Public Relations Communications

Public relations is all about communications. I know, sounds like a no brainer but there are far too many ‘professionals’ out there that talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

Anyone promised to reply to you by a certain time and not followed through? How telling you they’d send the information you requested on Monday and it’s Wednesday and you still haven’t received it. Get the picture? These simple examples are at the core of what communication is all about. And public relations is no different.

Everything a PR specialist does entails communicating a message to a public, whether that public is your organization’s current market, potential market, investors, employees, or the general public as a whole. What gives variety to the job is the various tools you can use – some mundane and some more challenging.
So let’s dig in an review a few weapons in the PR consultant’s arsenal…

The Press Release
One of the more prosaic tools you will find yourself using is the press release, also referred to as a news release. You will use this tool when your client is launching a new product, the CEO will be the keynote speaker at a major event, the appointment of one of your client’s principles to a high-level board or commission, or where your company stands on a controversial issue. (more…)

The Public Relations Campaign – Two Case Studies

Working in public relations can be one of the most fun yet challenging careers in today’s marketplace. If your most prominent characteristic is your creativity and you love the challenge of having an impact on consumer behavior, then creating public relations campaigns may be the perfect role for you. Just ask Marina Maher of Marina Maher Communications (MMC) 1…

The Dawn of Value
Dawn Dishwashing Liquid had already earned a reputation as being tough on grease. But customers were being lured away by competitors touting value – lower priced dish detergents in larger bottles. Without sacrificing the message of being a powerful grease cutter, Dawn turned to MMC to deliver the message that Dawn is a great value – just one 25-oz. bottle will clean more than 10,000 dishes. Maher needed a powerful visual that would illustrate the concepts of power and value. Using the theme Dawn Goes the Distance, Maher hired motorcycle daredevil Robbie Knievel, son of the famed Evel Knievel, to jump over 10,000 dishes – all dirtied then cleaned with one 25-oz. bottle of Dawn, as witnessed by 1625 spectators.

The results of the campaign were astounding, including 484 stories on the radio, a photo of Dawn on the AP wire service, and a feature story in the LA Times - generating 67 million consumer impressions in one week. (more…)

Top 3 Mistakes To Avoid When Starting A Blog

Today’s guest post is written by web 2.0 and social media consultant, Derrick Sorles of Business Blogging Consultants. In this post Derrick breaks down the top 3 mistakes to avoid when starting a blog, great read!
>> Read Derrick’s full bio here

In my last article, What Is Web 2.0 and Why Should You Care? I defined, in my words, what revolutionary changes have occurred in how we communicate on the Internet forever. The shift in power from The Big Guy to you and me, the impact on consumer/B2B decision-making and behavior across all industries, and most importantly, the shift from “pushed” canned marketing messages to “pulled” answers, information, news, and entertainment chosen by the consumer (you and me!).

Yes the Power To The People Web 2.0 environment has changed everything; “pull” versus “push” information (specifically through keyword search, i.e. “top training consulting firm Denver” can someone find you?), user -generated content and feedback, information sharing, collaboration and social network and/or online communities of folks with common interests and needs. (more…)

Positioning for Consulting Success – Part 1

Today’s guest post is written by veteran consultant, Rebel Brown of People Who Know. This will be her first of three guest posts on this blog related to Positioning for Consultants. She has also just released a free ebook on positioning. Details on the download can be found in her article.
>> Read Rebel’s full bio here

Positioning is probably the most important thing you’ll do in your consulting business life. People come to you because of their perceptions, and perceptions are created through positioning stories. The right positioning and focus will attract prospects and customers to your door, and keep them coming back.

Positioning tells a story that resonates with your audience.

To be effective in our noisy world – you consulting position must capture all of your value in a clear, succinct story. Most importantly, your story must focus on things that are of interest and important to your customers, with evidence to back it up.

I use three key areas to create positioning – for myself and for my clients. Here’s an overview:

1. Gather Compelling Evidence.
This is probably the most important part of positioning. Prospects want to see that you’ve done this kind of work for others – successfully. So collecting all the evidence of your expertise is critical to consulting success. Evidence is also the key to a great story. I talk more about how to find evidence in the next section of this post. (more…)

Public Relations Communication, You Talkin’ ta Me?

Someone once observed that the shortest word in the English dictionary that contains the letters abcdef is also one of the essential elements of effective communication: feedback. While the function of mainstream advertising is persuasion through one-way communication, public relations communication is only effective when mutual understanding between the sender of the message and the receiver is achieved.

