The Benefits of Woman Business Enterprise (WBE) Certification

One of our clients said her peer advisory group suggested to her early on to get certified as a woman-owned business. This particular MMI client had just opened her own full-service exhibit design agency. Her company was in the process of obtaining certification when she first spoke with a representative of Volvo, a potential new client for her business. The Volvo representative told her to call him back as soon as her business was certified, and said he would then include her name on the bid list, but not before. The very day she became certified, our client called Volvo, and she ultimately won the bid.

This client’s full-service exhibit design agency has been certified by The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) since 2002, and certified by the National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC), a national 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, since 2000. WBENC provides the most widely recognized and respected certification in the United States for women’s business enterprises.

If you are a woman business owner, the benefits of obtaining Woman Business Enterprise (WBE) certification are substantial. Consider obtaining certification to widen your network, obtain new business and increase your profile. Certification will widen your possibilities, since many large corporations and government organizations have initiatives for doing business with WBEs. Many corporations require a company to be certified as a woman-owned business before providing access to their supplier diversity programs.

Any woman business owner can apply for certification if she meets the criteria of majority ownership and control of her company, which means at least 51% of the business is owned by a woman or women.

Another MMI client and top Triangle businesswoman at the multimillion-dollar level who is owner and CEO of not one, but three thriving businesses, said, “I recognized that in today’s competitive business world, certification is rapidly becoming important to women-owned businesses.” She contacted Mary Cantando, president of Cantando and Associates, whose firm exclusively supports the growth of women-owned businesses by assisting them to obtain WBENC certification.

By becoming certified, this MMI client provided her company with an edge that has proved essential. She said, "It has opened the door and has allowed me to pitch on a more level playing field. Certification is the door opener, and I am the closer."

Create Events to Promote Your Business

When it comes to creating events to promote your business, think creatively and have some fun with it. A full-service real estate asset management company and MMI client once held an open house with a 1950s theme, so we decided to find “Elvis” and “Marilyn Monroe” for the event. Finding Elvis was easier than finding Marilyn, but we finally came up with a solution. One of our very own MMI account executives agreed to appear live and in person as Marilyn.

It took her a while to find the absolutely perfect dress—you know the one—a white halter-top with a skirt suitable enough to billow over a subway grate. The dress sparked a big discussion about whether our account executive had sufficient cleavage to appear as Marilyn. When all the women in the office began discussing cleavage, one of our male account executives turned white and left the room. In his absence, we came up with a solution (a very, very padded bra).

The bigger problem was that our Marilyn needed a platinum blonde wig. We purchased one, but it looked like a big dead white rat on her head, so we took it to our hair salon client to see what he could do with the wig. Luckily, he performed some magic on that wig.

The Open House was a smash. All the invited elected officials came—the mayor, the city council and several senators. Our client’s remodeled, landmark 1955 building was crowded with people enjoying delicious hors d’oeuvres and wine, listening to fabulous fifties music and admiring the expert restoration.

With her champagne blonde wig and sexy dress, our account executive was the belle of the ball as Marilyn Monroe, and people stood in line to have their picture taken with her and Elvis. The only unhappy person that night was Elvis, who was disappointed that he didn’t get to sing.

How do you create an event as successful as this one? It takes imagination and planning. If you don’t have someone on staff to handle event planning, you may want to hire an outside firm. Seek the support of an event management firm that possesses not just the creativity but the budgeting and execution skills to oversee a premier event. Some of the details that need careful management include:

• menu and theme selection
• graphics, signage and decorations
• R.S.V.P. duties and providing head counts to the caterer and liquor sponsor
• setup of tables, chairs, and other rentals
• selection of florals, linens and tabletop décor
• management of audio-visual needs
• musical entertainment

Consider holding an event—say, a wine tasting—to benefit your favorite charity, such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. To obtain sponsors, feature wine from your favorite dealer and delectable morsels from your favorite caterer. Charge attendees a fee, with a portion of the proceeds going to the charity, and pay the wine dealer and the caterer. Feature a cancer survivor as guest speaker, and you have the makings of an event worthy of media attention.

The Academy of Women Awards

In today’s issue of The News & Observer, you may have noticed the large quarter-page ad about the Academy of Women Awards sponsored by the YWCA. This is a big event in the Triangle, and this year it will be held November 7 at the Grand Ballroom of the Embassy Suites Hotel on Harrison Oaks Boulevard in Cary.

Eleven amazing women will be honored that night.

The Academy of Women was founded in 1983 by the YWCA of Wake County for the purposes of honoring the superlative achievement of local women in various categories and disciplines. While their professional and community efforts are pioneering in nature, these women also embody the Mission of the YWCA: the elimination of racism and the empowerment of women.

What does it take to win an award like this?

In 2005 MMI client Billie Redmond was honored by the YWCA Academy of Women in the category of Entrepreneur. This prestigious award was made for someone like Billie, who has worked to empower women and minorities both in her personal and professional life.

Billie is President of Coldwell Banker Commercial TradeMark Properties, a Raleigh-based property management, leasing, and brokerage services company. Women have traditionally dominated the field of residential real estate, but Billie is one of the few women who holds a powerful position in the field of commercial real estate. She encourages other women to join this sector because, “It’s an exciting and thriving industry.”

As immediate Past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, Billie served an unprecedented extended term. During her time as Chair of the Chamber Executive Committee, she had the highest number of women and minority women members in the history of the chamber.

Billie contributes her leadership and business skills to a variety of civic and charitable activities. She and her family attend an historic church with a predominantly African-American congregation, and Billie was instrumental in raising funds for a new building for this church. She has actively supported the mission of the YWCA in so many ways, empowering women through her efforts with the Triangle Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) chapter and by serving as President of the Board of Directors for the Women's Center. Her strength, determination, commitment to excellence and desire to give back to the community exemplify all the qualities the YWCA Academy of Women seeks to honor.

Do you know a woman like Billie? Perhaps you are one yourself. If you are, consider having someone nominate you for this award. More than 200 women of extraordinary accomplishment have been inducted into the prestigious YWCA Academy of Women since 1983. You or someone you know may join their ranks next year.

The Humble News Release

People are always coming up to us and saying, “I see you everywhere!”

What they mean is that they constantly see our clients all over the Web, at dozens of functions, in the newspapers and magazines, winning all the awards, serving on all the important boards and volunteering for all the major charities.

Achieving this kind of saturation for a client is a slow process that begins with the humble news release and progresses over time. We steadily send out news releases about our clients every time something newsworthy occurs.

What do journalists consider newsworthy? Here are some ideas:

• Your company has a new product or service
• You have won an award
• You have been elected to a board of directors
• Your company has won an award
• An employee in your company has won an award
• Your company has hired or promoted an employee
• Your company has just signed a new client
• Your company has relocated
• Your company has expanded its facilities
• Your company is sponsoring an event for a charity
• Your company has re-launched a new Web site
• Your company has significantly changed or improved a product
• Your company has expanded into a new market
• You are offering a seminar or giving a speech at a conference
• There is a new trend in your industry
  

Any of these ideas above are also good reasons to “pitch” your story to the media. After all, the reason to issue a news release in the first place is to get the media to call back and interview you.

