How to Save Manage & Handle Financial Stress?

When you are under stress financially, it could make saving extra challenging!
Many studies have shown that stress restricts your ability to make a good decision and directly connects to your bad decision-making habits. To save money effectively, first, you need to have a mitigation plan to prevent or reduce financial stress.

Here are some ways you can follow to help you reduce financial stress.

1. Make the most of your income 

Categorize your spending.

• By categorising your spending, it allows you to better identify which part of your spending improved or revised. 

Examine your spending patterns.

• Examining your spending pattern helps you to better understand the roots of your spending issue. Where you start a plan to resolve it or create a mitigation plan.

Prioritise goals that will help ease your overall financial stress.

• Noting down your main financial goals helps you better prioritise your finance.

2. Identify the top source of financial stress

Note down your biggest money challenges.

• Just like noting down your goals, noting down your biggest challenge help you to be more aware of the issue/problem that you need to address first.

Keep the list simple to feel less overwhelmed.

• Noting down your money challenges should be kept concise and simple so you don’t feel overwhelmed by the number of issues you want to target.  

Revisit your list as your circumstances change.

• As you check your list make sure to review it once in a while to ensure that the financial issue you have previously resolved doesn’t reappear.

3. Consider outside help 

Monitor your progress.

• Any changes made to remain long-term requires you to monitor it consistently, to ensure there is no slip back. 

Seek help if you’re struggling to keep up with minimum payments.

• If all else don’t work, make sure to get professional from financial advisors, friends or family. 

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About GEM COMM

We are an International Investor Relations firm (IR) based in Singapore. We specialize in Investor Relations, Public Relations, marketing, branding and messaging strategies for clients that include organizations of all sizes across Asia, Oceania and US.

GEM COMM advises and solves stakeholders’ issues, drive growth, repositions your business, improve your marketing and Public Relations (PR) or engage with investment community in your leadership or strategy story. We have a track record of helping clients reach these goals. We create and implement PR & media content, mitigate crisis and issues, establish and improve thought leadership & content marketing.

GEM COMM Engagement types include:

• IR/PR retainer program
• Crisis and issues projects;
• Content marketing (from research to lead generation) inclusive of Press Release drafting, Media Pitch, Website content, etc.

We are living in a digital age. Businesses using meaningful matrics and diligence can only win the battle of competition. It is quite hard to pin down PR responsibilities. We all know that the digital world remains in a constant shifting mode. So the PR tasks also getting upgraded along with the option of the digital world. When a person starts his or her business there are certain unclarities about the goals and priorities.
The role of a public relations team is to clear all doubts and show a relevant path. PR responsibilities include the creation and execution of PR strategies. They support businesses by maintaining a positive reputation by utilizing different unpaid or earned platforms. Building public relations is the easiest way to maximize your brand recognition. Methods of advertising cost too high and everyone can not afford them. PR experts are trained on using the most trendy social media channels to elevate your network.
Effective planning, making strategies, and organizing campaigns also increase your product sale. The powerful performance of a PR team helps a business with a positive reputation among the competitors. Sometimes your goodwill matters higher than your profits in money.

What are Public Relations?

Public relations is also known as strategic communication. This communication specially belongs to commercial purposes. Most businesses hire public relations professionals to buildup mutual and beneficial relations between brands and the public. Different people have different opinion about a particular brand. By doing deep analysis and interacting with people they plan the PR strategies. By giving importance to the opinion and feedback of the public and resolving their issues they create a positive brand reputation.

Sometimes people relate public relations with publicity. Publicity is not the only motive of PR. PR team manages and disseminates the information about an organization to the public. They interact with them until they resolve all issues and create a positive impression. PR art includes a group of actions to improve brand recognition and impression among the public.

What does a pr person do?

PR person manages the creation of favourable press and publicity of any organisation. You can even gain the advantage of a PR team to maintain an individual reputation as well. A PR person takes care of the press releases and advertisements. They even the PR tasks include scheduling an interview to understand public views about a brand or individual. From time to time responding to the press is also a part of public relations responsibilities. They inform the public about the latest business activities. They interact with media people on regular basis to pitch and update about corporate initiatives. They look after new press releases to support the company’s reputation directly.

