by Mercedes Westbrook | Aug 8, 2018 | B2B Sales, Business, Meetings
Your marketing has paid off. The phone rings and you are invited for an interview on a popular radio show to discuss your field of industry expertise. After your initial excitement, it is natural that you might start to feel anxious, especially if you have never had an opportunity to speak live ‘on the air’ before.
Be aware that anxiety can quickly magnify into paralysing fear. This usually occurs in direct proportion to the degree of experience and understanding you may or may not have regarding public speaking and the immediacy of the radio interview environment.
Before your anxiety builds, arm yourself with the following tips so you can handle your interview with confidence and panache.
Tip #1
Research the station and the interviewer. Each radio station broadcasts to its own unique demographic of listener. Tune into the station and listen to the specific time slot you will be invited to participate in. How does the station ‘talk’ to its audience? Is it very formal in its style of broadcast or does it have a light-hearted and entertaining approach. If you don’t have time to listen in to the show beforehand, visit the station’s website. You are likely to find links to recordings of previous interviews that have taken place. Understanding the personality of the talk show host and the type of questioning techniques they like to use will also forearm you with how you can best respond.
Tip #2
Research the audience. While listeners may vary to a slight degree in age and lifestyle, there will be a core audience which will participate in listener call-ins and questions. Understanding the listener’s goals, expectations and assumptions will assist in your delivery of information and how you respond to listener engagement and enquiries. Remember that each and every listener may well be your next customer.
Tip #3
You are not going to have time to cover every point on the topic during the interview. Armed with the knowledge of your audience and the tone of the show, make a bulleted list of the main points you would like to communicate. Stay focussed on these main aspects of the topic throughout the discussion and keep referring to them with examples and personal anecdotes. Make sure you have at least one example that illustrates both a problem and its solution.
Tip #4
Establish your credibility with the audience upfront. Open with a strong story or perspective regarding the topic. Use rhetorical questions to match the type of questions the audience might be thinking. Make sure you cover the top five most frequently asked questions from your own customer base. Refer to the audience regularly and keep your information relevant to how it applies to their world.
Tip #5
Your voice is the only thing the audience has to refer to you as an expert. Keep your pace deliberate and your voice deep. Use pauses for effect and to guide your thought processes, so you don’t fall into the trap of the umhs and ahs. If the line of questioning momentarily stumps you, or you lose your train of thought, transition the conversation back to one of the topic’s main bullet points you jotted down at the beginning. Be forearmed and anticipate what might be tough questions regarding the subject.
Congratulations on securing your first radio interview. Be confident that you have all the information and answers to any awkward questions that may arise and approach your interview with focus and clarity.
Mercédes Westbrook is a journalist and editor with an extensive career in the media publishing arena working with top South African brand marketing and management teams over a variety of publications within their aligned industries.
As owner of www.firehorsemedia.co.za she has adapted her communication skills for the digital platform to include content creation, website design, content marketing, social media management, and public relations. She can be reached on mercedes@firehorsemedia.co.za
by Mercedes Westbrook | Aug 7, 2018 | B2B Sales, Business, E-commerce
You’ve finally realised that you need a website – well done!
With a fast upload and modern appeal, your new website will provide you with a global platform and a personalised voice to market your products and services to a potential market of 3 billion people (the number of current web users worldwide) – statistics you cannot afford to ignore in today’s digitally connected workplace.
Your website will instantly go to work to highlight your unique selling points, to educate audiences about the benefits of your brand, position you in the marketplace and keep customers connected with the latest news updates and user information through regular posts to your blog and social media sharing buttons.
Warning: We strongly advise that you don’t attempt to build your own website yourself. We have also seen the Wix advertisements and it can be tempting to think you can save a few bucks on some website DIY. Now is the time to remember what your Granny always said… buy cheap, buy twice. Unless you are IT savvy and have lots of time to play around with design ascetics, understand SEO content and have kept up-to-date with the latest security plug-in to prevent you from getting hacked, you are only going to waste precious time and money. Trust us, we have seen way too many customers fail along this route.
