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Using public relations (PR) to your advantage - Q & A

Ruby calls from England to get some advice from the Sloans about PR and how to get the domain name she wants.

Rich Sloan:  Not out of Birmingham, Alabama; not out of Birmingham, Michigan, where our headquarters are; but out of Birmingham, England.  Welcome to our show, Ruby.

Ruby:   Hi.            

Rich Sloan:  How can we help you?  How did you find us?

Ruby:  I will try to limit myself, but you have to stop me if I talk too much.  I'm just, you know, a little bit too motivated by your show.  You've over motivated me and over supported me.  I can't stop myself sometimes, so you'll have to stop me.

Rich Sloan:  It's a common problem.  That's why we send out decaffeinated coffee to everyone in our community.

Ruby:  Right.  Well, I did a search on Sara Blakely because I first came across her on the (unintelligible) because I'm looking to set up.  I just did a search on her and it came up on a Google search on Sara Blakely on Startup Radio Nation.

Rich Sloan:  Yeah, StartupNation.

Ruby:   StartupNation Radio, sorry.

Rich Sloan:  Yeah.

Ruby:  And I came up with her, and I listened to her interview and it was really eye-opening because I don't know how to approach once I have my products.  Everything is in place, but I don't know how to approach people through PR --

Rich Sloan:  Right.

Ruby:   -- or through companies.  I think it's (unintelligible) simple story.

Rich Sloan:  For our listeners, yeah, it's an amazing story.  Sara Blakely created Spanx, the footless pantyhose company.  She's based out of Atlanta in Georgia, U.S.A., and she has a multi-million dollar business.  You know, she's been on Oprah and (unintelligible).

Ruby:  40 million in revenue, yes.

Rich Sloan:  Yeah, yeah.  So, even though that's not pounds, it still is a lot of money, right?

Ruby:  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.  And she's just gone such a long way.  And it's exactly how she explained, that she just started off with $5,000, and she didn't have enough money for advertising and no one told her within two years if it was a good idea or not.  And I'm pretty much starting off the same way as her.  And there's a huge exploding phenomenon in England called fair trade and ethical fashion and I'm tied in with that.  I mean, you guys, from your radio station, give me so much motivation.  I just didn't know anything about PR and grass rooting.

Rich Sloan:  Yeah.

Ruby:  And how to go about advertising.  I can't afford to advertise.

Rich Sloan:  Right.  That's the typical thing with most businesses.

Ruby:  Yeah.

Rich Sloan:  There isn't a big budget for that.  You know, I would say this.  First of all, Ruby, you're making an impression on our hundreds of thousands of listeners here in the U.S. just in this appearance.  And I am confident with your energy level, like with Sarah Blakely, who you can learn about at StartupNation.com of Spanx.

Ruby:   Yeah.

Rich Sloan:  I am confident with your energy level that the press is going to eat you up.  And so, it's a matter of packaging your story.

Ruby:  Absolutely.  You are so right.  In fact, you know, you've been educating me so well on press releases.  You've had somebody else come in on press release.  I think she's called Melanie Rembrandt.

Jeff Sloan:  Yes.

Rich Sloan:  Yes, Rembrandt Communications does our --

Ruby:  She gave a fantastic lowdown on PR and how to go about it yourself.  If you're okay with that, I'd love to actually give some press releases to you to start out with, and perhaps you can tell me if this is actually suitable to go out to the press.  I just have one question.

Rich Sloan:  You know what?  Let me just stop you quickly right there.  I love that idea.  Why don't you draft some press releases and we will, during the next time we talk about PR, we'll take a look at those releases and critique them and indicate what we feel you've done right and where we feel you can improve or, perhaps, what you've done wrong.

Ruby:  Excellent.  Because I also have your copy on the Internet because your (unintelligible) did a fabulous copy (unintelligible) look at.

Rich Sloan:  Ruby, you're talking way too much.

Ruby:  Sorry.

Rich Sloan:  No, I’m kidding.  This could go on forever with you.

