Despite lockdown, a collective of creative members from Works Social, the coworking space in Nottingham’s Lace Market, have been able to work together to carry out a messaging, web design and branding project to give Cube Construction Consultants a brand boost and secure its future success.

Cube moved into Works Social earlier this year and has enjoyed the benefits of having 24/7 access to the space and its virtual community during lockdown, when it wasn’t always possible to work from home.

Nicola Slater, Director at Cube Construction Consultants, said: “We specialise in strategic business development for organisations within the construction industry, but when it came to marketing our own business, we were finding it difficult to get across our messages and show consistency across our brand.

“It’s been great to be able to bounce ideas off other members and have a community we can call on, when much of the ‘business as usual’ we are used to is anything but. Having a collective of different freelance skills from web design, branding, development and copywriting has really helped us get the results we wanted.”

Virtual member, Matthew King Creative redesigned the website and brand guidelines. Friend to and ambassador of Works Social, Pixelshrink, carried out the technical development and digital designer and co-founder of Works Social, Han van Oudheusden from picturethis.studio delivered iconography and social media assets.

Han said: “This kind of project is exactly the ethos behind Works Social. Bringing different skills, ideas and values together to support each other, promote our different specialisms and forge strong business connections. It’s been a great project to work on and fantastic that our members have been able to access this community throughout this difficult period.”

Specialising in PR, strategic marketing and copywriting, Rachael van Oudheusden from Big Old House, led the project, saying: “It’s been great to be able to help shape the ideas and thinking of Cube. Nicola and Mark have some brilliant ideas, loads of experience and ambitious plans. They just needed a little steer to hone their messaging, develop their website and brand, plus put plans in place for future marketing activity. From the creative connections we’ve made at Works Social we were able to gather the perfect team to get collective benefit from everyone’s ideas and input. Aces in places really.”

The site and refreshed branding was launched in early November and has been well received. There are plans are in place for the first campaigns and the team is planning to collaborate again in the near future.

The post Giving construction consultants a brand boost appeared first on Big Old House.

While there are positive signs of some businesses emerging and resuming some kind of ‘business as unusual’ and the Prime Minister announcing “Build, build, build” as the mantra to get the economy back on track, there are those less fortunate who have had their industries decimated by this invisible threat, through no fault of their own.

Forever taking the pulse of regional businesses, BusinessDesk.com has been catching up with owner managers,  entrepreneurs and senior managers around the UK to get the lowdown on life in lockdown.  During a short break from crisis comms, social media management and copywriting, Rachael van Oudheusden from Big Old House offered her take on on lockdown life.

Here’s a snippet from the interview…

How has the lockdown and working from home been for you so far?

It’s been a bit of a backwards step to be honest in terms of flexible working. I worked remotely from home for several years when I set up Big Old House and realised that I quite like being around people. That’s why I joined the coworking and event space, Works Social, in Nottingham’s Lace Market to get away from my house! Looking forward to getting back with my desk buddies as soon as possible.

 

What has been the best thing about staying in?

Cooking (and eating!). It’s been really great to spend time making interesting food from some of my favourite places around the world. I’ve started making wiser choices to actively avoid waste – making sure to use what’s already in the cupboards, rather than always popping out for extra things. I now completely ignore best before dates if food still seems edible. If it doesn’t have green fuzz on or smells of booze when it shouldn’t, it’s fine, right?!

Apart from spending April in Colombia, people mainly – family, friends, colleagues and clients. I miss seeing people face to face and miss the productivity of going into a dedicated work environment, as this provides boundaries between work life and home life. The community element is a big part of Works Social too. I’m finding it tough not having the camaraderie of my co-workers to chat with about the crazy times we are all facing and to help spark creative ideas.

 

What previously essential thing have you realised is not actually essential?

Nothing really. In fact, I’ve realised the opposite. Things that I didn’t think were essential are actually so much more important than I gave them credit for in maintaining positive physical and mental well-being. Social interaction, hugs, travel and freedom of choice are all essential to me. It’s been values, or behaviours, rather than stuff mostly though, such as caring, compassion, kindness and generosity that are truly essential.

 

What is the first thing you will do when isolation ends?

