Naturally, being nominated in the Business Mentor category and then winning that award was the icing on the cake.  On a personal level, I felt humbled to have been selected from among all of the amazing business women who were in the room to win this award.  On a professional level, the pre-event media coverage plus the recognition on the day demonstrates clearly the power of PR.

I actively encourage my clients to enter awards like these, not only as it gives a huge confidence boost but also as it is one of the most effective ways of putting a business brand in front of a target audience.

For example, even before I’d posted anything onto my Linked In profile, I received several messages from local SME’s wanting to meet up with me to discuss possible support for their business.

One of my clients, a local cleaning company, had put in a quote for a contract but hadn’t won it because the potential client thought the company was too small.  Through the publicity and recognition that being nominated for these awards achieves, my client starts on this contract next week.

Another of my clients not only won her category, but she also won the overall Woman in Business Award and so began the roller-coaster of publicity associated with this accolade.   She will also be a judge at next year’s awards and be the ‘face’ of the awards in all local media for the next 12 months.

But don’t forget, it’s not just about the winning.  Even if a business is nominated for an award, their name and brand is put in front of an audience of judges. If they are short listed, they benefit from their name and brand being publicised in the local media.  If they, win….. I rest my case!

For help and support in identifying and participating in regional business awards, call:

• Managing the Media
• How to Write Great Copy
• Benefits of Marketing and PR strategy

Rocky PR’s workshops are aimed at SME’s who are looking to develop a pro-active on-line and offline PR and marketing strategy. They will cover simple tips on how to get started, how to put in systems and monitors to measure success and how to ensure strategies are sustained.

All workshops will be held at Rocky PR’s sister company (Swansea Creatives) offices’ in Llandarcy and will include tutorials from on-line expert Steve Brown.

Commenting on the introduction of the workshops, Jackie Balboni said, “Many of  my clients and other business contacts are often asking if I was planning to run workshops.  Having won the mentor category in the Women in Business awards earlier this month, I felt the time was ripe to consider formal training events as an opportunity to continue to support and guide local SME’s’.

For more information about Rocky PR’s forthcoming workshops and to book a place, call the number below:

The awards, now in its 5th year, recognises the contribution that business women in South West Wales make to the economy of the region.

Jackie set up Rocky PR more than six years ago.  Since then the consultancy has gone from strength to strength, supporting and guiding a range of local SME’s to develop and achieve their marketing goals.

In 2013, she set up Swansea Creatives in partnership with Steve Brown, an on-line marketing consultant.

Today, Swansea Creatives operates from offices in Llandarcy with a team of five employees.

Commenting on the awards, Jackie said, “I was delighted to be short listed in the Swansea Bay Women in Business Awards in recognition of the mentoring I have delivered over the past five years to businesses and students.  To win was an added bonus and I’d like to thank my clients for their nominations and the judges for their support.

For more information about Rocky PR’s PR and marketing services and for a free 1/2 telephone consultation, call:

The prospect of building up ‘likes’ is always very appealing, but the amount of ‘likes’ your page has is not equal to the number of customers you have spending money with you. The number of fans you can generate is not important when they aren’t contributing to your sales or revenue. As you generate fans they will usually fall in to two categories; casual fans, who do not really have any connection with your business other than clicking a button, and loyal customers, who are genuinely interested in any updates and spend money with you. It is essential to convert casual fans to loyal customers and to also instil a greater sense of loyalty and passion in those whose custom you already have. These tips are designed to help you do just that.

There is a huge variety of social networks to choose from these days, but more often than not, people will have more than one that they use on a regular basis. If potential customers are crossing different platforms, then you should be too. Crossing multiple social channels will allow you to reach as many people as possible, increasing your chances of success, don’t just stick rigidly to Facebook, potential customers will appreciate being able to choose their own method of communication.

Fan pages on Facebook can feature tabs that run along the top of the page. These tabs should be utilised to offer more dynamic content for fans, such as educational resources, sign up tabs or specific downloads, the more content you offer your fans, the more likely they are to share your content with others and more loyally visit your page. Tabs are not immediately visible to all users, so you must be sure to always remind fans that they are there and possibly employ the use of a ‘fan gate’, where people must like your page in order to view a certain tab. One of the ways to use a tab in Facebook is to provide a form for users to opt-in to an email list without leaving Facebook, where you will then provide a newsletter or email offer or something similar. Customer conversion and nurturing of relationships is more likely to occur when users are part of an email program and constant customer communication is always good for brand awareness. It is important that you highlight the benefits of signing up to the email subscription and employ many calls-to-action, as well as posting regular updates to remind your Facebook followers where the sign up option is available.

It is a good idea to not let your Facebook page become too product heavy, as this could make your page seem very sales oriented, but you can generate views and fans by hinting at a new product or exclusive offer. This will create interest and increase popularity, but you can also use it to drive traffic to your regular website by telling your Facebook fans that more information is available there, alternatively you can create offers or new content that are only available to those who like your Facebook page, creating a bit of a ‘buzz’ and lending the feeling of exclusivity to your brand.