Responsibilities of a PR Professional:

The job descriptions of a PR professional evolve advanced interaction duties. These responsibilities brought them closer to the company’s ambition and public expectations. By creating certain comprehensive ideas of all the tasks they complete their day-to-day activities in the favour of business image. If we sit quietly and think for a few minutes we will find that communication and PR teams are handling the most responsibilities of a company. today’s They focus on maximum areas to improve individual or brand reputation.
The skills and strategies are the initial part of a public relations team. Experts in this field do not miss even a single task. It is because they understand that they are managing a crucial role. Below we are going to discuss 21 key responsibilities of a PR team. But they are responsible for Handel much more than mentioned.

1. Earned media and media relations:

In the early days PR professionals were sending out press releases. After that, they were maintaining a Rolodex of media contacts. This was their preferred way to get earned publicity. But now the situation is quite different and the exerts of PR teams are handling it very well. If we talk about current landing earned media, it is just a small part of the publication. It is an obvious thing that building relationships is not as easy as it sounds. It is a step-by-step task that consumes time. Data-backed pitches and regular engagements with reporters on different media platforms can save time. Also, it can serve better results in public relations. So the key responsibilities of the public relations team are to maintain and manage the media list with appropriate follow-ups. At the same time, the duties of PR professionals include the thoughtfulness of the reach and impacts of earned media.

2. Owned media and content strategy:

It is important to use owned media perfectly. Customer-facing blogs, campaigns, and social media outreach are some essential parts of owned media. In many Public Relations agencies, public relations experts have an in-house team of writers or they get it done with other sources. Authors and editors support writing to be suitable as per brand requirements. In that manner, PR professionals drive their strategy to the next level. A major responsibility of the public relations department is to perform out of the box. It is to equivalent content creators to fulfil their PR purpose.

3. Media monitoring and analysis:

Media is so powerful source to promote or demote any individual or a brand in minutes. In the modern era, you need to seek the help of various media platforms to uplift your brand recognition and build public relations. To ensure the success of your PR purpose experts is assigned their duties. They strictly monitor media activities. Also, they analyze their expected actions to raise the next step accordingly.

4. Corporate communications:

No matter your business is well established or in a growing mode, corporate communications are always important. Responsible members of the team stay in touch with the stakeholders on a routine basis. Their purpose is to develop and distribute pertinent information. There is no use of information if it is not placed in the right place at right time. That is the reason why we hire a PR team in the business. The professionals of this team ensure that messages are approaching the right audiences. Also, they take care of the desired spark of the information.

5. Messaging and positioning:

Have you ever thought that why people will buy your brand? One more question that can enter the minds of businessmen that how people will react to their product or service. Firstly welcome the feedback of the public as they have judgement power. After that make sure your PR experts are there to analyse their expectations and reply accordingly. Suppose you have a team of good writers and they are writing very well. But all will go in vain if the positioning of the message is inappropriate. PR professionals can fit your brand’s messages according to market research.

6. Internal communication:

Turning dry content into interesting information is an art. Only PR experts know how to do this task. Mainly they focus on internal communication to gather the right information. Also while converting a dry material into an engaging one they take the opinion of relevant people. A Survey of the audience preference and taste helps to craft the best one. Internal communication methods are also changing mode. In upcoming years more changes are expected in internal communication for Public relations.

7. Media training:

If you want to know what do pr people do? Then you must be ready for a lengthy list. Public relations team leaders are even responsible to train a few staff members in your company. Any person from the hierarchy system who wants to interact with media needs training first. This media training program teaches them all guidelines they must follow to avoid mistakes.

8. Executive thought leadership:

The multitasking abilities of PR experts handles the largest promotional part of your business. O bigger level and the same way they promote executive thoughts leadership.

9. Managing miscellaneous PR assets:

Not only media people will see and explain your content. There is a huge public who wants to read and hear about you. Deep case studies, event management, and multimedia-rich press releases help media people in managing different PR assets easily.

10. Communications on resolving the crisis:

Public relations duties also include a crucial role in resolving the crisis. PR team communicates with all relative departments and people to resolve crises effectively. Even they reduce the possibilities of upcoming crises with their analysis and communication expertise.

