We’re moving. We didn’t say it was exciting news, just news ;)

Villa Parade’s current social media competition is the hottest travel topic on the web – you could say it’s so social the entire travel community is tweeting or posting about it – and for good reason.

Our client, Villa Parade – the UK’s third largest villa holiday company is giving away a one week villa holiday through the wonderful people at Traveldudes.

So, why not get involved and join in. Visit: http://villaparadeblog.com for more details.

Good luck!

You spend years learning your trade: public relations, marketing and advertising; then you spend even more time applying your craft – refining your skills and ideas to achieve campaign perfection.

But, when walking down the street, travelling on the bus or a train, or driving along in your car, you, like everyone else can’t help but be attracted by a bunch of brightly coloured balloons hanging outside a shop door.

The balloon effect – simple but always effective!

Only seems like yesterday I was working out the agency’s strategy – hoping to get through the rest of 2011, and now I’m sat here (at my desk) on 6 January trying to distract myself from work while eating lunch – which in itself can be a challenge. 

So how has the start of 2012 been for you? Did you get back into work easily and with enthusiasm, or did it take a little time to get back into the swing of things?

From my perspective it’s been a little hard getting stuck back in to work after having a some time off – although, saying that, I don’t think people really switch off from work anymore – I know I don’t; always checking my emails and tweets, or thinking about new campaign ideas and looking at various solutions for new business initiatives. 

I know, or I should say I hope 2012 will be a good year for business – God knows UK businesses could do with a rest bite after 2011. I personally think 2012 could be as tough or maybe, possibly a little easier than 2011 – think positive!

To support …talktojason in 2012 we will seek to continue expanding with new client wins (again, thinking positive); look to widen our service offering to include new vertical services. We will also look to build on our overall service delivery.

As with other industry sectors, we need to continue thinking more creatively in the way we develop our business and deliver our services. Of course it helps that …talktojason is built on three core values: creativity, passion and accountability.

We also need to develop our existing partnerships in order to seek out and attract larger account opportunities. 

As with all UK industry sectors, the creative industry is facing a tough challenge ahead. We must all learn to adapt, be more flexible and proactive in our day-to-day processes. You only have to look at the larger brands, which until only a couple of years ago were dominating the high street, but are now, or have already fallen because of complacency and a failure to change the way in which they engage with the consumer. Yes I know, nothing is that black and white – there are grey areas too!

One point that needs making is that the philosophy of business-to-business communications and marketing has changed. Everyone is a consumer now and should therefore be treated as such. The obligation for the business-to-business community to understand, accept and implement a process of change to meet their obligation to their stakeholders, which also includes their customers (brand influencers) has never been greater. 

Like any good communications practitioner will tell you the hardest part of this process is not introducing new ways of thinking to accommodate this need for change, but it’s getting some business leaders to accept that they have no choice – if they don’t change then they risk becoming another casualty of the forever changing consumer world – a world in which the consumer is king and we are merely the court jesters looking to grab their attention in order to show them what we’ve got and why they should continuing buying into our offering and those of our clients.

There is one thing for sure 2012 is going to be as interesting as it will be challenging, but hey, bring it on ;) 

Here’s to a great 2012 ;)

Up until April 2011 I had a pretty good gig working for a small PR agency, but of course like most good things, this came to an end. It was on occasion a frustrating period in my career, but ultimately, I met some nice people – even learnt a little bit, too.

Following this, (May) I decided daytime TV wasn’t for me and after a little contemplation decided I would go it alone. So after a lot of luck, and the confidence shown by a new client I launched: …talktojason – the pr agency.

The agency’s client portfolio has gone from one to four in only six months and already there is additional client business agreed to start in February – fingers crossed.

The success of …talktojason – the pr agency is down to three core values: Creativity. Passion. Accountability.

The first (creativity), the value to deliver creative PR solutions to meet client objectives; the second (passion), is to achieve my dream of building a public relations agency and make it work – several attempts later;) and thirdly (accountability), to build a reputation of meeting client objectives and delivering some really brilliant campaigns that add value and support the agency’s client base.

Of course I’m not boasting – you can never tell what the future holds and a lot of luck and the confidence of some brilliant people have also played a major part. But I’m hoping it will allow …talktojason to grow and become one of the UK’s biggest PR firms – of course that could be just a dream, but if you don’t try you will never succeed.

I do hope though that 2012 proves to be even better than 2011 – God knows UK businesses could all do with a break after the past couple years!

So 2011 for me has been incredibly stressful and challenging, but it has also been rewarding. Redundancy plus four children…and four cats can be both motivational and inspirational! Who knows, 2012 could either prove even better, or worse – lets hope the former:)

So here’s to 2012 – please be kind.

But then I thought: ‘why?’

I don’t wish to sound egotistic or arrogant, but …talktojason – the pr agency isn’t a charity, nor a not-for-profit organisation commissioned by the Government to support businesses. No, …talktojason is a new commercial enterprise looking to sell its specialist public relations services – not give them away.

This got us to thinking: ‘why do other firms do this? Are we missing a trick – is this called pimping your talent to attract potential clients?

To be honest most firms know basic PR tips; most also know how to use social media and how to incorporate it into their daily business activity – the reason they commission PR agencies to support their business offering is for two key reasons: ‘Creative resource’ and ‘skill base’.

This then led us to another view: those who blog hints and tips to businesses, are they just showing off? No, couldn’t be that, so they must generally want to help by sharing their knowledge and ability – fair enough.

If this is the case then it’s only fair that we do the same, but in a more commercially minded (results focused) way, which helps the reader and …talktojason. So, here we go, here is our piece of wisdom to help businesses understand how powerful public relations can be:

“If you want to grow your organisation, protect its brand identity – communicate its brand values then you should commission a public relations agency which delivers creativity and accountability.

“These types of agencies will bring solutions built on ‘practical creativity’ designed to support your business.”

There, not only a great tip, but also a great hint as to why your business should …talktojason – the pr agency.

Oh and here are some other useful tips to remember:

1, You don’t always need a Facebook account

2, Social media doesn’t always mean using Facebook or Twitter, or even LinkedIn

3, Traditional PR activity, like digital PR is also a great SEO tool

4, Your message plus your objective equals the appropriate communications channel – not the other way around.

5, ‘PR’ doesn’t stand for ‘press release’

6, Great journalists don’t always make great PR people!

7, Great PR people don’t always make great journalists!

8, Traditional PR and digital PR – including social media platforms all get on (people didn’t stop listening to the radio when they got a telly!)

9, Honesty, openness and clear understanding from the beginning is always the best policy

10, If you’re looking for creative public relations across traditional, digital and social media channels …talktojason – the pr agency

We wanted something that reflects our mix of traditional and digital service offering, and which also reflected our fun (always professional of course;) approach to client work. So, what do you think – like it?