January 2023 - Page 4 of 12

Marine Insurance – Exchange Rates Insurance News

Large amounts of international trade and many limits and sums insured for Marine insurance contracts are negotiated in a currency other than Australian Dollars (A$).

Fluctuating rates of exchange between currencies are common with most entities exposed to this area implementing forms of hedging or risk management to reduce the likely impact on their business.

Where rapid and significant variances occur together, the best laid hedging and risk management plans may not be sufficient to completely eliminate impact on a business.

This bulletin highlights some of the exchange rate issues which may impact Marine insurance covers.

Currency and Trade

The currency of the United States of America (US$) is recognised as the international currency of trade, shipping and to a lesser extent,aviation. Some other currencies, notably the Euro have a showing in trade contracts however, the US$ is predominant.

Sale and purchase agreements will often impose the trade currency of choice as US$ which eventually leads most non-USA domiciled traders, sellers or buyers into a foreign currency transaction and exposure to exchange rate fluctuation.

Business plans, projects and actual transactions which establish profit or transaction margins on an expected exchange rate level can be eroded or extinguished where rapid exchange rate fluctuation occurs.

Likely Marine Impact

(where exposed to foreign currency or overseas supply)

Hulls – revaluations may be desirable as machinery/parts cost increase.

Cargo – Limits of liability may need review and a watch put on turnover and sendings to ensure a blowout in figures does not give the insured a surprise at time of adjustment.

Liability Limits – may need review.

Claims Impact

Claims requiring payment in foreign currency will need conversion from A$ with resultant monitory impact to the claims record of the insured. The replacement of components and parts sourced from overseas may attract inflationary influences due to exchange rate fluctuation.

Insurer Capacity

Insurer per risk capacities will often be established on an annual basis following renewal of treaty reinsurance. Rapid and significant variations in exchange rates can lead to short term capacity constraints on risks with large limits or sums insured in foreign currency.

Where rapid and significant exchange rate variations occur, care should be taken to accurately assess and react to any adverse impact on insurance coverage.

Disclaimer: This bulletin is for information purposes only and is not legal advice.

Magazines on Business and Administration

Business journalism is a dedicated segment of journalism that tracks, records and analyzes and then interprets the economic changes that take place within the business society. Dedicated magazines on Business and Administration include everything on personal finance and business within the local and international markets and at the malls, performance analysis of well-known and not-so-well-known companies and overall business reviews.

Magazines on Business and Administration and related content offer investors, both big and small, the opportunity to deliberate and carefully invest, instead of blindly plunging into the finicky and fluctuating business world. This form of journalism covers news and reviews and special feature articles about people, places and issues related to the every field of business. The publishers of these magazines publish content on the who’s who of the business world and the various set ups within the industry causing a revolution in manufacture.

There are a number of online and offline resources for magazines on Business and Administration and related content that can be identified today. There are general newspapers and magazines, ezines and the radio and television news channels that carry news dedicated to a particular business segment. These magazines offer investors the opportunity to scrutinize the industry they are interested in and weigh the pros and cons of the investment, which could involve all that they have at hand.

By reading these magazines, you can review the content of each segment carefully and avoid an unnecessary bankruptcy by taking the right steps at the right time. These magazines provide detailed and in-depth information on different types of businesses and financial publications.

Business coverage within the magazines on Business and Administration and related content gained prominence in the 1990s. This was subsequent to, and arose out of the world wide investment in the stock market and genuine investments in various business undertakings. A popular business magazine is the much and rightly hyped Wall Street Journal. The content of the magazine is appreciated all over the world and their journalists are widely respected for the accuracy of predictions made and the sneak peak reviews they make possible to the Bulls, Bears and Sharks of the business world.

Today, it is possible to access the content of these magazines both online as well as offline. There are a number of dedicated resources all over the world that make this access possible. You can thus analyze and segregate information within the business world to add to the percentage of guaranteed profitability. The online Magazines on Business and Administration and related content make it very convenient to access and assess the information from the comfort of your living room or bedroom, and in the privacy that is to take important investment decisions.

