PR TIMES AFRICA PR TIMES AFRICA Magazine june 2015 | Page 19

USING SOCIAL
MEDIA TO GET MORE
BUSIN£$$
I
n recent years this cliché has
come to mean feeding your
business a balanced diet
from the four business food
groups:
·
·
·
·
Education
Public Relations
Marketing
Advertising
Most business owners see these
four groups as two spending
categories, however, there must
be four spending accounts in
your ledger. Without all four,
you'll have an empty calendar
and an empty bank account. In
the past year, a fifth business
food group has emerged, Social
Media. Let's take a quick look at
the traditional four and how they
PR TIMES AFRICA
relate to the latest addition.
Education
The concept of the highly
educated professional is not
new, but education is so much
more than course work and
technical expertise. Education
includes investing in mentoring
for you and being a mentor to
others. It also includes
becoming a member of your
professional associations.
How much should you spend on
education? Three to five percent
of your gross business income
should be spent on education. If
you are still in the first two to
three years of a new business,
double that! If you are still
operating off your business loan
or investment funds, six to ten
VOL 1. JULY 2015
1ST EDITION
percent of total yearly expenses
should be budgeted to
education.
Public Relations, Marketing &
Advertising When it comes to
public relations (PR), marketing
and advertising, the situation
becomes a little more complex.
The first problem is that in most
small business owners' minds,
these are synonymous terms.
They are not.
"Public Relations" is the
establishment of you and your
company as the recognized
expert within a specific
demographic, geographic and/or
professional group. This is also
known as "Branding." Thus,
public relations is the process of
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