Other ways to engage followers with your brand is to devote time to posting interesting and relevant videos through your business page. Videos are an interactive way for consumers to feel like they are in communication with a company or business and they can be a very powerful device in persuading consumers to commit to a purchase. You can incorporate these in to features mentioned previously, such as a teaser video for a new product or using a ‘fan-gate’ to allow people access to your videos. They are also a great tool for showcasing new products and even highlighting great customer reviews and testimonials. Google Hang Outs are an easy and cost effective way of creating videos for your Facebook page as well as your Youtube channel.

Another thing to consider trying on Facebook is posting coupons or discount vouchers. These do not need to be huge discounts or once-in-a-lifetime offers, but modern consumers will now expect some kind of discount. The vouchers can be online codes to use on your website or printables that can be taken to physical store locations, inevitably creating tangible income.

Marketing must be taken on as a long term commitment, not only to build up the brand of a business but also to secure a steady stream of customers and constantly appeal to potential ones. A marketing strategy is a detailed plan of the marketing initiatives that you intend to conduct during a set period of time. Supported by a constant system of evaluation, a marketing strategy will help you to determine areas that you need to focus on more, those you are wasting your time on or which methods work best against certain consumer groups.

When putting together a marketing strategy it is important to evaluate some key elements of your business. For instance, you must underpin and clearly define your unique selling point or business mission statement; this may seem a simple task, but defining your statement allows you to see the point from which your marketing will develop and it provides all employees a consistent point of reference when dealing with customers.

A difficult task when determining your marketing strategy can be defining your target market, but it is imperative that you do this. It is obvious that all businesses want to attract as many customers as possible, however it is naive to label your target market as ‘everyone’; the products or services you provide will not appeal to everyone and it is not practical or cost effective to try and target your marketing materials towards so many different kinds of people. You must be selective and choose those consumer groups that will be more likely to be interested in your business.

For most people, public relations will conjure up thoughts of ‘spin’ and often derive negative connotations; something purely interested in commercial gain while exploiting customers’ views merely to drive sales. PR is often assumed to have the same definition and purpose as marketing, and while there are certainly areas where the two fields cross over or support each other, PR is a unique practice with its own benefits.

The precise definition of public relations can be hard to pinpoint, but PR is essentially about communication. The ability to communicate effectively with all targeted publics, both external and internal, is an essential aspect of public relations; two-way communication allows potential customers to feel their own opinions and views are valued by an organisation therefore allowing a relationship to flourish. PR can be very subtle and usually focuses on securing third party endorsement for organisations, normally through the media or other reputable organisations, thereby developing a positive image and a solid reputation.

Within PR there are different aspects of the practice that contribute to developing a great business image; proactive PR and crisis management. The proactive aspect of PR would include ongoing activities that work towards creating media coverage, building the brand image or managing social media platforms, actions that will ensure constant communication from an organisation. Crisis management is an extremely important facet of public relations; when something goes wrong within an organisation, or with a specific product, there needs to be PR support in order to minimise the damage to the organisations reputation. This can involve everything from issuing a press release or statement, recalling products, even training senior employees to talk to the media and most importantly, reacting as quickly as possible to prevent consumer backlash.

The media is a continuously growing industry and now holds more influence over the general public than ever before, setting an agenda that can often greatly harm or greatly benefit certain organisations. Media relations is an important part of PR; creating an exciting newsworthy story surrounding an organisation will often result in free media coverage, the ultimate third party endorsement that has the potential to reach thousands of people.

Public relations has always been considered a powerful tool for all different kinds of organisations, provided it is done correctly and with respect to potential customers, however, with new technology evolving all the time, PR can now influence many other aspects of everyday life and more specifically target their chosen publics. With the growth of social media and blogging, public relations is now able to target more niche markets where their most loyal customers might exist and more easily communicate with them. The meaning of what is newsworthy has also changed over the years, allowing PR practitioners to emphasise or create certain stories that may now make headlines where they once would not. Public relations must always remain ahead of the curve.

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Whether it’s a newspaper BOGOF promotion or an on-line deal such as Doorstep Deals or Groupon, these special offers all have one thing in common: the way they are written.

Understanding how to write great copy for special offers is vital if you want your offers to work for you.

Using our  seven step guide,  you can’t fail to attract new customers and increase your sales.   Just fill in your email in the contact form below and we’ll send you our Sevent Steps to Writing Great Copy by return email.

The answer is ‘collaboration’.   If you can team up with one or two complementary businesses you have a better chance of succeeding with tenders due to the spread of the workload.   It’s important to make sure one of the businesses is the ‘lead’ tenderer and also that there is clarity on roles and responsibilities before the tender is submitted.

Another reason why some SME’s fail in the tender process is that they don’t complete the relevant forms correctly or answer any questions fully.     Fortuntately, the CBSA, which offers support to local SME’s, can help.  They not only run workshops to help you understand the tender process and make the most of your Sell2Wales profile, but they will also help you with the tender documents.

For more information on tendering collaboration contact Jackie at Rocky PR.