Living Advent a great success

Actor Simon Williams performing 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with his grand-daughters at last year's Living Advent. Photo courtesy of Catherine Hadler of Creative Commercial Photography.

In December we were proud to be involved with helping with publicity for the Henley Living Advent Calendar – a first for the UK. Each night a different performer appeared at a new door or window to give a short, 15 minute performance to waiting crowds. The event was the brilliant idea of local resident Julie Perigo who has organised it with such infectious enthusiasm.

Volunteers included Chris Wellings of web specialists, CTC Aspire, Kim Agostino, Interior designer Liz Cleall and her daughter Lauren, sound & lighting expert Hugh Legh and video queen Lauren James. What really made the event was the excellent variety of performances, the stalwart volunteers and the supportive Henley residents who turned up night after night (sometimes in the freezing cold and driving rain!).

More than £2,000 was raised for seven local charities including: Sue Ryder, Regatta for the Disabled, The Chilterns Centre, Henley Day Centre, Kenton For Keeps, The Face of Henley and Henley Youth Centre. The event was such a success that it’s due to be repeated for Christmas 2012.

If you would like to become involved in this year’s event and be invited to the launch party on 26th March, get in touch with organiser Julie Perigo here

Springboard to Success

Eveleen Hatch in full flow at Athena Springboard to Success (photo courtesy of Shannon Lee Robinson SLR Photography)

We were delighted to be invited to speak at this fantastic one-day conference organised by The Athena Network in Oxfordshire. Penny Stephens and Claire Newell did a fantastic job of organising the day – keeping us well fed with delicious pastries, lunch and afternoon tea!

Held at the Oxford Centre, the event was attended by more than 50 businesswomen from varying sectors and from all over the Oxfordshire area.
Our 45 minute talk was on, 10 Things You Didn’t Know About PR – including the fact that contrary to Ab Fab myth, the job has nothing to do with champagne and schmoozing and more to do with sheer hard work and gritty determination! We also explained how PR, like many things, is only truly effective when you have a long term strategy.

A brilliant key note speech was given by Jacqueline Rogers, CEO and founder of the Athena Network on “How to be an Authentic Leader” which was extremely thought-provoking.

Other great speakers included Sarah Fletcher from Mushroom Souffle who gave a very articulate overview of social media and Sarah McCloughry from Anrah on achieving sales. Debbie Austin and Christina Nawrocki from Wellers Accountants gave us a few home truths about our figures whilst Peronel Barnes from Create and Consult did some very clever things with peas and M&Ms to demonstrate how marketing works. Jackie Fitzgerald from Action Coach finished off the day by talking about goal setting and asked us to write a letter to ourselves about three goals to arrive in three months’ time – so watch this space!

Penny and Claire have received hugely positive feedback from this highly educational day and we are very much hoping they will run a similar event next year.

DIY PR workshops are proving a great success!

Back in November we held our first free DIY PR course, to help local Oxfordshire businesses get to grips with their PR strategy and find out a little bit more about how getting a bit of media attention can really make your business stand out. Held in the beautiful surroundings of Howbery Park in Wallingford, the two hour work shops cover areas such as:

• Identifying your USP & news stories
• Finding your audience
• Raising your profile
• Using surveys and polls
• Becoming a regular expert
• Using photography
• How to approach journalists
• Writing a press release
• Monitoring the media
• Incorporating social media
• Buying media lists
• Maintaining coverage

We have a full house at our next workshop on 15th February – but if you would like to put your name down for future workshops, please contact us eveleen@buzzwordpr.co.uk or call 01491 822647

14 days of love

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and we’re already feeling the love here at Buzzword PR!

Last year the The Best of Henley once again ran their highly successful campaign to get people to share the love around with businesses in the area. Last year we were delighted to have been crowned the UK’s Best Loved Copywriters. Can we do it again and keep our crown? With your help, we think we can!

As a reward for sharing the love, we’re offering a £20 Amazon voucher to one lucky person to be drawn at random. So if you’ve been impressed by the service you’ve received from Buzzword PR, whether it’s via social media training, a PR workshop or through our PR or copywriting support – we’d be delighted if you could give us a virtual hug here. All testimonials need to be in by 14th February to count in the 14 Days Of Love so get your skates on… you will need to in this weather!

A big Thank you in advance for supporting Buzzword PR & sharing the love.

Henley has opened its doors to Living Advent Calendar – a first for the UK

Here at Buzzword PR, we’re really excited to be involved in a first for the UK – the Henley Living Advent Calendar!

This unique 24 day event will see all kinds of Henley businesses opening their doors with special performances to celebrate what Christmas cheer in a town’s community is really all about.

