Who needs a business mentor?

Everyone should have a mentor – someone who is not too close to your day to day working situation, with the experience to offer insight and counsel, who can support you with an outsider’s view.  And the higher up the corporate ladder you climb, the more you need a behind-the-scenes business sensei.  But finding the right mentor isn’t straight forward.  Where one mentor can inspire and motivate, another can treat you like a disappointing pupil.  If your mentor is sharing their words of wisdom for the love of doing it – and the occasional cup of coffee – then they obviously have an instinctive urge to teach.  But, dangerously, they might just have an instinctive urge to hear the sound of their own voice.  Opening up about your working issues and ideas is a revealing exercise and unless you trust that your mentor is genuinely motivated to help, a mentor session can feel more like a TV crime drama grilling than a supportive catch up.

My own mentors found me.  Two are ex-clients who I advised on PR, corporate positioning and communications.  Things changed and we all moved jobs but we stayed in touch.  And our informal meetings changed from chit chats into in-depth discussions about business, management, finance and life.  The focus switched from a two way catch up to a focussed assessment of my business and ‘therapy session’ into my working challenges.  I relish the opportunity to run things by them and often do make decisions with a nod to ‘what would my mentors do’. 

I’d say ‘what’s in it for them?’ if I wasn’t also a mentor myself.  I recognise the satisfaction and reward of sharing knowledge and the feel-good factor of helping someone with some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way.

So if you haven’t got a mentor, then keep your eyes open and try to cultivate one.  The perfect mentor doesn’t prescribe the solution to your business challenges, puff you up in a sycophantic way or reprimand you for getting in tricky situations.  They encourage, advise and illuminate opportunities.  They hold a mirror up and help keep the focus clear.  After a good meeting with a mentor you look in the mirror and like what you see.   

By Lucy George

Please don’t pull me out of my shell, I’m busy

Shy, sensitive, serious. These are all words perceived as, generally, negative attributes. But these are also words people associate with introverts. One in three people are introverts and society makes us believe that if you’re anything other than an extrovert you’re made to think something is wrong with you.

I've recently read Quiet by Susan Cain, a book about the power of introverts in a world dominated by extroverts.  It's an insightful read and one that has taught me that the environment we live in is not suited for introverts.

Take our schooling system, for example. From a young age we are taught to work in groups. Now you could argue that this is teaching us to communicate with others and build confidence, but for those introverted children it's incredibly daunting. 

Introverts are typically very intelligent but feel more at ease working individually or in pairs, and are more productive knowing they have a particular role – taking the notes in a group discussion, or feeding back their findings to the class.  In bigger groups there are always kids who have no problem taking charge and contributing ideas but, for those overwhelmed by the pressure to contribute, many introverted kids feel their views are insufficient.

Some people believe that introversion is something we grow out of when we get older, that it’s just a phase or a confidence thing. But the reality is it’s the environment we’re in that makes a difference. Once we can chose our environment, whether that’s our work or home environment, we come into our own.

Steve Wozniak, inventor and co-founder of Apple, was incredibly shy at school and hated small talk. He wasn’t a popular kid at school but was fascinated by engineering and electronics from a very young age. He spent most days working alone, even when he worked at Hewlett Packard, and believes this approach led him to creating the Apple I and Apple II.

“Most inventors and engineers I’ve met are like me – they’re shy and they live in their heads. They’re almost like artists. In fact, the very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone – best outside of corporate environments, best where they can control an invention’s design without a lot of other people designing it for marketing or some other committee. I don’t believe anything really revolutionary has ever been invented by committee...”

Whether you agree with Wozniak’s way of working or not, it’s interesting to note that in the same way school is not adapted for introverts, neither is brainstorming. In the workplace, brainstorming is a widely used creative tool. However, psychological research shows that enforced teamwork – like we experience at school – signals a fear of rejection in people (not just introverts) and discourages potentially valuable contributions.

In fact, brainstorming is guilty of three things; social loafing where people sit back and let the others do the work, production blocking by letting only one person speak at any one time and evaluation apprehension, the fear of looking stupid. Teamwork is, of course, a necessary part of business life but employers shouldn’t underestimate the creativity harvested by those who work individually – especially as a third of employees will be introverts.

So the next time someone calls you shy or quiet, just remember – without introverts the world would be missing the theory of relativity, the Civil Rights movement and Google. 

By Stephanie Rock   

Wordville is hiring

London-based PR agency, Wordville, seeks Account Manager

Imaginative, resourceful, talented PR manager wanted to join small international team that specialises in technology, travel and start-up brands.  With clients that range from beloved automotive brand Cosworth, to Dragon’s Den start-ups, to international NGOs, working for Wordville means you’re as likely to meet an astronaut as an ambassador, an entrepreneur as an engineer.  All our clients share one big goal - to become famous in the circles that count.  If you can help and have experience of delivering sensational PR campaigns then get in touch.  