These short newsy pieces typically result in one- to two-paragraph stories in publications, and keep your name in front of your target public. The goal is to establish your reputation as a source. The media wants to speak to an authority in the field. Your strategy is to become a trusted source and expert in your industry.

When a topic on which you have expertise is in the news, send out a news release or a pitch with a brief comment and state that you are available for interviews. Over time, the media will begin to associate your name with your profession, industry or field of expertise.

The Power of the Puppy Dog Story

If you are a small business owner looking for awards to apply for, look first at your local chamber of commerce. The Pinnacle Awards Celebration, for example, is one of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce’s most prestigious events. It allows the Chamber to recognize both emerging companies as well as companies that have exhibited a substantial history as an established business.

Last night I attended the annual meeting of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, which is always a great event and a good opportunity to see everyone in town all at once. The speaker talked about the “age wave” and how the baby boomers will continue to influence our society, as we will not grow old or retire as any other previous generation. Plus, it sounds as if we are all going to live forever. I am not sure I am ready for that—and besides, my memory is going—so I will not even know it if I do.

But anyway, to return to the subject of awards, the Chamber gives Pinnacle Business Awards to five entrepreneurs whose companies have exhibited staying power, innovation, and community involvement. Another set of Pinnacle Business Awards go to companies who have exhibited steady profitability and growth over the past three years. One of the criteria for Steady profitability and growth is whether the company has maintained and/or increased profitability during challenging economic conditions.

This brings us back to the bio. Remember how your bio should describe what you have lived through to become a successful entrepreneur? Although it is written in a straightforward and unsentimental style, the bio is at its heart a story that affects the reader’s emotions. The readers (the judges for the award) will root for the “hero” (you) and want him to succeed.

Submissions that include what I like to call a “puppy-dog story” are the most successful. If the nominee works at the homeless shelter, play that up. Wrench people’s hearts. But remember that the puppy-dog story must be true.

Here’s an example of a puppy dog story in part of a nomination for the ATHENA Award ®, which honors both women and men for excellence in their profession or life's work, for devoting time and effort in their communities to improve the quality of life for others and for actively assisting women in realizing their full leadership potential:

On a personal level, I would like to tell you a little about how (nominee) has helped me achieve my highest personal potential. If my six-year-old daughter, Debbie, could thank (nominee) for making a difference in her life, she would. But Debbie cannot speak, because she suffers from cerebral palsy and lacks control over the muscles in her mouth. Debbie cannot even eat normally. When my daughter was a baby, (nominee) provided flexible hours for me, so I could provide the care Debbie needed and worry about my baby instead of my job. But (nominee) did not stop there.

When our family learned of a clinic that could help her perform daily functions that most people take for granted, we were overjoyed. Then we learned that the price tag for sending Debbie to the clinic was far from what our family could afford. That is when (nominee) stepped in and organized (name of benefit). The benefit raised over $25,000 dollars—enough to send both Debbie and me to the clinic.

At the clinic, Debbie underwent immersion therapy, a scientifically proven method for producing permanent neurological changes for patients challenged with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and other forms of paralysis. Since the clinic, Debbie has made a lot of progress.

(Nominee) is my hero. I have worked for her for more than 10 years, and she is absolutely the best manager I have ever known. She treats her other employees just as considerately as she treats me, and all of us enjoy generous benefits and salaries as well as an extremely positive workplace environment, with plenty of growth and challenge.

(The story above is a true one, although names have been changed to protect identities. )

The Women Extraordinaire Award

There’s an interesting phenomenon about awards: awards beget other awards. When an award committee sees that the nominee has won other awards, they are impressed. They say to themselves, “Wow, she must be good. Look at all these other awards she's won!”

Analyze the criteria for the awards you’re interested in. I’m a big believer in not trying to stretch it if you don’t qualify. For Triangle Business Journal’s 40 under 40 award (40 leaders under 40 years of age), don’t enter if you are already 41.

If the rules for an award state that you must be in the industry for five years, and you’ve only been active in that industry for three, it’ll be embarrassing when you get caught in a lie. And you will get caught!

Look at the award criteria carefully. Some criteria are loosey-goosey, while others are strict. Some you enter online and only need a paragraph of information, while others, such as the SBA Small Business of the Year, have enormously difficult and complex entry requirements.

If an award specifies you must submit the nomination in a 1.5inch white binder, they mean exactly what they say. You don’t want your submission thrown out because you submitted an original and 2 copies when they asked for an original and 3 copies. Follow the directions to the letter.

Women Extraordinaire is an award given by Raleigh-based magazine publisher Business Leader Media, publisher of Business Leader Magazine, The Park Guide, The Corporate Relocation Guide, Women in the Triangle and Triangle Real Estate, as well as national newsstand publications Money ‘N Profits and Opportunity World. Rules for the 2007 Women Extraordinaire award state that the following criteria should be found in the nominees:

• Is she a woman of outstanding accomplishments?
• Is she a leader, innovator, problem-solver and inspiration?
• Is she a mentor to others?
• Does she server the community by making a difference?
• Is she a nurturer of family and friends?
• Is she held in high regard by those in her circle?

Women interested in winning this award should look carefully at these criteria. Notice the language they use to describe the criteria, and spit this same verbiage back at them in your nomination letters. Give specific examples of how you have mentored others or why you are a problem-solver.

Winning this award is quite an honor and will garner you substantial publicity. Winners become a member of a select circle of powerful business women in the Triangle.

Awards: A Wonderful Way to Win Publicity

One of our account executives at MMI Associates, Inc. shared with us how a client had complimented an award application I had written about her. The client said the piece “brought a tear to her eye as she read it, wondering who this person was.”

The person was her, of course, and she had accomplished everything I had written about. We had not made anything up, and the client knew that. She was just expressing admiration ... but for whom? Herself.

The truth is that sometimes people do not know themselves and their true worth until they see it on paper or someone else points it out. Having a piece published about us or seeing ourselves on television somehow makes our lives seem more real, more purposeful and more dramatic than before. It also satisfies our deep inner craving to be valuable and appreciated. All of us enjoy the recognition brought by publicity, visibility and admiration from others. Publicity increases your status, number of contacts and earning power.

If you find you’re at war within yourself over the idea of self-promotion, you aren’t alone. Many people feel they shouldn’t “brag” about themselves or seek the limelight. But you’re not meant to hide your light, your talents, your abilities, your knowledge or your accomplishments. Your gifts are meant to be shared with society.

You can be an inspiration to others—or even a teacher and mentor, especially to those younger and less experienced than you. When you concentrate on helping others, you will naturally get over any lingering self-consciousness, and more often than not, you end up getting what you need as well.

Awards are a wonderful way to win publicity and goodwill from your public, because those organizations that give awards look at what you have accomplished for your community, your employees and others. Awards are almost always based on real merit and strong leadership in improving the lives of others in the areas of business, community service, and healthcare.

Next: Some common business awards you can apply for in the Triangle.

Applying for and Winning Awards

Nothing makes a business owner or professional look quite as trustworthy or attractive to potential clients as one who has won awards and recognition. MMI client Cynthia Anderson is a good example. Cindy is managing partner of CD Anderson, P.A., a full service CPA firm that sets itself apart from others by establishing personal relationships with each of its clients.