Ruby:  I (unintelligible) would do this.  I'm sorry, but I haven't even started about the company.  If I started, I bet you won't be able to stop me.

Rich Sloan:  What is the name of your company?

Ruby:  Well, I'm actually setting up at the moment.  I wanted to ask you about that, if you don't mind, actually. 

Rich Sloan:  Sure.

Ruby:  I can tell you because you're an American.  I want to start in England so you're not even competition for me at the moment.

Rich Sloan:  Beautiful.

Ruby:  But there's a company called Ethically Me that also sells ethical fashion.  That's a whole other story.  Doesn't matter.  I didn't know they existed and I had picked a named called Ethica.  So if I have a name called Ethica, do you think it clashes too much with this other company, Ethically Me?

Rich Sloan:  No.

Ruby:  Because they're not actually well known.

Rich Sloan:  No problem.

Ruby:  You don't think it's a problem?

Rich Sloan:  By the way, I think it's a really cool name. 

Jeff Sloan:  Yeah.  E-T-H-I-C-A?

Ruby:   E-T-H-I-K-K-A.

Rich Sloan:  Okay.  Yeah, no problem.

Jeff Sloan:  Double K, A?

Ruby:  Yeah.

Jeff Sloan:  No, I'm not saying there's no infringement or trademark --

Rich Sloan:  I liked it better E-T-H-I-C-A.

Jeff Sloan:  Yeah, I like that one too.

Ruby:  Really?  I tried that but it's already taken, you guys.

Rich Sloan:  Oh.

Jeff Sloan:  Oh.

Ruby:  I have to come up with another spin on it.

Rich Sloan:  See, it's a good name.

Jeff Sloan:  Were you able to get the website that would go with it?

Ruby:  Actually, yeah, I reserved it, but then I want to secure my financial situation before I go any further.  So I thought, let me just leave things the way they are.

Rich Sloan:  Now hold on.  Hold on a second.  Ethica, E-T-H-I-C-A, is already taken?

Ruby:  That's all taken.

Rich Sloan:  All right.  Hold it.

Ruby:  C-A is taken and then C-K is taken.

Rich Sloan:  What does the company do that is Ethica.

Ruby:  Ethically, what we do --

Rich Sloan:  No, not what you do.  E-T-H-I-C-A, what do they do?

Ruby:  I don't know what they do, actually.  It's just taken already.  It's a company --

Rich Sloan:  But wait.  Let me ask this question.  When you say "taken," the URL, the domain name is taken, or the trademark is taken?

Ruby:  I think the domain name is taken.

Rich Sloan:  The domain name.

Ruby:  Yes.

Rich Sloan:  Well, by the way, there are so many cybersquatters out there that pick up these names and just hold on to them.

Jeff Sloan:  That's where I'm going.

Rich Sloan:  It may not be taken.

Jeff Sloan:  Yeah.

Ruby:  But you think that I should actually do a company check first?

Rich Sloan:   Yeah.  You know, you can do the "who is" thing on any one of those --

Ruby:   Yeah, I know.

Rich Sloan:  Yeah, do that and find out who's got the name. 

Ruby:  Yeah, yeah.

Rich Sloan:  And a lot of these companies sell these names for 300, $500 and it's well worth it.

Ruby:  Yeah.

Rich Sloan:  Because rather than pouring money into coming up with your own name, if that's the name you love, there it is.

Ruby:  Definitely.

Jeff Sloan:   And here's the other thing that we've learned about a name for a company.  If it is in any way confusing on how you actually spell it, you're going to lose potential hits on your website or you're going to lose potential customers in that case.

Ruby:  Yeah.

Jeff Sloan:  So if I don't know that it's a K or two Ks.

Rich Sloan:  Yeah, not good.

Jeff Sloan:  Boy, you could be shortchanging yourself right away.

Ruby:  I mean, there are lots of companies that are in my line.  You know, this one shop that deals with products from my specialty called Uneeka, but it's not Uneeka as in the way you spell it.  It's U-N-E-E-K-A.

Rich Sloan:  All right.  Well, Ruby, all good things must come to an end.

Ruby:  Okay.