Following the much loved tradition of children’s advent calendars, the concept has been brought to the UK for the first time by Henley-on-Thames resident Julie Perigo, who was so enchanted by the idea when visiting Stockholm in Sweden, she decided to bring it home with her.

In the Living Advent Calendar, the public will be able to open a different door or window every evening from the 1st to 24th December and be entertained by a fabulous array of festive entertainment by talented local performers. In the true spirit of advent, the element of surprise is very important, so the act will not be revealed to the audience until they pop out of their chosen door on each night. Planned performances lasting no longer than 15 minutes will include songs, dancing, music, poetry and drama – all with a Christmassy focus. You might even see a celebrity or two if you’re lucky!

Buzzword PR is helping The Living Advent Calendar team of volunteers with their social media and public relations – and already TV, radio and a national newspaper are planning to run stories about it.

The first performance for the Living Advent Calendar was held on Thursday December 1st with the Henley Rock Choir launching proceedings – and what a fantastic performance it was.

Here’s a photo taken by Catherine Hadler of the Henley Rock Choir in action:

Henley Rock Choir in Action

(photo by Caherine Hadler of Creative Commercial Photography http://www.creativecommercialphotography.co.uk/)

The Living Advent Calendar’s organisers have a few exciting surprises up their sleeves for the event which will be raising money for seven registered local charities. Supported by Henley Town Council and The Henley Partnership, each night’s door or window is being provided by a different business or organisation taking part.

Organiser Julie Perigo, a Henley resident herself said: “We’re really excited about bringing the Living Advent Calendar to the UK – it’s a unique event that will bring the local community together like nothing else. Christmas is a time for giving so we also want to make sure that the seven worthy local causes that we are supporting can benefit from the fundraising arising from this.

We’ve already had huge interest in this event from both people in the town and further afield. We want to make it an annual event and believe it  has the potential to be replicated in other towns throughout the UK”.

Snippets of the performances will be filmed by a team of professional filmmakers and uploaded onto a website created by CTC –Aspire Ltd, a Henley based web development firm. There will also be a DVD for sale, early in the New Year, with the proceeds going to the chosen charities.

Charities benefiting equally from the scheme are Sue Ryder, Regatta for the Disabled, The Chiltern Centre, Henley Day Centre, Kenton For Keeps, The Face of Henley and Henley Youth Centre.

Find out more about the Living Advent Calendar and which venue to turn up at each night visit  http://www.livingadventcalendar.co.uk/ or follow them on twitter @LivingAdvent

If you’re a Henley resident, do come along and support some of the acts – you’ll be amazed and surprised who you’ll find behind the door!

Buzzword PR will be writing daily updates on the performances up until Christmas Eve – so watch this space.

Want to make headline news? Find out how at our DIY PR workshops

Many people ask us how they can run their own small PR campaigns. We’re very happy to help small businesses who don’t yet have the budget to use Buzzword PR.  This is why we’ve launched our brand new DIY PR workshops starting in October 2011 to help set you off on the road to PR success. We’ve spent many years both in journalism and on the other side of the fence in PR and would love to share some of our skills with you. However, we would like to point out that there are no quick fixes in PR – it’s a long term activity which requires creativity, skill, hard work and determination. PR should be an essential part of your marketing plan. We also spend a lot of our time building relationships with the journalists we work with so we have the right media contacts for our clients.

We’re delighted to announce that our new half day DIY PR workshops are being held on 12th & 26th October at Howbery Park in Wallingford.

Register here for our workshop on 12th October

Register here for our workshop on 26th October

But if you just can’t wait until then here are some top tips to get you started:

• Start by reading the newspapers or magazines you would like to see yourself in and see what kind of articles they carry. Make a note of their style and the kind of articles they like
• Put yourself in the journalist’s shoes and try and analyse what you think is newsworthy in the stories you read. The fact that you’ve just launched a new service may not be good enough – what’s different about it?
• The media is always looking for the human interest angle or for ground-breaking achievements – where would you fit the bill?
• If you are involved in a charity or interesting event, take really good photographs. Local newspapers and magazines are always on the lookout for great photos.
• Brainstorm with your colleagues or business contacts what might be a quirky angle for your business – have you gone the extra mile for a customer in an unusual way?

If in doubt about your newsworthy angle, give us a call on 01491 822647/07815002276 or email us here - we’re happy to help!

New Year Resolutions – Have you broken yours yet?

 Many of us make New Year Resolutions almost out of duty, but how many of us then go on to break them a week or so later?  Have you broken yours yet?

