The UnNoticed Entrepreneur

Get Noticed! Send a text.Video is the most powerful and effective way to drive engagement online. While Zoom and other programs like it are nice, asynchronous video holds the key to successful communication for organizations, especially at this critical time.Michael Hoffman is the CEO of Gather Voices and an expert in the use of video in marketing and digital engagement, and he joined me from his office in Chicago. We spoke about how his service is transforming the public relations and engagement for organizations by providing a technology which enables everyone to contribute from their mobile devices content which is then collated, compiled and branded for social media and other uses.Whilst traditional video is top-down, Gather Voices is different. Michael's passion for it begins with its name. Whether for associations, hospitals, marketing agencies or other businesses, it gathers the authentic, compelling voices of people speaking from the heart.One case that Michael shares is of the The Emergency Nurses Association in America . The ENA is dedicated to advancing excellence in emergency nursing. Member contribution is one of their core values — and for their 2019 annual meeting, they used Gather Voices to collect 70+ member video stories. ENA is using these videos to support a full year of member engagement.We also talk pricing, it's very reasonable, and share details of how to get started with gathering the voices of an organization to create a collective voice.If you like this podcast, then subscribe to our newsletter herePlease visit our blog post on PR for business please visit our site:https://www.eastwestpr.com/blogs/Find us on Twitter @eastwestprJim James is the Founder and Managing Director of the EASTWEST Public Relations Group. He recently returned to the UK after 25 years in Asia where he was an entrepreneur. Whilst running EASTWEST PR, he was the Vice-Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, he also he introduced Morgan sports cars to China, WAKE Drinks, founded the British Business Awards, The British Motorsport Festival, EO Beijing, and was the interim CEO of Lotus carsSupport the showSubscribe to my free newsletterhttps://www.theunnoticedentrepreneur.com/

Get Noticed! Send a text.When furniture company Wayfair (NYSE:W) was accused of trafficking children through its website, the Company displayed a composed response, but the very spectre of the story has sullied the name of the retailer. It could have been worse but for the careful management by the PR team in Boston, M.A. In this episode, I share 8 tips to ensure that a company is crisis ready, and some cautionary notes about how social media influencers are sharing unsubstantiated theories which can kill brands.In response to the conspiracy theories which started on Reddit, the Wayfair Spokeswoman gave an excellent response which was explanatory, authoritative, and explained corrective action."The products in question are industrial grade cabinets that are accurately priced," a Wayfair spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. "Recognizing that the photos and descriptions provided by the supplier did not adequately explain the high price point, we temporarily removed the products from site to rename them and provide a more in-depth description and photos that accurately depict the product to clarify the price point." Leaning from Wayfair as a case study, I list here and discuss in more details the contents of crisis management workshops which I have facilitated with companies:Have key statements ready for each eventualityPlan scenarios for likely events and messages List of the key spokespeople for each occasionDetermine the level of alert and find the appropriate level of spokespersonHave photos of key spokespeople ready with different sets of clothing/situation Keep an up to date list of media & influencers to handPlan the scheduled release of information Ensure that your brand has an authentic and well-explained story in the marketA crisis can be like a fire, one small spark can ignite a wildfire; good preparation means having a fire extinguisher always ready to douse even the smallest of flames.If you like this podcast, then subscribe to our newsletter herePlease visit our blog post on PR for business please visit our site:https://www.eastwestpr.com/blogs/Find us on Twitter @eastwestprJim James is the Founder and Managing Director of the EASTWEST Public Relations Group. He recently returned to the UK after 25 years in Asia where he was an entrepreneur. Whilst running EASTWEST PR, he was the Vice-Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, he also he introduced Morgan sports cars to China, WAKE Drinks, founded the British Business Awards, The British Motorsport Festival, EO Beijing, and was the interim CEO of Lotus carsSupport the showSubscribe to my free newsletterhttps://www.theunnoticedentrepreneur.com/

