This edition we speak to David Press, Director at DMJ Recruitment.

Why do we use PR?

We use PR for a variety of reasons but a key motive is that it places us as experts in the market place and gives us a ‘voice’ within a crowded and competitive industry. As a prominent presence in the market place, gaining coverage in broadsheets and targeted press allows us to enhance our brand but also stay at the forefront of our existing and potential clients’ minds, especially during difficult economic times. PR is also a very useful marketing tool when trying to win new business, allowing us to demonstrate our successes and experience. One of the most important parts of our PR activity is our social media strategy. We use Twitter, Linkedin, our blog and our website to demonstrate our wider interest and knowledge in our respective markets and to engage with our candidates and clients.

How do you measure ROI?

It is often difficult to measure ROI as it takes time for the cumulative effect of the PR to filter through. However we monitor traffic through our website via Google analytics and notice an increased flow in traffic after a blog or article has been published. We also measure ROI by how our clients and candidates react to the press coverage or events they have seen and make a note of any direct response on our database.

What advice would you give…

Do not underestimate the impact of PR on your business. It is easy to dismiss it on the basis of an increased cost, but with consistently good coverage it will have an enormous impact on your brand and reputation. In a crowded marketplace you need to stand out as experts and this is actually an extremely cost effective way to do this. The access that PR has to online and print publications means that your business will start gaining recognition outside your sphere of loyal clients and candidates which is critical if you are looking to expand your business. It is also key to ensure that you use the PR to its best effect at client visits and pitches. It is an invaluable tool that will separate you from your competitors.

The Costa Concordia cruise ship incident has been plastered all over the news this week and with the ongoing debate of how this disaster happened continuing, I have been eagerly looking at the reaction of the cruise ships owners, Costa Cruises.

So what have I found? Truth be told, the answer is very little. There seems to be few, if any, statements from the company in much of the news coverage. This lack of communication is leading to widespread gossip about the whole incident and with each negative tweet or article the reputation of the organisation is sinking as quickly as the ship.

Have we learnt nothing from the BP oil disaster not too long ago? BP were highly criticised for their lack of communication during the crisis and I had hoped many organisations would take this example on board (no pun intended).

The key rules any organisation should follow when handling a crisis are:

1)      Communicate – don’t disappear off the radar the second disaster strikes. Communicate with the public and the media with constant updates. If an extended period of time has passed between communications, let them know you are still working and have nothing to report

2)      Don’t lie – liars get caught out eventually, and once they do the damage done to their reputation can often be irreversible

3)      Apologise – obviously I’m not suggesting you implicate your organisation or suggest you are fully to blame, but an apology goes a long way. In the cruise ship scenario, sharing your condolences to families who have lost loved ones and sympathy to anyone involved is highly recommended.

4)      Be concise – make sure you are being consistent with messaging. Nothing looks more suspicious than an organisation constantly changing their story

5)      Nominate a spokesperson – for the sake of consistency this should be the same person, preferably a senior member of staff with experience or training when it comes to speaking to the press

Finally, and most importantly, be prepared! Don’t wait until a crisis hits to discuss your crisis communications plan; that simply will not work. If you don’t have an effective plan in place you risk damaging you brands reputation which can have a domino effect on the business itself.

Chances are you will never need to implement the crisis communications plan, but it never hurts to be prepared.

The FA, not to mention UEFA and FIFA, consistently offers cock-up after cock-up when it comes to presenting themselves in a positive light. And Twitter has given the players the perfect platform with which to embarrass themselves on a regular basis. Honestly, the stupidity of some of them never ceases to amaze…

But the biggest football-related PR cock-up in recent memory (of all time?) has to be Liverpool FC’s stance on the Luis Suarez issue.

The fact that they initially stood by him is excusable to a degree (and I do recognise the cultural sensitivities and intricacies of the case). There was, after-all, a decent chance that he would be found innocent. But the stubborn refusal to shift an inch on this stance for days after the guilty verdict was plain ridiculous. And the apology issued by the club and Luis himself (through gritted teeth and anything but unreserved) was pitiful.

If any other company in the world had taken this position, it would be tantamount brand suicide. As it stands, Liverpool’s (previously unblemished) image has been tainted – but Anfield will still be full every weekend.

Football, bloody hell indeed.

This edition we speak to Maggie Berry, Managing Director of Women in Technology.

Q: Why do you use PR?
A: We use PR to make female technologists aware of the opportunities available to them in the sector, as well as helping businesses to understand the importance of gender equality in the workplace. We have so much to offer the industry that one of our major goals is to ensure that every woman in technology comes into contact with us at some point during their career. This can be through a networking event, through our site, or through reading our advice in the press coverage generated through PR. Another reason is that it has a completely different effect to advertising. Anyone with the right budget can buy advertising space, but PR places you as an expert in your field within prestigious and targeted trade publications.

Q: How do you measure ROI?
A: We measure ROI by how our clients and candidates react to the press coverage they’ve seen, and we monitor increases in our web traffic following PR activity. We get a lot of feedback on articles people have read that bring to light the positive work we do. That is how we know we’re getting our message out there.
Q: What advice would you give to recruitment businesses considering PR?
A: Don’t expect advertising and instant results. PR is a completely different kettle of fish and if you’re looking to use it to promote a short-term initiative, you may want to think about your aims. For example, if you’re trying to immediately convert sales, PR may not be for you. However, PR can work wonders for longer term aims, particularly given that recruiters aren’t always the most popular of professionals. If you have a niche and want to set yourself apart from the crowd and establish yourself in key media as an industry expert, PR is definitely for you. If you’re thinking about investing in PR, it is worth noting that identifying an agency that is an expert in your field may be more beneficial than a generalist PR agency. This is certainly the case with us and BlueSky, who know the recruitment sector and can identify with the challenges we face as a business exceptionally well.