As a card carrying CAMRA member, I’m going to dust off my Nottingham City Transport bus pass (who’ve been spectacular in keeping essential services running for key workers, thank you) and jump on a bus into town to support as many local independent pubs as I can get round during opening hours. I would wholeheartedly encourage everyone to join in me in supporting their local pubs too. Give me a shout if you fancy a pint!

 

You can read the full article on BusinessDesk.com…

Meanwhile, the resilience, innovation and adaptability shown by UK businesses has been incredible. We hope that our friends in the leisure, hospitality and retail sectors can hold on and potentially come back stronger than before. The door to Big Old House is always open if we can support you in any way with that. Stay safe out there folks.

The post Day 100: Locked-in with Business Desk appeared first on Big Old House.

With a stellar line up of the region’s top social experts including Closer Marketing’s, Emma Bradshaw, specialist LinkedIn trainer, Charlie Whyman and Status Social’s Head of Social Media Management, Jamie Cernick, it promised to be an insightful evening.

Introduced by BMC co-founder Jason Neale and the evening’s regional BMC organiser Robin Bodicoat, we questioned whether social media was really working in a B2B world. Businesses need to get involved, but are not really sure why, how or what their social strategy is. Is it Lead Generation? Thought leadership? Brand awareness? Do people really have a clue?

The reality is, for real results every post should have a purpose.

Enter our experts.

Getting you closer to your B2B audience

Emma Bradshaw, a freelance marketer at Closer Marketing, graduate of the Digital Mums Academy, marketing lecturer at NTU and previously EON’s resident expert in digital optimisation and customer experience talked trends, top tips and setting social strategy.

Which channel is which?

Referencing the recent #DollyPartonChallenge, Emma highlighted the importance of a channel’s personality and how customers expect to be engaged with in the appropriate way. The Street Party, The Art Gallery, The Networking Event, The Water Cooler – where do you want your business to be and for what?

Key trends for 2020 – Trust and transparency

“It’s time to take Tik Tok seriously” advocates Emma, after watching first-hand how digital natives interact online in her role as university lecturer. The short-form mobile video networking platform (formerly known as musical.ly) is taking people by storm with everything from lip syncs to life hacks with its raw and unedited format. Video is winning. The filtered Instagram look is old hat.

Credibly moving conversation into the private space is essential. Tools such as chatbots seamlessly move people into a private conversation around specific topics, building direct engagement with your customer.

“Getting behind the curtain is going to be the most important thing for the next decade. Broadcast ‘spray and pray’ tactics are over, there is a move toward intimacy. You can’t ignore the private conversation. For B2B audiences it is important to focus on how you get invited to the House Party. That takes time and investment.”commented Emma.

Embedding engagement

Emma added: “Get good at stories – advertising in stories is on the rise, look at the way you are creating content and if it is fit for purpose. Rather than broadcasting, make sure your content strategy has engagement embedded within it, making use of polls, encouraging user generated content, Twitter chats, competitions and useful longer form content – such as webinars, videos, subscription models for specific subject themes.”

What can social do for B2B marketing?

With an estimated 20-500 digital touchpoints encountered before a buying decision is made, this presents a huge opportunity, as well as challenges for B2B marketers.

Opportunities exist in social listening, competitor analysis, influencing buying decisions and reinforcing your ‘Why?’ through brand awareness, not to mention benefits of enhancing SEO and attracting and retaining talent to your business.

The challenge is creating a genuine and authentic connection with your audience, where Emma walked through her CLOSER model which helps businesses do just that.

CORE, LISTEN, OBSERVE, SELECT, ENGAGE, REVIEW – Visit Closer Marketing for more details.

Emma left us with a final thought from Seth Godin: “Our job is to connect to people, to interact with people in a way that leaves them better than we found them.”  Simples!

Starting conversations which lead to sales

Charlie Whyman, LinkedIn strategist, influencer and former international sales and marketing manager for global businesses was up next. Agreeing about creating engagement, saying: “It is not about leads, it’s about starting a conversation with your market. Your potential customers need to know, like and trust you. And, you need to stand out from the crowd in a meaningful way – that is difficult.”

B2B or B2C it’s is still H2H

“The goal of marketing is to start conversations which lead to sales. Now is the time to talk with the people in your market, not just talk at them – invite them into the conversation. Negotiating and getting a response through LinkedIn gives a more human response,” says Charlie.