We suggest that instead you focus on your core competencies and entrust our tight-knit team of professional entrepreneurs with your website build, monthly back-end maintenance, blogging and social media sharing (where required) for a stress-free and effective reach out to your targeted audience online.
As a core group of tech professionals, we help you get your business online in the fastest and most effective manner without the headaches of trying to understand tech, back-end strategy and current online marketing tactics. And we do it because we care!
What you pay is…
1 page Scrolling Website – R5 500
Basic Website – R7 500
Standard Website – R9 500
Premium Website – R13 000
What you get…
A mobile responsive WordPress website in your field of specialisation using the latest DIVI Premium theme.
Installation of all necessary plugins for website aesthetics as well as seamless functionality. This includes Security plugins to protect your website against spam and hacking activity.
Set up of new email accounts.
SEO processes offering a Search Engine Optimization plugin that will be populated accordingly, thereby improving the site’s Search Engine Optimization with Google and other search engines. This plugin will also pull through your previous history with Google so as not to lose that from within Google’s Search Console.
Your own branding guidelines implemented over logos, images and design integrity.
Social Sharing buttons for site visitors to share your site on their own Social Media platforms.
Google map to your office premises.
Contact form to build your own database of customers.
A pull through of blog posts on the front page. There will also be a separate blog page where all your blog posts will be easily accessible to site visitors. This blog page will include a signup form.
Video clip Training session to familiarise you with the backend functionally so you can effectively upload your own content and media as and when required.
Monthly updates and security checks to keep your website running effectively.
T&Cs:
The above pricing includes all content and images supplied by the client. Should you need assistance with web content writing and image sourcing, an additional fee will be quoted.
Prices are quoted excluding Vat
Development of your site will only start once content and graphics have been supplied and a 50% deposit paid upfront.
Depending on which website you choose to go with, full functionality and an layout blueprint will be provided to you for agreed before commencement.
Please contact Mercedes Westbrook on mercedes@firehorsemedia.co.za to request a quote specific to your needs or call C: +27 789707633.
We look forward to chatting further with you
!
by Mercedes Westbrook | Aug 7, 2018 | Consciousness
Are you stuck in a pattern of Scarcity Consciousness or are you ready to move into the flow of Life’s free abundance?
Either way, you get to Choose…
You are only as ‘wealthy’ as you allow yourself to be. This is because the concept of scarcity – or the concept of abundance – is simply the current state of your heart and mind dictating your relationship to the ebb and flow of the exchange of currency.
How much you worry about not having ‘enough’ is directly related to how much abundance is lacking in your life and the degree to which you are blocking its flow towards you. Just as you think and feel your own shortage however, so can you think and feel your way out of your limiting thoughts and back into owning wealth and living an abundant life once again.
You hold the power to decide; the flow of wealth energy rests in your hands alone.
This is true for anything else that keeps showing up in your life or that you are feeling a lack of, whether it is a relationship with a loving/unloving partner, your talents and abilities in business, or your thoughts about your own self-worth.
Scarcity is an energy field we carry around with us, fed and energised by our fears. Not only does it act as a shield for abundance to enter our lives, it also affects us at a physical level. This is because the toxic currency of negative thoughts and the stress associated with judgements of not having enough sets in motion a physical reaction in the body; keeping us in constant fight or flight mode, and effecting us both at a subconscious and cellular level of health.
How can you tell if you are stuck in scarcity consciousness?
You are always talking about how deprived or unfortunate you are. You never have enough money to do the things you would like to do. You are constantly worrying about how you are going to afford the rent/car/food or other commitments at the end of the month. You complain you are ‘sick and tired of being broke’.
You are always putting things off that you could do today. You are waiting for the right time or series of events to happen before you believe it is the ‘right time’ to feel, be or do something. ‘When I have X amount of money in the bank I will retire/go live in my dream beach house/be happy’. ‘My history paper is only due in two days’ time, I’ll do it tomorrow.’ ‘ I’m meant to meet Joe Bloggs today but it can wait until next week’.
