A quick recap on PR

Press & Public Relations activities, or PR for short, can play a key role in developing and enhancing the reputation of a business. 

Almost every enterprise that markets products and services to other businesses and end users can reach potential decision makers and influencers through the press, journals and web sites.  Carefully placed editorial material complements other marketing activities by providing a variety of positive stories and statements about the business, in a way that has the authority of apparently independent editorial comment.  In the long term, regular editorial will help raise awareness of the business, create a positive attitude towards the company and its products and generate enquiries. 

Advertising reaches a mass audience effectively, but works best when conveying a simple proposition designed to gain attention quickly and with maximum impact. PR can expand this message by use of news items, third party endorsement, or by longer articles that reinforce the message through explanation and applications of products and services. News can embrace product launches, important contract wins, personnel appointments, new technology developments, events and company results. Unlike a short-term advertising campaign, PR offers a long-term marketing tool that is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation and its public. 

When things go wrong, as they sometimes do, the public will be more tolerant of a 'well thought of’ business that communicates with them and is seen to put the problem right. The PR plan can seek to follow a theme that builds a particular view of the business, but is also flexible to react to tactical developments or unexpected events which can be handled quickly and positively at any time, and far more effectively and rapidly than with other promotional activities. 

In today’s quick consumption, time poor working environment, industry and company web sites and social media offer an alternative news delivery channel to traditional print. News headlines can be e-mailed to interested readers offering the opportunity to click a link to read more of stories that attract their attention or just tweeted. 

News is also one of the main reasons for return visits to a web site and a news publishing and archive system such as Technical Marketing Ltd’s Virtual News Office™ can be integrated with the web site. 

Advertising - what is it all about?

Aerial advertising

The term advertising is often confused with the whole marketing process itself. 

Our use of the word is confined to ‘paid for’ media space. In business-to-business communication this is mainly the trade press and portal web sites, but advertising media also embraces radio, cinema, television, bus sides and bill boards. 

Advertising has been described as the persuasive force that utilises mass communications to make changes in customer attitudes, behaviour and actions towards products and services in a direction favourable to the advertiser. 

Advertising is cost effective in reaching large groups of customers and potential customers with a shared defined profile, hence the proliferation of special interest and industry specific magazines that can deliver an audience relevant to the needs of the advertiser. Media selection must therefore seek to match your target audience and readership profiles. 

Advertising’s key aims are to progress the target audience through a series of stages by first turning possible unawareness of the product, into awareness, a comprehension of the proposition, a conviction that the product is both relevant and of benefit and finally a ‘call to action’ to convert the prospect into a potential customer. 

As individuals we are subjected to hundreds of advertising messages each day, so to arrest attention the advertisement has to stand out from the others. This may be by use of compelling images, headlines or a combination of both, that stops the browser just long enough to take in the proposition. The fly fishing analogy has been used to explain the process of first being seen and attracting attention, then swiftly driving the point home. Once ‘hooked’ a few telling words must explain the benefits of the proposition succinctly, then offer a ‘call to action’ where the prospect can find more detail. Today typically a web site, but the ‘call to action’ could be incentivised by the promise of a useful or attractive offer to enhance response rates. 

Advertising is a key marketing tool, to raise awareness, build brand recognition and communicate a simple or top-level message, but needs repetition to ensure that message is seen and acted upon. Other communication means such as PR and direct marketing will be called into play for a fully integrated campaign. 

How creative can mobile advertising be?

As the viewing platform preference  moves from desk top to mobile device, the concern of the new media owners is nobody clicks on the advertisements.

So who is expressing this concern? Well, according to the Technology section of the Daily Telegraph, "alongside Facebook and Intel now even Google, which runs the Android operating system driving the very growth of mobile phones said the difficulties of making money off advertising from smaller screens is a huge challenge." Despite this week's announcement of a £23 billion merger of Publicis and Omnicom to overtake WPP capitalised at £14.8 billion to create the world's biggest advertising agency, Google at £192 billion and Facebook at £54.7 billion still dominate.

Research meanwhile casts doubt on the effectiveness of search engine marketing advertising anyway and talks about it being "an ineffective marketing channel."  And it gets worse with experiments indicating a negative ROI  on much Internet advertising.