Citing a case study of a global laser measurement company, RIEGL, Charlie walked though their success on LinkedIn, talking about how social proof is the biggest motivator as their clients love their products and data, so will share, like, discuss them on line, ultimately giving them “free marketing”.

How to win on LinkedIn

“RIEGL took advantage of their fan loyalty and created a community of fans and advocates. They also empowered employees to showcase their skills, knowledge and brilliance – playing into their zone of genius. Lastly, they create content people really want to engage with, achieving 40-50.0000 impression per month with no advertising, but getting people to buy into the products and services. This proves the power of LinkedIn as the place to be for business development.“added Charlie.

Free marketing – Top tips for LinkedIn

Charlie shared a number of top tips for making LinkedIn work harder for businesses:

• Ensure content is within “The Zone of Relevance” for your audience, make people understand how it will help them with their job.
• Don’t assume – learn about your audience, take that knowledge into your audience, your pipeline and your social media content.
• EVERYONE needs a LinkedIn company page – It gives you the ability to get in front of people you wouldn’t normally. Make it accurate, representative and honest – (Spend about 10% of your time as a small biz, 20-30% if larger business and the rest on your personal profiles).
• Quality over quantity – It is not about the number of followers; it is about the quality of the content that you post and level of engagement you create.
• Amplify your personal profile – You are 19 X more likely to attract new leads from your personal profile because you are communicating with people.

In summary, Charlie shared: “LinkedIn is not a thing that you should fear, it should support you to create a dialogue with your market, social listening, build authority and credibility, create a community of fans and advocates. Magic is in the follow up, nurture, creating a community.”

Winning over your B2B audience

Head of Social Media Management, at Status Social, Jamie Cernik echoed earlier sentiments and warned against “digital leafleting” and forgetting the “social” part of social media.

Hailing from one of the first social agencies in the UK and having generated in excess of £2million of business through social media, Jamie ran through some practical examples of customer interactions that deliver results.

Jamie said: “If you want to sell, you need to inspire and create an emotional response. If you don’t prove that in social media content, you are not giving a reason to buy.” Citing two extremes “The Hard Sell” or “The Friend Zone” he suggested the sweet spot, the normal social selling space was somewhere in the middle.

Finding common ground

According to Jamie: “Everyone is hustling on LinkedIn, predominantly trying to achieve core objectives – lead generation or recruitment.  The advantage of advanced filters on LinkedIn enables you to use the “The Sherlock Homes” technique. People reveal social signals about themselves which you can capitalise on to avoid being stuck in the ‘friend zone’. You can use these signals to connect on a human level – flatter an alumni, find a human connection of the same school, university or football team of choice.”

Understand your audience…

…is the key to starting a conversation.

Giving examples of what was essentially social stalking, Jamie presented a no-bullsh*t approach to winning a social security and global hacking consultant as a client. He also shared examples of sharing blog posts via Twitter which led to a Blind Sports Equipment retailer making contact with the core decision makers via Twitter and subsequently getting into 11 premiership football clubs by getting out of the friend zone and being part of the buying discussion.

We have no content!

Many of Jamie’s clients feel that they have no content, but this doesn’t mean that they have nothing to say. Everyone is able to meet people at their level, chat informally on Twitter. By understanding who you are talking to you can match their tone of voice and generate authentic conversations.

Tips to generate content

Jamie concluded with some content creation pointers, make it:

• Entertaining – create a response in people, entertain them.
• Inspirational – emotive, life changing, give people a reason to champion it, can people get behind it?
• Add value – what can you give away for free? Are there tips, information, advice within your area of expertise you can share?

To summarise the whole session in a nutshell, “Humanise your content and you’ll go far.”

Any thoughts you would like to add on social media success for B2B marketers?

Business Marketing Club (BMC) events offer a great opportunity for both client-side and agency side to come together, share ideas and meet like-minded marketers, while socialising with a drink and bite to eat, in an enjoyable and informative environment.

To join the next East Midlands event visit: http://bit.ly/2Hwoc9s.

The post B2B social media – Posts with purpose appeared first on Big Old House.

Flexible working holds the key to productivity and wellbeing

A survey of over 100 freelancers, small business and corporate employees has found that flexible working could provide the key for delivering growth and productivity for businesses and improving people’s wellbeing in the future.