The whole sorry affair was a seriously unfortunate event for RIM and left many of its users in the lurch. The Blackberry’s main selling point is how good it is for business use (and it is – I love my Blackberry) and for three long days it was as much use for that as the 1998 Nokia 5110 I used in sixth form, and it doesn’t have a camouflage clip on cover to soften the blow….

But the worst part of it was RIM’s appalling communications during those three days. No information at all was forthcoming, users were completely left in the dark. Nothing useful on the website, no messages sent to phones, no apology, no nothing. And all the while the press had a steady stream of negative Blackberry press to feed off..and boy did they feed.

They were always going to be swimming against the tide, but there wasn’t even a hint of an effort from RIM’s comms team to try to keep it at bay, or even reassure customers. The result? A further boost to the Apple/HTC smartphone camp and what I suspect may be the first nail in the coffin of the Blackberry as we know it…. Watch this space.

Now don’t get me wrong – I am a huge fan of social media and you’ll regularly find me tweeting away, ‘working’ LinkedIn and checking in on Foursquare.  But just recently I have begun to think about all the ‘noise’ and how incredibly disciplined you have to be. If I log onto Twitter, there are so many genuinely interesting articles/links that people are sharing that are relevant to my world that I could spend literally all day reading them.  I get weekly LinkedIn group updates in my in box – sometimes I just have to grit my teeth and ignore them – and then stress in case I have missed anything  important. And, because we are in the PR business and need to keep abreast of all new developments, I have also been playing around with Google +. 

So now I have the drumming back inside my head – what have I missed, what have I missed, what have I missed.

I think it’s time to go and have a drink and try to forget. But obviously I’ll check in on Foursquare in case you want to join me

Now, we don’t need to tell you that it’s inadvisable to badmouth your employer on social networks. It’s about as subtle as writing “I hate my job” on your forehead and even if it doesn’t get you in trouble, it certainly won’t single you out as an ideal candidate for promotion.

Under normal circumstances I would argue that, assuming a company has a proper social media policy in place, bringing your employers into disrepute in any way is enough to warrant at least a warning, at worst a dismissal.

However, as more context began to emerge I found myself, oddly, disagreeing with myself. While I still think Mr. Rowat was beyond foolish for posting anything negative about work on Facebook, let’s examine what he actually said. Having come back from holiday to find that work had not been done to a high standard, he grumbled:

“”Had a great day back at work after my hols who am I kidding!! Back to the shambles that is work.”

For a start, Mr. Rowat didn’t mention the company by name. To add to this, at the time of writing a quick search shows he has fewer than 100 Facebook friends – and he posted this to his private wall. While his comments may have been inappropriate, did they really constitute the “gross misconduct” for which he was sacked?

The plot thickens. As it transpires, David Rowat has cancer of the lymph nodes. He had worked at Argos for thirteen years, and even met his wife (who is also in ill health) there.  Facts that the media was all too quick to pick up on.

The story soon became a tabloid’s dream. An extremely unwell man, fired for having an ill-advised yet probably harmless moan on Facebook about a bad day at work, a story of company loyalty being paid back with callousness – you couldn’t make it up.

I’m not an expert in employment law – and I understand that social media needs to be used carefully and that companies need to stick to their policies in order for them to be effective.

But overall, what has caused the company more damage? The poorly thought out ramblings of someone fed up with a bad day at work? Or the business that fired a loyal employee with cancer and a family to support? You decide.

It goes without saying that everyone can become very busy at times. It’s not always possible to return emails or phone calls straight away, I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of neglecting the odd response, but it makes a world of difference to your professional reputation if you do reply swiftly.

Here’s an example: if I email a supplier asking about their services, and I’m met with a wall of silence, I certainly won’t chase them up on the request. I’ll ask around some more and find someone else in the same space who seems more responsive and on the ball. If it’s a choice between a supplier whose website and services look great, but who never answered my enquiry and one who might not market themselves well but is quick to respond and helpful, it’s a no brainer. I’ll go with the person who values my business enough to pick up the phone or write an email.

Replying to an email or a phone call quickly connotes professionalism far more than any expensive website or marketing strategy. These simple acts of good communication give you a chance to demonstrate your ability to build a good relationship and to show off your expertise.

It’s even more important to continue to respond quickly to your clients and associates throughout the working relationship. Word of mouth is a powerful thing and you will quickly become known as someone who’s reliable and knows what they’re doing.

Even if you don’t have an immediate answer to a question, acknowledging that it was asked is more important than spending a long time sourcing an answer only to reply a week later. Notify the sender that you’ve received their email and are looking into their query – and establish a reasonable time frame for when you might get back to them. This may not be the immediate answer they need, but it gives them confidence in your ability to help them.

With more channels of communication than I can count on two hands, it isn’t difficult to quickly get back to somebody, even if just to say you’re very busy and will respond at a later date. If you’re easy to get hold of and to deal with, people will want to work with you again. And all it takes is an email!