Just Peachy PR for Small Business

We're often asked whether PR is a useful marketing technique for a small business. There is no doubt that PR works significantly better for ANY businesses with an interesting story to tell - exciting new products, unusual industry, 'first ever to' - you get the picture.

That said, there are some simple PR activities that can be done for any business, big or small, to help drive the marketing effort. We've listed them below..

PR Tips for Small Business

· Be your own PR manager – communicate and promote your own good news stories with everyone, all the time.

· Make networking a priority – business is a numbers game and the more contacts you make, the more jobs you’re likely to get.

· Build your media network - get to know at least 3 journalists from your own local, trade and industry media.

· Use your website as a PR tool – add or update your media page, regularly include interesting news and project success stories.

· Keep communicating with customers – emails, newsletters, website are all opportunities to build good ‘pr’ for your business.

· Share your expertise – look for speaking opportunities and attend industry expos.

· Encourage customer referrals – the more happy customers talk about your business, the better!

We hope this tips are helpful for any small business 'peachy keen to incorporate a bit of PR into their marketing mix!

Stefani

Beautiful Things

Wandering through the online world this week, I was struck by how many blogs and websites there are that celebrate beautiful things in one form or another.

Some are personal blogs with images and thoughts on inspiring places and people. Some are entire websites, dedicated to sharing images and stories of beautiful things and the wonderful people who make them.

The gorgeous Glimpse of Style blog recently posted some of her favourite finds at Kif and Katast (one of which was lovely nancybird clutch bag). It's inspired me to to include some pics of a couple of the beautiful things I've seen this week..

This gorgeous vintage laptop sleeve from Uncle Ned is certainly beautiful, even if it is for boys!

Cute little cushions from Fatbirdfarm could entice me to move to the Yarra Valley...

To all those seriously talented people working hard to create beautiful things for us all - we salute you!

Stefani

Open To Art

I have just spent the weekend with close friends in the Yarra Valley for the official launch of the first ever Yarra Valley Open Studios (YVOS for short!).

One of my oldest and closest friends Nicola Stairmand is on the YVOS organising committee. Together we spent the better part of the weekend visiting the studios of some of the incredibly talented sculptors, painters, potters, jewellers and photographers taking part in this first YVOS event.

Given the Yarra Valley location, unsurprisingly almost every artist we visited had been affected by the horrific bushfires of Black Saturday. Some lost houses, some lost friends, everyone was impacted. The trauma of the fires was clearly reflected in many of the artworks we saw. Dramatic. Terrifying. Moving.

I think I saw for the first time that all art tells a story. Whether it's a painting, a piece of music, a performance or a book - all art is trying to communicate or express a feeling or idea to other people. Which is pretty much what we do on a daily basis. Perhaps in not such a visually moving or expressive way as those wonderful YVOS artists but as a storyteller, nonetheless.

While I may never have what it takes to be a 'real' artist, I have to say I was just a bit inspired. I just might even take up Nikki's offer of attending a life drawing class next time I'm in the valley. Who knows? Maybe my inner visual artist will finally have the chance to come out! So until next time, nurture your inner creative - you might surprise yourself!

Oh, and don't forget to head out to Healesville next weekend for YVOS.

Stefani

And How Exactly Did We End Up Here?

Sometimes you can forget why you started your business. You can get so caught up in the 'busyness' of everything, keeping clients happy, not missing anything, trying to be the absolute best mini pr agency in town and you forget why you started it all in the first place!

And then something happens that reminds you exactly why it was you thought going out on your own would be a great thing to do.

Contacting the media with potential stories is not an easy thing to do. Anyone who thinks it is, should have a go themselves. Editors, journalists and bloggers are busy professional people who don't appreciate being contacted with no-news story pitches. When you work for other people, you can often end up having to pitch what someone else thought was a good story - despite your own misgivings. This is not fun. Nor is it likely to be successful.

The most wonderful thing about starting NestPR was that it enabled Louise, Adam and myself to only take on projects that we were excited and passionate about. To be able to make our own decisions about what we'd like to work on and who we'd like to work with.

And so today, I found myself having yet another enjoyable conversation with a journalist who was just as excited about our client's story as we are! What a difference it makes to actually look forward to spreading the word about in this case, talented designers and the beautiful items they create.

We've been spoilt lately - working with fantastic Melbourne creatives like Adam Stewart, furniture designer extrordinaire, Emily Wright from nancybird and Uncle Ned, Nicola Stairmand of FatBirdFarm and Creswick Woollen Mills who make the most gorgeously decadent throws and blankets in Melbourne!

Each one has a great story to tell and the best thing for us is that spreading the word has never been more enjoyable or fun. And THAT'S why NestPR began.

So that's all From The Nest for today...have a great weekend.

Stefani

Welcome to From The Nest!

Adam, Louise and myself are a group of friends who've been lucky enough to wind up working together. Our business is called NestPR and we work with loads of interesting people, worthwhile projects and gorgeous products.

This week we're a bit excited about the launch of the new nancybird Spring/Summer range. The lovely Emily Wright, founder of the nancybird label, has designed a beautiful range of bags, wallets and belts inspired by the colours and textures of the Australian landscape.

Warm reds, dusty yellows and grey/greens stand out in luxe leather and hand-designed fabrics. The new season range is bound to be a hit and has already been picked up by TheAgeOnline this week.

My absolute favourite from the new nancybird range though has got to be the Weekender (see pic). As you can see, it's super stylish, fits loads of things and is perfect for spur of the moment overnight stays! I think I need at least three...

Adam, Louise and I plan to post regularly about all things PR - gorgeous new things, interesting events, great people plus comments and musings about life in general. Stay tuned and please let us know what you think.

Stefani