So why don't people click on the advertisements? Perhaps the simple answer is the lack of creativity - most are text only or text with an image - any old image for some - they are just not attracting attention. Advertising creatives working in traditional media know that you have to grab attention in an instant. Whether it is on a Google search result where most people know which are paid for and which are organic results, or the weird ads served on Facebook the thing is they all look much the same. They don't stand out from the crowd; they blend in. On mobile devices they just get smaller and less significant.

In traditional print media more familiar to b-2-b marketers, some advertisement positions are better than others in the book and space size an important factor, but to succeed all must have some compelling image or headline that grabs attention long enough for the reader to notice. It is the old fishing analogy - the brightly coloured fly is designed to attract attention, but then comes the hook. Having gained attention the advertisement should be crafted to rapidly progress the reader through the 5 stages from unawareness, awareness, comprehension and conviction to action. The 'call to action' is the response that 'hooks' the prospect. Its not what you get on Facebook and Google and the smaller the screen, the less impact, so is it much of a surprise prospects are manly not clicking on the advertisements?

Memories and tributes from Andy's friends

Andy Collier: photo by John Offord, etnow.com

Here are extracts from some of the emails  I have received following the early death of Andy Collier on 12th July.






RICHARD PILBROW
"I have to say that I was shattered. Andy was such a truly exceptional person. Seemingly always optimistic and positive and really a beacon for everybody around him. I was so pleased that he was able to make my birthday party last month in London.

And I suppose that reminds me what a terrible event it was. Andy was so young and full of life. He was always such a pleasure to meet and talk with. His encyclopedic knowledge and dedication toward lighting will be long missed. What a shock."

Richard Pilbrow
Founder & Chairman Emeritus
Theatre Projects Consultants



RICHARD BRETT 


We are all truly sorry and deeply saddened by Andy’s death last week.  Totally unexpected and shocking that it could happen to such a nice guy.  As you know Andy worked for us in Theatreplan and also for me with the Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conferences and he will also be sorely missed as a person – always helpful, cheering and prepared to go the whole way.


Richard Brett BSc CEng FIET FABTT
Partner, for and on behalf of
Theatreplan LLP

ROGER FOX

I cannot tell you  how sad I am to hear of Andy’s death.  A huge shock for all his friends and colleagues.

Kind regards

Roger

MARK JONATHAN

 It's devastating news and I'm very sad indeed. What a wonderful man he was. 

In sadness,
Marko

 FRANCIS REID

I just can’t get my head around the idea of a world without Andy. I was exchanging e-mails with him throughout his last week ... right up until the fatal Friday when he sent me an e-mail just before he got on the tube. The world desperately needs more Andys.

Sadly - Francis


MIKE WOOD

t's been hard to know what to say about Andy. The loss is just devastating. As many others have already said, Andy was always the jolliest, friendliest, most enthusiastic person you could hope to meet. Always a pleasure to be with him. I've known him since the Strand days in the 1970's and it's hard to think that I won't be greeted by his beaming smile at PLASA this year.

Mike 
Mike Wood Consulting LLC


STEVE NORMAN

On Friday at 9:30AM my time, which is 2:30PM your time, I’m going to go somewhere quiet and remember Andy. But I’ve been doing that constantly since his sudden death. I have been talking to several friends here in the states after the news, and we have all been remembering the great times we had working with Andy (and you) here – in NYC, LA, Vegas, Florida and beyond.  Everyone has so many special memories, and we will all miss Andy.

Best,
Steve

PETER WILLIS

I've still memories - but sadly no photos I don't think - of the very spartan office that was the early days of Teatro; of a "day" trip to the Leaning Tower of Pisa from Lake Garda, and of Bens' very first skiing lessons with Andy and Margaret somewhere near Innsbruck (?) one Christmas.  And of lighting Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (BROS) productions at Richmond Theatre and York House in Twickenham, or just popping in to Grosvenor Gardens for coffee and a chat.

And of course during the heady days of Strand's initial takeover/decimation by Marvin Altman in the late 1980's when the R&D and Specials department were closed, Andy was always there as a friend and sounding board for ideas on how to survive. Andy was always there as a friend and mentor, and always made you feel welcome. Nothing was ever too much trouble for him.

