How to use trade associations to get publicity and why running can be good for PR.

Hello, and welcome to this episode of speak PR. This is a podcast for all those business owners or managers that need to get their company and themselves noticed. My name is Jim James. I've been running my own companies and running PR for over 25 years now. And on this podcast like to share some thoughts and some tips and some tools that you can use that will help you get noticed for free. Now, I was out running yesterday, and I had taken no devices had no metrics with me, no tracker, no digital at all. And I like that because it gives me the chance just kind of three run with with Binky my my dog through the countryside. And as my legs were getting progressively more tired. Funnily enough, it made me think about the sort of exercise in the fitness that I used to have when I went to trade shows. Because in the old days when we went to trade shows, actually it would be a bit of a marathon. You could spend two Three days, especially the big shows in America, walking around floor after floor trying to reach out to customers in the media. Of course, now we we can't do that. So the the zoom calls and so on are in a way much easier. But we're not getting as fit. But also, more importantly, we're not getting close to people in the same way that we used to. And with those trade shows, we got close to potential audiences. And we could do our PR at those trade shows through the media coming onto our booth or us going visiting and other people's press conferences and finding out what other people were saying about their companies. So I realised that one of the dangers now with this COVID is that we're getting cut off course this isn't new itself. But I decided that I would join the Trade Association, the British exporters Association. Now I know about Brexit because back In 2018, when I was running the British Business Awards in China, I reached out to backson, which is the British exporters association to be a partner agency with us. And Becca has over 150 companies that are all exporting to all over the world. And so for us, it's a perfect platform as East West public relations, to meet companies that are trying to solve the sort of problems that we know how to solve. So my experience in trade associations goes back a long way in Singapore. I was on the on the committee and a board member and was very active there. And then in China, I joined as a board member and started the British Business Awards in 2008. And played a role as the vice chair for the two years before I left China. So I'm a big, big believer in trade associations. But my experience also is that a trade association is really only as productive as the amount of energy that you want to put into them. Anybody that joins a trade association, believing that it will bring them businesses is mistaken. And from a PR point of view, we always advise our clients to join trade associations for a number of different reasons. Now, the National Association of Manufacturers, which was kind of one of the Pioneer groups in America, originally started off as a political lobbying organisation all the way back in 1895. And their original remit was to help American manufacturers trying to limit companies importing to America, ironically enough, they wanted to retain a high tariff, protected tariff. But then they moved the turn of the century to start to try and help lobby against organised labour. Okay, and in the New Deal After the Second World War, they became a force with republican government and coalition trying to reduce the role of the American government in the economy. So, it is there's a long history of trade associations in America but also in Europe, of being a channel into government. So in the in China, we worked as the British Chamber of Commerce with what we call the BMA, the business environment market access, which was a report that was created across different verticals. And one of the reasons to get involved with that was that as a trade trading company, in this particular case, as Morgan was the importer for the car business, we were we were facing a lot of trade barriers and issues with the Chinese government. And public relations is about as I've mentioned, different stakeholder groups. Public Relations is All about people that buy, we have three different categories of customers of audiences. We've got the customers, we've got the staff, the team, and we've got these stakeholders or these allies in government, both friendly and otherwise, are one of the communities that trade associations can help with the public relations of a company and the corporate relationship of the company. Now, in America, there was some research done that was that showed that between 2008 and 2017, the US Chamber of Commerce, spend some 240 $4 million on PR. Okay, so the Chamber of Commerce in America is actively spending money on public relations. And in other countries, PR isn't necessarily paid for the members themselves might even get involved. So I got involved. with helping with some of the PR, of course, the British Business Awards was really a platform for British companies and the chamber to market itself in China, we created the strap line to celebrate British innovation, enterprise and endeavour. So that was a strap line that I developed, which would encompass all the qualities that I felt were great about British brands in China. So if you join a trade association, as a company, as I've just done with the back, sir, what could you do for your PR? Well, the obvious one, of course, is that trade associations have got their own members. So you get to be proximate with other companies that could be potential customers. Now, let's just also differentiate between the two different kinds of trade associations. Now I'd like to just draw a distinction between what I call a vertical trade organisation and the horizontal Trade Organisation now vertical one is where everybody is from the same industry. So for example, the SMT. The Society for motor manufacturers and traders is a vertical organisation. You'll find, for example, the Milk Marketing Board is a vertical organisation where everybody actually is working along the same business, but they have collective interests. So they are in the example of SMT, working to promote automotive interests, and in the milk marketing to get more people to buy milk. The horizontal chamber or association is like Bexar. So it's a disparate group of companies but they have a common purpose which is to export. So the export interests at each company's got means that one company in there could be in an entirely different sector or industry to your company, which means that there could be either a customer or a partner So each type of organisation has a different rationale, and therefore it's worth just considering which one to join. Because Do you need collective action as an industry? Or do you need to, as, for example, a nation or a national grouping, to work together in the same way that Bexar does for its group of British companies that need assistance in their exports? So just thinking about from a PR point of view, if you join a trade association, what sort of things can you do? Well, one of the first ones, of course, is that these trade associations always have some kind of communications platform. So they have blogs, for example. So it's possible to take your own content and contribute that to their platform, because they have members but also the media. Importantly, will go to the trade association for comment, or for people to do the speaking now Speaking of which, in China, I had the good fortune as the vice chair of the chamber to be, for example, on CCTV. quite regularly also in the China Daily, and other Chinese media talking about variously issues like Brexit, on behalf of all British companies, or talking as I did with the BBC about China as a growth market for British brands, I was on the morning programme