In the survey which asked people about how their working patterns, to try and throw some light on what the future of work could look like, almost 95% of respondents believed or strongly believed that if people have control over how and when they do their work they are generally able to perform more effectively. Over 76% of respondents also agreed or strongly agreed that working from different environments such as home, coworking spaces or a change in office location enables them to be more productive.

More than 75% of respondents believed that businesses could operate more effectively by using more agile, self-employed temporary resource and 87% felt that business could lower costs by employing more flexible models of working and distributed teams.

With support and education, flexible working offers cost savings and performance improvements 

While 95% of respondents felt that people could be trusted to work without supervision if the right support is available and, overall, responses show a positive shift in attitudes and perceptions towards flexible working, there is still some education to be done on exactly what it means

Han van Oudheusden, co-founder of collaborative coworking space Works Social, added:

“The data we’ve had back has been fascinating. We wanted to challenge the notion that ‘Flexible Working doesn’t work’ and we have done just that. There is undoubtedly an appetite for greater flexibility in the workplace, while flexible working and coworking are fast emerging concepts, they are not yet fully understood and there is some education to be done, but it’s coming.”

Although people reported increased productivity and wellbeing, 46% of people did still feel guilty for taking time out of ‘normal working hours’ and 51% felt stressed in trying to catch up on work they’d missed. There was a fairly even divide in people that felt flexible working undermined other people’s attitudes to how they worked and those that didn’t. Positively though, 84% of people felt more relaxed If they were able to work in a way that suited them.

The future of work

In terms of getting the most from a talented UK labour market, Ross Cox, CEO at Dispace commented on what this means for the future of work, saying:

“I agree with the 95% of our respondents who felt we should be focusing our attention on delivery and effective communication without the need for set hours, days and locations for getting work done. To improve productivity and create a positive sense of wellbeing among employees, we should make it easier for people to be employed by increasing our use of teams that work remotely and on flexible hours.

“For businesses to be successful in the future they should be providing access to a range of workspace solutions that suit the current and future needs of an individual on a day to day basis. That might be reliable technology, coworking, remote teams, virtual meetings or sharing time between home and office working.”

The survey was curated by a collaboration of flexible workspace, coworking and digital nomad ambassadors Dispace,Works Social, and Big Old House, with support from Digital Risks and D2N2. It explored people’s attitudes to the changing world of work from freelancers to full-time employees. Everyone was invited to share what their version of work looks like.

Get your own copy

For more information about the survey data and to register to receive a copy of the full report when published, contact us at hello@bigoldhouse.com.

#workspacerevolution #futureofwork #Coworking #Nottingham #dispacelife #futureofwork #agileeconomy

The post Flexible working does work to improve profitability and wellbeing, survey finds appeared first on Big Old House.

The Collaborative Future work experience pilot scheme ran for three weeks in October at our home, contemporary coworking, shared office and event space, Works Social after raising over £3,400 through crowdfunding earlier this year.

Six (18-24 year olds) not in full-time education and employment took on flexible, paid work placements hosted by Works Social’s community of freelancers and small businesses. They were partnered up with 12 businesses including photographer, The Picture Whole, zero waste shop, Shop Zero, us, marketing and PR consultancy, Big Old House, Skate Nottingham, wellness and life coaches Impact People and Change and Bespoke Life Coaching, film experience and events freelancer, Based on a True Story Cinema and student opportunities firm, Organised Fun.

With career aspirations in retail, social media and PR, personal training and other freelance entrepreneurial endeavours, the work experience provided a variety of skills they could use in their future careers.

Hosted at Works Social, which provided a safe base for everyone and removed any barriers for freelancers or businesses based out of their own homes. Han van Oudheusden, co-founder of Works Social said:

“We’re all about collaboration, bringing together like-minded people and helping people follow their passions. It’s great to see so many of our members being involved in a scheme that helps them minimise any potential risks and overheads of employing interns/apprentices, while also gaining benefits of the skills and fresh perspective that young people can provide.”