Peter


RICHARD FARTHING

I saw Andy just a couple of months ago, he walked over here from Barnes, we had a couple of pints at my local, then a good curry around the corner. I had been thinking of contacting Andy this week for another local drink. How sad, he is deeply missed.

best regards
Richard


RUSSELL DUNSIRE

It was good to speak with you though the circumstances are not. In hearing the devastating news on Saturday ... my thoughts were naturally of you as well as Andy’s family  given that you and he had such a long and close working relationship.

Kind Regards

Russell

Russell Dunsire
Managing Director
LSI Projects Ltd

ALAN LUXFORD

I have fond memories of Andy when he first started in 1974 as he was in specials and I gave him a lot of work. We also did a European sales tour together where we lost the brakes of the van going down a mountain in Switzerland. We survived just.

Best Alan

ANNE VALENTINO

Good to hear from you - although I am sorry it is with such sad news.  I just saw Andy last month at ABTT.... such a shock.   And I had already heard about this via Facebook.   

a


RICHARD BUNTING

Some of the happiest times I’ve had in my career was with you, Andy, Ed, etc in the all too short marketing heyday at Strand. He was one of the true gentlemen of our business, who knew everyone, and was liked by all those who met him. I, like so many who have responded, are stunned by what has happened, and will miss him an awful lot.


Best Regards,

Richard Bunting


ANNE MINORS

At sometime in the mid - late 1980's, when we were both learning the ropes at TPC, David Taylor introduced me to Andy as 'a really good, helpful and imaginative lighting representative as well as a really nice person.' In the intervening 25 years I have been continually reminded of that definition whatever the role that Andy undertook to support the theatre industry. With David and now Andy's untimely death, it feels as though a generation is disappearing too young, but not before making a lifetime's contribution to the theatre world.


With sympathy
Anne Minors

CLIVE CARTEY

May I say how deeply I appreciated you taking the time amidst your own grief to talk to me this morning. I sincerely offer you my help and support with Technical Marketing Ltd in this very difficult time.

Kind regards

Clive

SILVIO CIBIEN
What  sad news! At 13.01 on Friday Andy sent us the picture of his beautiful day out at Goodwood ... at least a nice last day ...

With my best regards
Silvio Cibien
 ANIMA Lighting Ltd

GARETH FRY

So sorry to hear about this. My consolations to you and his family. 

Kind regards,

Gareth Fry
Sound Designer 

KEN BENNETT-HUNTER

My deepest sympathy to you and to his family.

With very best wishes,

Ken

MARK HARRISON

A terrible shock. I'm still struggling to come to terms with it all.

Best

Mark.

Huge Design

JOHN HASTIE

That is very sad news indeed – someone I’ve known for as long as I’ve been in the industry.

John

JOHN OFFORD

 I'm working on getting together a double page spread possibly entitled "Remembering Andy Collier" for the August issue of the magazine, using as many pictures as I can find from the ET archive - most of them with a smile on his face. What do you think? 

In  much sadness - it will take some time to sink in properly. 

All best 
John 

KARI SEWELL

We're terribly sorry to hear this tragic news. Andy has been a pleasure to work with and will be sorely missed. 

Our sincere condolences. 

Kari Sewell
Managing Director
Realnet Ltd

KEN SEWELL

It's dreadful news.  He was a lovely fellow. 

All the best 
Ken 

JULIE HARPER

 I was very sorry to hear the sad news about Andy. and feel very much for his family and for you his friend. It must be very difficult. Andy was such a great person and the shock must be very hard - it just doesn't seem possible, or right.

.

With my best regards,

Julie.

Julie Harper 
PR & Marketing Consultant

ANDREW DIXON - STLD

Very many thanks in sadness to have lost such a great person and friend.

Andy Collier's funeral - please let us know if you are attending

We have been overwhelmed by the response from so many people to the news of Andy's recent untimely death and expect a large attendance at Friday's Humanist Funeral in Barnes.

To help the family have some idea of numbers we would ask you to respond using this link to  Eventbrite. 

