A-propos

Know what you want before you ask for it

jane — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:22:14 +0000

How many times have you met someone at a party and, for want of any other small talk, asked them what they do for a living? Right, we all do it, it helps break the ice. But equally, how many times does your companion ramble on about doing this and that, and quite a few other things too, and when you probe a little further and ask who, in the main, are his clients or customers, says ‘Oh, just about everyone, really’.
Is this the way to engage your audience? Is this likely to lead to new or enhanced business? Absolutely not.
But it’s lamentable how many people, in a business or networking situation, answer in the same way as our waffling fellow guest. Given the usual 40 seconds or one minute to describe their business and what they have to offer the room, all too often someone gets up obviously having no clear idea of where his or her expertise lies, nor indeed whom they should be targetting.
This is where a skilled PR practitioner can help. We work with our clients to tease out their key messages; and then to identify the audience they most want to target. Then we use our journalistic skills to create and convey that message to the audience through carefully chosen contacts in appropriate media. It’s perhaps not surprising that when you know what you have, and who you want to tell about it, and have someone who knows HOW to convey the message, positive results will swiftly follow.

West London, a no-flyover zone

jane — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:01:22 +0000

The BBC have given up including in their traffic alerts the daily gridlock that now subsumes much of west London . Yet those of us living in the area (Chiswick in my case) have had our daily lives totally disrupted for several months now by the part closure of the A4 Hammersmith flyover.
Last week was half term and the roads were noticeably quieter, but traffic was still awful in Chiswick. This week, with many schools now back, I was literally unable to turn out of my road yesterday morning (car essential on that day) and it took twenty minutes to cover the first mile. Buses are backed up - drivers are even opening the doors between stops now to let passengers alight. It’s hell.
So what on earth do the Olympic idiots think is going to happen during “The Games”? (I swear if I hear that phrase too many more times someone or something is going to get broken). The lane on the flyover will still be closed - for those who live out of our glorious metropolis the A4 is one of the main arterial routes into and across London and connects with Heathrow airport - and then we have the prospect of the ‘Zil’ lane, further reducing road capacity. Really and truly, most people that I know in west London know better than to try to use their cars unless unavoidable. So the conclusion is that traffic on the road today is there because it needs to be. I cannot begin to imagine the chaos that will ensue once “The G****” have begun. There simply isn’t room to close another lane, restrict turnings off and on, and expect that somehow suburban high streets such as Chiswick High Road will cope. They won’t. Boris is coming to our neck of the woods for a meeting soon. Pity he wasn’t trying to ride his bike along the High Road this morning. It might have given him more perspective than meetings ever will, though I suspect his welcome which will be less than rapturous may give him a clue.

Networking part 3

jane — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:27:38 +0000

Just back from a hugely energetic room full of 4N networkers enjoying breakfast at One Kew Road, Richmond. So many people to talk to that I’m bound to go back to meet them properly next time. Have made a date to go to the Hammersmith meeting on Tuesday, too. That will make two ‘Full English’ in one week! Disaster for waistline and cholesterol but brilliant for the brain.

4Networking

jane — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:05:59 +0000

I’ve joined 4Networking which seems to have been a good move. Lots of different branches to visit for breakfast at the civilised hour of 8 a.m. Lots of different people to meet and my membership is already paying dividends. One important reminder from a fellow member today is to keep this website up to date! More next week.

Very off-topic. Gorgeous house available

jane — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:50:14 +0000

Not my usual sort of post, but please follow this link if you, or anyone you know, might be interested in buying a simply gorgeous house in south west France. It belongs to very good friends who would love to sell it to someone who relishes the peace and charm of this beautifully restored Maison Maitre. Fabulous pool and views to delight you. Click

http://www.bolton-by-bowland.com/sauboires.htm and you’ll see what I mean.

My 15 minutes’ of fame!

jane — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:59:38 +0000

If you’re a news junkie you can’t have missed me last week. BBC Radio London, BBC London News, Daily Telegraph and BBC Breakfast! What a cornucopia of media attention for a Chiswick marketing consultant.

The reason for this celebrity? The King’s Speech. Despite the spin put on Lionel Logue’s speech therapy for George VI in the movie, The King’s Speech, it turns out that perhaps his speech impediment was not as ‘cured’ as we are led to believe. Back in 1941 my father, then a lowly sound engineer at the BBC, was called on to edit out the fluffs and stutters in the King’s Christmas Day broadcast to the nation. Winston Churchill heard the live broadcast but passed a message down the line to get it ‘doctored’ before being broadcast to the Empire. Morale in Britian was low at the time and Mr Churchill was determined the King should sound a confident leader. My dad, then aged 19, was the person to whom the task of editing out all the pauses and stimbles fell. This little story, first published on our excellent local website, chiswickW4.com, caught the attention and imagination of the BBC, hence my few heady moments of fame.