In these days when accounting irregularities can bring down entire companies and ruin employee retirements, an upstanding and ethical accountant like Cindy Anderson draws clients who want to feel they are in safe hands. As an executive advisor first and an accountant second, Cindy exercises sensitive professional and moral judgments with her clients, always upholding the highest standards.

Cindy recently was awarded recognition in the 2006 Class of Business Leader’s Women Extraordinaire. This is one of a string of awards Cindy has won since she signed with MMI Associates, Inc. In 2004, Cindy was named North Carolina’s “Business Woman of the Year” by the Business Advisory Council in Washington, D.C. She was also recognized in 2005 when she won the Triangle Business Journal’s Women in Business Award for her exemplary leadership skills. Prior to being named a Woman Extraordinaire in 2006, Cindy was recognized when she received the Triangle Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Award, which honors successful business leaders under the age of 40 who are making a difference in the community.

As a result of these awards, Cindy has seen steady increases in the number of referrals from her existing clients plus a growing stream of new clients. Cindy’s awards are testimonials to her excellent standards and professionalism.

Applying for and winning awards and recognition is an art that has a snowball effect, gathering momentum with every new award you win. Although your nomination letters will be signed by other individuals who recommend you for the particular award, you will use variations of the information contained in your bio to write these nomination letters yourself, or at the very least, provide your nominators with written copy to which they may add their own ideas about you.

Here is where the story elements of your bio become important. In an earlier post, we said that a story describes how a “hero” overcomes adversity? People always root for someone who has passion for what they do, takes risks, overcomes great odds to succeed.

You are the “hero” of your bio, and the information you include in your bio becomes fodder for almost any business award. For example, the esteemed Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award asks the following three questions, among others, about the nominee:

• Discuss the nominee’s high standards relating to him/herself, the business and his/her determination to be successful.
• How does the nominee demonstrate perseverance in the face of adversity and overcome obstacles?
• Describe how the nominee is an independent thinker and is willing to take risks in the face of uncertainty.

Extracting this information from your bio is a straightforward matter if you’ve given the document proper time, thought and effort.

Authenticity: Your Key to Success

Martha Stewart has said that she realizes she’s more than a person -- she’s a brand.

Your personal brand is a larger-than-life version of you. It’s the identity or role you play in your business, community and social spheres. It’s your overall image and how people feel about that image. Crafting your personal brand so that you have power, influence, respect, goodwill and loyalty from your public is the goal of PR.

When PR professionals help their clients create a personal brand, we don’t encourage them to act phony or pretend to be something they aren’t. Instead we encourage people to figure out what their strengths are, then play to those strengths.

Faking it isn’t cool. Just look at the serious dressing down Oprah Winfrey gave author James Frey for the lies perpetrated in his supposed nonfiction memoir, A Million Little Pieces. Ouch. That whole episode was painful to watch unfold.

Maybe one of the reasons Reality TV is so popular these days is because rather than watching professional actors playing scripted parts, we are watching actual people being their (supposedly) authentic selves. On reality shows such as "America’s Biggest Loser" and "America’s Next Top Model," ordinary people’s transformations fascinate the millions who watch.

But building an authentic personal brand is a larger effort than simply telling the truth or being yourself. It has to do with finding meaning in your personal and professional life, doing what you’re meant to do, following your unique path with real passion, and letting the world know about what gifts you have to give.

In the PBS series, “The Power of Myth,” journalist Bill Moyers interviewed the late professor and mythologist Joseph Campbell, who said that giving your gift to the world will have to come out of your own experience and the fulfillment of your own potentialities, not someone else’s. Campbell’s words echo Shakespeare’s, “This above all: to thine own self be true,” and Goethe’s, “As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”

Pretending to be something you’re not creates suffering and confusion. Imitating someone else will never allow you to shine as a special star. So start out by examining who you are and how you can promote your unique value to the world. If you are feeling doubt, confusion or despair about your personal brand, just continue to deal with others in an honest and accountable way. Act upon your values and publicly affirm them. Be authentic!

The late Robert Terry, author of Authentic Leadership, said that “Authenticity self-corrects.” I think he was right.

“Pecha-Kucha” PowerPoint for Business Presentations

Two Tokyo-based architects named Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein have turned PowerPoint into both art form and competitive sport with an innovation called “pecha-kucha” (Japanese for "chatter"). I just read about this invention in the September issue of Wired Magazine in an article by Daniel H. Pink.

Pecha-kucha (pronounced peh-chak-cha) applies a simple set of rules to presentations: exactly 20 slides displayed for 20 seconds each. To see an example, watch Daniel Pink’s own version at:

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-09/st_pechakucha

After viewing Pink’s pecha-kucha PowerPoint presentation, I felt inspired. Pecha-kucha is the answer to the “Death by PowerPoint” problem that plagues many business presentations. People misuse PowerPoint by forcing audiences to sit through lengthy and tedious presentations with too much text -- which the worst offenders tend to read aloud. Pink put it well when he said you can “transform corporate cliche into surprisingly compelling beat-the-clock performance art.”

And that brings us back to personal branding and making an impact on your audience. Are you giving a PowerPoint presentation at your next business meeting? Consider the pecha-kucha way of doing things. Transform your weary 20-minute PowerPoint into a dynamic 7-minute performance. What to do with the extra time? Question-and-answer might be a good way to follow up.

This format lends itself perfectly to the 5 to 7-minute format of Toastmaster speeches. As the President of Clayton Area Toastmasters, I’m going to share the new pecha-kucha idea with my club and use it in my next speech.

Audiences appreciate pecha-kucha. This innovative format is being used in big cities all over the world, mostly by architects and designers. A few leaders in the business world have caught on ... you can be among the first.

How to Handle the Media

If you have a communications or public relations department, let them take the lead in handling the media. This especially holds true during a crisis. Insist that journalists contact your communications or public relations department first, for the simple reason that it gives you time to find out vital information such as:

• Who the journalist is
• Which media outlet the journalist works for
• Why the journalist is seeking your input

If your company does not have a communications or PR department or an outside PR agency, make sure you ask the journalist those questions yourself before proceeding. No responsible, professional journalist will refuse to answer such basic questions.

Know ahead of time what you want to say and have a written document of “Talking Points” in front of you. This is your opportunity to communicate a positive message about your company and how it is handling an admittedly negative situation.

The typical interviewee simply waits for the journalist to ask the questions and hopes for the best. But the journalist has no interest in delivering your message for you, unprompted. Instead, ask yourself who will read, hear or see the story, and what message you want to convey to them. Then take control of the interview.

Make no mistake about it: the media has an insatiable hunger for stories with negative or disastrous implications. How you handle yourself during the interview or in front of the cameras will make all the difference in the world. Keep your sense of humor, do not let anyone goad you into an angry response and stay humble. The media carries a bigger stick than you do.

It is not enough to know what you want to say; you must also practice how you want to say it. If you give journalists the choice, they will almost always go for the snappy quote or “sound byte” over the carefully chosen, detailed explanation every time. Distilling your points down to their bare essence takes some practice, but unless you want the journalist to do it for you, you will have to be succinct.