At Big Old House we welcomed Shanai, a recent media graduate to support us with our own marketing, carry out research for social media content and to complete a review of our clients’ digital profiles. Here’s a little snippet from Shanai’s experience with us:

“For the pilot of the collaborative futures programme I have been working with Rach from Big Old House, a PR and marketing consultant. Some of Big Old House services include, marketing, PR, copywriting, content and social media. Rach has been amazing throughout my time at Big Old House she made me feel very comfortable to talk to her about any questions I had and she was very approachable, and as someone who likes to ask a lot of questions that was a great thing to have.

I am very passionate about magazine writing and social media, which is one of the reasons that I chose to take part in this scheme as I thought it’d be a great opportunity to learn new skills and develop old ones. Since taking part in this scheme I have done a lot of exciting things such as going to a design meeting, which was a great opportunity to get to see inside of an actual office within the field that I would like to go into, and see first hand what happens in design meetings. I have also been doing social media reviews for clients that Big Old House work with, I hopefully want to get into either digital marketing, social media or magazine editing so this has been a great opportunity to get a glimpse into the sort of things I would like to get into the future.

My only downside is that it’s not for longer. I would of loved to work with Big Old House for a while longer to develop more skills and get a better understanding of how the social media sector works. I guess overtime, with more funding that would hopefully be possible. Overall I have  really enjoyed this experience and I think it is a great idea, as a lot of companies don’t like to take you on without any experience, which makes it difficult to get a job. However with this scheme, it is a great opportunity to get that experience that you can put on your CV.”

We were sad to see Shanai go too, but wish her all the best in the future and are really pleased that she’s got some freelance marketing work with one of the life coaches on the pilot.

Tessa Cooper, Founder of Collaborative Future and the organiser behind the scheme said:

“I can’t quite believe that only in April this was an idea fizzing around in my head and now, thanks to a successful crowdfunder and some amazing support we’ve had six young people at Works Social on paid placements. It’s been great to see so many people building connections, learning about different ways of doing business and developing their skills to make work work for them!”

The Collaborative Future scheme was made possible thanks to official supporters Works Social, Cleo., Armakuni and Tech Nottingham and the many other supporters of the crowdfunding campaign. The ambition is repeat this scheme all year round and make it possible for other people to replicate the work placement model in other cities.

If you’re a freelancer or small business who wants help with taking the hassle out of finding suitable work experience candidate or want to help share your skills with a young person to further their career prospects, contact Collaborative Future.

The post Creating Collaborative Futures for Young People appeared first on Big Old House.

According to some, flexible working doesn’t work and isn’t a sustainable model for the future. However, the existing research tells us a different story with the number of coworking spaces rising by 16% in the U.S. and 36% outside the U.S in 2018.

A survey…

As a collective, that got Big Old House and a few like-minded pals thinking, what does a ‘normal’ day at work look like to people? Is there a ‘typical’ daily routine anymore? How can work become truly flexible to accommodate the demands of daily life?

That’s why we’re working together to conduct a nationwide temperature check of people’s attitudes to the changing world of work – from freelancers to full-time employees. Everyone who goes to work, in whatever form that takes, is invited to share their views and tell us what their version of work looks like.

Do you go to work? We want your views…

The survey shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes and all responses will be anonymous. The aim of this survey is to look at people’s different working models and how this affects their productivity, work-life balance and overall happiness.

From the results, we’ll produce a report that challenges the notion that “Flexible Working Doesn’t Work”, try to look at what the future holds for work and find truly flexible solutions to accommodate what people need to be productive, achieve work life balance and be happy.

Who is doing the research?

This is a collaborative survey curated for you by flexible workspace, coworking and digital nomad ambassadors Dispace, Works Social, and Big Old House.

How can you get involved?

To take part in our short and topical survey to share YOUR experience visit: https://tinyurl.com/2019FlexibleWorking

Please share your thoughts by Friday 27th September 2019.

Share the love…

By all means share with your friends colleagues and co-workers too.

Thank you, we really appreciate your time and contribution. If you have any questions, drop us a line at Big Old House. 

#workspacerevolution #futureofwork #Coworking #dispacelife #futureofwork #agileeconomy

The post What does the #Futureofwork look like for you? Share your views… appeared first on Big Old House.

BMC posed the question “Is B2B Marketing Boring?” to agency and client-side marketers from around the East Midlands

RIP ‘Corporate Video’

First up in the event’s cracking speaker line up was the ever-entertaining Neil Rostance, Partner and Head of Creative at Fat Free Media, a full service creative agency specializing in live action video and animation.