11. Public relation reporting:

To support the impactfulness and cross-functionality PR team performs certain more actions. PR reporting is an integrated part of those actions. PR professionals have to prepare, share and take feedback on PR reports on a routine basis.

12. Advanced level of media measurement:

This task is very important among the rest of the functions of PR. To deal with media people effectively PR experts do a proper media measurement. This advancement helps PR professionals in leveraging their PR matrics.

13. Events and other engagements:

As a PR expert you can limit yourself. Walk around with the latest trends can lead your carrier and your clients to success. Launching podcasts, digital events and online conferences are some popular engagement methods. The public relations team needs to handle media along with organising such interactive events too.

14. Developing multimedia and visual storytelling:

Your content is wasted if your audience is unable to understand and enjoy it. The duties of PR professionals don’t mean to only spread information. Their motive is to make people more and more aware and favourable for the brand or service. That is the reason why they focus on making the news interesting by using different methods. Visualised storytelling is a great example of this task. Meanwhile, they also look after the public response and revert accordingly.

15. Positive earned media exposure:

People, who are new to any industry ask what is the purpose of PR? Not a single brand can grow without making public relations. PR is used to complete many business purposes and positive media exposure is one of many. PR experts do this difficult task with the help of event organization and experiential marketing.

16. Beating the future challenges:

As per the pre-analysis report of experts, we can see influencer marketing as the future of any business. Some specialised agencies provide well-trained and experienced PR experts to give you best-in-class results in making public relations.

17. Managing communities and social media:

PR team looks after the maximum communication part. Now it is also responsible to manage communities and social media response. They are supposed to be available to monitor, respond, and inquire about their brand reputation and public reactions.

18. Managing the reputation of a PR agency:

These agencies work for different types of businesses. At some times they work for the companies performing at the domestic level. But sometimes they have to look after the global public relations for a brand. Also, the director-level person of the PR agency has to maintain the reputation of his agency. For that purpose, he interacts with the media and the public to build relations. Even the PR executives are also assigned the tasks to handle PR for their agency.

19. Data Journalism:

A crowd enjoys a road play but very few people from the crowd pay money for the play. But when you go to a theatre to see the same play not a single person can enter without paying money. This is the difference that how you represent your story. Giving some weight, crispiness, and spice to your story is what we call data journalism. PR professionals transform simple data into an interesting story.

20. Find the media trends:

Strict watch on the latest media trends is one of the most important parts of media trends. Their proactive measures and specialized hands-on Artificial intelligence support them.

21. Managing reputations of businesses:

The public relations job description includes managing reputations at a variety of levels. The tasks of a PR expert are very tough and challenging. So whenever you meet anyone performing beyond the expectations, don’t forget to appreciate. There are many high-performing PR agencies behind successful brands and individuals. You can even choose a reliable one to get the best outputs in business and a fair reputation in the market.

Conclusion:

PR professionals are strong pillars for improving any brand reputation. They support business relations among the public to improve the sales ratio too. They handle the maximum responsibilities required to grow a business from the bottom level.

From breaking news to making views, from gathering data to sharing valuable insights, when it comes to communicating with the masses, media has always been at the top of the news chain. Be it printing, broadcasting, or digitalization (internet), media has always stayed at the forefront of it all.

With the eyes and ears of the masses upon it, and with the trust it has built upon people’s minds, media has clearly shown an unmatched potential to influence the world around us as we know it.

Be it global events, international affairs, sports, politics, entertainment, or business, media is everywhere and nothing can be kept hidden from it for too long. In fact, the accuracy of the content is the first thing that most media outlets look for. And even if they don’t find any, the impact they can create is still crucial.

The power of the media can create, nurture, or destroy anyone’s reputation with just a single story or click. And that’s why it’s too important to build solid connections with the press regardless of whether you represent a company or a celebrity.

With media on your side, you can get more weight and credibility into what you have to say without having to worry about any backlash. Especially if you’re new in the market and don’t have a lot of authority in your niche. Media relations can help you create the impression you’re looking for and convey your story in a favorable manner.

What is media relations?

Media relations is a part of public relations (PR) that specifically deals with the media. While public relations is all about making good relations with the public, or the consumers; media relations is primarily about managing your relations with the press.

