Nata PR School (EN)

Hello!

Welcome to this 40th episode of the NATA PR SCHOOL podcast.

I have the great pleasure of welcoming Pascal Desjardins, president and founder of BELLA VITA INTERNATIONAL, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary and has worked with us for almost 10 years.

Pascal Desjardins is one of the best communicators I know. He worked in the world of traditional media (TV, radio) for many years before creating Bella Vita International, an importer and distributor of exceptional fine products, including wines, spirits, cosmetics and home products. BV represents very high-quality brands in Canada which are often renowned in their respective countries and sometimes even worldwide.

BV imports and distributes many products, including Henry Bardouin pastis, which is the best in the world (and my favourite!), Marvis, Proraso, Barbancourt rum, Douglas Laing scotch, Michel Couvreur whisky as well as the excellent wines and champagnes of Pascal Agrapart and Anne Gros, Prosecco by the Bronca sisters and Riesling from the Frey brothers. These are a few of the dream brands in the BV catalogue.

Welcome Pascal, it's a real pleasure to have you on our Podcast for our 40th episode. Before I get into PR and social media, I'd like you to introduce yourself, because you're one of those rare humans missing from the web. You can't be found on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram, and even Google has nothing to tell us about you.

1- Who is Pascal Desjardins?

2- You have your own products, such as Savon des Antilles, but how do you choose the brands that you import and distribute in Canada?

3- We have been your PR partner for 10 years now and have been promoting your brands to journalists and influencers. What does PR mean to you?

4- We know that traditional media are going through some major changes. What do you think has changed the most and how has BV benefited from it?

5- You don't communicate under your own name, like many executives on Facebook or Instagram, yet your business is doing very well. Is life possible without the Internet?

6- However, the Bella Vita Grands Crus division does have an Instagram account. Why is that? Is it really useful?

7- Why should brands choose to work with BV? Who is the ideal partner according to BV?

8- Many of our clients are obsessed with the Web. Is this the case for the brands you represent? What are you doing to support them?

9- What does the future look like for Bella Vita in three or five years, assuming we don’t have to deal with another pandemic? What should we hope for you?

Get in touch with BELLA VITA INTERNATIONAL:

www.bellavitainternational.com

Free consultation

Subscribe to our lists: www.natapr.com.

For several months now, I’ve been inviting you to combine public relations and social media. Today, I’d like to go back to the basics and tell you why I created the NATA PR SCHOOL.

As you know by now, this new service also offers a weekly podcast episode in which I go over what we do at the agency and share tips and tactics with you that are quick and easy to deploy.

I wanted to take a look back at how far I’ve come (setting up free podcasts and webinars has been very instructive for me) and the challenges still ahead (increasing the audience for my paid training courses by talking more, and more often, about what they can do for you).

You can find more details by visiting the NATA PR SCHOOL section of our website (natapr.com). Or just give me a listen – it’s faster, and you'll get a sense of the energy in my voice, which also comes through in my training courses.

NATA PR SCHOOL’S MISSION

NATA PR SCHOOL’s mission is to offer you the best possible training in how to combine public relations and social media. This course is in no way theoretical. It starts with your own story. We’ll build your campaign together, and develop the tools you need (press releases, publishing schedule, media and influencer list, etc.).

This training gives you direct access to our services and our daily deliveries. We share our best practices and discuss relationships with influencers and the media. This exciting, upbeat training is easy to digest – and highly effective!

I often describe it as the perfect blend of the training we give our new hires, to help them generate results for our customers as quickly as possible, and basic training, for people who want to learn how to combine public relations with social media but don’t have the kind of budget they’d need to hire a public relations agency.

The same reasoning also holds for a company’s bookkeeping. When you start out, you’re often stuck doing the invoicing, payables, dues and taxes, business development, marketing, and everything else. All of this is familiar to me because I’ve been through it – back when I created NATA PR over twenty years ago, in my living room, with just a computer.

Over time, the company grew, and I was able to hand things over to actual accountants. What I would have given for these tips, and to work with an entrepreneurial pro!