Having made over 2,000 films in his career as a filmmaker and ‘bus driver’, his passion for his work stands out when he talks about what he loves – telling compelling stories. Banning the phrases ‘Corporate video’ and ‘Corporate Communications’ from his agency some time ago, Neil believes that B2B has had a tough times over the years – although, after showing a comical selection of talking heads from the world of 1980s corporate videos, it was clear to see why!

Video killed the customer

Sadly, we haven’t left these style videos behind. Neil explained how B2B hasn’t fundamentally changed – the methods of storytelling are the same, there are just many more channels: “B2B marketing is littered with bias and assumptions. B2B marketers assume the world already cares that it is a good idea, then it bombs. It’s not that it is boring – it is that no-one cares. What holds back real human connection is trying to please their boss, peers but not their audience. The audience are humans and they want meaningful moments.”

Free your mind

Using a clever analogy about what your choice of seat on the bus says about how you want to be seen, Neil (the bus driver) went on to share different mind sets for visual marketing, including treating it like a first date and considering what you would put on your own TV channel for 24 hours. Pro tip: Don’t be a 24 hours news channels!

Be human, not boring

Neil wrapped up by saying “Successful B2B marketing content which captures attention needs to stop talking about what your business does. It needs to prove how much you love what you do and why in a human way. Everyone has a story to tell. B2B marketing is not boring, the bosses are boring. There is an expectation is that most of it will be dross, but it definitely doesn’t need to be.”
Myth You prescription canada de viagra are facing problem having an erection, because you are not attracted towards your partner. The development of Generic Crestor has been done to restrict the responsible enzyme’s movement to bring a reduction in the sexual activity of a man. levitra on line We don’t have time or the manpower to put eight people in a room and debate about it for some reason. levitra without prescription You can buy them viagra rx online through any of authorized medical pharmacies.

B2B is more creative than B2C

Next up, a controversial lead in from Neil Berry, a B2B marketer with a decade of client and agency experience gathered at Capgemini, Fujistu and Affari Media, amongst others. His opening statement suggested that B2B marketing is naturally more creative that B2C, because sometimes it’s painful. Because you are limited by bosses, budget and having to sell the most boring crap. B2B is naturally more creative than B2C as you have to be more exciting.

Neil Berry presented the idea that B2B needed to have a heart and courage to have more impact and be less boring

From greyscale to colour

In a Wizard of Oz themed presentation, Neil discussed ideas, creativity, Account Based Marketing (ABM) and strategies for personalization of direct mail with wow factor.

The phrase “I just don’t have a creative brain” Neil suggested was an excuse and a myth.

He believes B2B has lots of great ideas but sometimes it is the content implementation that lets it down, adding that “If you are not evoking emotion in someone then you will not get the audience to feel anything – if you are not excited about it no-one else will be.”

For more on ‘Is B2B Boring?’ visit the BMC’s website. To read about previous events, check out ‘The Rise of the Humans – Are we experiencing purpose overload?”.

The post Is B2B Marketing boring? appeared first on Big Old House.

Often asked, ‘How do you motivate yourself when you work at home?’, it’s honestly never been a problem. Until recently. Procrastination, fidgeting and feelings of isolation were beginning to creep in and, after celebrating a successful three years in business, it felt like time to refocus, think a bit bigger and ‘go to work’ again.

Literally and metaphorically, the old nursery space wasn’t big enough to build on. Clients and projects were getting bigger (and so was I due to lack of commuting!), the need for a meeting and collaboration space cropped up more frequently and also regular contact with like-minded people sounded like a good idea.

That’s why moving into shiny new coworking space Works Social this month is a milestone for Big Old House. As business has expanded beyond expectation and outgrown its back bedroom, it has its sights set on bigger things for the next few years. Not quite ready to move into a serviced office all of its own, Works Social offers the perfect solution.  With 24/7 access, high speed wifi, a dedicated desk with a secure locker and a ready made community of like-minded freelancers and small independent businesses wanting to create a relaxed, yet professional coworking community, it fits the bill very nicely.
Ordering a cost effective medicine without paying more money and to make life even buy viagra australia more comfortable. Make sure that the website you use is safe, and that your credit card and personal details purchase of levitra are secure. Kamagra Jelly is cialis cheap india appalachianmagazine.com quickly absorbed into the body and patients report faster response times from 20 minutes. It promotes the discharge of an egg takes place from ripening and after being viagra uk released from the gonads and act in the brain and periphery to control many male-typical traits, including male sexual behavior.
In just a few days it has already proved itself to be the right decision. Very happy that Big Old House has a big new home to grow.

