Laura Perkes is a PR strategist, brand storyteller and the founder of PR with Perks. She joins Christina in this episode to talk about how she supports and teaches entrepreneurs and small business owners, what PR is all about in the modern world and also her most recent book How to Get PR

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Laura has over 18 years of experience in the PR industry and alongside her PR consultancy business, has also started to coach entrepreneurs on how to manage PR themselves.
• PR is communicating yourself and your message to your audience, to influence behaviours.
• In terms of marketing, PR is a ‘top funnel’ activity as you are taking one message and broadcasting it to as big an audience as possible.
• If you are trying to get the attention of a journalist you need to put yourself in their shoes. Mainly you need to stand out to get their attention and do your research, this begins with the email title.
• Copy and pasting emails and responses are no longer good enough. You need to personalise it.
• Your audience isn’t always where you immediately expect. Especially in the b2b world, not everyone reads industry press.
• You need to decide what you want your PR message to be. Then the next thing to do is to test it, testing it via social media is a great first step because it tests your audience too.
• When you are new to PR it can feel overwhelming. But you just need to focus on what you want to achieve and take it step by step.
• PR visibility isn’t just about how you look, but about your message and whether you are being heard.
• Becoming visible isn't about volume. You don't have to post more on social media, you need to instead be intentional and purposeful with what you post; does it align with your message?

BEST MOMENTS

01:20 “There’s so much stuff that gets in the way of entrepreneurs knowing where to start, how to start [in PR]”

02:54 “Technically everything we’re doing is PR”

05:07 “For me, PR is getting as many people into your business as possible the role of PR is done, we are then going to pass you over to marketing”

12:35 “Personalisation always works from a marketing perspective”

24:16 “Get your message down first and the best way to test your message is on social media”

40:28 "Everyone is born with a personal brand, you choose whether to leverage it or not"

 42:30 "Be intentional, why are you there? What are you sharing [on social media]"

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

https://www.green-umbrella.biz/how-to-launch-anything-using-social-media/

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Ben Knight is the founder and head trader at Trades Tribe. The Trades Tribe was created from Ben’s belief that trading should be so easy that anyone can do it. Listen in to learn all about all things trading and become more educated about investing for your financial future!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

BEST MOMENTS

03:07 “I invested a lot in my education”

09:30 “How the hell do you know what to buy, what not to buy”

12:17 “There should be no doubt in your mind when you know you’re going to exit”

17:25 “Risk is one of the biggest reasons [people don’t invest] because there are so many horror stories out there”

23:02 “It’s taking something that’s just so complex and just bringing it down”

39:47 “A good company to invest in will be dependent on what strategy you’re using”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

https://www.green-umbrella.biz/how-to-launch-anything-using-social-media/

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

What is a marketing mindset and what impact does it have on your results? Join Christina in this episode to find out the answers to these questions and why it’s important to determine your clients' mindset before working with them.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• One of the key things behind your marketing, particularly in social media, comes down to mindset.
• Social media marketing won’t bring you overnight success unless you are willing to put all the work in that’s needed including time and money.
• Having realistic expectations and self-belief allows you to become more open-minded about what can be done to help you achieve the results you want.

BEST MOMENTS

02:52 “When you really want results there are certain things you’re going to have to do”

04:13 “ If we don’t fix this mindset before we begin then we’re going to be disappointed”

07:10 “We know this stuff works over a long period, not over a few weeks”

08:30 “Our mindset is this is going to work so we’re open to all the ways it’s going to work, open to all the results we are going to see”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

https://www.green-umbrella.biz/how-to-launch-anything-using-social-media/

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Do you need to build your email list, have you run out of ideas on what you can do? Join Christina in this episode where she shares over 20 innovative ways to build your email list!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Sign up form on your home page and contact us page
• Make sure you have a call to action in your emails
• Allow people to sign up for content that they will only receive via email
• Create personalised sign-up options, and allow people to pick and choose what they want to be emailed about
• Put together a mini-course delivered by email
• Create a competition with an email opt-in
• Previews and teasers, incentivise people to sign-up to find out/hear more about something
• Collaborate with a business that serves the same audience as you and collect email addresses from their audiences too
• Reactivate ‘stale data’
• Create quizzes that give personalised reports

