Publicity Nailing a Media Interview, Part III (Staying on Topic).txt

In a media interview, always stick to your main points without rambling or digressing. Practice this when you rehearse.

Sometimes, when you are doing a great job of keeping on topic, the reporter is leading to you talk about different topics, some of which you aren't as knowledgeable about. If the reporter leads you into different areas, go there only if it suits your needs and you are comfortable there.

One advanced technique you can use in a tough interview is "bridging." Bridging is simply steering the interview back to your topic. Going down any side roads a reporter pursues is usually a bad idea – even if the detour is innocuous, it takes you off your main points. You may find, when the article is published or the interview airs, that the only comments of yours that reach the general public are those about a topic that you don't know much about. This isn't going to help your marketing efforts at all.

Don’t be afraid to bridge. If the reporter asks, “Well, how do they feel about that in Argentina?” and you have nothing to say about Argentina, diplomatically acknowledge that the question is valid. For example, say "That's a good question. I don't focus on Argentina in my practice, but I can tell you what my clients are saying." Then move back to your topic – gently but firmly.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele's MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

[tags]financial planners publicity, financial planners marketing, marketing, publicity, pr[/tags]

Publicity Nailing a Media Interview, Part II (Crisis Management).txt

We'd all like reporters to ask us about our career successes and personal triumphs—heck, we'd all like anyone to ask us about those. But reporters must look out for their clients, the reading public. Think about it from your own perspective as an investor—when you read a story about a company, you want to know that the reporter has asked difficult questions, not just relied on the PR hype.

So don't get offended when reporters ask tough or skeptical questions. It’s their job. Chances are an unhappy customer, unwilling prospect, or unfriendly rival has dished out worse to you!

No matter how uncomfortable the line of questioning, never, ever, mislead, attempt to conceal crucial facts, tell an untruth, or otherwise try to manipulate the media. We all know that lying is wrong, but that's not the only reason that I always oppose it. Aside from any moral considerations, misleading the media always backfires in the end. Sometimes, way sooner.

I have seen countless examples of this. Remember Watergate? Very often, the fib starts out early, as an insignificant story. But it tends to get magnified a little down the road – and pretty soon, a minor embarrassment turns into a major fiasco. Eventually, it's the lie that becomes the story, not the original story itself.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele's MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

[tags]financial planners publicity, financial planners marketing, marketing, publicity, pr[/tags]

Publicity Nailing a Media Interview, Part I.txt

The most important thing to remember for any interview: stay on topic. I ask clients to repeat this like a mantra before they go on the air, or even when on the phone with a reporter.

A print reporter gets maybe 700 words to do your story. A TV or radio reporter has two minutes. So your interview shouldn't be hours long.

Don’t give them more than they need. It’s too overwhelming for them, and can divert the story to a tangent. Tangents have a place – in intellectual dialogue; when you’re talking among colleagues. Remember this formula always: in mediaworld, almost all the time, tangent = someone else’s story, not yours, getting talked about.

Sure, you can become a reporter’s friend by steering them to new resources, trends, and information. But don’t feel obligated to point out all opposing points of view, or to lead them to those who may dispute you. Who needs that?

Remember... becoming buddies with the press is a good thing – but our ultimate goal is to attract prospects and clients.

To avoid these pitfalls, practice your answers to the questions you expect before the interview. Whether it’s on- or off-camera, your interview has no “do-overs.” So make your mistakes while practicing for it.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele's MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

[tags]financial planners publicity, financial planners marketing, marketing, publicity, pr[/tags]

Publicity - Use This System to Track Publicity Progress.txt

Tracking your correspondence with reporters, via phone or email, is important for two reasons. First of all, promises to follow-up can slip between the cracks of daily business and cost you a change at free publicity. Second, you don't ever want to contact a reporter twice about the same story. You will immediately destroy your credibility.

In my years as a public relations professional, I've developed a good system that financial planners can use to track contacts with the media.

It's simple. Just two logs that you can keep in a paper notepad, or in a spreadsheet program on your computer.

Keep one log to track reporters that you have contacted. It should have these three columns: A column for the names of the reporters you’ve contacted, a column that lists what each reporter is interested in, and then a column describing when/why to follow up next.

Plug these reminders into your calendar – without this tool, you may make the critical mistake of forgetting to follow-up.

Keep a second log to track reporters you’re going to contact. It should have these three columns: A column for the reporters' names, a column that lists their topic interests, and another column with a target date when you want to contact them.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele's MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

[tags]financial planners publicity, financial planners marketing, marketing, publicity, pr[/tags]

Publicity - Tips on Dealing With the Media.txt

You thought of it, you researched it, you wrote it. So you own your story. At least you do until you send it to the media.

At that point, they are free to do whatever they want with the information you gave them.

Your job from then on: control and communicate it to the maximum. Offer new information if you find it. Steer them to resources that may help them flesh out the story. Assure them that you will be available for follow-ups, day or night.