Fancy popping in for a nosey round and a chat? Drop us a line.

The post Big new home for Big Old House appeared first on Big Old House.

At the first BMC of 2019, the East Midlands contingent gathered at Accelerate Places in Nottingham for an evening of good food, booze and lively discussion. The evening’s exchange was kicked off by OpenWrks head of marketing and event organiser David Coghlan, who opened with the question ‘are we experiencing purpose overload in marketing?’.

Dave’s enthusiastic intro referenced Bloom’s Brand Ladder and explored the notion of ‘What is the meaning of the brand in our life?’. Giving examples of the Pepsi’s brand disaster and Gillette’s recent attempt to join the #MeToo movement, heavily slated by Mark Ritson, Dave pointed out that both brands have tried to move up the brand ladder but  used a purpose at odds with their product and positioning and as a result lost customers.

Positive purpose

To keep things on a positive note, the one brand who seems to get hearts and minds right every time was praised. Nike. With the recent Colin Kaepernick campaign they nailed it by making a narrative that resonates with the core principles of their brand. It also spoke specifically to Nike’s target audience, so even while there was some outrage online with people burning Nike shoes, that was an acceptable risk with non-core customers and actually strengthened the relationship with their core audience, thus making complete commercial sense.
Poorly controlled blood sugar levels cause damage to the nerves in the male reproductive system is noted if this medication is taken excessively. pharmacy levitra The smarter thing to do is to get the cheap viagra without prescription virus removed. The spe cialis ukts will surely follow the latest and most advanced techniques to treat all types of problems with absolute perfection. Generally, we don’t pay much attention for common problems and some cheap viagra in australia quick and easy solutions.

Mark Saxby talks ‘humanising social media’ at East Midlands BMC

So, how can B2B marketers translate purpose and make it relevant in our marketing?

In a series of insightful presentations, brand and language strategist Ben Afia gave an educational and entertaining overview of how language reveals your truth, can unlock doors and make brands more human.  Mary Harmon  lead designer from OpenWrks shared design insights from start-up land and top tips for being human in design. To close the show, Mark Saxby, founder of Status Social rounded off with a warning about robotic social media and the pitfalls of posting for the sake of it.

Couldn’t make it to the event? Read the full write up to learn more about how not to communicate and adopting the language of the tribe.

Fancy coming along to the next BMC event? To join in the discussion about ‘Is B2B marketing boring?’ Sign up here.

The post The Rise of the Humans – Are we experiencing purpose overload? appeared first on Big Old House.

Journalists want to get the best news stories for their audiences and companies want to get the best publicity for their business. Simple. PR experts (either in-house, agency or freelance) are often employed to act as the conduit in making that happen.

PR professionals and journalists can have a love ‘em or hate ‘em relationship, but the fact is that neither party can exist without the other. PRs can’t be successful without the coverage and support of news outlets. And, in an age where ‘content is king’, editors, reporters, bloggers and columnists would be stuck for a story or two if they were never tipped off through a press release.

Not every business has PR or media resources available. No need to panic though, whatever the size of your business, the secret to successful public relations is not actually that secret at all.

We’ve pulled together a few of our top press tips and included some insights from journalists we heard from recently at the ‘Meet the journalists’ event at Nottingham Trent University, courtesy of Enterprise Nation (which you can read more about here).

Seven press tips for businesses:

1. Create a plan

Who do you want to talk to? What do you want to say to them? When is the best time to talk to people? How do you want your business to come across? Where will you reach your audience?

Without a plan, your PR activity is scattergun at best and inconsistent when it comes to coverage and conveying your company message. Creating a plan for your media strategy will help answer key questions and give you direction so you can prioritise activity and talk to the right people at the right time.

2. Do your research

Ask your customers what they read and find out how they like to consume media. Is it via social channels? Is the industry trade mag a must read? Are all your products and services relevant to every sector or do you need to segment your stories based on the target audience?