Our office is relaxed but the pressure is on so enthusiasm is a must.  Exquisite written skills and journalist pitching prowess are essential – as is an insatiable appetite for bringing in new business and helping the company to grow. Wordville’s dog comes to the office so if you’re scared of or allergic to dogs this might not be the job for you.  Good salary based on experience and opportunities galore.  Full job description available on request.  Email info@wordville.net  with the reasons you’re perfect for the job.  We can’t wait to hear from you. 

Travel – standing out in a crowded market

Travel, Travel, Travel – I love it. I’m the most renowned traveler of my friends, colleagues, peers and family and having worked in the industry for many years it’s easy to get addicted.

However making an impact as a travel business is not a straight forward journey. You’re competing against thousands of holiday destinations from Bournemouth to The Cotswolds, Brazil to Suriname; you’re up against travel agents and tour operators, excursions, escapes and experiences, online travel agents and member websites, plus all the gadgets, gizmos, and gear that go with traveling.

From a PR perspective most publications offer just a couple of travel pages, and often to a destination, and national press have their travel supplements.  It really does limit your PR options. To stand out in the crowded travel market you really need to do something spectacular and that really means thinking off the beaten path.

Gain genuine consumer media interest and you can ditch the supplements and travel features and work your way through the main sections of your target publications. And to achieve this you need to look way beyond your product, instead at the 1) experience you offer 2) the way you operate 3) who you work with and 4) who’s behind the company.

Find those special stories that make you stand out as a business, but also look at your core values and discover how you can represent these through experiential PR and events, partnerships and endorsements. When budgets are tight, always look to business partners and associates for support – working in collaboration can really help the budgets go further; and could deliver an exciting prospect to the consumer press.

HOW TO – tackle the media

Destinations

Connect with the audience, appeal to the travelers you want most, and deliver the brand you want them to experience when they are visiting your destination. Help them breath, smell, and visualise where their travels will take them.

Travel businesses (Tour Operators/Travel Agents)

Demonstrate how you do things differently, communicate the experience, get your timing right when communicating to the media to optimise your sales performance across national and consumer press.

Online travel businesses

Keep the momentum going, be innovative with promotions, products, visuals and especially social media. It’s innovative and engaging content that will help you gain attention, even from the most skeptical journalists.

Timings for great travel exposure:

October – January:

It’s all about: summer holidays, weekend breaks/short trips, bargain deals, inspiration, winter vs summer.

Between Christmas and New Year the travel sales are in full swing and people plan and start booking their vacations for the next year. Take advantage of this time and make sure you’re as visible as you can be. If Boxing Day, 26^th December, is the most popular day for travel search you need to start at least two months before, just so you can feature in the Christmas issues of glossy magazines. Drive your PR campaign throughout January and you are likely to pick-up a lot of traffic, especially as Europe is dull, grey and cold and people are keen to plan a warm getaway.

February – April:

It’s all about: early summer breaks, executive travel/non families.

Those families looking to budget and strapped for cash may have already booked their one holiday vacation a year, but you now have the chance to target the slightly more wealthy – those looking to do something different, which means you can avoid everything that was covered between October and January. It’s time to market for Easter, and appeal to the No Kids market with vacations before the schools break-up.

May – July:

It’s all about: Last minute breaks, kids’ holidays, quick escapes.

We’re back to the bargain hunters and families who are finally making up their mind for their summer vacation. On the other side you have the ‘power-couples no kids’ who want quick weekend escapes. This is your last chance to maximise the summer and get in those last minute bookings.

August – September:

It’s all about: Executive/non families, quick breaks, Christmas, the following summer.

More families are traveling at Christmas so do target this market, although on the whole it will be quiet for families. Instead remember the high-disposable income couples that want a quick break in the autumn and winter when other people’s children are at school. It’s also a chance to sell special offers for the end of Summer. Finally, incredibly budget conscious families will be looking towards next year’s vacation so they have a year to save – time to inspire them.

By Ryan C Haynes, travel media PR specialist

Everything you wanted to know about SIX

It’s Wordville’s sixth birthday and we’re celebrating in the village.  

It’s been an amazing year - working internationally, helping start-ups become well-known, working with established brands to redefine their image and dominating the press across travel, technology, professional services and finance. We've been fortunate to be in a position to help shine some light on organisations whose innovation and flare deserves the attention. But it's the long shadows that they cast that have been most rewarding to be part of - whether it's bringing solar power to the developing world, influencing design or improving driving safety. 

And, as we’re all glowing with birthday spirit, it’s time to open Wordville’s PR Surgery.  Let the ribbons be cut and the orange squash be quaffed; the health of your PR can only get even better.  

PR ER – If you’ve got a question you want an answer to and you need it quick, then drop an email to info@wordville.net – our PR agony aunts and uncles are standing by to give you a free response to ‘who should I contact?’, ‘what’s the press day for that magazine?’, ‘why doesn’t the feature editor love me anymore?’

