A guest post from Andra Watkins of Positus Consulting.

You DO want to grow your business

You want to grow your business. It’s what everyone wants, regardless of the season, ebb and flow of the economy or challenges presented by pesky competitors.

One of the keys to growing any business is knowing how and when to ask the right questions of key people. Sometimes, a focus group is the only way to get the biggest group of participants, but at POSITUS, we like to conduct individual interviews whenever possible.

By hiring a third party to individually ask a customer, vendor or employee key questions about your business, you are communicating several things to them that matter. Let’s take a look at each one of them.

Ask!

Your input is important to me. It is so important to you as a business owner that you hired someone to contact people individually to get that feedback. You’re conveying that the interviewee matters to your business by underscoring the crucial nature of their opinions and insights.

Your time is valuable. Individual interviews can often be conducted by telephone, and they can be timed for the convenience of the interviewee. By taking this approach, you’re communicating that time is precious; that you want to make giving feedback as simple as possible for the participant.

Your confidentiality matters. Lots of folks won’t participate in focus groups because they’re intimidated or they feel they cannot reasonably convey what they have to offer in front of a group. As a research tool, individual interviews with a third party allow each participant to speak freely and candidly in a completely confidential setting.

All of your comments are welcome – even the critical ones. By giving a participant a one-on-one forum with an impartial third party, you are underscoring that you want all relevant feedback – the good; the bad; and the ugly. The beauty of a third party is that the information can then be distilled and worded into relevant, meaningful input for dynamic business change.

I want to keep your business. Customers always like to feel special, and seeking out their opinions one-on-one is an ideal way to underscore that you want to keep their business for the long-term. With key customers, individual interviewing can be the key to keeping them in the “key” position for the life of your business.

You have been an instrument of change in my business. Getting one-on-one feedback is worthless without follow up. Once the information has been reviewed and crafted into specific strategies for growth and change, show people AND tell people how their input made a difference. Announce the changes you’ve made. Thank people personally. Be transparent about what you’re doing, helping everyone to see the value of their individual contributions.

Research is like concentrated dynamite

In every case where POSITUS has helped a client achieve double or triple digit growth, individual interviews have been a non-negotiable component of the strategic process. They are more affordable than a focus group, and the input gleaned is like concentrated dynamite. On more than one occasion, we’ve taken an entirely different strategic growth stance based solely on individual feedback, and that information is what helped the business explode with new growth.

And, isn’t that where you really want your business to be?

Twitter is a great tool to help you connect to current and potential customers, just be careful what you say.

When playing chess, strategy is the key to winning. It's no different when it comes to planning public relations for your business.

Just as Shira Levine writes in American Express Open‘s blog post on why you need strategic public relations, we’ve long championed knowing what you want to happen when planning your public relations campaign. Know your brand. Stay current. All your public relations must be aligned with a carefully planned business goal.

Levine’s six points to guide you in the development of a strategic pr campaign bear repeating:  (I’ve added my thoughts in blue beneath her thoughts.)

1. Be message-driven. Have goals and stick to communicating the most important message of your brand. Focus on driving mind share.

To which I add, know your message! Take time to comprehend your brand and don’t begin promoting your company just because you are “open.”

2. Consider geographic components. If the product is locally focused and distributed in specific places, don’t waste coverage in places where the product or service can’t be bought. Win the markets you have!

While it’s nice to get kudos from a national magazine, if you aren’t selling a product that is available across the country or on your website, you will not be growing your business. And isn’t that the goal?

3. Have a call to action. Your editorial should have a call to action for the consumer; for example, to visit your website or store. Focus on communicating the message of what exactly you want your consumer to do.

When developing a strategic campaign, it’s great to tie your publicity to an event, contest or limited time frame.

4. Understand what type of media you want and need for your message.Ten years ago the media landscape was much different. How you target print vs. electronic media is different. Weekly and daily publications operate differently.

“Recognize unconventional target audiences,” says Olguin. “That’s how we deal with our client: New Castle Brown Ale. For that client, a blogger or blog site like Thrillist works better strategically than USA Today.”

Recognize that media aren’t targets! You want to cultivate relationships, not just shoot news to them. Don’t let your press release become like a message in a bottle, cast out there just to see where it washes up.

5. Be time-driven. Have something in your PR campaign to tie the news back to. It could be a news peg, a hook, something newsworthy, etc. The launch of a product is always good. A new message for the marketplace can work. Just make sure it coincides with your business objective.

Just remember, public relations is like spring! It’s about news.

6. Recognize the power of the blogosphere. “Peer-to-peer communication is more valuable than category experts,” says Olguin “Tripadvisor and Yelp, for example, are incredibly important, but so is a blogger in Syracuse who says a restaurant is cool. So is Jason Chen from Gizmodo. Vertically-oriented blog writers live and breathe their category. Even if they aren’t trained on their topics they are super influential with the leverage they have over their followers. They can bring multiple placements, are easy to find, and you don’t have to spend much money to have a measurable impact.”

Blogs are a powerful and reach those who make purchasing decisions.

Know your brand. Know your message. Know your audience. Then strategically plan your public relations campaign.