Working with the media is not a one-sided affair either. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship where both the brand and the media get what they want. Brands get the coverage they need, and journalists get the stories that are worth telling. Moreover, based on the content and purpose of your story, the press can further publish and distribute it to other channels.

And that includes all the modes of traditional and digital media options starting from conventional news channels to online newswires. From printed media such as newspapers and magazines to digital content like blogs, vlogs, and promotional videos. And from television and radio broadcasting to thousands of individual influencers on social media.

As you can see, the scope of modern media has expanded very well over the last few decades, especially with the rise of internet; but so is the competition. While social media has turned every other person into a well-informed journalist; there is still a lot of misinformation and fake news being circulated on the internet with fake news being one of the biggest challenges for journalists around the world. And that’s where verified media plays its part of providing authenticity and truth to the whole story.

Why is media relations important?

Media relations are at the heart of public relations. After all, it’s the public you’re trying to reach out and connect with at the end of the day.

Media relations is also a cost-free solution to many of your PR challenges. You can use it to inform the public about many of your usual business activities such as the launching of a product, its promotion, upcoming events, special campaigns, award ceremonies, sales and discount offers, financial and organizational disclosures like a crisis or strike, your community service and so on. All while gaining the trust, attention, and reputation you need in order to create an impact.

When you share news via media channels that are verified, it automatically creates the impression of belief in the minds of your audience.

Here are some of the biggest advantages of media relations as it helps you build:

1. Trust:

Building trust in the eyes of your audience is one of the greatest benefits of media relations. Most prospects and potential customers tend to go by the word of mouth. Not just anyone’s word of mouth, but of the people they trust. For instance, media companies that they keep an eye on, or the influencers that they wholeheartedly follow, or the brands they truly respect as a business.

Having a well-established media company vouch for your statements is what builds people’s trust in your brand in the long run.

2. Brand Awareness:

Brand visibility and awareness is yet another major advantage of having strong media relations. By having your story published through a popular news agency, you can get more reception of your content as compared to releasing the story on your own.

While the later would allow you to draw the attention of your existing clients, a well-known media outlet would get you more people outside of your regular customer base, and thus increase your audience. As more and more people get to know about your brand, product and services, it automatically gives you the desired publicity and increases the brand awareness.

3. Authority:

The biggest advantage of building strong and healthy relations with the media is the authority you gain in your space when they back-up your news stories.

Most genuine readers and consumers have an immense trust on sites and newswires that they usually go to. They know that a lot of work like background check and verification has been done by the media company before publishing the story. They also have a fair idea about the sites and influencers that stick to authentic news from those that promote fake news and misinform.

Therefore, when your news appears on an authentic news channel, it naturally builds and improves your brand’s authority in the market.

What’s the difference between media relations and public relations?

Although media relations are public relations, in no way are they the whole thing. Media relations are just one of the many parts of public relations. So, let’s not mistake it for one another as media relations aren’t the only type of PR but just one of them.

Public relations is the main domain that involves a company’s interactions with all groups of people involved in its business. While media relations is mainly about working with the media for the company’s image and overall benefit, there are other subsections of PR that deal with consumers, stakeholders, investors, and lawmakers etc.

So, while PR is the relationship between a business and the public as a whole; media relations are limited to business and the media. Yet, the goals of both PR in general and its various subsets are to get you the mass coverage, publicity, and brand image you desire.

To clarify it further, here are 3 major ways that can help us differentiate the media and public relations:

1. Public relations use multiple channels to build a healthy relationship with the public. Media relations is just one of them and thus uses only one channel i.e., the media or the press.

2. All media relations are public relations but all public relations are not media relations.

Other types of PR include:

– Community relations
– Crisis communication
– Public Affairs
– Social Media Communication
– Internal Employee Communications
– & Strategic communications PR

3. Public relations create the message, media relations provide you the microphone so as to deliver it to the masses. And while there are many ways for companies and PR professionals to get their word out and make it viral, media remains the best and the most trusted method there is when it comes to reaching the masses without having to spend extra dollars.

What are the Main Objectives of Media Relations?