Back then, starting up a service business was not as rewarding as it is now.

In a way, this is what we offer you at NATA PR SCHOOL: the building blocks of a PR/social media campaign that you can fit into your marketing plan – starting today.

Here are the top four reasons to register for this training program.

NATA PR SCHOOL is for people who want to:

1- get known

2- increase their visibility

3- boost visits to their website (or stores)

4- kickstart their sales

Are you sick of reading articles and blogs about your competitors? Why don’t influencers and journalists contact you, since your products or services are better? We know why. And we know how to get their attention.

Our training will take you much further and give you a close-up look at the steps that are easy and quick to deploy.

And since these courses are only held two or three times a year, we recommend you reserve your spot as soon as you can. I promise you: my advice will generate results.

If you’re hesitating, get in touch with me so that I can tell you, in all honesty, if this course can help you.

Free consultation.

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After the law of failure, I thought I might talk about success – which is, in my humble opinion, a more inspiring law.

The Collins English Dictionary defines success as follows:

- The favourable outcome of something attempted.

- The success of that deal prompted it to explore the sale of other holdings.

I don’t know about you, but when I created the NATA PR agency, I didn’t tell myself I was going to fail as many times as I could in order to succeed better!

Of course, we learn from our mistakes, but when we put all that effort into starting a business, the point is to succeed. Indeed, the end goal of a business is to generate income, so its creators and employees can earn a living. For me, this is the meaning of achievement and success!

How can success be different for each of us?

Some customers who are already successful and come to us believe that their good fortune derives from their products or their genius alone, and that any setbacks can be chalked up to marketing and PR.

No doubt they have misjudged the cause of their success, because it’s clear to me that whether they know it or not, they’ve done some marketing right:

1- They’ve clearly and precisely defined their products.

2- They’re very active on both social and traditional media.

The classic trap is when the ego takes over and the executive sees themselves as the typical customer. They may embody the company’s ideal customer, but it’s quite uncommon.

Here are some benchmarks to get you on the road to success:

1-Watch the trends, because, just like tides, you can’t fight them.

2-Maintain direct contact with your customers – your base.

3-Make time to think about your business, think creatively, and create value.

We’ve often supported new brands making their début in North America.

I’ve been surprised by the behaviour of some executives who had been successful in several markets:

1-They’re dying to go out into the field and meet “real” customers (in drugstores or supermarkets).

2-They’re humble and they’re willing to listen to agencies active in the market they wanted to penetrate.

3-They welcome customers’ feedback.

4-They want to adapt their products to serve their future customers better.

Delegating all your marketing can be dangerous – even fatal – to your business.

Today, a trend that you don’t know about, or choose to ignore, may cause you to hemorrhage market share.

The big beauty groups see it every day. Some brands, like Tata Harper and Glossier, which seize new trends, grow quickly, and respond incredibly quickly to new expectations of customers looking specifically for safe, natural beauty products. Right now, this is also true for vegan products. Growing consumer appetite for vegan foods has spurred the creation and development of several young companies in the sector.

Fast growth happens online. The tools for making yourself known are inexpensive and readily accessible.

Every week, we see smart start-ups combining our PR services with their social media and boosting their market share.

So, what are you doing to stay tuned to your customers?

I’d like to know what you have to say on the subject and hear about your success. If you want to know more about the powerful tools that PR and social media can be, contact us today for a free consultation.

Subscribe to our lists: www.natapr.com.

Have you noticed this word being used more and more by senior executives and business coaches?

I’ve had fun doing what I so often urge you to do: Google searches. When I searched “business failures”, I got more than 20 million hits, and these titles were at the top of the list:

- Celebrating failure in business – École des entrepreneurs

- How failure can make you a better entrepreneur (BDC)

- The business failure that’s good for you – Réseau Mentorat

- Three ways you can succeed by failing – Les Affaires

As you might expect, this last article caught my eye. Are there methods for failing well? I’ll admit that failure’s not one of my favourite words. Like many entrepreneurs, I have my own collection of rejected service proposals and lost clients. I try to avoid the verb “fail” as much as possible.