How To Use News To Get On The News

Why wait for media coverage? Don’t wait – create! Most companies and organizations send news releases to the media only when they want to publicize an event, a new product unveiling, a stock offering, an expansion or a groundbreaking to name just a few. But these things don’t happen very often during the course of the year which means you’re making only a couple of contacts with the media each year. Also, with such limited contact, the odds of the media covering your events are not in your favor. So instead of waiting for something to happen at your company or organization that you think is worth alerting the media about, why not create an endless stream of story ideas and news releases that you could send to the media at least twice a month? Twice a month would mean twenty-four media contacts per year instead of your current one or two which would certainly increase your chances of obtaining coverage. So where do these story ideas come from, you ask? Very simply, they come from stories you read and hear about everyday on radio, magazines, newspapers and even your own company newsletter as well as your industry’s trade publications. Simply look for stories that are making national news and find the angle that connects your company to the story. Local news organizations absolutely love local angles to national stories. The following news article from the Associated Press serves as a perfect example:

MILWAUKEE (AP) – In his younger days, Jason Heiman used to play a little hoops for Edgewood College in Madison. Today he still knows his way around a basketball court but in a far different way. As president of the Waukesha-based Jason Thomas Flooring, Heiman’s company recently completed fabricating and finishing three of the 16 portable basketball floors the NCAA has commissioned for this year’s national men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

Local news organizations, in this case in the state of Wisconsin, love this stuff! A local company with a direct connection to what is arguably the most watched sporting event in America. When wildfires, floods or tornadoes bring death the destruction to parts of our nation, did the local bottled water company ramp up production and send emergency shipments a thousand miles away? Did the local paper products company get the contract to make napkins for the President’s inaugural ball? Are there one or more people at your company training together to run the Boston Marathon – a national event millions of people are certainly interested in.

Don’t miss out on these opportunities. The reason many companies and organizations do miss out is because they don’t normally think of this stuff. They’re too busy doing what they do! Few people think in terms of the national impact of their everyday, mundane jobs. Turn the mundane into media coverage. Don’t wait – create!

How Joomla Is Beneficial For Developing Business Websites

Why Joomla is gaining popularity in Web Development Industry?

It’s been more than a decade when Joomla was introduced as an open source CMS framework in the IT industry to compete with several other CMS frameworks. Hopefully, this technology has captured the IT market with its features. Joomla has become the first choice of businesses for a web content management system. Gradually, e-commerce businesses also started showing their interest in the CMS platform, due to its highly cost-effective and enticing features that can benefit an online business with boosting performance.

As you know, it is a content management system – so, you can update, edit, add, delete, and publish content on the website, developed in this technology easily and quickly. Whether you run a blog, news portal, or have e-commerce business, there are lots of benefits if you opt for a Joomla website for your business. Let’s take an overview of all these benefits below:

Simple to understand and Use: Joomla performs well for every type of business. From educational site to business website, news website to e-commerce website – Joomla can effectively manage the web content. Developers create a very interactive user interface; one can understand easily and access it more conveniently. Therefore, a non-technical person can also access the functionality efficiently in a Joomla website.

Cost-effective: Joomla is an open source framework which makes it free to use. You can add customization at a very low-cost as some custom features are available in the form of template for free while some have a very affordable price. The only money, you will have to pay to the IT company would be the development cost.

Time-Effective: As mentioned above, there are several ready-made themes and templates are available that not only cuts the cost on the development, but also cuts the time of the development phase. Joomla has a huge count of plugins and templates available which can be set in any type of website, as per requirement very easily. You don’t need to write the code from scratch. Just add the right plugin and template to add the desired functionality and theme. Later, you can ask the developer to modify it as per your requirement.

Quality Solution: This framework has the good reputation in the market for its security and stability. There is hardly a consequence when a Joomla website found crashed or trapped. The security is always on the top for a Joomla website. A sign up for the security alert is enough to make you inform that you are using the secured and latest version. Thanks to the Joomla community which has thousands of members to debug and tweak the Joomla core for betterment and quality.

