What's New Pussy Cat?

Everyone has heard the news that digital and social media are the hottest medium to communicate through. Indeed as you might have read in our news section of our having added social media to a recent PR pitch resulted in us winning this fascinating PR tender.

However, what suits one company does not necessarily suit all companies and we urge any company considering a social and / or digital campaign to look carefully at what the objectives are for that campaign, how they will measure the effectiveness of the delivery medium as well as honestly assessing whether social and digital media will really suite them and their company’s culture.

Don’t misunderstand us. We are hugely excited, and have been for quite a while, about what social and digital media can offer our clients and ourselves, but we also recognise that hype on this scale can turn heads and lead to companies making it work rather than choosing it because it adds a new dimension to their marketing and communications strategy. Key word that – strategy. Our experience to date has not always been positive and has seen potential clients coming to us saying, “we must optimise on the opportunities that social and digital media can offer us”. We start by saying, “what is it that you are doing already and what are you looking for this medium to do for you?”

A boring question? Well possibly, but the true value of any campaign (PR or otherwise) is in ensuring that you have an integrated campaign and not just a mass of disconnected parts. My main worry with social and digital media generally is that it is often seen as an add on.

Take the real opportunity that social and digital media offers to every company and review your marketing and communications plan. See what’s working well and what is perhaps not working quite so well. Then have a look at what social and digital media can offer you. Working this way round will ensure that your plan will really fly.

Is It Really Christmas Again?

We are currently working with Creative Leicestershire to promote the work of local artists and artisans via a strategic and creative (if we do say so ourselves) PR campaign, and this has caused me to consider shopping on a professional level.

At a time when every town centre seems to be a facsimile of the next, searching for something different can be quite a challenge. Of course the internet offers limitless opportunity to import odd things from faraway places but how do I know that it was hand crafted by a smiling worker on a living wage?

And even if it was, how do I know that he isn’t a genius physicist who is wasting his life making ornaments out of giraffe poo? And on a more practical level how do I know that it’s going to arrive in time and unbroken?

Buying locally has such a lot going for it and stuff that you can prod before purchase always appeals. There is a fantastic range of talent right on our doorstep, made by people who are doing what they love. So if the thought of a December trip to your local shopping centre fills you with dread why not try something different. www.madeinleicestershire.org.uk.

Making Time

A busy office environment is, in many ways, a fantastic thing and we are definitely not of a mind to complain when things get a little hectic. These are the occasions when the dark art of time management comes into its own. So how do we prioritise our PR work? Well deadlines are obviously relevant - a missed deadline is a missed opportunity - but what about the organisation of the repetitive and the achievement of those ‘one off’ occurrences that require attention? An extra challenge arrived for The Phoenix Partners in the shape of National Chocolate Week (12th-18th October). Of course it was an event close to our hearts and a cause worthy of our attention, so we did what we always do in this kind of situation and worked a little bit harder to fit it all in! Marvellous fun and a great bit of PR for the chocolate industry!