Use a hook to grab the interest of the journalist and subsequently the public, something easy to remember. Sometimes this is called a “tagline,” which is a pithy play on words or a saying that describes the situation in a nutshell and resonates strongly with your audience. The public tends to remember what they hear first out of your mouth and what they hear last. Let your concern show. For example, Duke University Health System’s message regarding the hydraulic fluid fiasco could have been something as simple as, “We made a mistake, but we will stop at nothing to make it right.”

The rules of the “elevator pitch” come into play here. Imagine that your time with the journalist equates with the time you might spend riding an elevator. If you only have up from one to three minutes to pitch your side of the story, what exactly will you say? This is your key message. Consider supplementing your words with images and other media tools. A picture or a video can trump words.

Rehearse your key message and ask someone in your company to throw “tough” questions at you to prepare yourself for what you may face from the media. Otherwise, during the actual interview, you might get caught up in the moment and say something you may regret.

Stay On Message

Do not repeat your sound byte more than twice, because you do not want to alienate your listeners. Know when to stop talking. Media interviews are not conversations. Say what you mean to say and then stop talking.

Do not volunteer unnecessary information and do not talk “off the record.” There is no such thing as off the record. It is all the explanations, qualifications and “by the ways” that often get a spokesperson into trouble. In politics, this is called “staying on message.” The spokesperson who stays on message is far less likely to be drawn into trouble.

Do not try to finesse your way out of answering questions you would rather not answer. If there are areas you will not discuss, tell the journalist immediately what they are and why. Never say: “No comment.” Instead say, “I cannot talk about that because there is a lawsuit pending, but here is what I can tell you.”

Know The Media’s Boundaries

Be ethical in your dealings with journalists. For example, you should never send a gift to a journalist, offer him special treatment in any way or try to obtain an advance copy of the story. The media is in the business of reporting events as they actually happen, and this is to everyone’s advantage. Never stand in the way.

Journalism ethics do include the principle of "limitation of harm," which means that ethical journalists should treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.

Knowing the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics will help you in a crisis PR situation where the media must balance the public’s right-to-know with the limits of taste and decency.

Develop a Crisis Communication Plan Ahead of Time

The Institute for Crisis Management defines a crisis as: "a significant business disruption which stimulates extensive news media coverage. The resulting public scrutiny will affect the organization’s normal operations and also could have a political, legal, financial and governmental impact on its business."

When your integrity or reputation or that of your company is threatened by negative media attention, you have a PR crisis on your hands. The crisis can be brought on by an accident, an omission, a defective or contaminated product, a scandal, a natural disaster or misbehavior. If in the eyes of the media or general public you don’t react appropriately to the situation, your PR crisis becomes even worse.

In a time of crisis, don’t put your head in the sand and don’t say, “No comment.” Your company should report the bad news, even if your CEO has been accused of a crime. This proactive approach prevents your company from being put in a weakened, defensive position. Have a crisis communication plan and a designated crisis team in place before anything adverse happens.

The crisis team and its tools should include the following:

• Competent spokesperson(s) who can answer calls from the media promptly and have enough media training to know what to expect and how to conduct themselves.
• People who can escort media professionals when they arrive on your premises. This is especially important if the crisis involves safety issues, such as a fire or a chemical spill, but remember that journalists can ask anyone anything and you must never give the appearance of trying to hide something or over-control a situation.
• Cell phone numbers and contact information for everyone on the team, because the crisis could occur in the middle of the night.
• Procedures for how and when the crisis team will meet, how they will obtain and draw up a list of the known facts regarding the negative situation, how they will approve the action plan and prepared statements, and how and when they will disseminate the information to the company employees and the media.
• A template for a news release with fill-in-the-blanks to contain, at a minimum, the standard who, what, when and where of the negative situation. This news release should be sent out within hours of the crisis.
• A ready-made contact log to be filled in with the names of journalists and persons affected by or involved with the PR crisis.
  

Often it is best to designate one individual as the primary spokesperson to represent your company and interact with the media throughout the PR crisis. This person should tell the truth and should never speculate. To help this spokesperson, the crisis team must provide a list of all the known facts and provide it fast.

If the spokesperson does not know the facts, he or she should say something to the effect of: "We are still gathering the facts, but we will hold a news conference at (place and time).” If no place and time have been determined yet, the spokesperson should obtain the name and number of the journalist and call that person back with the information ASAP.

Crisis Communications Management

When Duke University Health System discovered in December 2004 that patients at Durham Regional Hospital and Duke Health Raleigh Hospital had been exposed to instruments accidentally cleaned with used hydraulic fluid rather than detergent, the system had a classic public relations (PR) crisis on its hands.

In a PR best practices approach, Duke should have told the truth, told it all and told it fast. However, this is not the approach that Duke University chose to take. Instead of reining in the runaway freight train, Duke stepped back and let the patients and the media charge ahead and tell the story themselves, and the result was not favorable to Duke.

When the worst happens, one of the first steps a company should take is to act quickly and decisively to tell their side of the story to the media. Usually this strategy ends the PR crisis much sooner than simply remaining silent, because saying nothing can often be the worst way to handle a crisis.

Duke said nothing to the media, and that error plunged them into a morass of negative publicity. When news reports began to surface of patients with post-operative problems they thought might have been caused by the tainted instruments, Duke’s reaction created the impression that the hospital was trying to conceal the facts or evade responsibility.

The Art of Crisis Management

1. A leader must step forward and take ownership of the problem.
2. The spokesperson should tell the truth, tell it all and tell it fast.
3. The spokesperson should not take a defensive, defiant stand, but instead, offer the wronged party a sincere apology in as personal a manner as possible.
4. The organization must take steps to ensure the problem never occurs again and let everyone know what these steps are and that the organization is taking them.

In letters sent in early January to patients, Duke did provide the name and number of a medical officer as a contact for patients experiencing problems. But the PR crisis was exacerbated when the hospital appeared to be dismissive of patients’ concerns, stating that a certain percentage of surgical patients experience complications, and besides, Duke’s November and December statistics were not any higher than the norm.

Citing cold statistics did not make any of the affected patients rest easier. An apology would have worked far better. A grassroots advocacy group, Sorry Works! indicates that hospitals and physicians should never withdraw behind a wall of silence, but should talk to families freely and openly. Patients want to hear an apology and an explanation of what happened. They want to be reassured that corrective action has been taken so that someone else will not be forced to go through what they did.

Patients often turn to lawyers out of anger and frustration when doctors and hospitals stop communicating with them. The widely-held belief among health professionals that admitting responsibility and apologizing will bring on malpractice suits and be used against them in court is a myth, according to Sorry Works!

What is surprising is that Duke failed to handle the hydraulic fluid incident any better after having gone through a previous PR crisis in 2003, when doctors transplanted a heart and lungs with the wrong blood type into a patient who subsequently died. The hospital also stayed silent for several days in that case.

The Most Powerful Bios Tell a Story

To create the career you want, you must communicate to your various publics with pure, intense authenticity and fervor. The most powerful way to communicate is to tell a story--your story.

