Strategies for women entrepreneurs

Branding and marketing

	Honing the Brand Called You
	Tips for Developing a Media Profile
	Hone Your Interview Skills
	How to Increase Your Visibility

Here, savvy women entrepreneurs share practical tips and advice.

Honing the Brand Called You

Everything you, as an entrepreneur, do and choose not to do communicates the value and character of your brand - including phone conversations, e-mail messages, signature line, and all outbound materials. And the most important element to any brand is its creator: you. "Entrepreneurs are implicit brands," says marketing communications expert Nora Camps, principal of DUO Strategy and Design, Inc. (ncamps@duo.ca). "You plus your achievements equals your brand."

An implicit brand is everything that makes you exceptional: your beliefs, causes, things that inspire you, according to Nora. And your brand is all of you - personal and professional characteristics - and is 100% emotion, she emphasizes.

Here are some tips on implicit branding that Nora presented to participants of the Step Ahead One-on-One Mentoring Program

• When creating the brand called you, the most important person to know is you. Who are you? What is your passion? Ask yourself: What do you want to be known for? What do you want others to say about you?
• Listen to thought leaders and share knowledge. Peruse all media around you, even things beyond your interest, to expose yourself to new ideas and to learn constantly.
• Be conscious and steadfast in implementing your brand. Start with a story and work with a designer to create something creative.
• Implement a style that matches you. It's important to integrate who you are into your brand.
• Be fresh and bold. There is something about your business that is exceptional. Define it and assert yourself.

"Anyone can claim to have a great brand," explains Nora. "But it's your market that will tell you if you do."

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Tips for Developing a Media Profile

The old saying that "bad publicity is better than no publicity at all" recognizes that media exposure can be a powerful way to get attention. And good press can be far more effective - and certainly less expensive - than other forms of marketing.

But creating a profile with the media doesn't typically happen overnight. It requires patience…and a clear, targeted approach. Here are some tips to help you pitch a story to the media and develop a lasting top-of-mind presence with busy reporters.

1. Deliver what the media wants. Before preparing anything - whether it's a full media relations plan or a single news release or article - keep in mind what appeals to media. Even if it's not 100% about you, be willing to communicate anyway. Remember, the goal is to build relationships. Journalists look for:
   
   
   • Drama and relevance: News is something that affects people. A dry statistic can come alive if accompanied by a dramatic statement about what that stat means to the reporter's audience.
   • Unusualness: Is there something unexpected, surprising or unique about the story you're telling.
   • Local angle: Don't dismiss a media outlet or a story to tell because it isn't of national interest. A success story about a local company that appears in a smaller-market daily or weekly newspaper is read by many people.
   • Hot or timely topic: If you sell a food product, develop and send seasonal or holiday recipes that use it. If you operate an accounting service, submit a story about RRSP investment options at tax time.
2. Build a media list. Look at all the options, not just daily newspapers, TV and radio. Community papers and trade publications often welcome contributed articles from experts. Be sure to add journalists to your list who have reported on topics relevant to your field. Gather names from your industry publications and check out media directories such as Bowdens and CCNMatthews.
3. Develop a media kit. A good kit can serve as an introduction to a targeted media list or as an immediate info package ready to respond to a reporter's query. Your kit should include a company backgrounder, your profile (including a good photograph), fact sheet, recent news releases, customer testimonials and samples of past media coverage. Post the kit in the "media" or "press room" of your web site. If you have a limited budget…use it to develop a good kit. Reporters are inundated with information and will quickly reject poorly-written or unprofessional material. And be ready punch up your kit by customizing it to suit the needs of the reporter receiving it.
4. Make the story pitch count. Whether your pitch is verbal or written (for example, in a news release or article), you need to capture the media's attention in the first sentence. Try to include a surprising stat or powerful fact that will be of interest to their readers/listeners/viewers. And remember that reporters have tight deadlines. If you're not available, they will move on to someone who is. If you don't deliver what they need, they won't call back.
5. Hone your message. It's easy to become flustered or be led off-track when questioned or interviewed by reporters. Prepare and rehearse brief, clear messages about your company and your expertise. Remember that marketing your company is not the reporter's agenda. You may have a dozen messages you want to impart, but choose your top three depending on the topic, audience and interview circumstances. If you deliver those three, you've done well.
6. Keep the ball rolling. Media exposure can enhance the reputation of both you and your company and can help give your marketing results a real boost, but it takes time to build. Your biggest goal is to be a reporter's trusted go-to expert in your field. You can't expect to land on a reporter's rolodex because you sent a single news release. Demonstrate your expertise with reliable communication over time. One caveat: don't pester. If you shower the media with a series of fluffy, superficial and self-serving pitches, they will just tune you out.