If you are thinking to install the third-party application, then make sure about the security. It could harm the database, if the application is directly accessing the database of your web application.

How to Use Social Networking in Your Marketing Strategy

Any business today will understand how crucial it is to have an online presence for the future success of the business. With the right use of the Internet marketing tools available, you can allow your business to flourish in even the most competitive market. Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools available today. As more businesses are gaining an understanding of the efficacy of Internet marketing tools, social media is becoming a more popular option. With most potential customers spending at least part of each day online, marketing on the Internet is the easiest way of reaching customers across the nation and around the globe.

What is Social Network Marketing?

Sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn are the most popular social media networks for both online and offline businesses. The proper use of these sites will help you reach more customers. The biggest advantage of sites like these is that they offer free sign-up, which makes them among the most cost-effective advertising tools available. Through your social media site, you can advertise sales, invite customers to special events, and connect to a whole new group of customers without spending money to market directly to them. Other Social Networking Tools Within social media sites you will gain access to many other tools that will enhance your online presence and allow you to connect with more customers.

• News aggregators are social networking tools. These news feeds allow you to stay on top of the latest news in your business, based on the topics you select. Sites like Digg give you access to news aggregation services that will give you the information you need. Placing a Digg icon on your blog or in articles will also give you the chance to appear in the Digg news feed, further expanding your market.

• Tracking tools will also come in handy when planning your social networking strategy. With Internet tracking tools, you can stay on top of how many times people click links within your site, so you’ll know which strategies are working. They will also give you access to information about how many times people share links on social networking sites.

• All-in-One tools allow you to maintain many different social networking accounts with ease. With the right tools, you can access multiple social media accounts at once so you can communicate with more customers. With creative use of the right social networking tools, you can find your way to the success you want for your business.

Marketing With Social News Sites

There are a number of things you can do to improve your social news site.Interacting and being social as much as possible is a great part of being successful online. By setting up a blog you can interact with your visitors easily.

A fantastic way to network and socialize with people on the internet is to have a blog. Too many entrepreneurs tend to hide behind their web site. While it is important you invest a great deal of time into your web site, it is even more important you show people your true personality.Blogging gives you the opportunity to do just that.

Just as you have to market your social news site, you will want to market your blog as well. This allows people to know about the blog and what it has to offer. You want people to know that your site has more to offer than the same repetitive content you see all over the internet. And having fresh and enticing content can be a great way to get people to come to your blog.

There are a few ways you can go about blog marketing. First, write as many articles as possible and submit them to article directories. As mentioned, there is a lot of duplicate content online. By writing articles, you can display your knowledge on various topics and show what kind of ideas you have. People will come to your blog when you place a link to your blog in the resource box.

Being social is very important with your social news site, it is extremely important when marketing a blog too. Posting in forums is similar to blogs in that you post on a particular topic and get the chance to interact with a number of people who are interested in what you have to say. You are not the only one leading the conversation, this is the only difference; you are just contributing and adding to a thought and idea.

The first two ways you can market your blog will not cost you a penny. You may have to purchase advertising if you are looking for immediate exposure to your blog. You can pay for a spot in the search engines which cost a lot of money, or you can place banners of your blog on other peoples blogs for much less. Paid advertising is not cheap, so make sure to pay enough to reach a top position; otherwise it is pointless.

If you are hoping to have success with your social news site, it is vital you are social and try to network. Having a blog can be a great way to do this. You can reel in people to your blog, get new business contacts and socialize through your blog by using the blog marketing methods listed in this article.

6 Great Reasons to Avoid Free Web Hosting

When it comes to web hosting, there are a lot of options available. With so many alternatives to choose from, you might be tempted to consider one of the many free web hosting services out there. However, there are some common pitfalls related to that approach that can end up costing you and your business a lot of money down the road. Therefore, it is important to know what these red flags are so you can avoid them.