The bio describes your major goals, your struggle against strong odds to achieve those goals, the climax of your eventual achievements and what you have learned or realized from your experiences. Write your bio in the third person, referring to yourself by name and as “she” or “he.” Once you have captured the main elements of your personal story, polish and streamline until you have no more than two or three pages of double-spaced text.

Use the Power of Fable

By shaping a bio into story form, we can make use of the power of fable. In stories, the hero takes a journey from living a predictable and safe yet unfulfilled existence to living the fulfilled life of his dreams. The hero wants something and faces tough obstacles to get it. He may want to win something--a contest, a dream job, a big business deal or a war.

On the other hand, the hero may want to stop something bad from happening, such as a business merger, an assassination or getting fired. He may want to escape an unfulfilling job, a war-torn country or a dysfunctional family. He may want to find, retrieve, rescue or protect something, such as a long lost person, a piece of art, a secret document, a stolen painting or a tarnished reputation.

The hero’s attempts to get this something, whatever it is that he wants, is his outward journey. But the hero also has an inward journey. This inward or inner journey is one of transformation and has to do with changing one’s self-image and living a more fulfilled life. The inner journey almost always moves from doubt and uncertainty to courage and success.

Anyone who reads a powerful business bio is moved to empathize with what the person has lived through to become a successful business owner. Although it is written in a straightforward and unsentimental style, the bio is at its heart a story that affects the reader’s emotions. The reader roots for the hero and wants him to succeed. When you write your bio, keep in mind that you want people to understand you, sympathize with your struggles and tough choices, and celebrate your triumphs.

Although your nomination letters for awards will be signed by other individuals who recommend you for the particular award, you will use variations of the information contained in your bio to write these nomination letters yourself, or at the very least, provide your nominators with written copy to which they may add their own ideas about you.

Here is where the story elements of your bio become important. You are the “hero” of your bio, and the information you include in your bio becomes fodder for almost any business award. For example, the esteemed Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award asks the following three questions, among others, about the nominee:

• Discuss the nominee’s high standards relating to him/herself, the business and his/her determination to be successful.
• How does the nominee demonstrate perseverance in the face of adversity and overcome obstacles?
• Describe how the nominee is an independent thinker and is willing to take risks in the face of uncertainty.

Talking points and interview questions for print, radio, TV and podcasts are also based on the bio. Extracting this information from your bio is a straightforward matter of steering a journalist’s questioning toward the topics on which you are most qualified to speak and for which you feel passion.

The Peer Advisory Group: Part II

The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the voice of America’s 10.6 million women-owned businesses, has its own version of peer advisory groups. They are called NAWBOards—informative, supportive, motivating groups focused on exchanging ideas and best business practices in a small and intimate setting. Based on the members’ needs, a NAWBOard can act like a board of directors, a networking group or a group of professional women exchanging ideas about business and balance in their lives, according to the NAWBO Web site.

When Patty first started her company, she belonged to a NAWBOard of amazing, highly successful women. How she got into that group was anybody’s guess, Patty jokes, because she had been in business for only about 10 minutes. Patty wanted to hire her first employee, but she didn’t have a clue about payroll, taxes and withholding. The members of her NAWBOard jumped right in and gave Patty a basic “Employee 101” class, answering all of her questions. Thanks to their help, she started off on the right path and avoided some mistakes that could have been costly.

Start Your Own Peer Advisory Group

Sometimes it may be easier, more effective and more economical just to start your own peer advisory group. How do you go about creating one? Let’s say you are a sales manager, facing the same challenges and problems that other sales managers in other industries face. Seek out those other sales managers—not the ones in your industry, but the ones in non-competing industries. The reason behind this approach, of course, lies in protecting trade secrets from your competititon.

When your advisory group is composed of sales managers from other industries, however, you don’t have to worry about divulging trade secrets. Invite five or six people to meet with you on a regular basis, even if it’s only twice a year. It is important that everyone in the group commits to these meetings and to the group process.

Confidentiality is an absolute requirement. Sit down together and ask these other sales managers for their advice about what you should be doing and how you can advance yourself. Besides sales managers, maybe you can include a banker and an accountant in the group. Most people will be flattered when you ask them to participate in a peer advisory or mastermind group.

After you get commitment from your chosen individuals, make sure that you do not waste anyone’s time. Be prepared with a set of topics or questions to discuss, and provide this list to everyone ahead of the scheduled meeting so that they have time to ponder their input and possibly even do some research.

At the meeting, be prepared to “shut up and listen.” You asked for help. Now you must take the suggestions of your advisory group very seriously and act on their advice. Nothing will happen unless you take action! Not only must you act, but you must demonstrate to the group at the following meeting that you acted on their advice. Tell them the results. This is extremely important. If you fail to act, you will insult your peer advisory group in a fundamental way.

Don’t neglect to send each member of your peer advisory group a thank-you note or email to acknowledge their contribution to your career. It’s just good PR.

The Peer Advisory Group: Part I

To build a network that can actually be supportive of you, it is essential to go beyond the obvious steps of joining professional and industry organizations. Strategic networking is something much more than simply knowing lots of people, or even contacting them on a regular basis. It is developing real relationships with those who are in a position to help you—and you to help them.

Napoleon Hill first introduced the concept of the “MasterMind Group” in his classic book, Think And Grow Rich. With problem-solving, brainstorming, inspiration and motivation as their primary goals, mastermind groups take their individual members to higher levels of accomplishment and insight than what any could achieve on their own.

In a modern take on this principle, the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO)—a nonprofit organization that connects top women entrepreneurs at the multimillion-dollar level for greater personal and professional success—has implemented the ultimate in peer advisory groups.

Peer advisory groups are the best method for those who are growing their businesses to learn what they should do next, according to Marsha Firestone, Ph.D., president and founder of the WPO. Marsha says, “Adult learning theory tells us that adults prefer to define for themselves what and when to learn, a concept I call just-in-time learning. In this type of learning, the learner decides for herself what skills and knowledge she needs to strengthen and when she needs to accomplish it.”

Marsha goes on to say that research by the Edward Lowe Foundation , an organization that helps entrepreneurs navigate second-stage growth through retreats and online forums, indicates that entrepreneurs learn faster and better when they learn from one another. In a WPO peer advisory group, members come from non-competing industries, and everyone must be open and willing to share information about finances and other sensitive issues. Confidentiality is essential. Peers must feel safe about sharing trade secrets.

Vistage (formerly TEC International) is an organization that uses an advisory group format to provide CEOs worldwide with business information and support. Group members meet once a month for a full day with up to 16 chief executives, presidents or business owners from non-competing industries in a trusted and confidential setting to share their business expertise, solve problems and come up with new ideas for better solutions. Like the WPO peer advisory groups, each meeting is professionally facilitated by a highly-trained Vistage Group Chair.

Business Etiquette Tips for Mixing, Mingling and Meeting

When you are mingling with and meeting people, hold your drink in your left hand. This leaves your right hand free for shaking hands. As you shake hands, ensure that your thumb joint meets web-to-web with the other person’s thumb joint, grasp firmly, give two or three pumps and maintain eye contact. Men: Wait for the woman to extend her hand first. Women: Do not fail to extend your hand first!

