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, and I've been running my own companies and running PR for over 25 years now.

And on this podcast, I'd 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. I had no metrics with me, no tracker, no digital at all. And I like that because it gives me the chance just to kind of free run with, with Binky, my, my dog, through the Cotswold countryside. And as my legs were getting progressively more tired, uh, funnily enough, it made me think about the sort of exercise and the fitness that I used to have when I went to trade shows. Because in the old days when we went to trade shows, uh, actually it would be a bit of a marathon. Uh, you could spend 2 or 3 days, especially at the big shows in America, walking around floor after floor trying to reach out to customers and the media. Of course, now we, we can't do that, so the, the Zoom calls and so on are, 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 other people's press conferences and finding out what other people were saying about their companies. So I realized that one of the dangers now with this COVID is that we're getting cut off. Of course, this isn't new itself, but I decided that I would join the trade association, the British Exporters Association.

Now, I know about BECSA because back in 2018, when I was running the British Business Awards in China, I reached out to BECSA, which is the British Exporters Association, to be a partner agency with us. And BECSA has over 150 companies that are all exporting to all over the world. And so for us, it's a perfect platform as EastWest 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, uh, 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 2 years before I, I left China. So I'm a big, a 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 organization 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, a high protective tariff. But then they moved, uh, at the turn of the century to start to try and help lobby against organized labor. Okay, and in the New Deal and after the Second World War, they became a force with the Republican government and coalition trying to reduce the role of the American government in the economy. So it— there's, there's a long history of trade associations in America, but also in Europe, of being a channel into government. So in the— in, in China, we worked as the British Chamber of Commerce with what we called the BEMA, 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, when I was the importer for the car business, we were, we were facing a lot of trade barriers and, and, uh, and issues with the Chinese government. And public relations is about, as I've mentioned, different stakeholder groups. Public relations isn't all about people that buy. We have 3 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. And 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 U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent some $244 million on PR. Okay, so the, the Chamber of Commerce in America is actively spending money on public relations, and in, in other countries, PR isn't necessarily paid for. The members themselves might even get involved. So I got involved, uh, with helping with some of the PR, and of course, the British Business Awards was really a platform for British companies and the chamber to market itself in China. We created the strapline to celebrate British innovation, enterprise, and endeavor. So that was a strapline 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 BECSA, what, 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 2 different kinds of trade associations. Now, I'd like to just draw a distinction between what I call a vertical trade organization and a horizontal Trade Organization.

Now, vertical one is where everybody is from the same industry.

So for example, the SMMT, the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders, is a vertical organization. You'll find, for example, the Milk Marketing Board is a vertical organization where everybody actually is working along the same business, but they have collective interests. So they are, in the example of SMMT, 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 interest that 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 they could be either a customer or a partner. So each type of organization 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 and a national grouping, to work together in the same way that BECSA 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, uh, the, the morning program 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, it may mean you're speaking about something that isn't just related specifically to your company, but from a corporate responsibility point of view and a corporate PR point of view, you, 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 IPRS, which is the International PR Group, and they have they have courses, and so your staff can enroll in the courses and, 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 confidential information, but if you learn information via that community that you could then use, either some statistics, a report— for example, The Economist would constantly host events in Beijing, and as members we would be invited to those. And I 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 britishbusinessawards.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, and so we had the media there and I emceed, and we have people like Rolls-Royce, uh, 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 taforum.org, and that is administered by the CBI, and that's an umbrella organization 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 organization. Now, in Germany, for example, the trade associations, the Association of German Industry, the BDI, is the umbrella organization 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 had come as well. I think in fact we're in Hainan 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 the Chambers of Commerce. So the German Chambers of Commerce, uh, 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 you need to check those. But as a platform, grouping together either in a horizontal or vertical chamber of commerce or organization, professional organization, brings many benefits. And consumers, of course, have got their own associations. In the UK, we have Which?, which was 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 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 as a result of his labors, he managed to get consumers put at the forefront So trade associations for business have a role to play, but they also 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 this 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. You know, 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 Jin, who runs an IT company in Singapore, who I've known for now 25 years, he is creating some t-shirts and it 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 theory, which we've talked about on more than one occasion now, about how we need to not just communicate with our, our first tier, but with the next tier and the next tier after that. So Jin's sending me a t-shirt, which I shall wear running. Um, Now, if I'm just running the trails, of course, not many people will see that. But if I join a running club, there'll actually be lots and lots of people who start to see my Jet branding. So, you know, the other runners may not want a t-shirt or the codeless coding app that Singapore has developed with Jin. 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 got and 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 COVID 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.