Here are 6 great reasons to avoid free web hosting:

Lost Credibility. Your web site will often be the first impression your potential customers have of your business. With free hosting, you may be stuck with a very long domain name such as http://freehostingservice.com/~yourbusiness. A domain name like this is an instant signal to your prospects that your business is still in the minor leagues. It is very difficult to build trust and credibility when your web presence appears to be fly-by-night.
Banner Ads. The main reason these services are free is because you agree to allow banner ads on your site. So you invest the time, money and energy into driving traffic to your site and the free hosting service profits by directing that traffic away from you. Clearly not the best way to build a successful, long-term business.
Limited Features. Free hosts usually offer a limited number of services. This lack of flexibility can seriously hinder your ability to conduct and grow your business online. For example, if you select a free service, you may have limited or no access to email, FTP accounts, content management systems or ecommerce options.
Lack of Portability. When you pay to register and host your own domain, you have the option to transfer it. With free hosting services, this is usually not the case. So, if you spend a year or two building up your site and driving traffic to it before realizing how beneficial it would be to have your own domain name, your hard work may be out the window.
Overcrowded Servers. This leads to slow load time for pages and increased downtime for your site. Of course, both of these issues can have a serious negative impact on the growth and profitability of your business.
Poor Customer Service. Another major issue with free hosting services is that they offer little to nothing in the way of customer support. If there is a problem with your site, you will have a very hard time contacting anyone to help resolve it. Every minute your site is down carries with it a huge opportunity cost in terms of frustrated customers and lost sales.

Based on this list, you can see that “you get what you pay for” with free hosting services. Instead, consider quality web hosting an important investment into your business – one that will continue to yield positive results for your business long into the future.

The Four Stages of ‘Change Curve’ Small Business Owners Should Know

The ‘Change Curve’ is a helpful tool for small businesses to understand the stages of personal transition each employee undergoes. Kubler Ross developed this model to explain the grieving process (Shock and Denial, Anger and Fear, Acceptance and Commitment).

This model helps small business owners predict how employees will react to a change, and advises how to help and support the employees through their personal transitions.

An organization does not change just because of new systems or processes. It changes because people within the organization adapt and change. Only when people within the organization make their own personal transitions can the organization benefit from the change.

The Change Curve model

The ‘Change Curve’ model helps small business owners understand the stages of personal transition and organization change. This model comprises four stages that employees go through as they adjust to a change.

Stage – 1: Shock and denial

Stage – 2: Anger and fear

Stage – 3: Acceptance

Stage – 4: Commitment

Stage – 1: Shock and denial

This is the first reaction that small business owners notice in their employees – they react to the challenges to the status quo. This reaction is seen more in experienced and established employees because these employees are indifferent to new systems and procedures. They feel uncomfortable because of the fear of the unknown, fear of doing something wrong and lack of information. They feel threatened and fear failure. Under these circumstances, they normally take it as a friction rather than an opportunity.

What do the employees need here?

Employees may experience this stage multiple times. To get over it, employees need information, need to understand what is happening in the organization and need to know how to get help from the organization.

Note: This stage affects particularly those employees who have not experienced any major change before.

What should the organization do?

At this stage, it is the responsibility of the owners to communicate with their employees and educate them about the benefits that they will gain by adapting to new systems – personally and professionally. Remember not to overwhelm your employees by flooding them with loads of information at a time, or they may even be more confused.

Stage – 2: Anger and fear

This is the second stage that is seen in the employees. As employees react to a change, they start expressing their anger, concern, resentment or fear. They may resist the change actively or passively. This stage could be dangerous and if the organization does not manage it carefully, it might result in chaos.

What should the organization do?

At this stage, the small business owner should handle employees’ objections carefully. Since reaction to change is personal and emotional, it’s impossible to prevent it from happening. Therefore, the organization should try to address the employees’ experience and iron out the issues as early as possible.

Note: As long as employees remain at Stage – 2 of the Change Curve by escaping progress, the change will be unsuccessful.

Stage – 3: Acceptance

This is a turning point for employees as well as the organization because the employees have stopped focusing on what they have lost and have started accepting changes. They begin exploring changes, and get a real idea of what’s good and what’s not and how to adjust themselves accordingly.