Although media relations revolve around coverage and publicity, there are 3 main objectives to it:

1. At its core lies relations building with the press, journalists, and media personnel who can design and publish the story or news in your favor. Having strong connections within the press is quite important whether you have anything to share on the instant or at a later time. But that does not mean that you should have a countless number of friendly people in the media. Remember, having a few stable connections who can help you get your story published in all the right places is all you need to get the desired results.

2. The next objective of media relations is brand awareness. It’s how people would get to know about your brand, business, products and services. And with the right people from media on your side, it won’t take long for your brand to become visible in the highly competitive markets.

Showcasing your brand in the mainstream media will also help you become a key player in your area expertise, eventually increasing your target audience and thus brand awareness as well as reputation.

3. Last but not the least- Sales! Sales and profit is the ultimate goal of any business and its marketing efforts. Although media relations is in no way associated with direct marketing, the influence and leads it generates during brand awareness does the much needed job of boosting your sales and profit.

How to build a media relations strategy?

A well-formed media relations strategy is all about sticking to the fundamental principles of journalism i.e. who, what, where, when, and why. In short, the 5Ws. The point is to know your goals firsthand as well as the kind of journalists you consider are best suited for the story. You may also want to check if the media outlet you’ve contacted has any specific needs or requirements that you must meet prior to sharing the story.

Remember, media relations is a complicated business that needs regular contact and utmost care at every step of the way if you want to take good use of the press.

Timing is yet another crucial aspect of a sound media relations strategy that can increase or decrease the chances of your story from being heard. The trick is to have your story published only when there are no other stories waiting to be published. You can do that by having it published either early or later than the exact hours (exact hours being high time for releasing the news). So instead of posting it at 2.00 HRS, go for 1:45 or 2:20 HRS.

How to write a media pitch that gets results?

Pitching is where it all begins. Be it an e-mail pitch or an old-fashioned press release, or any other media pitch for that matter, it is what tells the journalists about the essence of your story, the target audience, and the objectives you expect to meet.

Therefore, every media pitch regardless of what format it is in has to be simple yet effective.

Here’s how to write an effective and well-crafted media pitch:

1. Start by giving the pitch a proper and appealing subject heading.

2. Mention your name, occupation, and the company you represent in the sender’s line.

3. Provide a brief and relevant introduction about your business and your target audience.

4. Get to the point quickly and offer some value to your media contacts by suggesting how your story can capture more viewers for the media company.

5. Take advantage of multimedia by including visuals, graphics, video clips, and infographics such as data and stats to convey your story in a compelling and effective way.

6. Track your media pitch for future correspondence.

Conclusion:

The need to have proper media channels is a must if you want to get your word out in your favor. Especially in the world of business, where one wrong move or maneuver can cost you fortunes. Luckily, with good media relations, you can save money as well as achieve the desired publicity that you want for your story without having to run from place to place.

How to Save Money with Your Friends & Family

Let’s SAVE together!

If you’re more motivated when others do it together with you, here are some ways you can motivate yourself and your friends to save money.

1. Make plans for after the saving 

A fantastic way to keep someone motivated to save is to make plans with them. For example, if they’re saving to get a dog, talk and discuss everything they can do with the dog, create planning boards, create activities you could do after achieving the goals, and get them excited about it.

2. Be each other’s lending depository 

One of the best ways to save money with friends would be to borrow their possessions instead of buying your own. For example:

Things you can share/borrow:

• Clothes
• Books
• Subscriptions 
• Tools 
• Even rent if you plan on staying together 

3. Join a group saving app

The Tandan App: enables small groups of individuals to come together and save money for short term goals.

Function:

Friends or strangers can get together online and decide to contribute a fixed amount of money into a savings pot each month. Every month, one group member gets to take home the entire savings pot. It will continue until everyone in the group has had a chance to take the pool.

Twine: allows couples/ friends to pull money from their individual accounts into a single savings account as they work toward any number of savings goals.

Function:

The app permits you to keep it in cash for shorter-term goals. But if your goal is a little further off, you can invest the money. After saving $50, you can shift it into an investment account for an annual fee of 0.60%. There may also be fees associated with trades and specific investments.