Your co-operation is appreciated.

Andy Collier .. funeral arrangements announced

Wathen Hall

Arrangements for a Humanist funeral ceremony celebrating the life of Andy Collier have just been announced. The event will take place at 2.30 pm on Friday 26th July in the Wathen Hall at St Paul's School in Barnes, SW London.



Since Andy's passing last Friday aftrernoon (12th July) we have been overwhelmed by the tributes and appreciation received from so many friends throughout the theatrical and lighting communities. All the major industry web sites carry his obituary. Links are provided below.

 

Final details are still being planned but are expected to include contributions from family members and work colleagues and will feature music that Andy particuarly enjoyed. Guests are asked to dress "smart but cheerful", as we remember the happiness that Andy brought into the life of everyone he knew. Andy's family have requested that in lieu of flowers, donations to one of the following three charities that were dear to him would be greatly appreciated: 



• Light Relief (a charity formed to practical support and/or financial help for lighting designers in times of extreme hardship.

• The Friends of Richmond Park, a charity dedicated to the conservation and protection of the park.

• Alzheimer's Society (by cheque with a covering letter specifying 'Singing for the Brain, East Hertfordshire'). 

Donations by cheque should be sent to T.H.Sanders & Sons, 447 Upper Richmond Road West, East Sheen, London SW14 7PR.



Venue: Wathen Hall. 


Date & Time: 2.30pm, Friday 26th July


Information updates; 

www.technicalmarketing.eu.

Technical Marketing Diary.
or follow on Twitter @technicalmarket 



Obituaries are hosted on various sites, including:- 


Association of Lighting Directors.


Association of British Theatre Technicians


etnow.com.


LSI Online


L & S America Online



As information about arrangements become available they will appear on the Technical Marketing web site, the blog and Twitter.



Andy Collier .. an update

Andy (left) & Margaret Collier with David & Carolyn Brooks; Grenoble 2005.

On Sunday I  posted the sad news that Andy had died of a heart attack on  Friday afternoon.  He was at Leicester Square station on the London Underground on his way to a meeting of  the Association of Lighting Directors. It was typical of Andy that on a fine sunny evening, instead of packing up for the weekend he was involved with something he really loved and contributing freely of his time to produce the Association's magazine - Focus - described by ALD President (the highly respected lighting designer Richard Pilbrow) as "the best lighting design magazine in the world!" The comments by other officers of the Association testify to the high regard in which Andy was held, by everyone his life touched.

Roger Fox moved swiftly to publish as an Obituary Andy's profile on the Association of British Theatre Technicians' web site. Based on Andy's (as ever self-effacing) autobiographical sketch, as originally published in the Profiles series by Entertainment Technology Press in 2000 it 'tongue in cheek' records Andy's career and great love of everything theatrical.

I  have yesterday and today been contacting Andy's clients and friends. With Andy, clients tended to be friends as well - he was just that sort of person. All were saddened by Andy's death and many have offered help and support to our business. For this I  am deeply grateful. 

As information about arrangements become available they will appear on the Technical Marketing web site, the blog and Twitter.

David

ANDY COLLIER

Andy Collier

It is with deep regret that I have to announce the death of my business partner, friend and fellow director, Andy Collier on Friday 12th July.

Andy was well known in the theatrical lighting and entertainment technology community and I am sure his many friends will join me in sending our deepest sympathies to his wife Margaret and son Ben.    

David  Brooks


Further information will be posted in due course.

Avoid the shopping list approach to marketing

Just because there are many marketing techniques you don't have to use them all.

There are plenty of marketing communications methods involving both online and offline techniques, but because they exist it doesn't mean you have to use them all. It is what we term the 'shopping list' approach to marketing. Draw up a comprehensive list - advertising, mailing, exhibitions, PR, product literature, web site, emailing, social media etc etc - then buy the individual services at the lowest price, ticking each off the list in turn until the shopping, or in this case the marketing is done. That's it. Or is it?

Two big issues - stretching the budget and going for the lowest price supplier is one and using irrelevant communications channels is another. Would you feel comfortable flying in a plane where all the components were supplied by the lowest priced vendor? Would you feel comfortable if your doctor prescribed every drug stocked in the pharmacy in the hope that one of them would cure your illness? Of course not. You go to the doctor because of his medical knowledge, his ability to diagnose your complaint and then select the most effective treatment. So why should marketing be different?