What should the organization do?

This stage is critical – it takes time for employees to learn and accept things. Therefore, don’t expect your employees to be 100% productive during this stage. Give them time so that they learn and explore without much pressure.

Stage – 4: Commitment

At this stage, there will be a commitment from the employees in analyzing and embracing the change. They start rebuilding the way they work and this is the stage at which the organization starts to see the benefits of the change.

Benefits of the change

At this stage the organization will see the benefits of putting in effort for the welfare of their employees when they were in a grieving stage. The positive effects of the Change Curve are now more evident through its productivity and profit.

The Change Curve is an effective model for small business owners while managing employees. Locating an employee on the change curve will help the business owner decide on how to effectively communicate information to employees and to know what kind of support they require. This helps them take necessary measures and protect both the business and the employees.

How to Get Publicity in the Print Media

Print Media

The foundation for business-book publicity campaigns centers around the print media. For most, print is the bedrock, the one basic on which their campaigns are built. When you start developing your campaign, plan the print publicity component first. Make print your priority and concentrate your resources on it.

Print publicity is essential because it reaches the primary audience for business books. Placement in small but targeted business press can produce huge returns. Unlike information presented on radio and TV, print items can be easily torn out, copied, saved, and e-mailed. E-mail has become a highly popular distribution source. With little effort, you can e-mail a print item to your boss, clients, customers, associates or pals, and other media-and they can read the actual text. As a result, an item about your book can have staying power and be more than just a quick buzz in listeners’ ears.

Another advantage of print publications is that the business media is sharply focused and highly respected by readers. Readers don’t have to search all over the place to find items of interest, and they tend to believe what they read. Print publications are considered required reading for serious business types, so early in their careers, they form the habit of regularly reading the business media to get news and information. On the whole, business writers, especially those employed by respected publications, have a strong reputation for honest reporting, good information, and valuable insights

Items can be placed with the business media in various formats, including the following.

Reviews

Reviews of business books carry great weight because reviewers are selective and usually cover only top books or books by top names. Busy business-book readers look to reviewers for information and tend to follow their recommendations. Book reviews usually stick to consistent length and regularly appear in the same place and issues. For example, on each Thursday, reviews will appear on page 2 of the business section. Good book reviews make fabulous promotional blurbs that are especially useful for future marketing efforts.

A strong review in The New York Times, Fortune, USA Today, or Inc. can send your book right to the top of bestseller lists. Two weeks before Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value, by Bill George (Jossey-Bass, 2003), was in the stores, the New York Times Sunday Business Section gave it a rave review. In a matter of days, the book rose to the ninth bestselling book position on Amazon.com, based on that review alone. And, supported by a strong media campaign, the book remained in the top 100 for some six months.

Feature Articles

Articles can be longer and provide more depth, information, and explanations than book reviews. Features vary greatly in length. Articles frequently go beyond a book’s content and give information that can make you and your book more enticing to potential buyers. They can cover some parts of your book, but also go into related material that may make it even more interesting to potential buyers.

Author-Bylined Articles

Writing your own articles is an excellent way to promote your book and inform the public about it. Business books lend themselves to byline articles that can be placed in key publications relating to your core market. They can be placed as editorials, features, or op-ed pieces in newspapers, magazines, and trade publications and on influential Web sites such as cbsmarketwatch.com,

When bylined articles are placed in publications with targeted readership, it can increase your book sales and convince companies to call you for consulting jobs. For example, if you’re a financial consultant, consider placing an article in Medical Economics magazine. Although bylined articles are not about your book per se, they often features ideas from your book, so they will generate excellent publicity.

For bylined articles, it may be tempting to submit little more than an excerpt or summary of material from your book, which can be dry and less than effective when read in isolation or out of context. So redraft your article to suit the publication in which it will run.