 

4. Create saving goals 

Sometimes, it can be quite a struggle to find or decide the financial goals or stay within your set plans. When this happens is great to have friends or families that you can ask for help/ plan to save. Getting an opinion from a friend or family member could help you start saving or achieve your saving goals.
Furthermore, you can create saving goals for each other and turn it into a competition to encourage each other to keep or stay within the saving plans.

*Stay Updated with us on our Socials

About GEM COMM

We are an International Investor Relations firm (IR) based in Singapore. We specialize in Investor Relations, Public Relations, marketing, branding and messaging strategies for clients that include organizations of all sizes across Asia, Oceania and US.

GEM COMM advises and solves stakeholders’ issues, drive growth, repositions your business, improve your marketing and Public Relations (PR) or engage with investment community in your leadership or strategy story. We have a track record of helping clients reach these goals. We create and implement PR & media content, mitigate crisis and issues, establish and improve thought leadership & content marketing.

GEM COMM Engagement types include:

• IR/PR retainer program
• Crisis and issues projects;
• Content marketing (from research to lead generation) inclusive of Press Release drafting, Media Pitch, Website content, etc.

Simple Life Tips & Tricks 

Here are some simple life Tips and Tricks you can use to change or improve your day to day life.

1. Trick Yourself Into Being on Time – Layne Brookshire

Plan important events a few minutes earlier than the actual time. To keep being punctual, you need to practice using this method till it becomes a habit.
For example, if you meet someone at 2 pm, plan to leave the house 10 – 15 minutes earlier. With the extra time you have given yourself, you have 10-15 minutes of leeway for any inconvenience that may occur on your way.

Like traffic, missing the train or forgetting something etc.

2. Take a 60- Second Breaking Break Before Making a Decision –Rebecca Cafiero 

Giving yourself 60- seconds breathing break when making a decision allow your brain to focus and relax. Breathing has been proven to be a method to help you calm down, which are practised in other areas like Yoga and meditation.
A lifestyle expert and TEDx speaker Rebecca Cafiero once said, “focusing on your breathing for 60 seconds will help you ground yourself and allow you to visualise calming memory to relax your mind.”
By giving yourself an extra 60 seconds, you can assist you in making the correct decision, rather than making a huge mess for you to deal with later.

3. Narrow Every Decision Down to Three Option- Scott Crabtree

Scott Crabtree, a consultant who teaches the science of happiness in the workplace, once said, “If you choose from 100 options, you would feel overwhelmed, and there are 99 things you don’t get when you pick one. If you choose from three options, you can easily compare and feel happier with the choice you make.”

The idea behind his method is to remove the element of stress to improve and optimise your decision-making process, which will better help you make the right and happy decision.

4. Instead of Thinking About What You Don’t Have Time For, Consider What You Do Have Time For – Sonia Satra

This is a mental trick that you can use to involve your doubts to an advantage. We often think negatively, like ” I can’t do this now” or ” I don’t have time for this.”
Here is the trick you can use:
Whenever you have negative thoughts like those, ask yourself, ” what can I do?” or “what do I have time for?”. It could be a 10- minute workout or a simple 30-minute task. Take advantage of all the small chunks of time you have available to fit those “stuff” instead of scrolling on social media. By using this trick to complete unfinished/ putaway tasks, you will be amazed at how much you can actually accomplish.

*Stay Updated with us on our Socials

About GEM COMM

We are an International Investor Relations firm (IR) based in Singapore. We specialize in Investor Relations, Public Relations, marketing, branding and messaging strategies for clients that include organizations of all sizes across Asia, Oceania and US.

GEM COMM advises and solves stakeholders’ issues, drive growth, repositions your business, improve your marketing and Public Relations (PR) or engage with investment community in your leadership or strategy story. We have a track record of helping clients reach these goals. We create and implement PR & media content, mitigate crisis and issues, establish and improve thought leadership & content marketing.

GEM COMM Engagement types include:

• IR/PR retainer program
• Crisis and issues projects;
• Content marketing (from research to lead generation) inclusive of Press Release drafting, Media Pitch, Website content, etc.

If you want to scale your business, then nothing works better than hiring a PR firm. They will help you build the brand awareness that is needed at the moment and will work in close coordination to understand if you are reaching the desired goals. Working with public relations has become the need of the hour in today’s media-rich environment.