Get Noticed! Send a text.In this episode, I'll share how to place your articles, infographics and video into 10,000 of the worlds best media outlets including: CNN, BBC, AsiaOne. The answer is using platforms called Outbrain and Taboola. It's called 'Native Discovery.'In Public Relations we have:Earned Media - traditional PROwned media - your own channelsShared media - social media 2 ways street, where people amplify by resharing Paid Media - long-form content but paid distribution; it's the equivalent of the old ‘advertorial supplements.’ It now has the trendy term of 'Native Discovery' or what I like to call content syndication.Content syndication is the process of publishing and promoting you content, such as articles, blogs, and videos, on third-party websites and without doing all the work of posting them to each outlet. Quality content syndication networks typically have large, established audiences, and higher domain permissions and so it's a great idea to take advantage of them and it isn't as expensive as you may think.Whenever you share your content on these platforms, you can increase your site’s visibility and brand’s credibility. It can also improve your SEO.So I talk about Outbrain..is one I have been using. Outbrain helps over 1 billion people discover content, products and services that may be of interest to them.The big brother to Outbrain is Taboola, which claims to be the #1 discovery platform. 1.4bn users per month, 10,000 publishers and brands, with 50x more data than the NY Public Library! [I've never been but if they claim that then it must be a lot of data.]I also explain why Slidehare should be part of any company's public relations strategy, not least because it has 80m users and it's free!If you like this podcast, then subscribe to our newsletter herePlease visit our blog post on PR for business please visit our site:https://www.eastwestpr.com/blogs/Find us on Twitter @eastwestprJim James is the Founder and Managing Director of the EASTWEST Public Relations Group. He recently returned to the UK after 25 years in Asia where he was an entrepreneur. Whilst running EASTWEST PR, he was the Vice-Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, he also he introduced Morgan sports cars to China, WAKE Drinks, founded the British Business Awards, The British Motorsport Festival, EO Beijing, and was the interim CEO of Lotus carsSupport the showSubscribe to my free newsletterhttps://www.theunnoticedentrepreneur.com/

Get Noticed! Send a text.Professor Karen Pine from the University of Hertfordshire wrote a book entitled "Mind What You Wear" in which she writes that specific clothing - including even superhero T-shirts - can make people more confident in all sorts of situations. Professor Pine explains 'that not only that we are what we wear, but that we become what we wear.’ And so it's important to pay attention to this part of the way to turn up for work; even if it is on zoom!Nick Hems is a UK based style consultant and shares what he would buy with GBP100, the colours we should all have in our wardrobe, and the importance of having clean shoes. We also make the point that different countries treat clothing in different ways as a tax deduction, but it is worth checking. In Australia a company can claim a deduction for the cost of buying and cleaning occupation-specific clothing, protective clothing and unique, distinctive uniforms. In America to claim a deduction for buying clothes, the clothes have to be mandatory for your job and unsuitable for everyday wear. In the UK for example, nurses and midwives can claim for replacing shoes, socks and underwear. So it can literally pay to have the uniforms cleaned regularly.Karen O'Brien, VP, Global Social Media, Brand and Engagement at Western Union  sums up the conversation nicely, “As my career has progressed, I've found that dressing authentically has made me feel more confident and powerful. I naturally gravitate toward classic clothing and colors, but I invest in signature accessories that express my personality and femininity.”Contact Nick Hems at www.nickhemsstyle.co.uk, @iamnickhems on Instagram and FacebookIf you like this podcast, then subscribe to our newsletter herePlease visit our blog post on PR for business please visit our site:https://www.eastwestpr.com/blogs/Find us on Twitter @eastwestprJim James is the Founder and Managing Director of the EASTWEST Public Relations Group. He recently returned to the UK after 25 years in Asia where he was an entrepreneur. Whilst running EASTWEST PR, he was the Vice-Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, he also he introduced Morgan sports cars to China, WAKE Drinks, founded the British Business Awards, The British Motorsport Festival, EO Beijing, and was the interim CEO of Lotus carsSupport the showSubscribe to my free newsletterhttps://www.theunnoticedentrepreneur.com/