Profiles

In profile articles, you are the centerpiece. In a feature article, you may be only a part of the story; just two paragraphs of a three-page article may highlight your thoughts. In a profile, the entire article is about you. Good profiles are tightly focused and provide lots of interesting information. They also tend to go into more depth, run longer, and include your photograph; profile writers often spend considerable time with you. They can create great interest in both you and your book. After reading them, readers usually feel that they know you better, more personally, which can increase their interest in your book.

Questions and Answers

These are articles written in the question-and-answer format. Interviews are frequently presented this way. Q&As position you as an authority and inform others about important or breakthrough information in your book. Readers may use that information and credit you. Q&As work best in a supportive role and make outstanding sidebars or fillers. If you can’t get fuller, more comprehensive coverage, be happy with Q&As, which can produce good publicity. On complex subjects, try to give the gist of the story without getting sidetracked or hung up on details that could put readers to sleep.

Source Quotes

When you are an expert that the media comes to for explanations, opinions, or quotes, we call what they write source quotes. Although your words may appear in only a short paragraph or two of a twenty-paragraph article, source quotes give you great exposure and they usually include mention of your book. The media constantly needs explanations and quotes from experts on any number of subjects. If you always make yourself available, you will become a valuable, ongoing resource for the media. As a resource for the media, you can get into lots of media outlets and get terrific exposure. In the process, you will be building strong relationships with the media that can help you in the future. For instance, if you have a book coming out, the media could write a profile on you and your new title in response to the help you’ve provided.

Media Outlets

Business books can be promoted in numerous print outlets, and when items about a book are published in the right publication, it can launch the book and help make it a success. However, placing a book in the right outlet isn’t easy! Creating great placements is an art, a skill that takes planning and can’t be handled on a hit-or-miss basis.

Your book will be of interest to the general business media, but it will also be attractive to the subset of the business media that concentrates on specific business areas. With the general business media, it’s hard to go wrong. But if you pitch inappropriate media outlets or submit items that don’t fit, your credibility can be damaged and they may be less open to your overtures in the future. In contrast, when you bring them items that fit, they will remember and be more receptive to items you want placed.

Learn to make the best matches by reading publications that could print items about your book. Before you pitch them, study them; find out their styles, preferences, tendencies, likes, and dislikes. Check their Web sites and request copies of their submission requirements before you approach them. Then, zero in on those outlets that would make the best fit for your book and frame your submissions in accordance with their styles.

“In choosing print outlets, match the subject matter of your book to publications that cover that subject matter,” David Hahn suggests. “For example, if your book is on marketing or advertising, consider Ad Age, Brand Week, and Sales & Marketing Management. If it’s on risk, try for CFO magazine. If you’re writing on corporate strategy, contact Harvard Business Review, Across the Board, Strategy & Business, and Chief Executive.

The following are some of the categories of print outlets that publicize business books. Examples of publications in each category are also provided.

They include:

National business magazines:

Fortune, Business Week, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Inc., Forbes, Business 2.0. As general business publications, these magazines cover many different business topics. So your topic might be of interest to all of them. You want to be very broad when dealing with the general business press because they are so inclusive. But when you drill down to publications with more specific focuses, you must offer a tighter fit.

National daily business newspapers:

Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily, Financial Times.

Major daily newspapers:

New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News.

Newswires:

Associated Press, Reuters, Gannett, Knight Ridder, Scripps Howard.

City business journals:

American City Business Journals own publications in forty markets that deal with local business authors and topics. Crain’s Business Journals are published in Chicago, Cleveland, New York City, and Detroit. These local publications deal with local business, local topics, and local authors.

Syndicated writers:

Joyce Lain Kennedy, Jim Pawlak, Paul Tulenko, Bob Rosner, Tim McGuire, and Carol Kleiman. They tend to be tightly focused on what they write about. If you have a career book, you want a syndicated writer who specializes in writing about careers.

Industry trade publications:

Jewelry Today, National Real Estate Investor, Automotive News, Air Transport World, Chain Store Age, Modern Healthcare, Restaurant Business, Network World, Supermarket News.

Airline magazines:

American Way, Continental, Spirit, Attaché, Hemispheres, Sky.