However, I’m aware that trying new things often means failing. Those who manage to learn from these failures often succeed better. Failure is an immutable law of PR and marketing, and I think it’s best to face it.

The article mentions three steps that actor Will Smith says we can take to fail well:

Fail early

Fail often

Fail forward

Fail early

It’s better to experience failure sooner rather than later. If you fall fast, you’ll probably avoid major financial losses, not to mention the prolonged, intense stress that can impact your health and your loved ones.

Fail often

Quite a tip, isn’t it? We often think failure is the end of everything. You write your first blog post, publish it, and no one reads it... is that a failure? Many would say yes. My podcast producer told me that most of his clients weren’t releasing more than 10 podcasts. That’s probably because they only go by the number of listeners, and don’t realize that it’s with the 30th, or even 40th, episode that their audience will grow, and, most importantly, that word of mouth will work its magic. There’s no guarantee of success when you give a presentation or submit a bid. We’ve suffered hundreds of small setbacks, and we’ve built our resilience and success on them. Of course, my partner and I are unsettled when clients leave us, but we know our perseverance will win us new contracts in the months that follow. Failure in business is essential.

Fail forward

This means keep moving forward despite the setbacks, rather than turning around, slowing down, or stopping.

Successful, innovative entrepreneurs are determined and dedicated to achieving their goal, despite any failures that may arise. Think about the smartphones we’re all using today. How many failures do you think it took to reach this technological wonder?

Speaking for myself, failure still hits me just as hard, but I’ve learned not to carry the feeling around for weeks like I used to do 20 years ago, when I founded my agency. I take the time to let the feeling in. It’s not a pleasant one, but I know it’s fleeting – and it won't kill me. Knowing this, I can move forward again.

So, I’ll leave you with a few quotes. Failure is a broad subject and talking about it is good for us. I think I could even make a podcast about it!

“When we fail, it's the perception of failure – not the failure itself – that makes us suffer.” -  Fred Bastien, organizer of FailCamp

“If you’ve never failed (in business), it’s probably because you're living too comfortably – you’re not taking enough risks.” - Alexandre Taillefer, serial entrepreneur

We’re here to answer your questions if you want to find out more about the powerful tools that PR and social media can be.

Free consultation

Subscribe to our lists: www.natapr.com.

It’s hard to predict the future, isn’t it? Yet often that’s what our customers are asking us to do.

We understand that the marketing directors we work with have to come up with a plan, with realistic visibility (PR) and sales (marketing) results.

So, unless you have psychic powers or a crystal ball, how do you get it right?

I’ve often heard companies set unrealistic goals because they’ve taken the short-term view. Since the pandemic, with everything moving even faster, it’s highly likely that your long-term plan (more than five years) will need to be revised.

The main problem with short-term versus long-term forecasts lies in companies’ financial health. As we’ve all seen, those who had to face the crisis by depending on their monthly income did not survive (“Those who live by the numbers, die by the numbers”).

What can you do if you can’t predict the future, and how do you deal with the unforeseeable?

Tracking trends is the best option we have (and we’ll discuss this in Episode 26).

For example, take the vegan trend that is currently exploding. One of our clients, a very small brand, noticed there wasn’t much choice in the vegan frozen dessert segment. Based on this trend, our client is now marketing his products to supermarkets.

What do your marketing predictions look like for your business? How are you preparing for the unexpected? I’d love to hear what you have to say about it. So get in touch. Make an appointment for a free consultation, and I’ll tell you, in all honesty, if I can help you develop realistic short-term predictions.

We’re here to answer your questions if you want to find out more about the powerful tools that PR and social media can be.

Free consultation

Subscribe to our lists: www.natapr.com.

Laurence Lachance, Vice President of Business Development at Orfé Design, is my guest for this episode, where we’ll be talking about branding and why investing in your image and promotion is so important.