Get Noticed! Send a text.We are joined by Charles Yan of EASTWEST PR Beijing office to share insights on live stream e-commerce in China because China's economy is being rescued by this new 'shoppertainment' phenomenon, and we can learn from their experience.Livestreaming can be broken into 2 categories; content-oriented streams and online retailers offering live streaming.In 2019, Dacast earned the Streaming Media Readers’ Choice Award for Best Small/Medium Business Video Platform and Runner-Up for Best Education Video Platform. The Starter plan is ideal for newcomers with 100 GB of bandwidth, 20 GB of storage, at just $19 per month billed annually.Founded in 2004, Boston-based Brightcove is one of the oldest online video platforms in-game. Its product offerings focus on cloud encoding, live streaming, and VOD (video on demand) hosting. Mainly targeting huge clients, Brightcove offers two pricing plan levels. These include the $499/month (billed annually)IBM Cloud Video (formerly UStream) Basic streaming accounts are free, with advertising supporting IBM Cloud Video. Paid accounts remove advertising and grant access to advanced features. Enterprise accounts allow for full custom branding and offer analytics, multiple live channels, content syndication, and more. Pro accounts range from $99 to $999 per month In 2017, Vimeo acquired the Livestream platform. Starts at $7 per month but not always available in China and their site is not a shopping destination of course. What none of these do is deliver the audience…which is why we go back to Taobao FB, Youtube. These other services are great if you have a destination site or presence somewhere that people will go to visit.If you’re a registered Amazon Seller, all you need to do is download the Amazon Live Creator app, and you’ve done most of the work. You can stream using the smartphone’s hardware, or you can opt to use a discrete camera setup.Finally, a new entry and working with Shopify, founded in 2016 is Livescale which allows Product details imported directly from an e-commerce platform, display along with the LIVE streaming video.But of course, these all require that people know about the product in the first place, which takes back to PR!If you like this podcast, then subscribe to our newsletter herePlease visit our blog post on PR for business please visit our site:https://www.eastwestpr.com/blogs/Find us on Twitter @eastwestprJim James is the Founder and Managing Director of the EASTWEST Public Relations Group. He recently returned to the UK after 25 years in Asia where he was an entrepreneur. Whilst running EASTWEST PR, he was the Vice-Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, he also he introduced Morgan sports cars to China, WAKE Drinks, founded theSupport the showSubscribe to my free newsletterhttps://www.theunnoticedentrepreneur.com/

Get Noticed! Send a text.Business owners need a simple number which they can ask for from their marketing teams which will tell them how much work is being done to get the company noticed.  This is because it's important to measure the input to the activity,  as that's the best way to know what is likely to be the outcome. As glamorous as page views and fanciful numbers of followers is, these are not within the control of the company.  Introducing the best way to plan, measure and manage the public relations of your team - the Active Communications Index.Content x Frequency X Channels = Active Communications IndexI explain how to use our templates to plan the storification of the business, and the templates to enter the frequency and channels the company is using to share it's news and activities.The ACI simplifies the process and enables the management team to have a transparent measure of work being done by the team each week.It also shows the power of content repurposing, frequency and the power of amplification.  I also talk about SPEAK|pr - our 5 Step Methodology for entrepreneurs to manage their own PR. Do please come and download a free copy along with our Technology Applications Director with over 100 free marketing apps listed. http://www.eastwestpr.com/speakprIf you like this podcast, then subscribe to our newsletter herePlease visit our blog post on PR for business please visit our site:https://www.eastwestpr.com/blogs/Find us on Twitter @eastwestprJim James is the Founder and Managing Director of the EASTWEST Public Relations Group. He recently returned to the UK after 25 years in Asia where he was an entrepreneur. Whilst running EASTWEST PR, he was the Vice-Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, he also he introduced Morgan sports cars to China, WAKE Drinks, founded the British Business Awards, The British Motorsport Festival, EO Beijing, and was the interim CEO of Lotus cars in China. He kept a diary here.Support the showSubscribe to my free newsletterhttps://www.theunnoticedentrepreneur.com/