BEST MOMENTS

05:19 “Now you’ve got their data, you can market to them”

13:07 “Who do you know who serves the same audience as you, the same ideal clients, maybe you could do guest blogs for each other”

13:46 “Think about collecting your email addresses when you’re offline, things like old-school networking, giving your details seems like second nature but asking for theirs does not”

23:19 “Make sure all your systems are integrated correctly, so everything is tidy”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

https://www.green-umbrella.biz/how-to-launch-anything-using-social-media/

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Dr Ikhenemoh is a GP, mental health specialist and author. He joins Christina in this episode to talk about how he found his passion for psychological health, what it means to have a mission in life and how you can help yourself, or others when they are struggling with their mental health.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Starting medical school in Nigeria, Dr Ikhenemoh then spent some time in Russia, he left Russia for Holland where he continued his medical studies.
• ¼ people have an episode of depression in their life.
• Asking the right questions, in the right way for the individual, is essential when talking with an individual with mental health issues.
• Dr Ikhenemoh believes the word depression is often misused. All humans feel down sometimes, this is normal, but it doesn’t mean you are depressed.
• In order to diagnose clinical depression, there are two questions you can ask a patient, if they have feelings of hopelessness combined with a lack of interest in life and they have been feeling this way for two weeks.
• There are conditions that can mimic depression, such as thyroid gland dysfunction, it’s important to be able to distinguish when something physical is affecting a patient's mood.
• One of the upsides of the pandemic is that it lead to people talking more about mental health. It has become less stigmatised and more recognisable.
• Depression doesn’t define the individual, Dr Ikhenemoh doesn’t believe anyone was born to be depressed, he believes you have to find yourself outside of depression.
• You have to be able to recognise your own symptoms of low mood and/or depression. You can then start to deal with them, preventing spiralling. 

BEST MOMENTS

08:05 “We are all human beings; we can’t be happy all of the time”

18:08 “Depression is not you, it’s a state, it’s a condition, it’s not you”

22:30 “No human being should suffer depression”

33:50 “Every second of every day, I have the power, I have the control, I have the responsibility to choose my state”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

https://www.green-umbrella.biz/how-to-launch-anything-using-social-media/

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Christina is joined by Simon Leslie, an author and entrepreneur who founded and built one of the biggest Travel Media Companies, Ink Global.

They discuss mindset, the severe impact of covid on businesses, how to rebuild after a major setback and more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Innovation was critical to Simon’s business as both travel and media have continually and vastly changed over the past few decades.
• In tough times, you need to be united as a team. You need to recognise opportunities and stay focused on what you can do in difficult circumstances.
• The easiest way to build rapport is to ask questions and remain interested.
• It may take time for your message to hit a customer. It’s about building trust and loyalty over time.
• We are all given opportunities every day, we just have to be able to recognise them and be in the right places, with the right people.
• People are focusing on the wrong benefits when looking at employment, what they should be looking at is whether the company is going to look at you as a human and invest in you as so.
• The pandemic has accelerated so many aspects of businesses, especially in marketing and advertising.
• In over 30 years of experience, nothing has ever stopped Simon from doing business, until covid. He recognised it wasn’t his fault but it was his responsibility to deal with.
• If you find yourself asking multiple people a question, it usually means you’re scared to make a decision and take action.