ORFÉ: You are communicators. With more than 30 years of experience across North America’s markets, Orfé Design & Com specializes in the art of branding, design, and communication, both B2C and B2B. Your vast knowledge of North American regulations combined with your desire for innovation makes your agency the ideal partner to develop companies’ branding. You are creators of value.

Welcome, Laurence! Thanks for agreeing to join me for this podcast.

1- What is your definition of branding? Can you give us a concrete example?

2- What is the scope of your services? (recent case study)

3- Why is branding important?

4- Creators of value. What does that expression mean?

5- Why do clients choose to work with Orfé? Who is your typical customer?

6- Your father founded Orfé. You and your brother took over the agency a few years ago. What were the easiest and most difficult parts of the journey?

7- What questions should a company be asking if it wants to work with an agency like Orfé?

8- How do you respond to those who believe that investing in your branding is expensive?

9- Our clients are all obsessed with the Web. How do you support your customers who wish to develop their online presence and sales?

10- What does the future at Orfé look like? Do you make projections for the next two, three, and five years?

If our listeners want to work with you, how can they get in touch with you Laurence?

ORFÉ DESIGN: www.orfe.com

Some time ago, my podcast producer from the Varmedia agency, who you probably know by now if you’ve listened to our 20th episode, referred me to a digital agency.

As you know, I decided to move from theory to practice in 2020. I had excellent knowledge of the web to guide my clients. But until now, I hadn’t experienced selling our PR services online. That’s why I created NATA PR SCHOOL, as well as a podcast, free webinars, and online training.

So, I was looking for an expert who could guide me, and most importantly, let me know whether I was on the right track in terms of selling online training.

The reason I mention this expert today is to share my client experience with you. It goes far beyond anything I’ve seen in terms of consulting with agencies or experts who offer services.

This discussion, in which I got to know this expert better and learned how he approaches his clients and handles their cases, made me want to go further.

And reminded me of two basic selling principals.

Selling products and services online is based on two fundamental principles:

1- People love to buy the services of people they know, or products they know.

2- Selling solutions. What’s the desired outcome?

So what are you doing to create value in your business? I’d love to hear what you have to say about it. So get in touch. Make an appointment for a free consultation, and I’ll tell you, in all honesty, if I can help you showcase yourself and make yourself known.

We’re here to answer your questions if you want to find out more about the powerful tools that PR and social media can be.

Free consultation

Subscribe to our lists: www.natapr.com.

Since the pandemic, all of our customers have been obsessed with things digital and with online sales.

Does that sound like you?

We absolutely get it. Many businesses have been able to stay afloat thanks to online services, taking orders on hastily assembled websites. One of our clients who didn't have a transactional website posted their products on Facebook and received orders by email or Messenger.

Without the Internet, all these sales wouldn’t have been possible.

So, it’s only natural that some of our clients are questioning their entire marketing plan and budget.

My partner and I have analyzed all the results that we produced last year for one client in particular. I wanted to measure our impact beyond the number of articles, appearances, and publications online and in the “traditional” media of print magazines, newspapers, and television. Much to our surprise, 75% of the results we generated for this client were digital and totally organic (no money changed hands).

For those of you who are still hesitant to make that move online, know that COVID has had a major impact on online shopping, as revealed by a VIVIDATA survey:

73% of adults have purchased something online, including clothing, shoes, books, and electronics.

And that percentage is expected to remain very high.

What can you do to make yourself known and bring potential customers to your site?

PR combined with social media is a great solution, especially if your budget is tight.

We’re here to answer your questions if you want to find out more about the powerful tools that PR and social media can be.

Complete notes of this episode on our website.

Contact us and subscribe to our lists: www.natapr.com.

To make yourself known, should you run organic campaigns, paid campaigns, or a combination of both?

Our customers often ask this question.

What does organic mean? Quite simply, it means that the media or influencers don't earn anything from the resulting article, blog post, or social media post.

In such cases, the journalist or influencer has chosen to talk about you for free. As you might expect, being mentioned in an organic article will lend you a lot of credibility. Algorithms and search engines (SEO) love organic mentions.