However, unless your hired PR firm understands your brand vision, they won’t be able to deliver the desired output. So how would you figure out if the PR team you are hiring is the best support for you? Well, here are a few questions that you can ask before hiring one to ensure they are a good fit for your business.

1. How are you going to measure your success?

The chosen PR agency should take a keen interest in your business and find out what your success should look like. Hence, they must get along with your expectations and requirements and ask you a lot of questions. Without understanding your goals, they won’t be able to set their campaign objectives or demonstrate a return on your investment.

2. Which media will reach my target audience best?

To answer this, the agency must wholly understand what your target demography is. Understanding the demographics would help them know what would work best; the traditional media placements or online promotions. They must also have equal knowledge of both the old and new media to help you work with a diverse plan.

3. Have you worked on campaigns in my industry?

It will be beneficial for your brand if you are hiring a pr agency that has prior experience of working in the same industry. This will help you know who managed those accounts and what results were delivered by them. You can take your decision likewise. Unless you can see potential deliverability in their team, it will be best to not sign up for them.

4. Who will be working directly on my account?

Hiring a PR agency that is large in size might come with multiple points of contact, and you might initially meet the most influential individuals but when you start working, they will be nowhere to be seen. Hence, it is better to clarify right at the beginning about who is going to manage your daily business and whom you should connect with for all the updates. It is important to take such a decision right before the work starts.

5. Am I locked into a long-term contract?

It is one of the most important questions to ask a PR agency. Many firms will put your contract on a retainer and you might require to pay an upfront payment to receive their services. But this is not a great arrangement. A good PR agency will give its clients the freedom to opt out of their services if they feel the efforts are not worth it and the business is not getting benefitted in anyways.

6. Do you provide media coaching?

If you do not own a huge brand, then media coaching is going to be of great value to you. Pick out the agencies that also offer interview training through experienced media coaches. This will make you self-dependent and help you pull your brand out of any sudden media adversity.

7. What is your social media expertise?

When hiring a PR agency, make sure you know their social media expertise and how well they can handle things for you. The better they can organize interactive promotions on the platforms, the better they are for your online outreach. If the agency you have picked to work with only excels in traditional media, then you must rethink your decision of hiring them. Your chosen PR agency should have an all-inclusive social media expertise.

8. Who are some of your previous clients, and how did you achieve success?

When selecting a particular PR agency, it is wise to go for their client roster. Now some of us would debate if a client roster is everything. Well, surely, it isn’t everything, but at times, it also does matter a lot. It will have the details of all the bigger businesses they have worked with and how prolific the results have been. The roster would indicate the success of the agency and how they portrayed their clients in front of the world. Their present and previous client list will help your team to get valuable insights about the firm. You will have a clear idea about the type of work the pr agency does and the kind of help you can expect from them.

9. How are you going to communicate with me?

At the very beginning, this might sound like a draft question but actually, it is not. With this question, you will understand how your agency will manage the communication and the collaboration with your brand. You need to have real-time updates on your progress for about 90% of your budget will be allocated here. If your point of communication changes mid-way, it is something to worry about. So be very clear about it from the starting itself.

10. What will you need from me to make the relationship work?

Some brands think that hiring a PR agency would solve their purpose or a publicist working on their behalf would be enough. But this is a naïve thought that prevents the PR strategies from bringing in success. Unless you are involved in your PR, nothing is going to work. You need to have active participation in tweeting, blogging, or speaking with the media when it is demanded. You need to make an effort to understand what all is required from your side and make sure that you will be available for that.

11. How much do you charge for specific services?

This is the ultimate question that lingers on almost everyone’s mind. No doubt, budget is extremely important while selecting a PR agency. Though most agencies today offer custom packages as per the client’s needs, you can always go with the pre-defined packages that cover every important service under different price ranges. PR agency costs vary from $4000 to $15,000 a month. However, if you are looking to avail a highly tailored package, you need to discuss the costing separately with the agency.

12. What if it all goes wrong?

It is unpredictable what is going to happen in the future and one must be ready to face the consequences. But a crisis in a PR service is very rare. The crisis might mostly include human errors resulting in financial or face value damage. Upon speaking with your agency, you will get to understand what their crisis management strategies are and how they can bring your brand out of negative news.