Whether you, a team member or hired PR help does it, research is essential in finding the right target media for your business. Some businesses and agencies have the luxury of a media contacts database. However, if you don’t have the budget, setting regular research time aside to keep abreast of topical, timely news and contacts is a worthwhile investment for building future relationships.

3. Get to know your media

Once you know where your customers are looking, read and research the relevant publications. What articles do they run? What is their editorial policy? How do their editors/contributors like to work?

Build relationships with your target publications and the key journalists within them. You can’t get to meet every single person, as this would be a full time job in itself, but you can connect on Twitter, catch up for a coffee, drop them an email or make a point of seeking them out at an event.

4. Connect with contacts

As mentioned, media databases (such as Gorkana) offer unrivalled access to hundreds of thousands of journalist contacts, but not everyone has this benefit at their disposal. That doesn’t mean that making contact is impossible.

Contact us pages on publications’ websites and media packs have the relevant contact details, email addresses can often be found in Twitter bios and LinkedIn shouldn’t be underestimated for making and staying in touch with connections.

Don’t be afraid to get in touch either. A simple web search can return bloggers with specialist interests and social channels offer a great way to start a pitch. Hash tags #journorequest #PRrequest are popular searches which link those seeking stories with those with stories to tell.

Sometimes it’s better to do it yourself. The Assistant Business Editor at the Sunday Times, for example, prefers to speak directly to Business Owners/Entrepreneurs rather than PRs; something you’d only know by doing your research.

5. Be practical, punchy and polite with press releases

The first paragraph of any press release should include the What? Why, Where? When? Before even that, the subject line of your email should grab attention.

Journalists from BBC Radio Nottingham, East Midlands Business Desk, Heart and Notts TV all agreed that avoiding witty puns and catchy headlines was a good idea. They all want bullet points which tell them the story in a nutshell, states what has changed and gives relevant, interesting details with what’s new, different, better or never been done before.

It is worth remembering that Business Desk receives one press release every five minutes, BBC Radio Nottingham one release every minute and Heart Commercial radio one every 20 seconds. That’s a lot of news, so it is important to focus on one key aspect as a priority message and use embargo press releases for exclusives.

To make friends in the media, don’t repeatedly chase stories and don’t send to everyone in the same department. Also, it’s bad practice to send competing outlets the same exclusive story.

6. Learn the lingo

If your press release gets through the net and you find yourself in an interview situation, there are a few phrases that it pays to remember when talking to a journalist to protect you and your business from oversharing:

• “On the record” – OK to publish everything discussed
• “Off the record” – Want the content to be made public, but can’t be attributable to the source e.g. The BBC understands that…”
• “On background” – Completely off the record as there are sensitivities around the story

In addition, you can low cost levitra also use activated charcoal to purge toxic heavy metals from your body. Most important is tadalafil pills to limit the alcohol intake. Gupta, who provides complete treatment viagra generika http://appalachianmagazine.com/category/appalachian-eats/?filter_by=popular7 for ED. Thaw – buy cialis soft Freedom from Frozen Feelings will take the reader on just such a journey of healing.
For regular press spokespeople and senior team members, it is worth considering media training to give them a good grounding in how to handle media interviews, stay on topic and manage media interactions.

7. Live up to the lead times

Your best chance for PR success is to make yourself available. Long lead times and definite deadlines are what B2B journalists are working to every day, particularly in trade publications.

Saying that, the world of daily news is faster moving and for success with broadcast press, such as TV and radio locally or nationally, making yourself available when the press can make it is essential. For example, the TV crew won’t come to an event at peak times with all the public there, but they may cover it at 7am before everyone arrives.

As a guide, for events, a release/email notification one month prior and follow up again two weeks prior to the event gets the best response. For future features, you need to be thinking 6 to 8 weeks in advance of publication.

So, from broadcast to broadsheet, business to breakfast media, make sure you:

• Plan your media strategy
• Know your objectives and your target audience
• Do your homework
• Get to know your press
• Make friends with the media
• Know your stories
• Stick to deadlines

Need helping in developing your press plan for this year? Get in touch to chat through your objectives on 0798961082 or email hello@bigoldhouse.com.

The post Seven press tips for businesses appeared first on Big Old House.