BEST MOMENTS

09:58 “The only thing the person in front of you cares about is are you a good listener, do you understand what my problem is and can you help me fix it”

11:20 “At the end of the day if you want that conversion to happen you have to have a human involved”

18:34 “Every day we are presented with opportunities”

30:20 “Culture is everything, stop selling jobs, no one is selling jobs”

45:20 “If you ask yourself poor questions, you’ll get a poor answer”

51:38 “You’ve got to get rid of the negativity in your life and find people who have done what you want to do”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

https://www.green-umbrella.biz/how-to-launch-anything-using-social-media/

ABOUT THE GUEST

Simon Leslie

https://www.luckyleslie.com

Over the last few decades, Simon has learned one or two things about surviving – and thriving – in global business. His company, Ink, has helped some of the world’s largest brands advertise across hundreds of airlines and airports worldwide, in media that’s been translated into over 17 languages. As a leader, and a salesperson, Simon has weathered a few storms, and overcome some massive hurdles. The thing that kept Simon going throughout all the years has been belief. Belief in himself, his product, and his team.

Books:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/There-Sales-selling-market-condition/dp/1916105106/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=no+f+in+sales&qid=1566911923&s=gateway&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Equanimity-Diary-Crisis-Simon-Leslie/dp/1916105130

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

A short but informative solo episode with Christina. Christina talks about how you can build your Instagram audience, the mistakes you might be making and some quick wins to help you in your audience-building journey!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Think about what you want to get out of your Instagram before then focusing on your content.
• Look at the past 10 posts and stories you have been using, are you being authentically you? Can you see the people behind the brand?
• Engagement is key, it’s not just about likes but people meaningfully engaging with your content. Can you ask questions or deliver content that invites people to comment and respond to your posts?
• Think about where your audience engages with you already, is it on your stories, your grid or are reels going to build your audience faster for you?

BEST MOMENTS

00:45 - “Instagram requires a lot of effort and sometimes it feels like a lot of effort for not a lot of reward”

03:08 “We just have to be persistent…earn your audience, make it genuine”

05:55 “I know the things the people tend to engage with more”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

https://www.green-umbrella.biz/how-to-launch-anything-using-social-media/

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Christina joins Clare Davis on the Women’s Power Hour. Clare is an expert on emotional fitness and she talks to Christina about all the things she has done and continues to do to work on her emotional fitness. Christina also opens up about the trauma and difficulties she had to face before developing her own emotional fitness and how you can work on yours too!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Success is about how you feel, it doesn’t have to be something big it’s actually all about a feeling and this is what Christina is addicted to!
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

11:17 - “If you don’t work on it, it will trap you”

13:13 “You kid yourself that you’re such a failure that you have to do the next thing”

20:05 “That message changed, the thought in my head is my life isn’t supposed to be like this”

20:58 “Sometimes you get out of bed and you don’t feel right, that just being human, that’s normal”

29:02 “When your emotional wellness drops, so does the self-love, so does your self-worth”

31:45 "We all deserve to put ourselves first, if we can love ourselves we can love other people"

VALUABLE RESOURCES

https://www.novaassociates.co.uk/radio-shows\

Christina Talks Podcast

https://www.green-umbrella.biz/how-to-launch-anything-using-social-media/

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

After meeting at a charity event Christina has invited retired professional rugby player and Public Speaker George Chuter onto the podcast.  It was during their conversation at the event Christina realised George had a wealth of wisdom, knowledge and skills relevant to business.

Christina and George talk about George's career, the importance of strategy and instincts in decision making as well as why relationships and teamwork are essential to success.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• George never anticipated being a professional rugby player when he first started playing. The sport only became professionalised during his first year of University in 1995. George discusses with Christina how he has relied on his intuition during career decisions and following what makes him happy rather than strategy and planning.

• George outlines the transferable skills which being a profession sportsman has given him. These include the ability to connect with lots of different kinds of people, self motivation, discipline, confidence and learning to talk to people.

• What are the secrets to good rapport when interviewing people during public speaking? Since he has started doing interviews George has tried to create an open conversation. Know your subject but then just talk and try to get behind the usual stories. This creates a more engaging talk rather than hearing the same stories.

• The best advice George can give is just to talk to people. Step outside your comfort zone and make relationships with people.

• Taking the opportunity to speak with lots of different people brings lots of rewards, including making you a more rounded human and opening networking opportunities.

