Sharing wisdom at The Star Entrepreneur Conference

So... Our colleague Louise - who oversees all the work for the consumer clients at Mantra PR - attended a Star Entrepreneur event today, speaking on the subject of 'PR at Business Start up Stage'. The event, organised by Can Do Events, attracted a group of entrepreneurs and financiers looking to learn more about the benefits of PR and how new/emerging companies should deal with the media.

They spent the morning hearing about the press from a media point of view - hearing about national newspapers from Jaimie Oliver (no, not that one... this one is the Small Business columnist at the Daily Telegraph) and David Sumner Smith (formerly Sunday Times Business Enterprise correspondent), followed by some explanation of TV from the editor of Dragon's Den, Helen Bullough, and how to deal with magazines from Saska Granville, deputy editor of Red magazine.

Following lunch and an excellent live interview with Christine Domecq of Spinvox fame (who is fascinating to listen to on the subject of starting up a business, should you ever get the opportunity), they moved onto the subject of PR and how to work with an agency at different stages of a companies life. This is where Lou came in. She started by giving them some background - introducing Spider, of course (!) - before giving them her Top 5 Golden Rules for newcomers to PR:

• Be prepared: don't assume working with an agency will free up your time. You need to make time to keep an open dialogue

• Information exchanged: give your PRs as much info as possible - it helps them do their job better

• Step away: consider you brand from an outsider's point of view (customer? journalist?)

• Realistic expectations and budgets - spend money to make money... investment in PR is a simple equation

• Allow your agency to work to a plan where possible – but keep flexible and be willing to adapt with their recomendations
  

She followed this up with some basic guidelines on briefing an agency and what the agency will do for this kind of client in the initial stages. She then went through some of the different tactics that could be factored into a PR programme, including an explanation of how traditional media relations can be integrated into online pr via the blogosphere and social networking sites.

Finally she went through a case study - the launch mySupermarket.co.uk, the supermarket comparison site - and blew her own trumpet a bit. She was given a selection of business cards - and was apparently headhunted right there and then, much to her amusement - so she must have said something right...

What did we learn at the Spider event?

So…our event. What did we learn? Each presentation was pretty different but you could see common themes across the set. Social media gives you access to mammoth audience sizes but effective identification and targeting of small, but influential crowds is required – so it’s all about the ‘niche’. Can bloggers be PR’d? Iain Dale and our MD, Debbie Wosskow disagreed on this point. The conclusion? Highly relevant information passed to bloggers is an effective way of encouraging both advocacy and feedback. Rewards are important. Both Alistair and Richard talked about rewards – a carrot for consumers as they engage with the campaign. The lesson is that the reward doesn’t have to be a big cash prize – relevancy and a tailored experience are more important. Take time to get to know your audience - your ‘niche’.

The interaction between traditional and new media was a discussion point. Iain described how, by writing a popular blog, he is now an attractive commentator for the national mainstream press. His internet TV channel, ’18 Doughty Street’ is another example of the adoptability of new forms of media for niche audiences who want more than a generic offering.

Richard from ITV talked us through the minxy Belle de Jour case study. The Facebook profile moderated by the elusive Belle herself, the use of the revamped ITV.com and previews for fans all combined to help a traditional media company communicate with a younger audience on a platform they engage with. Again, rewarding them with exclusive content before anybody else. For further reading.....

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Neville Hobson provided an insightful look in the social media ecosystem and, in particular, the tools that facilitate communication, engagement, transparency and trust. Participation was his key theme, command control tactics no longer work, companies have to employ social media, ultimately because in today’s web 2.0 world, you no longer have a choice. For further reading.......

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Thanks again to all our speakers and attendees. Head over to Neville’s blog to read his thoughts on the event, and the venue (!).

Post Number One

So…post number one. Welcome. A long overdue, work in progress blog from Mantra PR’s digital offering – Spider. Spider was set up in May 2007 to help educate current and potential clients around this ‘phenomenon’ they call Web 2.0. For those that don’t know their widgets from their elbows, the Spider consultants will come in, talk in non-tech language and showcase how creative but carefully considered online campaigns can have a real impact on a business’ delicate bottom line!

So far this year, we have designed and implemented multiple campaigns for clients in the media, technology and gaming sectors and we have big plans for 2008!

Our first event ‘Influencing the influencers – harnessing the buzz and avoiding the pitfalls’ took place on Monday 19^th November. We had 45 people in a very cool room in the Soho Hotel, London listening to the likes of Neville Hobson, Alistair Beattie, Head of Digital at AMV, Richard Waterworth, Head of Consumer at ITV and Iain Dale, political blogger all give their views on the potential of ‘social’ media for communications.

More on the content of the presentations and our interpretation to follow...