Many years ago I was a director of the London office of Burson-Marsteller one of the world’s leading PR companies. In those days we were in relentless pursuit of a handful of influential journalists and freelancers in the national and specialist press. OK we created varied programmes including facility visits, launches and one on ones with the CEO as well as press releases but the end result was the few column inches in the press cuttings book which hopefully delighted our client and meant we kept the account.

My – how things have changed. I was reminded of this when watching coverage of London fashion week. In the front row were the usual personalities whose attendance added huge interest and virtually guaranteed media attention. But hang on a minute. Who are these unknowns sitting right beside them? They are the bloggers and front row Tweeters whose influence in this and many other spheres of commercial life has exploded almost unnoticed by those oblivious to the impact of social media.

It is no wonder the conventional printed media is on the downturn. The bloggers and Tweeters have gathered together huge numbers of followers and their comments on a fashion collection can be ‘published’ before one can say Giorgio Armani.
The publicity lady at this particular collection was running around trying to satisfy bloggers, Twitter feeds and even the production of video clips which were available on Iphones 7 minutes after the first model had strutted down the catwalk. Incidentally those at the event were also able to buy the fashion from their Blackberries whilst the models were displaying the couture right in front of them.

Journalists not surprisingly have always liked things to be easy and with Google as their default browser page they have a window to any topic or company in the world. They too are monitoring this traffic for their stories and background. So our approach to PR has to change to take full advantage of this communications revolution. Have you got the message yet?

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I wonder how many of us would join a company without knowing our salary and on target earnings. Not many takers eh?

And yet when I ask people especially when they are setting up in business what they want to earn in their first year, this simple question seems to throw them entirely. I get answers like as much as I can or between £50k and 100k or the most honest answer I had not really thought about it.

The same applies even if you are a well established company. What do you want to see in your pocket or on the balance sheet as the net result of all your hard work?

Having confirmed the figure in your mind the next step is to divide it up on a spreadsheet by the 12 months seasonally adjusted which you have available in the year to earn this sum. Everything else revenue, costs number of orders and so on can come from this. Then work the numbers back and see if they add up. If not adjust your income expectations in line with what it will take to earn it.

OK my clients have just about got past this one but you would be amazed how many out there with pretentions to build a successful business, haven’t.

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