• Hard work is key. George explains how he wasn't the most gifted athlete but he worked hard to maximise himself to compete at the level he was at. 

• In sport, like in business, reflection is key to success. Analysing what went well, what didn't and how to improve. 

• Resilience and stubbornness to succeed is essential. Better athletes than George fell away while he rose to professional level. 

• A great team has honest and open communication. George suggests the best coaches are able to hand over control to the team, this builds resilience and learning. Christina agrees and notes how her team will tell her when her ideas are bad as well as good which allows business to grow. She trusts her team to perform without her. 

BEST MOMENTS

15:40 - “The sort of things that are almost natural to sports people in general, but in my experience rugby in particular, are [also] priceless commodities when you get into a world of  business”

33:45 - “If you want to be successful for a sustainable period of time you've got to work on your weaknesses”

34:32 - “Having a growth mindset, having the mindset of an elite performer because actually we’re not focusing on the fact we didn't succeed in that moment, we’re focusing on what we do to make sure we do it next time”

38.21 “I wasn't the best player by any means, certainly not the best athlete or anything like that but I had a bit of resolve and a bit of grit about me.  Better players than me fell by the wayside and I ended up making a career out of it”

43:17 “Good teams contain good people, simple as that”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

https://www.green-umbrella.biz/how-to-launch-anything-using-social-media/

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

2022 has been quite hectic for Christina but exciting things are starting to happen now so Christina wanted to come back with a renewed focus to share her knowledge and expertise as well as what she has learnt from the great people she is surrounding herself with at the moment.

When people first start in business, their website isn’t always their first focus. They can mistakenly think it’s something that will be expensive and time-consuming to organise but this doesn’t have to be the case at all. Listen in to this episode to hear Christina's 10-Point Marketing Website Checklist she created to help score her clients websites.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When businesses are first starting, they just need something that will help them be found on google, will help reassure potential clients and somewhere that can generate leads. You can just think of it as a shop front but even then you should be making it work to help generate something for your business.

• A call to action is one of the first things Christina looks for on a website. The website should take her on a journey, with every click she is building trust with that brand. The call to action that is created should be the most logical next step which also engages them.

• When reading the website content, the individual needs to feel like they are being spoken to personally. Think about the language you are using on your website and how you can make the user feel like it’s aimed directly at them as an individual. 

• News or blog pages are a great way to ensure people keep coming back to your website. Ideally you want to try and get people to come back every two weeks. This is a good regularity to have, it’s enough for google to pick it up without overwhelming your potential customers. It’s also a good tool to use and share on social media too.

• Make sure there is a lead generation capture on the website, for example a blueprint, guide, poster, quiz or even filling in a form to receive a freebie.

• If you can get data from potential customers, try and mix up the communication. For example, sometimes send an email, sometimes send a text message.

• People love sharing. On your high value pieces of content, include a share button!

• Always include your social media accounts on your website banner.

• Make sure your website is mobile friendly, always check it.

• Have a visible phone number, make it easy to find and also make it ‘click to call’. If people find it difficult to contact you then it creates a negative start to their interaction with you.

• Include testimonials on your site. You don’t need a specific section or page necessarily, you can simply scatter them through the web pages.

• One of the best ways to communicate your brand on your website is simply through images. The more visual your site is the easier it is for people to engage with the content that is there.

• Consider the variety of media you use on your website, can you add audio or video to make it more interesting and engaging to your potential clients?

BEST MOMENTS

01:15 - “I’ve got some really cool guests lined up!”

05:27 “When I land on a website I’m looking for there to be a call to action”

08:15 “How can you make the content, how can you make the text on your website feel more personal?”

21:34 “If you can have one page where they are all there [testimonials], they probably won’t look at that page much but when you’re pitching, it can be really powerful”

22:49 “We need to use visuals to communicate the message of the brand”

25:29 “How can you make your website more interesting through the use of imagery, video, audio”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

https://www.green-umbrella.biz/how-to-launch-anything-using-social-media/

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website