Portfolio show draws to a close

Firstly, a big thank you to everybody who came along to the party last week! Having looked through the feedback, it's great to see so many of you had a good time and picked up contacts and new business for yourselves. Just part of the service from your favourite marketing agency (you're very welcome by the way).

For those of you who couldn't come along, it's a real shame actually as it was a great chance to not only see some of our design work, but also meet the team and find out just what a real communications agency is all about.

You can all have a look at the pictures and video clips from the opening night party (maybe even spot yourself). If you're interested in gaining this kind of publicity for yourself, get in touch with us and we can discuss ideas over a coffee.

Everything came together brilliantly and there are a few special mentions due:

• The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress for coming along to show their support
• John and the team at Badgemaster for making some fantastic guest badges for the party.
• Tom and the Urban Planters board of directors for showcasing the TFT Tree and also giving so generously of their time
• Jeanne and Tony from View from the Top for the gallery space
• Aquila for the fantastic Lebanese buffet
• The Persona Creative team - Viv, Andy, Hammad, Matt, Nina, Lewis, Mark, Kim and Lisa. Great job from everybody involved!

Seminar #2 - PR & Publicity in conjunction with NBV

Who couldn't do with some more PR right? Positive coverage for your organisation is a tricky thing to get and we often hear from our clients the stress and disappointment they go through trying to get some.

Following the success of our branding seminar in December, the lovely people at Nottingham Business Ventures (our local enterprise support agency; aka NBV) have asked us to speak about PR & Publicity and are hosting an afternoon session all about it for us.

• Tuesday 27th February
• 13:00 - 17:00; just after lunch
• Mercury House, Northgate, New Basford, Nottingham

To reserve your place (it's only a tenner!), give us a ring on 0115 9484454 or you can book online at www.nbv.co.uk. Don't forget to invite anybody else you think might benefit from a little extra PR.

The afternoon will be broken into three parts, each lasting 45 mins (so it's long enough to be useful and short enough to prevent you getting bored).

1. An overview of PR

13:30 - 14:15

Overview of basic terms, concepts and practices How PR works for and against you Avenues for PR available to you

2. Taking Action

14:15 - 15:00

Planning your PR strategy Creating a PR tool kit Working with the media Using suppliers

15:00 - 15:15: 15 min Break

3. Practical Advice

15:15 - 16:00

Writing press releases & other media material Creating a PR database PR in the context of your brand Budgeting Tracking success and failure

16:00 - 17:00: Questions & Answers session

Next quarter, we'll be switching the sessions to cover Digital marketing.

Whose afraid of the big, bad web?

Digital marketing rocks! Or at least we think so anyway. A cost effective channel, with quick turn around times, the ability to track success criteria and a constantly hungry and growing audience of consumers - what's not to love?

Well, it appears as though not everybody agrees. There are still organisations out there (big and small) who simply haven't got with the program. Maybe they are scared, maybe they have been burnt in the past or maybe they just don't fully understand the potential. One thing is for sure, it's a brave new world out there in cyberspace (and the blogosphere of course) and just like the universe itself, it seems to only get b bigger.

We're asked about digital marketing opportunities so much, that we've put together a quick refresher list some of the best and most effective ways of getting the most from it.

1. Optimise your web pages for better performance and ranking by the three major search engines, Google, MSN and Yahoo (Also known as GYM). Remember to create a good balance between writing for a search engine and writing for a real person! Copywriting is a skill in it's own right and web copy writing is even more specialised. Persona Creative can do both and we can also teach you to do some of it yourself (but you need talk to us first of course).
2. Create a web gadget for the Windows Vista sidebar, or Internet Explorer 7. They have been around for a while, but with the arrival of Microsoft's new software, millions of people will be accessing them every time they start their computer or browse online. Do you want to be in front of them? Well then start thinking about web gadgets (or come and talk to us and we'll explain it all to you and give you some inspiration too).
3. Take advantage of online PR. For every credible trade publication, there are a hundred credible web sites and even more less credible ones. All are another avenue to post your publicity material to and also use to boost your search engine indexing. Remember that the people managing a professional web site are the same level of professional than in a printed magazine; treat the media with respect and as your friend (Luckily we're really good at building media networks for you and also getting your stories in front of the right people and places).
4. Providing an RSS Feed of your latest company/product/service news
   1. Customer version
   2. Media version
5. Creating business blogs for anybody who can add value to customers (along with an RSS feed of the posts of course). This could include:
   1. Management / Strategy
   2. Technical / Research
   3. Service / Delivery
6. Having a Podcast / Vodcast (Audio or Video Web Log) of musings, opinions, news and insights from your organisation.
7. Making your web site comply with UK laws and best practice guidelines
   1. Accessibility
   2. Data Protection and Privacy
   3. HTML and CSS development standards
8. Make your web site more interactive and not just an online version of your brochure. Let visitors contact you, find where you're based, manage their accounts and experience your brand values.
9. Create a new mini-web site that works on mobile devices (3G Phones, Blackberrys and Windows PDAs etc). Make the content useful on the move, rather than brochure-info.
10. Design, Develop and Deliver a high quality email newsletter on a regular basis
1. Comply with best practice standards
2. Don't spam people
3. Build a good data list (it takes time, so get on with it!)
4. Think about how it looks/reads on a mobile device (lots of us sync our mail to our phone now remember)
11. Produce some interactive and fun stuff to promote your brand values and get some word-of-mouse going (also known as online viral marketing).
    1. Games
    2. Video shorts
    3. Ad campaigns
12. Buy some advertising space on a web site that is popular with your customers, rather than taking our a printed advert in your local rag. Maybe even sponsor a section or their newsletter.
13. Do some pay-per-click search engine marketing (PPC SEM) and only buy keywords and links for your high-margin, niche products and services so you don't blow your money on wasted web traffic.
14. Do some online networking. Post your advice and expertise on popular forums and blogs and encourage traffic to visit you for more information. Remember to play nice and not abuse other peoples space (Online etiquette; or Netiquette).
15. Learn a bit of simple HTML. The whole web is based on it, you need it to manage / understand your web site and email campaigns and a little time spent picking up a new skill could save you a lot of money on simple tasks. If nothing else, you'll be able to work with your web designers to better understand the limitations and opportunities available to you.