You make decisions based on fear of loss. This could be as extreme as being a hoarder or simply holding onto things with a grasping sense of ownership. Perhaps you tend to borrow things and not return them based on thoughts such as ‘I need it more than they do’ and ‘they can afford it, they won’t even notice/miss it’.
You are easily wooed by get rich quick schemes or the promise of gambling or winning big on the Lotto, with thoughts of ‘when I win the Lotto, I will be happy/etc…’ You spend your time focussing on getting easy money without doing the work required to get it based on your own ideas, talents, skills and efforts.
You have an innate fear of failure that dictates every opportunity presented to you. You will always ‘see’ the negative aspect or identify an inherent risk. ‘John offered me a job, but it is too far to travel, I can’t make any money if I’m dishing out so much on fuel.’ ‘I’m a qualified xx, I can’t be seen doing such menial work.’
You have a lack of staying power or persistence in going for and getting what you want. You may have great ideas but instead of staying the course, you give up quickly in order to try something new/better/quicker; creating a cycle of never being able to realise your own success. ‘I tried that but it didn’t work’ becomes your own self-serving prophecy.
How to shift out of poverty consciousness:
Money is simply an energy exchange. Our thoughts about it represent how much love we are willing to give and receive in the flow of life. If you are stuck in scarcity consciousness, you simply need to re-examine your thoughts about money and stop giving away your power through your negative thoughts and the emotions surrounding it. You are locked in the prison of your own making; you have the keys to let yourself out. Ask what sort of energy exchange are you choosing with which to engage with life?
A pattern of Beliefs, Thoughts, Words and Action
Poverty consciousness stems from your beliefs about yourself and the world. A belief is merely your thoughts about life – whether they are kind or not – which you have gathered along your path.
We collect beliefs from our cultural influences, our family dynamics, and what we observe out in the world which is then formed, fixed and further reinforced when we experience our own life challenges as adults.
In the process, we gather a certain amount of bias and judgements not only against others but against ourselves too. These collect and cycle in our minds and before long; our habitual thinking has become a belief. It becomes a concept we lock onto and are prepared to defend, without even considering how we might have got there and if it is really true about us right now.
Since scarcity is a state of heart and mind, what you focus on is what you are creating out in the world. If you are always saying, “I am sick and tired of being broke”, that is what you are continuing to manifest in your life.
So how do you get off the hamster wheel of scarcity consciousness thinking?
Ask yourself:
Where do I feel a lack in my life?
What don’t I have enough of?
What are my current beliefs about my financial situation?
What words do I most often hear myself saying about money?
Where/when did I first hear it/start believing that?
Is it true for me today?
Once you have brought awareness to your present state of thought currency and what you are reinforcing in your life right now, you can take choose to replace limiting beliefs with empowering beliefs and positive action.
Skill sets for receiving more
Set the intention for what you do want to show up in your life. You set it in motion with three simple tools: your own thoughts, words and actions, in the moment, and every moment. Decide to speak only about what you want and not about what you don’t want.
Take the focus off your perceived deficiencies and instead choose thoughts of gratitude and deep appreciation for what you do have right now. It could be as simple as appreciating the steam rising off a hot cup of coffee, or your health and the ability of your body to breathe, think and feel. It could be ticking off in your head the things you did achieve or receive for the day.
Practise switching every negative thought that arises with gratitude – or a simple positive affirmation – for a full 24 hours. Keep practising raising your vibration. In no time at all, you will begin to feel the positive response within your body. As you keep focussing at a higher level of positive thought, so your external vibration will increase too and your shift will begin to accelerate, physically attracting more positive energy around you, so that new things can show up in your life.
Shifting negative patterns of the past will take a conscious focus on changing your beliefs and thought patterns in the moment and every moment. Realise that today, and this moment is the only moment that really counts. You need to be present and open to life’s creative flow in order to receive it fully.