The key, I believe, in making a successful resolution is in making it meaningful and targeted. To make a vague resolution about losing weight or doing more exercise is doomed to failure – as surely you are just focusing on things you feel negative about?

If you turn the idea of New Year Resolutions on its head, you are much more likely to have a successful outcome.

For example, how about focusing on something positive which is guaranteed to boost your business? One of my resolutions for the coming year is to play as hard as I work!

Forget New Year Resolutions that don’t last, here are some suggestions for making 2011 a really successful year:

 • Keep in touch – it has been proved that the more you keep in touch, the more inclined people are to do business with you. A great way of doing this is to send out a monthly e-newsletter. It needn’t be expensive, lengthy or elaborate. Just keep people up to date with what you are doing and offer them some tips and helpful advice of your own. Contact Buzzword PR for help setting up your e-newsletter. How many of your customers or associates do you actually call? A phone or Skype call doesn’t go amiss and can benefit relationships enormously. Even if they don’t do business with you they are far more likely to recommend you to others.

 • Talk to the press…. When did you last shout about your good work from the rooftops? Everyone will have some nugget of information that people want to read about – it doesn’t have to be headline news to have an effect. Maybe you are an expert who could comment on a particular newsworthy issue? There are so many ways you can make the news – and you’ll be amazed how a bit of PR can boost your business and raise your profile within the community. Need help with a PR campaign? Get in touch and talk it through with us today.

 • Target your networking. There are lots of networking groups out there, but which one is right for you? We firmly believe the scattergun approach does not work. It depends so much on what kind of business you’re in and your personality. There are so many networking groups out there right now so don’t be afraid to try new ones or stop the ones that aren’t working for you. I would add, however, that building relationships in networking groups takes time and effort and you often get out what you put into it

 • Get Social. If you are still scared of social media, it’s time to stop prevaricating. Love them or loathe them, social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are an integral part of your marketing strategy. 2011 is definitely the year you shouldn’t get left behind. If you’re frightened of Facebook or terrified of Twitter, get yourself on one of our half-day workshops being held on 19th and 25th January 2011 at Henley Business School. Places are already filling up very fast, so book on a course today.

 • Surround yourself with positive people. Let’s face it there are many prophesiers of doom and gloom who sap your time and energy. So whether you’re a one-man band or a business employing many people – look for those who will not only give 110 per cent but also able to focus on the positive and have a bit of a laugh on along the way. I firmly believe that laughter is the best medicine.

• Update your website! Last but not least, don’t put it off any longer… if your website is shamefully out of date, do something about it. Anyone who lands on an outdated page these days will simply flit off again. Did you know you can transfer just about any site (apart from those with flash) onto a WordPress powered website that you can update yourself? It’s much easier and cheaper to do than you think. Call us to find out how!

Contact Buzzword PR on 01491 520587 or email info@buzzwordpr

The Queen wants to know: where is your Facebook page?

You may already using Facebook for personal reasons to catch up with friends and family, find out how your old contemporaries are getting on in the world, or even to use… dare I say it – Farmville!

But have you thought about setting up a Facebook business page yet? If you haven’t, you could find yourself getting left behind. No doubt you heard the news this week that even The Queen now has an official Facebook page. Google most major companies and organisations nowadays and you’re highly likely to come across their Facebook page. In fact, Facebook is becoming a search engine in its own right with the potential to overtake Google.

 So why this rush to publicise yourself on Facebook?

The answer is simple – because that’s where most people are hanging out!

With a staggering 500 million users worldwide, Facebook is certainly taking over the world. So if you don’t have an official profile on Facebook, how can you expect to be found by your customers?

Setting up a Facebook page is quite simple – but the one of the most important things is to keep it up to date. Use it as an addition to your website to post news, offers and current information about your company and get people to interact with you. If your business is appropriate, maybe even run small competitions to get people talking about you.

What puts many people off setting up a Facebook page is the common myth that people could access your personal profile and perhaps see all sorts of things that compromise their business. The answer is: they can’t. Facebook users can “like” your business page without you having to be friends with them on your personal profile.

If you’d like help with setting up your Facebook page – talk to us today. We work in partnership with Get Into Social Media to run workshops and deskside training to help you make the most out of today’s highly effective marketing tools including Facebook and Twitter.

Women in Business – what needs to change for a happy work/life balance

The new Equality Act came into force today, that’s aimed at stopping discrimination in the workplace by limiting employer’s ability to make decisions based on someone’s age, disability and gender. This includes not being allowed to ask about a person’s health record during a job interview and some pretty hard-hitting laws on harrassment in the workplace.

