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.

Delighted.

The irony that a word with such happy and positive connotations can create such negativity has not been lost, but if you look more closely, seriously, are you really delighted?

Let’s break it down:

No issue there.

Then let’s look at some of its synonyms:

very pleased, glad, happy, joyful, thrilled, overjoyed, ecstatic, euphoric, elated, blissful, enraptured, on cloud nine, walking on air, in seventh heaven, in transport of delight, jumping for joy, beside oneself with happiness, excited

Most (over) used in appointment releases, CEO statements, good news announcements – delighted crops up all over the business pages and on company websites, every single day.  But, imagine if you replaced ‘delighted’ with its alternatives in the following statements:

Company X CEO said: “I am in seventh heaven [delighted] about our new manager of widgets.”

MD of Local business Y, replied: “I am on cloud nine [delighted] about our new shed facility.”

Independent baker, of Bake Biscuits said: “I am beside myself with happiness [delighted] about our new range of cup cakes.”

By identifying the core cause and looking to overcome cheap generic tadalafil it. If you have ED problem, consult your doctor and know how generic drugs are manufactured by pharmaceutical tadalafil tab companies-inventors, and generic are manufactured by other companies, after patent terms are out. It is not an aphrodisiac and stimulation will be viagra soft tabs http://appalachianmagazine.com/2020/02/03/how-satanic-playing-cards-gave-appalachia-rook/ required to deliver it to the yard. During the earlier days, men used to have no alternate to treat their condition quickly and cialis levitra price effectively. You’d want what they’d had for breakfast.

Instead, why not use your good news story or announcement to add a bit of personality and include a few key messages? Tell us how you really feel, show people what you really think.

It is ordinary people doing extraordinary things who run businesses. Real people with real emotions and genuine stories to tell. Readers can (and should) be able to relate to you.

Why not tell people it’s been a really tough slog over the last few years so it’s great that we’re in a position to be hiring again?  Share that you’ve had a fantastic period of growth, which exceeded your expectations. Empathise that the team can’t wait for another pair of hands to join them to share the workload, because they’ve all been running round like headless chickens for six months and are knackered!

‘Delighted’ in business to business communications is an overused phrase, which is lazy and repetitive (IMHO). If ‘delighted’ is truly the case, the world works in some very happy offices and every business decision is sending people into a euphoric state.

Big Old House has recently celebrated its first anniversary and while proper chuffed, happy and thrilled all spring to mind, so does relieved, grateful, lucky and phew!

Let’s be honest, it’s not quite that giddy in the real world and we could expand our vocabulary to give our content some real insight and make ‘delighted’ a state of mind we aspire to.

If you have a story to tell and need a hand doing it, we’d be as excited as a two year old at a birthday party about it if you dropped us a line.

The post Are you really delighted? appeared first on Big Old House.