Next, create your shopping list of things that will invite abundance into your life. Perhaps you need a new car. Place your order out into the universe: Decide on the model that would best suit your current lifestyle and make a list of things it needs to have, such as good road holding, low fuel consumption, a large trunk for your sports gear, electric windows etc. Decide on the colour. Where will you park it? Look online for pricing but don’t have an attachment to the amount, simply observe its worldly value without thoughts about how you can or can’t afford it. Remember, you are leaving the details up to the universe. You can do this with anything you want more of, whether it is a new job, a holiday, more family time, a loving partner or a healthy body. Create the picture and place yourself in it.
Lastly, and perhaps the one that trips us up the most is that you must believe in your heart that you deserve it. Spend as much time as you can imagining it is true and that it has already happened. See yourself as the proud owner of that car, imagine your day getting in and out of that car, putting the key in your pocket, and having friends and neighbours admire it. See yourself smiling proudly and speaking with gratitude about its road holding and spaciousness. Don’t be attached to when it will happen, simply believe it is going to happen because you deserve it and leave the details up to the Universe to find the way.
Any doubts or worry about not receiving your dream car will stop the flow. Catch your self-sabotage as it happens and immediately replace it with an empowering thought or spoken affirmation. Reinforce your new reality with pictures placed around your home or reminders on your bathroom mirror.
We all have unlimited access to the abundance of Universe, in order for it to flow into our lives we need to stand present in the action of self-love and the self-discipline of positive thoughts in order to open ourselves up to receive it. The only true measure of wealth is the abundance we think and feel. Abundance is the connection to our own divinity within and not the material world we see outside of ourselves. Like anything, it requires focus and practise in order to tap into it.
Since prosperity is a way of thinking and living, ask yourself how rich you are today, in this moment. What does your bank balance say about you right now? Are you ready to change those thoughts about it?
Mercedes Westbrook is a writer, editor and content creator. Visit www.firehorsemedia.co.za to view her profile or to request a quotation of her services emcompassing any and all forms of content creation, media relations and publicity.
by Mercedes Westbrook | Aug 29, 2016 | B2B Sales, Business, E-commerce
“Publicity is absolutely critical. A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad.” – Richard Branson
All human relationships are based around communication. You may have great business ideas, but if you can’t convey them to others, your ideas won’t get you anywhere. A public relations company knows best how to package and present your story to the media in order for it to get seen and heard without the costs associated with advertising spend.
Each of us has a unique story to tell. A professional public relations company is practiced at breaking through the multi-channel, multi-device marketing noise and helping you to engage with your selected audience with targeted messaging that will raise visibility about what you do.
Their sole purpose is to give your business credibility so consumers can gain trust in your product, service or brand. At all times you remain in control about how your identity, company culture and values are being presented and what is being publicised about your brand.
Not only will a good public relations company be able to attract potential customers and grow sales enquiries and leads, they will assist in establishing you as a trustworthy company that invites interest from talented future employees and industry investors.
What is the difference between advertising and public relations?
A public relations campaign offers more credibility for your product or service than an advertising campaign. This is because advertising is paid media and public relations is earned media. Your story has to be good enough to be seen as newsworthy to an editor or reporter in order for them to write a positive story about it. When your article appears in the editorial section of the magazine, newspaper, TV, radio station or website, it is perceived as information being served up by the media title or platform on which is it being distributed. This means the information has been approved by a reliable information source rather than you just paying for it to appear there. Statistically, more people are likely to engage with published content over advertising, giving it an estimated value of between 3 to 5 times more value than its equivalent in advertising.
A public relations campaign is also less expensive than an advertising campaign. There is no need to buy advertising space across numerous publications and news platforms. A well written story will get you there for free. Too of
ten huge expense is laid out in creating an advertising campaign involving creative design and production processes and the purchasing of space over targeted media titles that will need to be repeated in order to gain influence for your brand. In advertising this process is known as the effective frequency: the number of times a person must be exposed to your advertising message before they respond and before exposure is considered wasteful. Currently, in the advertising world, this is considered to be between 5 and 7 times. Alternatively, a well written, stimulating article is more likely to be shared virally, emailed, reposted on other sites, receive feedback and comments, and get tweeted on trending topic channels.