I loved being on national TV and must just note that Charlie Stayt and Susanna Reid, the BBC Breakfast presenters last Saturday, are absolutely lovely. I had huge fun and only wish I had another story to tell.

Networking

jane — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:21:29 +0000

Some are avid networkers, others avoid it like the plague. I’m in between. But yesterday’s do at Sam’s Brasserie was definitely one of the better events I’ve attended. I met some genuinely interesting people with whom I think I can do business. Conversation was eased by the most exquisite canapes I’ve EVER had! Sam Harrison and his team run a great neighbourhood bar and brasserie and I’m lucky enough to have them right next door. Mulling this over later led me to realise how very important (for me, at least) is the location of one’s business premises. The great infrastructure that is Chiswick, and my quirky office in the Barley Mow Centre where I’m surrounded by people running all manner of small businesses, without doubt contribute to a positive frame of mind and a spring in my step on the walk to work each day.

Seville - an assault on the senses

jane — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:31:09 +0000

I’ve always been an Hispanophile, but nothing prepared me for the glory of Seville. I can’t imagine why I’ve never been there before, but I know I shall certainly go again.

If you’ve been to Seville, read no further. But if somehow, like me, you’ve missed it up until now, read on then book your flight.

The city is physically astounding - stunningly beautiful whichever way you turn. Despite being Spain’s fourth city, it has an intimate feel and is warm and welcoming. My visit was in March when the trees in the streets were laden with orange blossom - the fragrance was almost overwhelming. Everywhere there is music - students wandering round in groups performing impromptu flamenco on guitars; less well-heeled men playing joyous piano-accordian outside shops, bars and restaurants; and everywhere there’s talking, talking, talking.

Even in March (and before Semana Santa) the streets of the two main old city areas, Santa Cruz and La Macarena, are thronged with good natured revellers day and night. The city has a wonderful vibe and it’s one that you don’t really want to leave in order to go back to your hotel for the night. The food is wonderful and wine scarcely less so. Waiters are professional and friendly and greeted my stumbling Spanish with pleasure, rather than the sneer you might encounter in a tourist-stuffed town in the south of France, for example.

There’s so much to see and do that I won’t even attempt any highlights here - just get a good guide book (the Dorling Kindersley one is excellent) and GO!

Flower of Scotland, God Save the Queen!

jane — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:01:47 +0000

To Murrayfield on Saturday for the lacklustre England Scotland Calcutta Cup match. Despite a distinct lack of oomph on the pitch, Edinburgh itself was in very fine form. The sun shone without a break from early till late and I was happy to join the thousands of visitors wandering round this very fine city until it was time to repair to the pub for some pre-match socialising.

Popped into the National Gallery of Scotland which is probably the most delightful, small gallery I’ve ever been in to and was surprised and delighted to find Canova’s Three Graces there - surely one of the most beauiful sculptures of all time? Dotted around the wall were great examples of Rubens, Rembrandt and Raphael, to name but a few. What a treat! Out to Leith to take in the breataking view over the Forth from the Ocean Terminal - more eye candy.

A warm hand of applause for Scottish bus drivers who go out of their way to be helpful and informative. If one driver hadn’t told us that, on match days, the buses are diverted away from Murrayfield, we would certainly have missed our flight home and probably be there still.

One final, and very important thing, it’s clear that the Scots are an intensely nationalistic race. Apart from the fact that in every shop, gallery, bus and bar we visited we were served and greeted exclusively by Scots, as the hour for the match drew near it became apparent that national pride insists that all Scotsmen should wear the kilt. It was intensely heartening to see so many thousands of men of all ages proudly swinging their kilts as they walked around the city. From 10 year-olds playing the pipes outside the ground, through teenagers, young men and grandfathers, the city was askirl. Makes you think…..

A Family Affair

jane — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:06:56 +0000

Unless we’re very unlucky, we’re all more family-focussed at this time of year. Even if we’re merely reconnecting by sending a card, our extended families are in our thoughts. To a certain extendt the tradition of following one’s parents’ footsteps into the family business has disappeared, though it still gladdens my heart to see the legend ‘family butcher’ or ‘John Smith & Sons’ above a business premises. Family business can be great - or ghastly. We’ve all watched with horrid fascination the television series’ showing family businesses going terribly wrong, usually due to greed and incompetence.

But today I was very happy to visit, for only the second time, a family business which, from the customer’s point of view, has most certainly got it right. I hesitate to tell you its name in case it becomes so popular that I can’t get a table next time I want a first class meal in central London - but it’s the season of goodwill so I shall. Pattersons. Mill Street. London W.1. This family affair produces fabulous food accompanied by great service at sensible west end prices. What’s not to like? Today’s main course of smoked haddock on a bed of bubble and squeak with a properly poached egg coated with a delicately herbed hollandaise sauce was simply sublime.

Now, if all families could harness their talents to work together imagine what we could achieve .

Happy Christmas