Take A Look Back
Think back to your childhood. If your parents lectured you about everything you did wrong in their eyes, chances are the effectiveness of their lectures was limited. On the other hand, if you had the kind of parents who discussed their expectations with you (admittedly rare), soliciting your viewpoints and helping you understand why they felt the way they did, it’s likely to have had a greater impact on your character development.

By the same token, in college you have presumably taken the traditional lecture courses in which 50 to 200 students sat in a large lecture room taking notes as the professor talked. Hopefully, you also had courses in which a small class of 15 to 20 students had the opportunity to ask questions of the instructor and express observations. In which class did you retain more? Which did you find more stimulating? (more…)

How to Keep Your Consulting Projects Going

“Bring a new idea to the table at least once a month.”

I wish I could remember where I read that. Not too long ago I read an article, at least I think it was an article though maybe I dreamed it up (regardless it makes wonderful sense), about how to stay on top of your business consulting projects and keep your clients happy.

Most consultants know that each time they meet with their client they need to show some form of progress.

Let me share with you what I use with my clients in meetings.

1) On page 1, before all of the supplementary data, stats, ad copy, etc, I have a “Strategy Session” meeting cover sheet. Here I list what we’ve accomplished since the last time we’ve met, and I’ll quickly run through this at the beginning of the meeting. It reaffirms in the clients mind that I’m helping them to accomplish many areas that they would otherwise be left to deal with themselves. (more…)

Top 3 Causes of Project Failure When Using Consultants Services

Whether you’re a client using consultants services, or a consultant yourself, chances are your biggest fear, when entering into a contract is that the project will be a dismal failure, and that you’ll end up with egg on your face.

Let’s face it, that does happen from time to time, and although you, as a consultant, may have many successful projects under your belt, it’s certainly those failures that you, and your clients, will remember.

Knowing what the causes of failure are as important in avoiding that situation and keeping your reputation intact, so here in no particular order are the top three causes why consulting projects fail.

1. Poor Reporting

Whether intentional or not, poor reporting to your client is a sure fire way to end up with a disastrous result! It may not even be your fault. Often, when clients hire a consultant, they assume that they know what they are doing, and just let them “get on with things.” (more…)

Sample Public Relations Plan: For A Non-Profit Center

Everyone has heard the expression “Failure to plan is planning to fail.” Nowhere is this statement truer than in PR Consulting. A good public relations plan will make the difference between an effective campaign and failure. The following is an example of a very basic but effective plan.

Public Relations Plan for Center City Mission Center

Problem To Be Addressed
Funds are needed for necessary supplies, repairs to the building, payment of the mortgage on the building, and a salary for a director. More volunteers are also needed to expand program reach.

Current Situation
The Center City Mission is a faith-based, non-profit, non-government-funded center that reaches out to the residents on the east side of Boston. The Center provides help in areas of life skills training, such as job skills, job search and interviewing, personal budgeting, and tutoring for children. Center City has helped approximately 130 families since its inception in 2000, but without an increased volunteer base and additional funding the Center is limited in its outreach capacity. (more…)

The Consulting Industry, a Question of Ethics

As a consultant, you’ll be in contact with many executives and companies during the course of your career in the consulting industry, or as you build your business.

How you conduct yourself, and what you do to earn your reputation can be as important to your success or failure as the work you deliver, so considering the ethics of the consultant industry can be very important when you are starting out.

The Gift Conundrum
When you’re working as a consultant, chances are there will be clients who will be loyal, and easy to work with, and you may be tempted to give them a gift to thank them for that loyalty or co-operation.

That little gift could mean a lot of trouble though, so it’s best to be extra careful when choosing this method of thanks. Gifts can often be misconstrued as bribery, either by the recipient, or their colleagues, or, if they get wind of it, your competitors.

A muffin basket, bouquet of flowers or pen may not get you in trouble, but the larger, more expensive gifts often will. In fact, it’s become such a problem within the consulting industry that I’ve even seen request for proposal documents that outline guidelines for gift giving!

If you really want to play it safe, stick to a small gift with thank you note or an email! (more…)

So you Want to Be a Consultant?

Today’s guest post is written by veteran consultant, Rebel Brown of People Who Know. She gives us some first hand advice on how to get into consulting.  Rebel Brown is a go-to-market strategist specializing in early stage and turnaround high technology clients.
>> Read Rebel’s full bio here

I’ve been consulting successfully for over 20 years now. That makes me an old-timer in many folks’ perceptions. Friends and associates often come to me for advice on how to start their own consulting business – mostly around how to position themselves as an expert in the market.