Get Noticed! Send a text.On this episode of SPEAK|PR I recommend finding 10 awards to enter each year and give you some ideas on which ones to enter, where to find them, and 10 ways to leverage exposure which include:Sponsor an Award to raise your profile Connect your Award to a broader story e.g. this industry is doing wellPromote it to own circles, in-store, to staff, customers Write and issue a press release Include it on your websiteOffer a ‘We’re so proud we’d like to make a special offer’Write to the  judges, the organization, other winners to build connectionsInclude "Winner"  on business cards and in email auto signatures.Take your staff to the Awards and get plenty of photos and post on social Pitch for speaking engagements because now you are an authorityClaiming to be the 'world's first and largest award entry consultancy' Boost offers a great website with over 4,000 industry awards listed. My experiences include being the Founder of the British Business Awards in China (2008) winner of the 2017 Global Business Innovations Award (China), British Entrepreneur of the Year in Singapore and SME of the Year in Singapore (in the 1990's) What to do if there isn't an Award?  Could you organize one yourself like I did with the BBA? It's a lot of work but massively rewarding.If you like this podcast, then subscribe to our newsletter herePlease visit our blog post on PR for business please visit our site:https://www.eastwestpr.com/blogs/I also talk about SPEAK|pr - our 5 Step Methodology for entrepreneurs to manage their own PR. Do please come and download a free copy along with our Technology Applications Director with over 100 free marketing apps listed. http://www.eastwestpr.com/speakprFind us on Twitter @eastwestprJim James is the Founder and Managing Director of the EASTWEST Public Relations Group. He recently returned to the UK after 25 years in Asia where he was an entrepreneur. Whilst running EASTWEST PR, he was the Vice-Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, he also he introduced Morgan sports cars to China, WAKE Drinks, founded the British Business Awards, The British Motorsport Festival, EO Beijing, and was the interim CEO of Lotus cars in China. He kept a diary here.Support the showSubscribe to my free newsletterhttps://www.theunnoticedentrepreneur.com/

Get Noticed! Send a text.Let's not forget magazine publishing for our business; it used to be that we printed in-house newsletters and publications specifically for a product launch or a trade show.The brand audience across platforms for magazine media continues to grow, up 6.6% in 2019 versus the prior year to 1.5 billion. The average audience of the top three magazine publishers is competitive with the average audience for Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple according to the MPA Factbook. It's just that these are moving from the newsstand to the dedicated reader App and Kindles.What's also good is that according to the 2020 Edelman trust barometer - 61% trust in traditional print….due to editorial integrity.So I share here tools that you can explore to publish your own e-magazines.I used ISSUU for my publications to launch Morgan cars in China, and you can even charge for subscriptions. You can also listen to services offered by Yunpu of SwitzerlandThe 3rd one I introduce is Uniflip If you like this podcast, then subscribe to our newsletter herePlease visit our blog post on PR for business please visit our site:https://www.eastwestpr.com/blogs/I also talk about SPEAK|pr - our 5 Step Methodology for entrepreneurs to manage their own PR. Do please come and download a free copy along with our Technology Applications Director with over 100 free marketing apps listed. http://www.eastwestpr.com/speakprFind us on Twitter @eastwestprJim James is the Founder and Managing Director of the EASTWEST Public Relations Group. He recently returned to the UK after 25 years in Asia where he was an entrepreneur. Whilst running EASTWEST PR, he was the Vice-Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, he also he introduced Morgan sports cars to China, WAKE Drinks, founded the British Business Awards, The British Motorsport Festival, EO Beijing, and was the interim CEO of Lotus cars in China. He kept a diary here.Support the showSubscribe to my free newsletterhttps://www.theunnoticedentrepreneur.com/