talking about Morgan and about the opportunity for British brands. So the presence of your company and your profile within a chamber can be an opportunity for the media to find you in a way that they might not otherwise do. Now, one of the reasons that you end up with these speaking opportunities is because the chamber is seen as an authority. So the authority that comes from being an official body, but also if you're representing that official body In as an officer of that body or one of the members, then of course you have credibility over and beyond your own company. Now, that may mean you're speaking about something that isn't just related specifically to your company. But from a corporate responsibility point of view in a corporate PR point of view. That's fantastic. Now, the other things, of course, that these trade associations have are things including training and certification. It's possible to then offer up your services to do training, for example, or to provide certification or to have your staff acquire the certification. In Singapore, for example, there's the IP RS which is the international PR group, and they have they have courses and so your staff can enrol in the courses and attain certification. Another area that is of great value is the access to industry information. So within the chamber In Beijing, we would have forums. And we'd have a forum, for example, for automotive or professional services. And that meant that within an environment of professional excellence, you could share your own industry expertise, learn from others, and possibly then partner or take some of that information, and then use that in your own public relations. So obviously not a confidential information. But if you learn information via that community, that you could then use either some statistics or report, for example, the economist would constantly host events in Beijing and as members, we would be invited to those. And remember, the Economist Intelligence network were very generous, and we were allowed to then use the research and the reports within our own companies. So this creates the framework then for articles and interviews that we can use for our own public relations activities. I mentioned earlier on about the British Business Awards, which are coming out again this year, which will be tremendous. It's British business awards.cn run now by the Chamber of Commerce in China. And that creates an opportunity to sponsor. So Awards held by groups like the British Chamber of Commerce in China, or there are awards all over the world in every Chamber of Commerce is a platform for companies to enter, and to sponsor and if you enter, and you win, obviously, then that's a great accolade. Consumers or partners, love companies that are winners, but also gives you a chance to put your branding out onto the merchandise material, for example. And in the case of the British Business Awards In 2018, we hosted a press conference until we had the media there. And I emceed and we have people like Rolls Royce on the panel talking about British business in China. So it's a great way to use a common platform to position your Company. Now, in in the UK, we have the trade association forum, which was established in 1997. And I'll put the link to that. It's the TA forum org. And that is administered by the CBI. And that's an umbrella organisation for all the trade associations that there are in the UK. In Singapore, there's the Singapore business Federation. And that, again, is a government backed umbrella organisation. Now in Germany, for example, the trade associations, the Association of German industry, the BDI is the umbrella organisation for the trade associations in Germany. And I recall being at an event talking about automotive and one of the German Chamber of Commerce executives that come as well. I think if it were in high Nan talking about electric vehicles, and she said that the German government mandates that All companies when they set up overseas have to join the German Chamber of Commerce in those markets. And the funds and the fees are deducted at source from the German company and that goes to fund to the Chamber of Commerce, to the German Chamber of Commerce are always very strong. Now in China, chambers of commerce are regulated and there's only allowed to be one per country. And of course, you can't set up your own associations because that might constitute a political party. So different countries have got their own different regulations and of course, please check those. But as a platform, grouping together either in a horizontal or vertical Chamber of Commerce organisation, professional organisation brings many benefits. And consumers of course have got their own associations. In the UK we have which, which is founded all the way back in 1957 and has 1.3 million members And supporters. And in America, of course, it's Ralph Nader, who was the sort of hopeful presidential candidate and he was pioneering in his in his campaign against the automotive industry. So, back in the in the mid 50s, he campaigned in 1965. He published the book Unsafe at any speed, which really became a landmark where he was prosecuting American cars for their build quality and, and as a result of his labor's he managed to get consumers put at the forefront. So trade associations for business have a role to play, but they always have a play a role to play for consumers. And if there are ways for your brand to engage with those trade associations, both the professional and the personal ones then they is a rich vein both for direct sales but also for publicity. So, as I mentioned, you know, PR is about proximity in some cases. So, you know, you don't have to be out running as I was to think about the obvious spaces that are available for publicity. Now as I was running, because I wasn't distracted by the technology in any way. I also had my eyes and ears open and I saw a number of people running past me with T shirts on and some had logos on and some didn't. And I was thinking about this because my friend Qian, who runs an IT company in Singapore, who I've known for now, 25 years. He is creating some t shirts, and he says jet away COVID and they're beautifully done. And he's working on building publicity, one person at a time. And so it's possible To build your brand and to communicate, obviously, with broad brush PR, but also by thinking about where your, your potential partners, or your staff or your partners are already congregated in these trade associations, and how can you join them and take part in what they're doing. Because some of those companies may be partners, or customers, but there will be channels to communicate your PR through their networks as well, which leads us on to that whole idea of the cascade through which we've talked about more than one occasion now, about how we need to not just communicate with our first tier, but with the next year and the next year after that. So Jin, send me a T shirt, which I shall wear running. Now if I'm just running the trails, of course, not many people will see that but if I join a running club, they'll actually be lots and lots of people who start to see my jet. branding. So, no, the other runners may not want a T shirt or the codeless coding app that Singapore has developed with gin. But if I was offering local goods and services, my chest is as bad as it may be, may become quite valuable real estate for PR. So if you think about what message you've gotten, which audiences you can share that with, how can you use trade associations, but also how can you use the people that are around you, and what they're wearing or what they're saying, the signage on your car, the signage on your property, to start to rebuild your brand during these Kovac times. And so with that, I say thank you for listening to this episode of speak PR. My name is Jim James, and I pray that you have a profitable business, you have good health, and that you keep on communicating