Knowing this, we often suggest that our clients who are as yet unknown to influencers and the media start with an organic campaign. Press releases, content, or images – created by our organization or by a member of your team – will be sent to those influencers and media.

Naturally, if you start with a campaign where you’re paying influencers (think Coca-Cola, for example), it’s a long shot that any journalists or influencers will talk about you, since your current paid campaign is already “commercializing” you.

Obviously, it's not all black and white in the world of promotion.

If your product is already known, you could develop a 100% organic campaign first, before following it up with a paid campaign.

On the other hand, if you’re not well known in the market, consider running a 100% organic campaign for as long as journalists and influencers want to tell their readers and followers about you.

Besides, an organic campaign is really workable, and much less expensive than a paid campaign for a high-value product.

If you want to boost your sales with a campaign of influencers who would recommend their followers go to your site, using the influencer’s code to get a discount, for example, then your odds of success are very high – in exchange for payment, or a discount on a high-value product.

If we think of, say, very expensive photo equipment, a photographer with a large community might give the company access to their followers through a trade-off arrangement.

Retaining the services of a public relations agency like ours (NATA PR) means you’ll get sound advice and profitable contacts. Any agency with more than 10 years’ experience has influencer connections, which could be a goldmine for you.

So, organic or paid?

The most important thing is to take the time to assess your goals and, first off, consider an organic campaign. It’s always less expensive than a paid campaign, and it will help promote you and raise your profile.

However, if you’re self-employed or have a limited budget, consider our customized training. It shows you how to combine PR with social media to generate fast results.

We’re here to answer your questions if you want to find out more about the powerful tools that PR and social media can be.

Contact us and subscribe to our lists: www.natapr.com.

For those of you who remember a time when there was no internet, you may already have seen, in movies, newsrooms, or TV newscasts, a device (a fax machine), churning out press releases in a continuous hard-copy feed, day and night.

That’s the forerunner of the newswire.

What is the newswire? And what’s it good for today? That’s what we’ll be exploring in this post.

To clarify things, let’s start with a definition that’s been around for quite a while, but one I find pretty accurate.

Definition

A service that uses telecommunications to transmit press releases on a rolling basis, as they come in, to a set of targeted recipients locally, nationally, and internationally. (Source: GDT, 2001)

Does this definition make you think of Twitter? Well, Twitter offers up all kinds of news and information in a continuous feed. It’s a sort of all-access newswire.

The newswire we’re talking about here, though, is just for sharing press releases and news stories. There are several newswires in every country. So, the newswire is a service provided by a company.

I like to give the example of CISION, a company that owns several of these services (newswires) in many countries.

If you want to spread a news story through online and traditional media, you can contact CISION's newswire services to publish your press release. This time, your press release will be distributed to their database online, not on paper.

What are the benefits of paying for your press release to be sent out over a newswire?

1- You’re going to reach hundreds if not thousands of media outlets, journalists, and sometimes even influencers and experts in your field.

2- These “expert” journalists can relay your story to their readers and ultimately reach your customers.

3- You’re maximizing your positioning as an expert and a leader in your market.

4- You’ll move to the top of browser searches based on particular keywords, a new technology, or an innovation.

5- It’s a very useful tool for optimizing your SEO.

You don’t need to hire an agency to get the benefits of a newswire. However, you’d better be sure your press release is perfect, and that it has all the important keywords and clickable links, with images and videos that can be linked to and shared.

What you can do is retain the services of a public relations agency like ours (NATA PR) to advise you and help to write your story, defining your words and key phrases, choosing your images, and selecting the best strategy for getting your press release out there.

And keep in mind that, for a fee, an agency can share its own lists of media contacts and influencers with you.

If you’re self-employed or have limited resources, consider our customized training that shows you how to easily combine PR with social media to generate fast results.

We’re here to answer your questions if you want to find out more about the powerful tools that PR and social media can be.

Contact us at www.natapr.com.

NEWSWIRE

https://www.prnewswire.com/