Asking these questions to a potential PR partner is just going to help you clear all your doubts. It will also make it clear what your PR firm has to offer you in terms of the benefits. Through this, you can assess their compatibility and oversee the chances of you meeting your PR goals. So find a PR team that helps you fulfil your goals and makes you feel confident about your success.

How to reduce Spending 

We often neglect our spending even when we are saving. Managing your spending is equally important as saving. It’s essential to develop good spending habits to help you save more effectively.

Here are ways for you to reduce your spending.

1. Lower Your Housing Expenses 

One of your most significant expenses is housing. People with income below $50,000 a year spend an average of 36.6% or more on housing. 

Lowering housing expenses may seem quite challenging at first, but it is something to consider to reduce additional expenses, and there are ways to reduce that may be easier than you think.

If you are a renter or plan on renting, here are some options you can consider:

• Have/ get a Roommate 
• Do the repairs yourself to reduce extra expenses 
• find cheaper living accommodation

2. Put away Our Credit Card

Putting away your credit cards can be important when trying to control/reduce spending. However, do not get rid of your credit card entirely because you need to develop a positive payment history to build credit. 

Likewise, it is more practical to put significant purchases on credit cards as long as you pay off the balance straight away to get rewards and bonuses. 

 When you want to keep a credit card around, it’s essential to ensure they aren’t too much of a temptation.

Here are some ways: 

• Freeze your card into a block of ice. Defrosting will take a while before you can see your card, the time it takes allows you to rethink your purchasing decision.
• Remove credit card details from online shopping platforms to curb online shopping temptations. 
•  Switch to using cash when you go out to encourage yourself from depending on your credit card and also help you curb any spending habits. 

3. Cook at Home

Preparing and eating meals at home can help you save money.
Preplanning your meals allows you to think about the amount of money you are going to spend on meals in a week. This allows you better track your spending in comparison to dining out or ordering delivery.
With accessibility to the internet, it is effortless to get an affordable and easy recipe to cook at home.
If time is limited, you can cook the food the day before and heat them up in the morning to grab and go.
In the long run, making your own meals can help you save a significant amount of money and curb unnecessary expenses. 

4. Review Memberships and Subscriptions

Most people have monthly subscriptions for online streaming channels, cable TV, software, internet etc. After we set up these subscriptions, we usually don’t think about it much, while it deducts monthly payments from our accounts.

Here are some things you should consider:

• How often do I use it?
• Do I really need it?
• Can I live without it?
• Can I get a cheaper alternative?

5. Reduce Travel Expenses

When it comes to transportation, convenience and comfort will always be priority most people.
However, we often overlook the expenses for the simplicity of comfort and convenience. Instead of taking a cab or private hire car and drive, you can consider taking public transport, walking or even cycling, which are more affordable alternatives.
You may feel all these small expenses won’t make a difference, but the truth is all the small expenses can be more damaging than those large purchases in the long run.

6.  Find Cheaper Alternative for Fun

Reducing spending doesn’t have to involve cutting the fun out of your life. 

There are plenty of cheap or free ways to enjoy yourself or spend it with your friends. 

Instead of planning activities that require spending money, you can opt for an affordable or free option. 

• Simple sleepover 
• Picnic with homemade food and beverage 
• Read a book 
• Catch a movie online
• Go thrift shopping 

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About GEM COMM

We are an International Investor Relations firm (IR) based in Singapore. We specialize in Investor Relations, Public Relations, marketing, branding and messaging strategies for clients that include organizations of all sizes across Asia, Oceania and US.

GEM COMM advises and solves stakeholders’ issues, drive growth, repositions your business, improve your marketing and Public Relations (PR) or engage with investment community in your leadership or strategy story. We have a track record of helping clients reach these goals. We create and implement PR & media content, mitigate crisis and issues, establish and improve thought leadership & content marketing.

GEM COMM Engagement types include:

• IR/PR retainer program
• Crisis and issues projects;
• Content marketing (from research to lead generation) inclusive of Press Release drafting, Media Pitch, Website content, etc.