An additional advantage for public relations is that as newspaper and magazine readerships drop due to the increased reliance on the Internet, there are less writers and editors being employed. This means titles have fewer resources with which to travel, research or source news the traditional way. Rather, more and more news outlets are relying on citizen journalists, leading research from corporate companies, and industry spokesmen to feed them current news and events.
How does a public relations campaign work?
Public relations is a process of building media relationships and then managing the spread of information about you or your business through news releases, compelling stories, educational articles, tutorials, reports, trending topics, success stories and testimonials of your clients.
The key to building a reputation in the market is for information to be relevant, consistent and easily digestible. This is where a public relations company will assist you with a goal specific, measurable PR plan, backed up with professionally written content in the correct style and format of the media platforms being targeted.
Information may be packaged as media releases, white papers, e-books, media tours, road shows and press conferences, competitions, seminars, speaking engagements and product launches. Additional tactics might include vlogs, blogs, webinars, and gamification.
A public relations campaign needs to be measurable in order to determine its success. Not only do the results of the campaign need to be measured but also a review of what worked and what didn’t and their attached media value. This is where a media tracking company such as Newsclip Media Monitoring will assist you in seeing where publicity is being published along with a variety of functions to determine meaningful and measureable media insights and analysis.
In addition to spreading good news about your business, a public relations company is able to provide damage control should a business crises arise or hostile rumours start circulating about your company. A professional PR consultant can react quickly and efficiently to addressing and dispelling rumours and getting your brand back on track.
Interested in learning how Firehorse Media can help make your company shine? Contact Mercedes Westbrook on C: +27 789707633 or E: Mercedes@firehorsemedia.co.za
by Mercedes Westbrook | Aug 11, 2016 | Business, E-learning
Email is the biggest marketing tool online today because everyone who uses the internet has an email address and we check the contents of our email inbox daily. This means that, on a daily basis, every email we receive gets our personal attention making email newsletter marketing one of the strongest and most powerful online tools if you own a website. When you attract more online subscribers to your email newsletter you are increasing your business networking potential
While Facebook may get you hundreds of Likes and LinkedIn might get you accepted into industry circles, email marketing directly links you to your own community of customers which you can nurture and grow along an every expanding network of communications that will build better business relationships.
How can you increase the rate of sign ups to your company newsletter? Take a look at the following checklist:
- Your call-to-action must be visible enough that it stands out from the page as soon as they land on your site. Depending on your website design and your industry sector, consider either a pop up box, a call-to-action at the top of the right hand side bar, placement in the comment section or at the bottom of your blog page.
- Offer a promotion, an incentive, competition or giveaway to entice them to sign up. Make signing up meaningful and worthwhile, for example: ‘Receive this one day Marketing 101 course for free when join our community of like-minded entrepreneurs’.
- Make the process of signing up as quick and easy as possible – an email address is all you need to ask them for.
- Communicate the added value they will receive when signing up to your newsletter. Step inside their shoes and consider what might be a benefit to being a subscriber? You may want to offer access to industry white papers, free download kits or additional workshops for subscribers only. Be sure to include an online archive of past newsletters so they will have idea of what to expect to receive from you in the future.
- Be honest about the frequency of your newsletter, whether you state it is weekly, monthly, bi-monthly or ‘periodically’.
- Give them guarantees and privacy policy sureties that you won’t sell or share their email address with anyone else.
- Make it easy for them to forward your newsletter to a friend by adding a ‘Forward to a friend’ link into your newsletter.
- Spring board sign-up offers on your other social media platforms. Post deals on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn that require an email signup in order to benefit.
- Include a newsletter call-to-action in your About section and Contact pages on all your social media platforms.
- Place a call-to-action link to your newsletter signup page in your email signature.
- Choose an attention-grabbing title for your newsletter and include the word ‘free’ somewhere visibly prominent.
- Compare two versions of your sign up form to see which one performs better, also known as A/B testing. Pay particular attention to button colour, placement on the web page, copy style, content and tone.
- Make sure the content of your newsletter is beneficial and stimulating to your readers on a consistent and ongoing basis. If your newsletter is badly written, long-winded or comes across as pure self-promotion, you will do more harm than good to your brand online.