Despite pay secrecy laws being relaxed,  the former Labour government’s plans to force firms to divulge information about pay differences between male and female workers are not included.

This is quite pertinent in a week where I’ve had several conversations with women about how hard they are finding it to juggle their lives – family, children, work, caring for their elderly relatives… it’s a constant challenge for many to keep all the balls in the air.

Why are women finding it so hard to manage their lives at the moment? One business associate of mine admitted to getting up at 6am and not stopping until midnight, only for the cycle to continue the same day after day. Running a business whilst keeping up with family and home commitments is a constant challenge.

I don’t hear these complaints from men – so is it that we don’t ask them for enough help, feel more guilty about not giving the children enough of our time or can’t manage our time? As my business contact said: “I feel I’m being pulled in all directions all of the time – everyone wants a piece of me.”

Another barrier women running their own business come across is antagonism, sometimes even agressiveness from some men – I’m not saying all men – some are very supportive. Two of my contacts have reported some uncomfortable situations when men have had no hesitation in shooting down their ideas or criticising them for being too pushy.

Very successful women are often pigeonholed as “grumpy” (for example Deborah Meaden from the apprentice) pushy, selfish or aggressive. Is it because success is unfeminine?

This is probably why women’s networking groups such as Athena and Ladies Who Latte are successful.

When it comes to women in business, sadly I feel we still have a long way to do in the equality stakes. Women are often juggling running their own business or working for someone else with picking the kids up from school or taking them to the doctor, looking after their elderly relatives, or doing the household chores. Many men still  just get on with their work. (Although there are exceptions I know)

Equality Acts are all very well, but what needs to change? Do women need to ask for or demand more help from their relatives? Cut out the guilt?  Stop trying to be all things to all people? Or do men still have a long way to go in their attitudes to women, particularly in the business world? Perhaps it is a bit of both.

But what’s true about the new Equality Act is that Lawyers certainly aren’t being discriminated against – as a Radio Four reporter pointed out, and a fair few of those are women.

Get Tweeting – beginners’ twitter workshops in Henley-on-Thames

Whenever I first mention Twitter, these are the kind of things many people say:

“But I don’t really care what other people had for breakfast… that’s all you say on Twitter isn’t it?”

“Twitter – isn’t that what Stephen Fry uses? I’m not interested in hearing what celebrities had for breakfast.”

“I don’t have time for things like Twitter” “I have a Facebook account, but I just don’t see how Twitter can be of any use – isn’t it people just chit chatting all day?”

By the time I have finished explaining how Twitter is NOT any of the above, I have usually persuaded them to come on our beginners’ course, Get Tweeting.

So if you’re one of those people who are still hesitating about how Twitter can help you, here are some details about our successful monthly workshops for beginners.

Get Tweeting – What’s it all about?

Imagine walking into a networking room and having access to not just 20 or 30, but thousands of people who want to do business with you. This may sound ridiculous, but this really is what using Twitter for business is all about.

The kind of people you choose to meet on Twitter (and yes you can choose) are just like you – small business owners who are looking to meet others to swap ideas, build strategic alliances, eye up the competition and do business with one another.

There is a whole world of opportunity out there on Twitter – but you’ve got to be in it to win it!

On our Get Tweeting course, we get down to the nitty gritty and show you exactly how to use Twitter to your best advantage. Our course is practical and hands-on – so you will be doing most of the work. By the end of the three hour course, you will have learnt how to use Twitter just about anywhere, how to build it into your daily routine without fuss and most importantly… how to find those networking contacts.

All you need to do is bring along your laptop and we’ll show you the rest. The course is also a great avenue for making new business contacts among your fellow delegates too.

So why not join us for our next Get Tweeting workshop on 22nd July from 9am-1pm at Greenlands, Henley-on-Thames.

 The cost of the course is ridiculously cheap at £70 including unlimited coffee, biccies and sweets – and we have a good laugh too.

Our June Twitter newbies are already reaping the benefits of this social media phenomenon that literally puts you in front of the people you want to know: your associates and customers.

Here’s what one of our delegates had to say after our last Get Tweeting workshop:

 “A friendly, hands on introduction to using Twitter for business. Opened my eyes to a host of new ideas for making contact with people having similar business interests”

Register for our next course on July 22nd here:

http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2xrjyncee76e198

Who runs Get Tweeting?

 Our fun and interactive Twitter courses for complete beginners are run by experienced PR consultant Eveleen Hatch of Buzzword PR in partnership with Lisa Chaffey who runs the highly successful virtual assistant service, In a Pickle. We’re both experts in the world of social media, helping many of our clients to raise their online profile.