Get Noticed! Send a text.Even though YouTube isn’t a music platform, more people listen to audio content on YouTube than anywhere else. YouTube attracts 47% of all music streaming listening time around the world, according to the Music Consumer Insight Report. So we need to find ways to have audio files shared on video platforms for media interviews, product reviews, conference summaries, and of course podcasts. Luckily this can be automated and we don’t need video on YouTube to be successful, we can create audiograms; audio which is converted to video with a static image.On this podcast I will talk about the different ways of doing this, from the manual upload at the most basic, to podcast hosting services of Castos and Headliner,  and the syndication services of Repurpose.Ultimately we want to be able to convert audio to video, video to audio, or video to video in horizontal, square, or vertical format with captions. Then we want to be able to Connect to platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. If you like this podcast, then subscribe to our newsletter herePlease visit our blog post on PR for business please visit our site:https://www.eastwestpr.com/blogs/I also talk about SPEAK|pr - our 5 Step Methodology for entrepreneurs to manage their own PR. Do please come and download a free copy along with our Technology Applications Director with over 100 free marketing apps listed. http://www.eastwestpr.com/speakprFind us on Twitter @eastwestprJim James is the Founder and Managing Director of the EASTWEST Public Relations Group. He recently returned to the UK after 25 years in Asia where he was an entrepreneur. Whilst running EASTWEST PR, he was the Vice-Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, he also he introduced Morgan sports cars to China, WAKE Drinks, founded the British Business Awards, The British Motorsport Festival, EO Beijing, and was the interim CEO of Lotus cars in China. He kept a diary here.Support the showSubscribe to my free newsletterhttps://www.theunnoticedentrepreneur.com/

Get Noticed! Send a text.It's about to get cheaper and easier to hire a freelance PR person just about anywhere in the world and this is great news for business owners.Francis Ingham, Director General of the PRCA, many of the 10% of the furloughed agency staff won't get back to work which in the UK could be as many as 5,000 (PR Moment Podcast)This means an opportunity for business owners to pick up trained, connected freelance talent or to hire them inhouse. For those that don't want that commitment, there are a number of sites where freelancers can be found which specialise in PR e.g. The Work Crowd which claims some 2,246 PR professionals on the register. In Asia Sortlist has a dedicated directory for pr agencies and freelancers for example at a country level. At the other end of the scale is the Peopleperhour website which boasts 2.9m freelancers if you like to be spoilt for choice!Personally I have signed up the UK Digital Marketing apprenticeship which funded by the UK Government which will allow me to mentor a young person in the industry and to build out the SPEAK|pr PR for Business program.Finally, I discuss signing up for the Outsource School program as it has a 12-month program including templates for delegation of work. I've just engaged a UK trained Philippino entrepreneur who has started a virtual assistant business to help us to manage our content distribution processes.PR in Covid times means then potentially a once in a lifetime opportunity to build the brand of your business with expert help and remarkably flexible cost.If you like this podcast, then subscribe to our newsletter herePlease visit our blog post on PR for business please visit our site:https://www.eastwestpr.com/blogs/I also talk about SPEAK|pr - our 5 Step Methodology for entrepreneurs to manage their own PR. Do please come and download a free copy along with our Technology Applications Director with over 100 free marketing apps listed. http://www.eastwestpr.com/speakprFind us on Twitter @eastwestprJim James is the Founder and Managing Director of the EASTWEST Public Relations Group. He recently returned to the UK after 25 years in Asia where he was an entrepreneur. Whilst running EASTWEST PR, he was the Vice-Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, he also he introduced Morgan sports cars to China, WAKE Drinks, founded the British Business Awards, The British Motorsport Festival, EO Beijing, and was the interim CEO of Lotus cars in China. He kept a diary here.Support the showSubscribe to my free newsletterhttps://www.theunnoticedentrepreneur.com/