- Use eye-catching images, short captions and excerpts in your email newsletter links to lead them towards the high points of your newsletter’s content online.
- It is worth using a professional writing service or freelance editor to ensure you maintain an ongoing and professional newsletter communication that both engages and stimulates your target market.
This article was written by Mercedes Westbrook of Firehorse Media. Reach me on C: 0789707633 or mercedes@firehorsemedia.co.za; or visit www.firehorsemedia.co.za
by Mercedes Westbrook | Jul 7, 2016 | B2B Sales, Business, E-commerce
“They read all the time, but not newspapers or magazines,” says Craig Utermark, CEO of Cape Town’s Atmosphere Orange, a programmatic advertising agency. “But they are all zeroed in, whenever and wherever they can, surfing the social freeways on their phones. It is there that advertising brand managers are targeting them among the noise of millions of gigabytes of information. And it’s possible, with the latest technology, programmatic marketing allows brand managers to reach 95% of the Sub Saharan African market with 34 global exchanges, giving us access to 70 000 websites that are relevant to the South African market.”
Frukt, an international ad monitoring agency says that 65% of consumer spending is attributable to young people, not necessarily with buying but as influencers too of their parent’s spending decisions. “Unlike their somewhat spoilt Western counterparts, Africa’s Millennial generation is not pessimistic about its future (even with rapidly rising unemployment rates), in fact they are infectiously optimistic about what lies ahead. With the youth population in Africa set to rise faster than any other continent over the next decade, this ‘A Generation’ is one to watch as the next wave of youth pioneers tap into the country’s rich cultural heritage and make their collective voice, and spending power, known.”
Frukt says Africa has “arguably the strongest and most passionate musical culture on the planet,” and that is one way to get attention of the A Generation. They say that by 2020 youth will dominate Africa’s $1.3 trillion (or around R180-trillion) consumer spending.
Utermark concurs, “This generation of youth is incredibly sophisticated. The South African Social Media Landscape 2015 report recently revealed that just in this country Twitter has 6.6 million users and visual platforms YouTube and Instagram have seen a user increase of 53% and 65% respectively over the past year. So our young people, like those across the world want ads with great visuals, ideally set to a great musical beat, something they can share on social media and be seen as cool by their friends.”
The 2015 Youth Psyche report by Branded Youth showed that although social media is important, reposting has lost its allure as young people focus on building their personal brand. “Programmatic marketing, the hottest trend coming from the United States and Europe, allows brand managers to essentially look into the heads and hearts of these young spenders,” said Utermark. “At present, mobile internet advertising revenues are at R172 million and rising fast with social media accounting for 79% of that according to the latest IAB South Africa ad revenue report. They’re paying attention to word of mouth on social media, it’s impacting on spending and in 2014 when we had the highest youth voter turnout yet we could see it was even having an impact on politics.”
The Youth Psyche report showed that young people are visual and want to feel an ad has been developed just for them. Youth Marketing Strategist at Branded Youth, Bradley Maseko has pointed out that, “Instagram now has 300 million monthly users, picking up 100 million since March 2014. The photo- and video-sharing app has surpassed Twitter’s official user count of 284 million. 2015 will see a further rise in visual content being shared amongst the youth and this will be aided by the fact that Facebook is also shifting to video due to increased demand.”
Utermark said, “Brand opportunity is strongest when it focuses on empowering youth through content marketing, driving conversations with youth influencers who have an audience of people who trust them. South African’s tweet a million times a month that has amazing opportunities for clever business owners.
“For creative advertising agencies Youth Day on June 16th offers an exciting reminder of the influence of the young. Backed by the power of digital to enhance its reach and tell a connected, multi-screen and multimedia story across all the different audience generations, brands are using new technologies for big data, especially programmatic marketing, which allows for audience targeting, predictive modeling, optimisation and dynamic creative.
“The future is where it should be, the young are taking control of their destinies and propelling us in amazing and imaginative new ways forward”, Utermark said.
