Product Description

Presented in an easy to follow A to Z format "Do Your Own PR" gives you all the insider secrets you need to harness the power of publicity and get your message spread far and wide. Whether you're on a small budget and need to cost-effectively promote your business or are simply keen to demystify the PR process and take control - this book shows you how. As well as up-to-date advice on using new tools such as Twitter and Youtube and traditional tools such as press releases, you will also learn first hand how others have used these approaches to grow their own success. 'Paula Gardner is doing herself and the rest of the PR industry out of a job' - "The Telegraph" & "Financial Times". 'Paula has a gift for demystifying PR and making it easy-peasy for anyone, even if the only thing you know about PR is how to spell it!' - Amanda Alexander, "Corporate Mothers". 'Packed full of practical, step-by-step activities for anyone wanting to grow their business also includes up to the minute information to help you navigate the Internet and make the most of social networking' - Fiona Robyn, Author of the "Letters". 'This is un-put-downable for any business trying to understand and keep up with PR in 21st century, just fabulous!' - Lynette Allen, Author of Behind With The Mortgage And Living Off Plastic". 'Lots of ideas and inspiration for ways [to] incorporate social networking into [your] PR Plan a must read - "Amanda O'Toole, Carbis Bay Holidays. '...describes the tools, explains the processes and even gives you the worst-case scenarios...' Sue Donnelly, author of "Feel Fab At 50".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135158 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 188 pages

From the Author
When DIY PR clients first came to me, about seven years ago now, they wanted to know what they should do to promote themselves. Now, so many of them are overwhelmed with the choice of promotional and marketing activities out there, that what they need to know is what will work best for them.

With my Do Your Own PR book, I've set out to do just that - giving readers and overview of many different tools and activities - and helping them make an informed choice on where to focus their vaulable time and energy.

About the Author
Paula was born and brought up in South Wales and went on to study English and American Literature at Kent University. Whilst she had spent her teens dreaming of hopping between the London and New York offices of Cosmopolitan magazine, she was brought down to earth when her best post-degree job offer came from The Local Government Chronicle.
After six months of writing articles on various local council's approach to choosing litterbins, Paula decided that her skills might be put to better use in the more glamorous environment of music PR.

She spent the early 1990's working in the music industry on clients such as George Michael, Bananrama and Sinitta. Day to day jobs ranged from co-ordinating large-scale press events to running out to get sandwiches for "celebrities". After two years she left to set up her own PR company, Paula Gardner PR, based at London's St Katherine's Dock.

Specialising in PR for the restaurant and entertainment industry, Paula worked with high profile clients such as Red, L'Escargot and Soho's O bar, before deciding to move from doing PR, to teaching it.

In 2002 Do Your Own PR was created, along with the 30 day Do Your Own PR course. And since then Paula has helped hundreds of small businesses learn the skills necessary to raise their company or personal profile.

Paula's first book, Get Noticed: How to Boost your Small Business Profile in 30 days or less, was published in 2005, and since then she has written on the subject of PR and marketing for numerous publications including The Sharp Edge and Fashion Capital, The Stage and Play and Party Magazine.

Paula has spoken about the power and how-to of PR at various conferences, including the Everywoman conference, Women In Film and TV, CIDA, and Allen Carr Easy Way To Stop Smoking Now.

Paula writes for a number of consumer magazines and websites around the subjects of health and lifestyle.

Customer Reviews

PR for the Uninitiated
This book is set out as an alphabetical list of PR subjects from having the motivation for doing some PR to every kind of PR opportunity, technique and tool that I could think of. This creates the one flaw I can see in that the book does not give you a strategic overview or plan for how to go about using PR for your business.

That is a small point against a great book. I loved the fact that I could go through the whole book in an hour or so. I love the comprehensive index page and the alphabetic approach because it makes the book easy to navigate. I love the fact that it is a practical, no nonsense read where you can just pick out bits that are going to make the biggest difference to you.

Having been researching and looking into PR for my business for a while now I didn't expect to find a whole lot of new material. In the main I was correct in that assumption although I did find a few juicy gems that I had not considered. One particular example would be the use of PR Buddies, a concept that I had not thought of and is already paying dividends for me after seeing it in Paula's book.

Even if I didn't find a whole lot of new techniques what I did find was a book that is worth keeping to hand as a reminder of all the things you could do and how to go about them. I can see myself keeping the book in the office to browse at odd moments and either refresh myself on what I should be doing or finding things to try out with respect to my own PR.

Whilst I started with the fact that the book does not give you an overall strategic plan and highlighted that as an issue I have to add the key benefit of the book is the fact that it does not give you a strategic plan to follow. In essence you get the opportunity to pick up the tools and techniques that will work for you and create your own plan. This book is a must read for anyone in business that needs to do their own PR and is looking for a variety of activities that will make a difference to their business.

Go on....have a go!
I found this book took no more than a few hours to read cover to cover. The A-Z format allows quick reference to the techniques and the stories from people who have done their own PR. You can quickly find what you remember and fancy having a go at yourself.

My dilemma with this book was that in essence it is a list of techniques and it doesn't try to piece the techniques together into a PR strategy or its linkages to your wider business strategy. However, it does do what it sets out to do and that is demystify what PR techniques can do for you and encourages you to have a go at what you fancy. After all there is no "one size fits all" with this stuff and your confidence in the application of the techniques will play some considerable part in your success. In that respect, this books a winner, it gives you the confidence to have a go at something and persist with it.

I only have two criticisms of the book - it is slightly let down by a few grammatical errors which interrupts your flow as a reader and becomes an irritation but you don't loose the sense of the book. And there are many references to the authors business, other book, and websites which becomes at worst a sales pitch, but is probably just good PR!

In summary, I liked the book, I will use it many times and I would recommend it.

Essential part of your business library
An easy, informative and enjoyable read (not something I often say about a 'business book'!) Paula demystifies the whole business of PR, and shows you the many options that you have to promote your business. The A-Z style means you can dip in and out of the book whenever you are ready to add a new ingredient to your PR mix, to check up on something new, or to check that you're doing your current PR effectively. The detail given on each element gives you enough information to decide if it's something you want to do, and how to start.

I also enjoyed the case studies - which showed that there is no 'one size fits all', and you can pick and choose the elements that you want to mix in for your business. This is definitely a book I will be picking up and referring to for some time to come, and I'm so glad I got it!