Freelance writers:

Freelancers contribute features that appear in influential business publications such as Investor’s Business Daily, Continental, Wall Street Journal, Brandweek magazine, the Boston Globe, and 800-CEO-READ. An article by a freelance writer about you or your book can provide invaluable publicity for your book. Freelancers will often cite authors and their books as sources in their stories, and they write book reviews.

Familiarize yourself with the freelancers who write about your area of interest by reading business publications and visiting business Web sites. Find additional names of freelance writers from search engines, Profnet, and Bacon’s Business Directory. Some well-known freelance writers are:

Dale Buss

Robert McGarvey

Amy Alexander

Joanne Krotz

Mark Henricks

Dayton Fandry

Tom Ehrenfeld

The Most Influential Business Media

The following print publications wield the greatest influence in promoting business books. Although they cover books in various ways, the following generally describes their book review policies:

New York Times-Usually reviews business books in the Sunday Money section, not in the Sunday Book Review section. Covers a variety of business topics and writes in-depth reviews of single, high-profile titles and thematic reviews that incorporate examples from three or four books in one article.

Fortune magazine-Publishes some book reviews but primarily runs features of CEOs and business thought leaders.

BusinessWeek-Tends to write highly analytical book reviews. Concentrates on titles by CEOs, business journalists, and academics.

Wall Street Journal-Occasionally publishes reviews but does not review business books in a regular column. Reviews books of interest to businesspeople on topics including politics, sports, travel, and entertainment.

Harvard Business Review-This highly prestigious publication regularly runs reviews and in-depth, bylined articles by thought leaders.

USA Today Book Review-Publishes reviews in the Money section, usually on Mondays, on a variety of business books.

Fast Company-Asks readers each month which of five books should be reviewed and reviews the winner the following month. Being selected is an honor.

Airline magazines-Most don’t run reviews, but publish articles on business topics by business-book authors. Have cut down on business articles.

News – Get Your News Noticed by the Right People, Build a Targeted Press and Media List

Getting your news out there in the public domain takes time and effort. You need to create or mould your news story but you also need to ensure that your news is targeted at the right press and media. For smaller organisations that may not have access to a PR department, consultant or agency then the task can seem daunting.

If you want to build a list yourself then where do you start? Thankfully there are many resources you can tap into and, with the rise of the internet, there are even more opportunities to build a list relatively cheaply to get your PR off to a flying start. Firstly, think about your audience – that is the key.

Focus on the people, organisations etc you want to target with your PR efforts – who do you want to get your news to? What publications do they read, where do they get their news and information, what programmes do they watch and listen to? If you don’t know, then simply ask your customers or prospects. There will also, of course, be publications and programmes that you may not be aware of.

The resources below should help you on your way to building your list – identifying the right publications and programmes and getting up-to-date contact details:

The Newspaper Society has a searchable online database of Britain’s regional and local newspapers

The Guardian Media Directory – a useful desk reference guide for

http://www.mediauk.com/ is a useful alphabetical search tool for newspapers, magazines, television and radio if you have a good idea of what you are looking for

For links to sites of national and regional UK newspapers publishing online, plus news portals, magazines and TV / Radio news sites: http://www.wrx.zen.co.uk/alltnews.htm

The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook or the Writer’s Handbook are also useful reference tools. You can usually find one or other of these in the reference section of reasonably-sized book shop or in the library. They include press and media listings bit also a range of other information and articles

You can buy Willings Press Guide for advertising and editorial contacts – use a search engine to find their listing online. Three guides are available: United Kingdom; Western Europe (excluding the United Kingdom); and World (excluding the United Kingdom and Western Europe).

There are also a number of tools and services that are much more expensive but useful if you are taking your PR to the next level or have a big budget. Use a search engine and type in ‘media disk’ to look at some of the other tools available.

The work is not finished once you have your list. More research is needed – you need to get a named contact and to check that they are in fact the person you should send your news or ideas to. In addition, it’s useful to check how they like to be contacted and what deadlines they work to. All this is useful information to help you in being targeted with your approaches – getting your news to the right people.