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Hone Your Interview Skills

One of the best skills you can learn in life is good, effective interviewing skills. "Whether your business is small or large, these skills are important - even when dealing with a new business associate, partner or supplier," says Dianne Ramster, Hunt Personnel (www.hunt.ca). She offers these strategies to help you select the best candidate:

PRIOR TO THE INTERVIEW:

1. Prepare Ahead - Save Headaches Later
• Identify your corporate structure (team or independent)
• Assess the training and support that your company will provide - consider a buddy system (mentor) - document a process
• Identify the management style of the supervisor as well as the history of staff turnover and its causes
• Identify potential for change in the job
• Identify the need for urgency in the job
• Identify the amount of structure provided
• Identify the skills, experience and education required for that job - if they are musts, eliminate resumes that don't match
• Determine the requirement for contact with customers (inside or outside)
• Determine the fit of the job within the organization
• Identify why someone would want to work for your company, for instance: your company profile in your industry, training and career opportunities provided, benefits etc.
• Write out the job description
• Identify performance criteria (what good performance will look like)
• Be fluent in Human Rights legislation and labour laws - you cannot contract your way out of them
• Be aware of how Revenue Canada interprets the employee-employer relationship
• Review the resume and make note of areas that need to be clarified
• Have a list of questions that you ask all candidates for that position
• Know the basics of different communications styles so you can be objective
• Manage "wrongful hiring" risk - when a candidate is currently employed, when the job or the company is misrepresented (in the perception of the employee) or if other employees conclude that you have not used due diligence in checking a person's background before you hire them
• Be aware that resumes are often professionally written to put the candidate in the best possible light and that they may be "fudging" .
• Perfect your listening skills (instead of thinking about the next question you want to ask)
• Before hiring, consider: streamlining, automating, eliminating tasks, cross-training other employees, promoting from within
2. Identify Market Competition For Candidates
• Identify the salary range for the position and how it compares to what other companies are paying for that skill set in the same business area
3. Consider the Options You Have to Give You the Time You Need to Recruit Effectively
• Job sharing, temporary help, contract help.
4. Recruit
• Advertise
• Search web sources
• Network and get referrals, consider the potential risk of referrals from family, friends or employees
• Receive responses by e-mail, fax and/or phone
• Telephone screen applicants for their experience and commitment - assess potential to stay or leave
• Book appointments
5. Prepare to Test Skills
• Assess the ability to perform tasks on various software applications; test organizational skills; test arithmetic, spelling, filing, data entry, letter composition, typing speed and accuracy - whatever skills are needed on the job
• Profile their work and communication style, customer contact skills

THE INTERVIEW:

1. What To Do / Ask
• Do a phone interview first
• Make summary notes after the interview, identifying why you might not hire that person
• Identify the reasons for leaving previous jobs, income history, problems or challenges on previous jobs, preferred work style, hours and location, vacation needs, time off.
• Identify if bondable, legally entitled to work in Canada, details of work history not volunteered on the resume
• Identify gaps in employment, previous manager names and numbers, details of type of company and environment in previous jobs
• Identify additional skills, projects or tasks completed, things they wish to avoid, income and benefit expectations, job location and hours preferred, availability short and long term, career goals, what other jobs they are looking at, how they will respond to a counter offer by current employer or other job interviews
• Have someone else do a second interview
2. How To Do It
• Use the process and criteria that apply to that specific job - for example, interviewing sales people would be different from interviewing accounting clerks or receptionists
• Instead of interviewing from your personal comfort with that person's communication style, do so from the style best suited to the tasks
• Behave well - word gets around
• Begin by describing the process - gather information first, then sell the job/company
• Make notes during the interview
• Set the stage to relax the person - this starts at the reception desk and carries through to housekeeping
• Use the 10/90 rule in the information gathering stage of the interview. Ask open-ended questions and stop talking. If you are speaking more than 10% of the time, you will not do an effective interview
• Don't give away the answer to a question by the way you ask it
• Make the question asking process sound risk free so that you get closer to real answers instead of ones they think you want to hear. You will always be told what it is they think you should hear - it is normal for people to give answers considered to be "socially acceptable"
• Don't believe what people say. This doesn't mean that you dis-believe them, it just means that you do not accept what they say unconditionally - doing so stops you from validating their experience (relative to your needs) and lets you make judgments that are probably invalid but certainly premature
• Their reality is different from yours, what they see and what you see are different - example: asking them if they found the job to be busy doesn't help much if their definition of busy is different from yours - and it will be. Their life experiences and therefore their interpretation of events is different from yours. Their interpretation of stress, teams, appropriate behaviour, etc. will be different from yours
• Listen to what is not said
• Rate the candidate immediately after the interview, against the job description and the ideal candidate profile, on a scale of 1-10. Make notes to explain your rating so you can adjust the rating later in comparison to other candidates. Make a list of additional questions to ask in a second interview
• Identify their history of effort - consistent ongoing application of energy focused on results and process
• Do objective, validated, competency profiling
• Ask questions that force them to describe how they handled a specific situation, challenge or problem. Listen for transferable (to your company or client's) experiences and demonstrated skills. Make sure you validate this story when you do reference checks. Take into account the environment in which they were successful and how the environment compares to yours
• Ask them to describe what they think are their most significant contributions that they can bring to the job - revalidate by asking them to visualize them being in the job for a year - what would their list of achievements be in the job
• Make no assumptions
• Keep asking questions until you run out of questions, then think of more questions

AFTER THE INTERVIEW:

1. Check References
• Contact previous employer managers to validate information gathered in interview as detailed above
• Do reference checks specific to what you need for the job and qualify the reference giver in terms of their experience and management level
• Assess performance, reliability, attendance, ability to get along with others, history of success in different tasks and situations, learning style, leadership effectiveness, proactive or reactive, sense of urgency, willingness to learn and change. Would they rehire, confirm job description, title, dates of employment, income, achievements, performance issues
• Validate necessary professional or educational qualifications
2. Provide Risk Management Support
   To the hiring manager: provide information on hiring, orientation of new employees, training, coaching, managing transition, team dynamics, performance assessment and performance management.

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How to Increase Your Visibility

Pamela Jeffery, President & CEO, The Jeffery Group (tel: 416-361-1475) knows well the power of networking and shares with us the details of how to find the resources and support you need to help your business grow. Although she started her own business as a reluctant entrepreneur - pushed into it by personal circumstances - she embraced the attitude of "What's the worst thing that could happen?" (If it does, simply pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move forward, she advises). The next thing she did was to rent office space. This way, she says, you are forced to focus your efforts on business development - you have to pay rent! Next, was increasing her visibility in the marketplace. Here are her four keys to success:

1. Find a mentor. Mentors provide inspiration and can teach you the intricacies of networking. And, they are a lot easier to find than you may think.
2. Join community boards. By contributing to a not-for-profit organization, you meet people you otherwise would not and develop a different set of skills. Be sure you have passion for the cause. And, remember, one Board appointment will lead to another.
3. Plan. Schedule your work week so that you attend at least one event per week. Pamela makes a lunch date every day with clients or potential clients.
4. Network. Women are natural networkers, and having passion for your business makes it even easier. Don't think of networking as something you have to do, but rather, as an opportunity to connect with others. Try golf - it's a great networking tool and an ideal way to strengthen your existing relationships and gather new business.

Extracted from a presentation at the Joint Business Forum co-hosted in May 2003 by Women Entrepreneurs of Canada (WEC) and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), in celebration of the World Day for Women Entrepreneurs. For more information on WEC, visit www.wec.ca. For more information on WXN, the Women's Executive Network that Pamela runs, visit www.wxnetwork.com