Introductions in the business world differ from those in the social world. Gender equality prevails, and if you’re introducing peers, it doesn’t matter whom you introduce first. But if you are introducing a person to someone of higher rank, say the name of the higher-status person first. A person of less authority is always introduced to the person of higher authority and prominence: “Mr. CEO, I’d like to introduce Jane Doe, my business associate.”

In terms of rank, clients are afforded higher status than your colleagues, so address your client first and introduce your colleague to the client: “Ms. Top Client, I would like you to meet John Doe, the head of our litigation department.”

What If I Can’t Remember Someone’s Name?
When you cannot remember someone’s name, introduce your wingman to them. Say something such as: “Hello, nice to see you. May I introduce my colleague, Mary Smith?” Your wingman then smiles and says, “Hi, I’m Mary Smith,” and extends her hand. The person with the unknown name then automatically responds with his or her name: “I’m Robert Brown. Nice to meet you, Mary.”

If you have no wingman, you may have to admit, “I’m sorry, but I’ve momentarily gone blank. Tell me your name again.” Most people will not take offense.

If you are with two or more people and can’t remember everyone’s names, simply ask: “Has everyone met one another?” People will take it from there.

Making chitchat or small talk with others at an event, especially if they are complete strangers, can be challenging. A good rule of thumb is to open a conversation with an innocuous topic, such as why the person is there. Ask the other person, “How did you learn about this event?”

Phrasing questions so that they cannot be answered with a simple “Yes” or “No” will stimulate conversation. When meeting new people, your goal is to at some point give your 30-second commercial, find out about the other person, and determine whether you can help that person.

Exchange business cards only if you see the potential for a helpful relationship. Indiscriminately handing out business cards is not strategically effective. Later you can make notations on the back of the card about the circumstances under which you met the other person, what you discussed, and what help you can offer each other.

Your Two-Minute Introductory Speech

When you are called upon to give a speech, you need to create a written introduction that summarizes your personal brand. This is very important if you want to make an impact on your audience. The two-minute canned introduction is a product you will create that is based on your bio. No longer than 250 words, the best introduction does four things:

1. Sets you up as a leader and expert in your industry or profession
2. Explains why you are passionate about what you do
3. Says something unique about you
4. Finishes with a personal brand slogan, a catchy phrase that will stick in the audience’s memory.

The brand slogan is sometimes called a “tagline,” which is a succinct play on words that captures the essence of you, your product or service. The tagline should resonate with your public or target market. A tagline is the sound bite that comes to mind whenever people think of your brand. Political figures are especially oriented toward the use of taglines. Remember how past President George H.W. Bush was dedicated to traditional American values and wanted to make the United States “a kinder and gentler nation”?

Here are few more well-known examples of personal brand taglines:

• Author John Gray: “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus.”
• Civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “I Have a Dream.”
• Real estate mogul Donald Trump: “You’re fired.”
• Model and television show host Tyra Banks: “You’re still in the running towards becoming America’s Next Top Model.”

When you examine personal brand taglines, you see that many are taken from television shows, commercials, the titles of books or speeches. In her PR business, Patty Briguglio uses a couple of taglines. One is, “I’m good at what I do.” Another is, “I get results.”

When you are being introduced as a speaker, it helps to coach your introducer just a little bit by having the person read your introduction aloud to you ahead of time. This helps the introducer feel confident about the pronunciation of your name and perhaps other words you have used in the copy. It gives an introducer a chance to ask questions and feel that he or she knows you a little better. Introducers should be trusted, influential members of the organization or association you are addressing.

One gracious technique used by Toastmasters International is for the introducer to shake hands with the speaker before departing the podium. Never pass up an opportunity to have yourself effectively introduced in this way by someone else when you are the primary speaker for an event or a meeting. Even if you are just the facilitator of a panel, a proper introduction will set the stage. The audience watches you expectantly. You are in the spotlight. Smile! Take a breath and then speak.

6 Uses for the Bio

The story of your professional life is known in the PR business as a bio. Your bio describes your major goals, your struggle against strong odds to achieve those goals, the climax of your eventual achievements and what you have learned or realized from your experiences.

A bio tells much more about you than a resume or a simple chronology of where you were educated and what companies you have worked for, owned or sold. These elements are part of the bio, of course, but they are the skeletal structure, not the flesh-and-blood.

To draw out your own story, ask yourself the following questions:

• What is important to you about your family and heritage?
• What drew you to your profession or industry?
• Did you have a mentor? What did that person teach you?
• What is the most fulfilling aspect of your work?
• What is your most powerful dream?
• What is extraordinary about you? How do you stand out from others in your line of work?
• What struggles have you been through in your personal and professional life?
• What accomplishments are you most proud of?
• How do you give back to your community?
• Are you active in professional organizations? Which ones, and what have you accomplished for those organizations?
• What awards or honors have you won? Which ones would you like to win?
• Where do you plan to be in five years? Ten years?
• What advice would you have for others, especially young people, who are just starting out on the same road you have traveled?

Write your bio in the third person, referring to yourself by name and as “she” or “he.” Once you have captured the main elements of your personal story, polish and streamline until you have no more than two or three pages of double-spaced text.

If we said that your personal brand is like your “house,” then your bio is its “foundation.” To reach the media -- even the broadcasting media -- you start out with a written bio. From this bio, you will eventually create many other documents:

1. An “About” blurb for your news releases and published articles
2. Nomination letters for awards you want to win
3. Talking points or sound bites for radio, TV, podcast, media interviews
4. Sample interview questions to hand to a journalist
5. Two-minute speech for someone to introduce you as a speaker
6. Web site “About Us” or “About Me”

All of these documents are distilled from the bio. Everyone has a story, but some stories are more heroic, riveting and moving than others. You want to be among the latter.

4 Ways To Make Yourself Known as an Expert

Early signs usually appear in your childhood or teen years. You have a strong interest in one thing or another, and one day you realize you know more about it than any of your friends.

Take Ned Jennings, for example. As a child, he was always fixing things, just like the guy he most admired—Scotty on Star Trek. Ned dreamed of becoming an engineer. Today he heads FreemanWhite, North Carolina’s largest and oldest architectural and engineering firm.

Even as a teen, television historian Wesley Hyatt showed a propensity for remembering odd bits of information regarding the television industry. Today he is a recognized pop culture expert. Hyatt became an expert after years of dabbling in the field, but he followed a series of identifiable steps to establish himself:
1. He published books.
2. He spoke to groups and made appearances at bookstores.
3. He became a blogger.
4. He made himself a resource for the media.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Communications and English, Hyatt served as editor for weekly newspapers in Hillsborough, N.C. and Jamestown, N.C. While doing research for a story, he noticed that no definitive book on daytime TV had ever been published, and he decided to write the first.

Get a Book Published
Publishing a book on your area of expertise is de rigueur for establishing yourself as an expert or leader in your field. Having a book out there gives you instant credibility. It can get you on television shows and speaking circuits. Speakers with published books earn more than those without. To get yourself known in your field, you should publish a book, even if you have to use a ghostwriter.

Hyatt sent out three query letters to potential publishers, and all three responded positively. He chose Billboard Books because the editor asked insightful questions and offered to expand the scope of the book to include photos. To research the book, Hyatt relied on Shokus Video, a leader in supplying classic 1950s TV shows to the home video market.