But they own the media outlet. Their job: creating the story as it will appear in their newspaper, magazine or over the airwaves.

Unless you are authoring an article to appear under your own byline, don’t expect – or request – approval rights, an advance peek, or any changes. They may never call again if you do.

Occasionally, a reporter will offer to show you the story before it runs. That’s different. It’s usually because they want to check facts, or ensure that they have quoted you correctly.

Always say yes if they initiate this offer. Even if you have 12 meetings tomorrow morning, and are undergoing surgery after lunch. This is a chance to make yourself sound as knowledgeable and intelligent as possible to the thousands of potential clients that will read the article.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele's MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

[tags]financial planners publicity, financial planners marketing, marketing, publicity, pr[/tags]

Publicity - How to Write a Headline That Will Garner Free Publicity.txt

Taking your ad and turning it into paragraph-style prose is not a press release – chances are it will only lead the publisher to call and invite you to run it as a paid ad. A press release is for news or for information about a topic the audience needs to know.

Any press release that reads too much like an ad will likely lead a media person to forward it to the advertising department.

For example, here's a headline that sounds too much like an ad:

"Financial Planner Chet Thompson Saved Families $600,000 On Estate Taxes Last Year"

This headline is attention-getting, but for the wrong reasons. It doesn't tell the media person anything other than that Chet Thompson is a good financial planner. This isn't news. But that same headline can easily be rewritten to sound more "newsy":

"Estate Planning Tips Saved Local Families More Than $600,000 Last Year"

This same information is now a headline that will grab a media person's attention. It suggests questions that their readers will be interested in: What tips?

Remember—you are never the news. News is information. As much as possible, keep ego tripping out of a press release and focus on the information that will help improve the lives of readers/listeners/viewers.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele's MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

[tags]financial planners publicity, financial planners marketing, marketing, publicity, pr[/tags]

Profit and Loss Account Basics.txt

What is a profit and loss account?

The profit and loss account (p&l) is usually presented as a statement and it shows the trading activity and associated expenditure of an organisation over a defined period of time.






A typical p&l will contain the following:

Sales

This is the turnover of the business, the main source of income from sales of products or services. This figure is always net of taxes as these are payable to the government and do not form part of the income of the business.

Purchases (stock/inventory)

Purchases are the items of stock you buy in order to sell on to customers. A basic accounting principle is that income is exactly matched against the cost of generating that income. In this regard the stock or inventory on hand at the end of the accounting period is always deducted from the total purchases cost. These stock items will be used to generate future sales and will be matched against those sales in the next period.

Sales related expenditure

These costs are those that are directly incurred in the process of making a sale to a customer. They include items such as sales commission, promotional costs and courier charges.

Overheads

Lastly there are the overheads of the business. These are the costs incurred on the rest of the business that is not directly involved with the selling process. Examples of overhead costs are: admin staff salaries, lighting and heating, office stationery, computer maintenance and legal and accountancy fees.

Two versions of the profit and loss account

In published accounts the p&l account has a standard format, this is to aid understanding and interpretation of the information. The accounts are typically known as Financial (or Statutory) accounts and are subject to accounting and legal governing principles.

However, to really understand how your business is performing you need to prepare a fully detailed p&l account, this is an expanded version of the published accounts and usually has extra information such as ratio analysis and key performance indicators.

This version is typically referred to as the ‘management accounts’ simply because they are figures intended for management and not external publication. Therefore, there are no regulatory guidelines on their composition to worry about.

Management accounts are the tool you need to have in order to see if your business is profitable and are normally prepared on a regular basis, usually monthly, for each of your product lines. The p&l is a central part of the management accounts package.

Regular review is necessary because you need to be aware of areas not meeting targets as soon as possible; so that you give yourself time to take corrective action before the end of your financial year. For instance, if a regular client has started placing orders erratically it may be that on investigation, you find they are testing out one of your competitors. This gives you an opportunity to carry out some special promotions or re-negotiate the deal with your client to win their business back from your competitor.

In addition, you will find budgeting is a valuable tool for your business. A budget is a financial plan for the year ahead. Creation of a budget allows you to review all areas of your business both to ensure their existence is justified and that you are making the most of your assets or resources.

During the year you compare your actual results to your budget and investigate where results have not turned out according to plan. Examples of problems could be cost overruns due to inefficient ordering or use of more expensive components unnecessarily. Again, this review process gives you time to make changes before problem areas run out of control.

About the author:

Trevor Sadowski has worked in finance departments for the past 23 years and has been a member of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA) since 1994.

Trevor currently provides contract accountancy support through short-term placements or interim
management in the UK. To find out more, about the accountancy services he provides visit his web site at http://www.moveaheadonline.com

[tags]profit and loss account,accountancy,bookkeeping,financial statements,management accounts[/tags]