Here’s the advice I give:

• Focus. The first inclination for any new consultant is to try to ‘do it all’. After all, you’ve dabbled in a number of different aspects of your field, right? Wrong. In my experience, the best way to be successful is to focus first on a narrow set of skills and areas where you can add the most value. You need to evidence your experience and success in a few key areas to get started. So focus on the areas where you’re strongest and most well-known by associates and peers – where you can have the most compelling references. You can always expand over time.

• Evidence your abilities. Thumping your own chest is something you can do after you’re well established. And even then – you have to be careful. No one likes an ego. Gather references and quotes from your peers, managers, customers and partners you’ve worked with in past roles. The best evidence you can provide is references from others. Feature these references prominently on your website – and let others speak your praises. Also, offer some examples in short case studies about what you’ve done in your areas of focus – and the results you’ve seen. Just as in selling a product, your potential clients get a better understanding of what you do based on real world scenarios of how you’ve helped people just like them!

• Anti-up. When I first started my consulting business, I offered prospective clients a free day of consulting, so they could get to know me and have a better idea of what I could do for them. They loved that idea – who can turn down free advice? It gave me the chance to share my experience, style and insights. It also demonstrated that I was confident in my abilities – enough so to put my own value, my time, on the line to prove it. (more…)
  

Buzz Session 1: Online Promotion and Internet Marketing

Here at Business Consulting Buzz we’ve been thinking of new ways that we can add value to your experience with us.

We get lots of emails, questions, and comments from different readers about how they can improve their consulting businesses. To answer these calls we’ve come up with a new idea called “Buzz Sessions”, and it’s absolutely FREE!

Every few weeks we’re going to open up a new “Buzz Session” topic on the blog where readers (that’s you!) can ask us business and consulting related questions and we’ll do our best to answer them. To put it simply, we’re going answer your toughest questions through our first hand experience to to help you grow your business and succeed.

To kick this off the first Buzz Session topic is going to be “Online Promotion and Internet Marketing”. So go ahead and ask us whatever is on your mind (by leaving a comment below) about online promotion and marketing…

How to Avoid Changes to Project Scope When Working as a Temporary Consultant

As a consultant, especially if you are just starting out and working as a temporary consultant or freelancer, you may find that when you are hired by a firm for a particular project the work you end up doing is very different than what you initially signed up for.

Often, firms hiring consultants assume that little “extra’s” are part of the deal, and while, of course, you want to do a great job, and have a happy client, you may end up losing money in the long run if you don’t handle this issue with care.

Here are a few ideas to help you avoid changes to project scope, and manage them when they do happen.

• Create a detailed consulting proposal that outlines specifically what work you will provide and the costs for any additional hourly work or items the client may want to purchase. That way, any extra work you do agree to do can be charged.
• Likewise, you may want to include a clause in your terms that states that any work completed that is not listed on the initial agreement by charged as additional work. (more…)
  

Help! I’m A Consultant and I’m Stuck

Consultant or otherwise all of us sometimes get stuck. We’re working hard on a project and then boom! we hit a wall and can’t get ourselves moving forward again.

No idea what to write. Not sure what the next logical step is. Unsure of how to increase the effectiveness of your consulting project. There’s no end to all the ways we get stuck.

The fact is, we all get stuck … so more importantly how do we get unstuck.

Here are 3 ways for you to remember the next time you’re feeling stuck:

1) Read Keith Yamashita and Sandra Spataro’s book “Unstuck”. I haven’t read this book but based on the reviews on Amazon and from what I’ve heard from other consultants this is a worthwhile read. In fact, I’m going to pick up a copy today and keep it on the wall of books behind me – for the next time I get stuck.

If you’re wondering why I’m recommending you to pick up a book I haven’t read I’ll tell you why. I know Keith Yamashita’s work and for the paltry $5 the book costs it’s a no brainer. It’s all about value. If I spend $30 on a book, all I need is to get one idea that will help grow my business or that of my clients and I’m a happy guy. (more…)

The Prep Work Behind Business Consulting Solutions

Clients may be in need of business consulting solutions for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, when business owners put their own theories on the line, they are not always correct. This is where you come in. Business consultants help companies get back on track when there are problems, or provide their expertise before issues develop.

It’s important to recognize the fact that if an owner or manager contacts you, a problem has already been identified – though maybe not the source of the problem (finding that may be your job).

Budgets are tight within many operations and no company will hire you just for the sake of working with a business consultant – no matter how great your skills. Simply put, consultants are not called in to save the day for no reason; if they were, your job would become incredibly boring.

What is the Problem?

Not surprisingly, the first step involved in helping a business is to determine its flaws, weak areas, and needs. If the client happens to provide you with a Request for Proposal (RFP), you may already have a few details about the operation in your possession. (more…)