Hyatt’s first book, The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television, came out in October 1997 and covered multiple genres—everything from game shows, soap operas, sports and cartoons to kids’ shows. The book proved popular with libraries. Hyatt did most of his publicity himself, garnering an article in the Chapel Hill Herald and good reviews from the Library Journal and American Reference Books Annual (ARBA).

Other books soon followed, including The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits, Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978, A Critical History of Television’s The Red Skelton Show, 1951-1971 and Emmy Award Winning Nighttime Television Shows, 1948-2004.

Obtain Speaking Engagements
To promote his books, Hyatt spoke to groups and made appearances at bookstores. His most recently published book is Kicking Off The Week: A History of Monday Night Football on ABC Television, 1970-2005. This book covers the complete history of Monday Night Football’s 35-year run on ABC, with chapters on the show’s inception, its influence on other networks’ sports coverage and the relationship between the NFL and ABC.

In the fall of this year, when football season is in full swing, Hyatt will give an author talk at the Bull’s Head Bookshop, located in the Student Stores at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He enjoys the give-and-take with an audience, and suggests Toastmaster’s International for those who want to speak to groups but whose speaking skills are rusty.

Become a Blogger
Hyatt consistently blogs about his subject on a blog at www.mmimarketing.com/blog, sponsored by MMI Associates, Inc., the public relations firm where he works as a writer. To promote yourself as an expert, you can use a blog as an effective, inexpensive communications and public relations tool. The business blog is a way for you to reach out to your customers, employees and stakeholders, and establish a personal connection with them. Like online discussion groups, promotions, events and user groups, a blog can facilitate the spread of buzz, or word of mouth marketing.

If you are managing your company's public relations efforts properly, you already respond to customers, show up at events, and take the concerns of user groups to heart. When you work to improve your product or service, a blog is another tool to reach out to your customers and give them the inside scoop about your efforts. Nothing sells like your own expertise, sincerity and enthusiasm.

Make Yourself a Media Resource
Hyatt has endeavored to become a resource for the media and make himself available for interviews. When the final show aired for The Sopranos, he was invited to be a guest on the Harry Ham radio show on KMOX St. Louis.

Hyatt’s status became official when game show media analyst Steve Beverly, who runs Weekly Game Show Magazine at http://www.tvgameshow.net/, interviewed Hyatt about Bob Barker of The Price is Right and subsequently has named Hyatt an expert.

It always helps to have another expert in your field proclaim you as a fellow expert. When that happens, you know you’ve arrived.

Your Personal Brand

Perhaps you already have a clear idea of your own personal brand. If you don't, begin by asking yourself the “Who, What, When, Where, Why and How” questions that every journalist knows by heart. Who are you and who is your public? What is your specialty, your gift to others? What are the things you value in life? When, where and why do you do what you do? How are you unique? How do you want to be perceived?

To stand out from the crowd, you must brand yourself in a distinctive way. Within the marketplace, your personal brand is your promise of value to your customers or clients. You want them to think of you as a leader and expert in your field, and you want to win their loyalty. What you are selling are the benefits that this loyalty will bring to them. These benefits depend on how your product or service makes your client feel.

One longtime MMI client, Erika Mangrum, President of the Iatria Spa and Health Center, likes to say, “Are we in the business of spa packages, massage and facials? Absolutely not! We are in the business of helping people find relief from the stress in their lives.” The brand that Erika and her staff stand for is one of relaxation and stress relief. More than 63 % of Erika’s market is defined as the “busy executive.” These people are pressed for time, and Iatria Day Spa and Health Center caters to its clients’ emotional needs for escape to an oasis of calm, relaxation and replenishment.

Give some thought to the emotions you want your personal brand to evoke. Do you like to make people laugh? Humor sells, and it has made Patty’s blog, Today With Patty, a daily entertainment stop for many. Perhaps like Patty, you enjoy brightening other’s lives by emphasizing the lighthearted, humorous side of existence -- all the while providing them with useful information and results. If so, concentrate on how your personal brand promises the emotion of amusement.

On the other hand, if you are an accountant, you want your personal brand above all to make people feel secure and safe. You want to come across as someone in whom others can place their confidence and trust. In these days when accounting irregularities can bring down entire companies and ruin employee retirements, an upstanding and ethical accountant is a trusted business advisor.

A horror writer such as Dean Koontz or Stephen King promises the reader terror and suspense. Many motivational speakers promise their listeners courage and confidence. A clown sells surprise and happiness. A priest is all about kindness and the hope of everlasting life and salvation. What emotional experience are you selling?

Ask yourself what adjectives best describe you. Are you results-oriented yet fun, like Patty? Mysterious and philosophical? Are you upstanding, ethical and trustworthy, like the ideal accountant or physician? Perhaps the words “powerful” and “commanding” describe you best? Are you a visionary intellectual? Or more of a people-oriented peacemaker?

Marsha Firestone, Ph.D., the president and founder of the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), says that through her experience with accomplished women business owners, she has observed that those who are most successful share some common personal characteristics. They are take-charge types who not only take responsibility for themselves but for others as well. They tend to take risks and are self-confident and driven. Most of them were not straight-A types in high school or college. These women tend to be the type of individuals who don't like to play by the rules. As students, they may have constantly challenged the status quo and created ways to get around the rules -- or any other obstacle in their paths.

Do these characteristics describe you? If they do, you may be a natural leader, destined to join the ranks of the world’s most powerful men and women.

Top 5 Ways To Work a Room

1. Network With Strategic Purpose
When you attend a networking event, take a client or coworker with you to “work the room.” This idiom means that you really are working, methodically moving around the room and introducing yourself to others, with a purpose in meeting new people that is business-related and strategic rather than social.

2. Take a Wingman With You
It is much easier and more fun to work a room with someone at your side as a wingman. A wingman stays at your side to introduce you to the right people and help you remember details such as names and personal information.

Patty once worked with a Congressman who loved to have her along at events as his wingman. His memory for names was very poor, but with Patty at his side to say, “Congressman, you remember John Doe from XYZ Organization,” he never had to worry about forgetting someone’s name.

It is the wingman’s responsibility to maneuver his “pilot” into the best position to take a shot at targeted industry and business opportunities. Your wingman should be ready to rescue you from pointless or potentially damaging encounters and swoop you away to something more promising.

3. Find Out About Other Attendees Beforehand
Before attending any event with your wingman, the two of you should know as much as you can about other attendees—names, photos, bios, positions and organizations—so you can target those whom you would like to meet and together plot a course of action.

If it isn’t possible to obtain a list of names ahead of time, scan the name tags when you first arrive. Ask people you already know at the event to introduce you to others. In this way, you will meet new people constantly under the most desirable of circumstances—that of trusted source.

Sometimes at an event or conference, you may scan the name tags, or obtain a list ahead of time, and see that there is someone in attendance that you would like to meet, but you have no wingman who already knows that person. In this instance, ask the host or the sponsors if they would be willing to introduce you to some of the people you don’t know. Usually they will make it their life’s mission to help you.