A Second Opinion? – You may be in the middle of an on-going PR campaign or reviewing your first draft marketing plan for the year ahead – we can offer another expert view.  We won’t charge you but will offer our opinion on the approach, the timings and the targets. 

Reputational Therapy – And if things have gone a little more pear-shaped then we’re sympathetic.  If you want to speak to a communication specialist who knows that the rough can come with the smooth, then drop in for tea and sympathy – and a plan for how to improve the word on the street if it’s not what you need it to be.

We’re only keeping Wordville’s Surgery open for our birthday month – it’s not that we don’t care but we’ve got work to do.  So get in touch and pick our brains this month. 

Birthday greetings and thanks to all for your support this year.

Flying visit

This morning, I was browsing the news online and came across a link to an interesting feature about unusual ways businesses have innovated. Naturally intrigued, I clicked on the link, patiently waiting the 2-3 seconds it takes for my computer to load a page. However, after my wait, I am not met with my most innovative businesses feature. Instead, my screen turns a transparent blue and I am met with a picture of an animated plane zooming across a page. What is this? I can vaguely make out my article behind it, so I search around the plane, which is now making a chugging sound and omitting several puffs of (hopefully eco-friendly) smoke, for an ‘X’.

No ‘X’ in sight. I try to avoid the plane, thinking that if I click on a blue area behind it, it might disappear. But the plane seems to be one step ahead of me; as I move my mouse, it mirrors my movements. There appears to be no escape from this thing.

What does it even want? Why won’t it go away?

After about a minute of trying to dodge this plane, I finally succumbed to what it obviously wanted me to do – I clicked on it. Perhaps if I did this, it would go away. Within nanoseconds, another webpage appeared. I don’t even know what it was about as I was so annoyed I immediately shut the page. But whoever it was that sent that little plane to harass me perhaps got what they wanted – a click through to their website. Even if it was done just to get rid of that damn plane.

It made me wonder how many unscrupulous websites build up their “unique visitor” numbers through tactics like this. Pop-up ads and links are becoming increasingly common and often they are designed to make you click on them in error (when they keep following your mouse around) rather than creating engaging content that people actually want to read.

I admit I don’t know much about click-through rates and advertising, but I can have a guess that the more unique visitors a website has, the more it can charge companies for advertising space. Perhaps companies with online advertising budgets are already onto this; many of them no doubt have teams trained to source potential ad spaces that will offer a genuine, targeted audience – one where the average website visiting time is more than 0.001 seconds. But for those companies that are choosing an online space for their adverts based on unique visitors alone – beware. 

By Jess Matthias 

Being happy can make you sad

Recent research from the US has shown that being happy can be harmful. Something you can probably relate to if you’re tucking into a big piece of chocolate cake. Right now.

But apparently watching a video of a cute cat can also have the same outcome.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina and UCLA, asked 80 test subjects questions about pleasure (hedonic well-being) and purpose (eudaimonic well-being). Results showed that those who were happy, but had little meaning in their lives showed genetic patterns associated with chronic stress; whereas those who spoke of having meaning in their lives had a less stressful genetic profile.

So this means the happiness you feel when your football team wins the cup, or you find a bargain on ASOS, isn’t good for you in the long run.

As a nation, 81% of us gave ourselves a seven or more out of ten when asked if we felt the things in our lives were worthwhile. But who and what can determine whether a life is worthwhile? Is it a successful career? Growing a family? Or pursuing your passion you always put off for the daily grind?

Albert Einstein once said: “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile”.

We live in a world that seems to be obsessed with material things, social networks and celebrities and yet many of us are hungry for happiness. Whilst, as stated earlier, these material things can make you instantly happy – it’s not permanent. Giving something back – whether it’s quality time with loved ones or travelling half way round the world to volunteer in a local community – provides a purpose. 

Several brands have picked up on our fascination with happiness and used it to help build stronger connections with consumers. One Chicago-based company, Dream Champs, launched in 2011 with the tagline “Because Life is Too Short to do Work You Hate”. The company helps users identify their values and connect them with like-minded companies through a website and seminar series.

Consumer brands also play a role in creating meaningful experiences through their products and services. Burt’s Bees, the maker of eco-friendly bath and beauty products, is a great example of this. Employees at the company spend up to 30 business hours a year to ‘do good’. Last year, the company closed its North Carolina HQ office so workers could join volunteers to build an eco-friendly playground. And this year, Burt’s Bees donated 400 pairs of jeans to charity Habitat for Humanity, which repurposed them to insulate new homes.

TOMS is also another inspiring example of philanthropy. For every pair of shoes you buy, the company donates a pair of new shoes to a deserving child. They find communities that will benefit most from receiving the shoes and where local businesses won’t be negatively affected. It’s the small things like these that have the biggest impact.

So the next time you want that chocolate cake, maybe offer it to someone else...

By Stephanie Rock