Small business

Hot chicken, brimming wine glasses, fully-inflated balloons and soft music can help make sure your guests are content, as any event planner knows. BUT THERE IS ONE THING MOST SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS FORGET WHEN PLANNING AN EVENT.

Events cover everything from 5000 person conferences to 50 person trade shows to 5 person breakfast briefings.  And a lot has been written about event planning– how to select and book the right venue, how to hire entertainment, send invitations at the right time etc.

But whether you’re planning a full-scale conference or a drinks evening, how many of you think about how you want your guests to feel at your event?

Things ALWAYS go wrong when organising an event

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Rewarding relationships involve give and take on both sides.  To get the best from your PR freelancer or agency, make sure you have answers to these 11 questions before you pick up the phone to them for the first time.

What is your business?

What is your business?  Where did begin?  Where is it today?  Describe in ten to fifteen words what your business does and the services you provide.  Who are your main competitors and how is your business different from them?  What are your business’s overall objectives?

What do you want to achieve with PR?

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These are the takeaway tips from six PR experts (including me) who were on the panel of The Guardian PR Masterclass recently:

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PR is a dark art and PR professionals invest lots of time and energy creating media opportunities for their clients. But it’s possible to attract attention on a budget without a big city firm behind you.

You know you should promote your business and you might even have done some marketing.  You probably coughed up far too much money on business cards, flyers or a website and you’re not even sure if you’ve had sales from them. You’ve heard of PR but you’re not really sure what it is or how it’s different from marketing.

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REASON ONE: You don’t listen to your customers

Someone high up in your business decides you really need a video/ blog/ e-newsletter.

Or someone in a meeting room tells you their idea which they think is the best thing since sliced bacon. They’ve seen it somewhere else for someone else and just knows that it will work.

But no one thinks why.

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