4. What To Do If You Have No Wingman
At some time or another you will attend a conference or event where you do not know a soul, or you will walk into a room and see only strangers because those people you know have yet to arrive. When this happens, look around for someone standing alone and approach them with, “I don’t know a soul here. Can I stand next to you and pretend I know you?” Only the rare misanthropist will spurn you.

5. Stay in Motion
After making conversation with this person—giving him your 30-second commercial and asking him about himself—suggest movement within the room by saying, “Let’s go get something to eat / drink,” or by saying, “Is there anyone here you would like to introduce me to?” Stay in motion.

Distribute Your News Releases

Unless you’re famous, the media considers few things about you to be “newsworthy.” Are you serving on a Board of Directors? Did you win an award? Get promoted? Are you speaking at a function or a conference? Did you win a new customer?

News releases about these topics typically result in only one- to two-paragraph stories in publications. But at least they keep your name and your head shot in front of your target public.

Don’t send a news release as an attachment to an e-mail. Copy your news release into the body of the e-mail. If an editor doesn't know you, chances are he will not open your attachment.

To distribute your news release, e-mail the news release to yourself, and use the "BCC" (blind carbon copy) function of your e-mail to send the news release to the names on your media list. Don’t use the "TO" function. You don’t want the editors receiving your e-mail to see the 250 other e-mail addresses to which you are distributing your release.

Post your releases on your own Web site in a special area called “News.” To ensure your releases are included on major online news sites, send them to one or several of the news release wires. You can bypass the media and put your news release directly in the hands of your customers this way. Online news distribution services include:

• PR Newswire at prnewswire.com. PR Newswire is the global leader in news and information distribution services for professional communicators.
• Market Wire at www.marketwire.com. Another service for professional communicators, Market Wire helps you distribute releases quickly and accurately, manage media contacts, add the richness of multimedia to your communications and monitor the news that affects you.
• Business Wire at www.businesswire.com. Business Wire is a global market leader in commercial news distribution. Thousands of member companies and organizations depend on Business Wire to transmit their full-text news releases, regulatory filings, photos and other multimedia content to journalists, financial professionals, investor services, regulatory authorities and the general public worldwide.
• PR Web at www.prweb.com. This leader in online news and press release distribution has been used by more than 40,000 organizations of all sizes to increase the visibility of their news, improve their search engine rankings and drive traffic to their Web site.
• Online Press Releases at www.onlinepressreleases.com. Advertises easy-to-use software with your press release delivered directly to the editor's e-mailbox. Targeted to your specific selection, each release is sent individually, not auto released or "blind carbon copied." Complete database of over 28,000 media contacts in the US and Canada. You can send your releases over and over again at no extra cost.
• Press Release News Network (PRNN) at www.prnn.com. PRNN guarantees that your press release will be catalogued into the major search engines. Within a week you will be able to see your business press release cataloged at Google, Yahoo, MSN, HotBot, AltaVista, and more. PRNN® will provide the most Advanced Social Media and Multimedia Press Release Distribution Globally. PRNN incorporates social channels within releases such as iTunes, YouTube, Twitter, Technorati, Digg, del.icio.us, Flickr, LinkedIn, and more to communicate to the online world.
• PR Leap at www.prleap.com is an online press release service that offers both free and paid distribution to search engines, newswires and websites. At no charge, PR Leap places your release on major search engines and distributes it to major newswires.
• PR.com at www.pr.com is a unique business community where you have a full company profile with which to promote your business, post products and services with full descriptions and images, distribute press releases, post job opportunities, and more.
• The Open Press, Inc. at www.theopenpress.com is not just another free press release portal. They exact industry standards for press releases and will not allow unprofessional press releases to be submitted through their services.
• The www.ereleases.com Web site says that a press release distribution is only as good as its database and newswire partner. eReleases has an exclusive database of opt-in (subscribing) journalists.
• The Internet News Bureau (INB) is an online press release service for businesses, offering clients the ability to reach more than 14,000 journalists and business professionals who have subscribed to receive their releases. See www.internetnewsbureau.com.

Compile Your Media List

What magazines, trade publications, newspapers, e-zines, Web sites and blogs do your customers read? What radio stations do they listen to? What TV shows do they watch? What professional associations do they join? To what clubs and organizations do they belong?

A media list is a crucial component of your PR plan. To promote yourself as an expert and leader in your industry or profession, know the media that influence your customers. Distribute news releases and articles to these media. Keep up with articles on your subject of expertise and know the media coverage by name of publication and journalist.

Try this. Go to Google News and type in your subject of expertise. Let’s say you are an accountant who owns a full service CPA firm specializing in consulting, financial services and leadership development. Type in “leadership development.” Google News will search through 4,500 news sources for articles on this topic, and you’ll see there are thousands. To narrow your search to find out your competition, type “leadership development consulting” in quotation marks. See the difference?

Compile your list and obtain the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of editors at each outlet. You can buy e-mail mailing lists from Gebbie Press or from Cision (formerly Bacon's). Your library will have access to online databases such as:

• The Gale Database of Publications and Broadcast Media, a comprehensive file containing detailed records on more than 87,000 newspapers, magazines, journals, periodicals, directories, newsletters, and radio, television and cable stations and systems.
• The Annual Editor & Publisher International Year Book, which lists addresses and editors of U.S. and Canadian daily newspapers, as well as alternative newspapers and specialty newspapers covering topics such as parenting, seniors, ethnic groups and real estate.
• The Writers Market, a database of more than 6,000 market listings, consumer and trade publications, syndicates and contact names updated every business day.
• The Encyclopedia of Associations, a comprehensive source of detailed information on over 135,000 nonprofit membership organizations worldwide. This can be helpful if your service or product targets a certain audience. A good example is Colorado author Christine Goff, who writes a birdwatching mystery series and often speaks to birdwatching groups.

Next: How to distribute your news release to the media and directly to your customers at the same time. Stay tuned.

Hone Your Pitch

Screenwriter Michael Hauge says screenwriters have less than 60 seconds to convince the people in power to read their script. They rehearse and hone their pitches until they can respond succinctly and on cue when asked, “What’s your movie about?”

You may not be a screenwriter, but if you’re in business for yourself, you face the same challenge. You often have less than one minute to pitch what your product or service will do for the potential client you just met. How do you respond when someone says “What do you do?” or “Tell me about yourself”?

In your 30-second pitch, let your listener know what your product, service, book, idea, strategy or business partnership will do for him. What need does it fill? What problem does it solve? Wrap up with a call to action if it’s appropriate. What you’re actually doing with this 30-second pitch is summarizing your personal brand. A personal brand tells your clients, customers, co-workers or employer four things:

• who you are
• what you do
• what makes you different
• how you create value for your target market

Here’s my 30-second pitch: “I’m a ghostwriter at MMI Associates, a PR firm known for getting results. I help clients win awards and get published -- and they don’t have to write a single word.”

Knowing your pitch and being able to verbalize it is one of the basics of being a more powerful and effective person on the job, in your community, at a conference ... and especially any time you need to “work a room” full of strangers. People will remember you.

What’s your pitch? I’d like to hear from you. If you want feedback from me and others on your pitch, post it in the comments section of this blog.