Business advice

I was recently talking to a business owner who was trying to re-brand herself just like some car companies who have been in the news. She has been running a PR business for a quite awhile and now is in the process of redoing the content on her home page. She asked for my advice on the wording and in the process told me that she was trying to decide on what made her different. She didn’t know it that she had hit the nail on the head of one of the most important questions for a business owner.

In journalism terms, it is called a hook. What is so different about your story that the readers are going to want to spend time going through the content. Readers these days are bombarded with more content than probably in the history of newspapers. They want something extremely interesting to catch their attention.

The same is true for someone running a business. If you are going to do public relations, for instance, who are you going to service? This woman’s answer to that was the usual: anyone who came in the front door.

There will come a time when they stop coming to the door. This can be compared to someone deciding to sell Tupperware. The first thing everyone does is call up friends and family. Eventually, your rolodex is used up. You start asking friends for use of theirs. Sooner or later you are going to have to go and collect new business cards. The question is who are you going to target. Now, it becomes who do you want coming in the front door. More important, what type of plan are you going to have to get them there?

Let’s give an example just to start you to thinking. No one is going to have the same answer. When I ran my own public relations firm, I went after a lot of attorneys. I used to advertise myself as some catering to business owners and all those professionals, along with Indian Chiefs. You have to try and be humorous if possible. The thing is that I took quite a few classes in business law. I had also been a legal secretary. I got along with attorneys. I knew how they think. I know how they tend to express themselves. I was also very good at helping them target their own new clients

I met a PR guy once on a chat board on CompuServe who had it down to a science. He only dealt with lawyers and only took senior partners on. Whatever their hourly rate was, he got half for his time. It worked so well that he only had to take on three or four clients a year.

In our constantly morphing market, I am not sure such a simple tactic would work. But, you get the idea. You have to zero in on a group that you know something about so you can relate to what their needs are and design services that suits them. This will also keep them coming back with their monthly retainer check.

At a loss to decide on a hook? Take the time to do so. If you are running a service shop, you have to focus on who you want as your clients. Do not pick up a niche for which their will be a steep learning curve. It can end in disaster. I have interviewed many top CEOs of companies who were once on the California Top 500. One told me his tale of his attempts to expand what had been a chain of convalescent homes. Their ended up depending on hiring expertise to deal with new acquisitions and the result was the company’s downfall.

I never said that finding a hook would be easy.

If you are not running a grocery store or selling medical supplies to diabetics, one day there will be a downturn in customers. If you have a hook in mind, you will be able to deal with it and be one step ahead. In this changing world, it is highly suggested you have more than one hook.

For more examples of my work: www.bellbusinessreport.com

Laura Bell
writer@well.com

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