Surely it makes more sense to talk to a specialist, to analyse your market, your positioning, reputation and awareness, then recommend the most effective marketing communications programme relevant to your company's identified needs. What's more to ensure the marketing strategy is informed by business goals, is designed to deliver the results you want and is implemented as an integrated programme of relevant marketing campaigns.

So, time to tear up the shopping list, get informed advice and maximise the marketing investment.

Design briefs - where it goes wrong

Here is an interesting video that has a message on the matter of briefing an agency.

Is your service support aligned to your marketing positioning?

For buyers of capital goods and other high ticket items purchased with a long time interval between replacements, your service team may be the customer's main contact with their business? Are they effective in maintaining awareness of your brand and building loyalty when the time for replacement comes round? Are the service team in the loop so they are aware of the 'keep in touch' marketing communications the customer should receive and do they portray the same brand values?

An interesting example this week was how Honda approached the annual service of my car. I was called on my mobile phone to remind me the first annual service was due and given the options of waiting while the vehicle was serviced, dropped off and collected later, or collected from home and returned at no cost. I opted for the free collection and return. As arranged a driver called to collect the car. He was clearly from the Honda dealer as his crisp white shirt had a discretely embroidered logo in red, he carried a clip board with the job details, cheerfully explained what was being done and off he went. A few hour later the service manager called, explained what service had been carried out, condition of of brakes, tyres and vehicle in general which would all be covered in a printed report. Your car is just being cleaned inside and out and will be back with you in 30 minutes. Twenty five minutes later it was parked in the same spot it had been collected from by the same driver who gave me the promised documents and that was it. Next day I  received a call to ask if I was satisfied with the service - I was very impressed.

Unfortunately few other companies get anywhere near this level of service, they hide contact details on their web sites, are hard to contact at all, off shore call centres and oddly enough tend to be service suppliers like telecoms, energy or airlines. But the lemon of the week has to go to HMRC and their undisguised hostility towards their customers - but that is another story.

Thinking about the business model and micro businesses

Understanding the business model and the objectives set by a company's owners are essential to get marketing on target.

In my view, understanding the business model is very important because if this lacks clarity (in short figuring out how are they making money out of the business), the chances are their customers may not get it either and guess what you will discover they won't actually be making money. For example, back in the so called "dot com boom" or bubble in the late 1990s, investors were pouring funds into  start up Internet businesses. They in turn were spending it - 'cash burn' was a phrase commonly used. Some of it went on paying programmers to write code day and night, some on expensive advertising campaigns and most just squandered. We had via an American contact been introduced to one such start up. The briefing meeting was taking place in the entrepreneur's apartment in London's Knightsbridge - probably rented with investors' cash. He was in a great rushing, hinting of dashing off any minute on a mission to Paris to buy yet another ailing dot com business to add to the portfolio. Meantime, a woman in a dressing gown mysteriously wandered in and out of the room. It seemed buying other fledgling and ailing Internet start ups had become  their main activity since the injection of investor funds. All questions aimed at understanding what their real business was about was directed to the IPO prospectus which boasted some impressive business and political names as directors and also carried the financial equivalent of a health warning. In short the merchant bankers had failed to come up with anything tangible to explain the business model. A subsequent trawl of investor comments quickly revealed stock had nose dived and they felt tricked. As an advertising agency used to dealing with challenges it was apparent there was no business plan, no vision and worryingly no customers either. We declined the invitation to bid for their account. Shortly after the business had burnt the investors cash and went the way of many others.

Out of that era however emerged businesses that used the Internet not as a novelty to appeal to investors who unwisely thought it to be a cash generator, but as a means of reducing operating costs in running businesses founded on a sound business model. This trend appears to have accelerated since the credit crunch of 2008 as the unemployed started what are being termed "micro businesses". According to Management Today "In 1971 there were 820,000 firms with fewer than 9 employees in the UK. Now there are a record 4.8 million." It goes on to say "These small companies account for 32% of private sector employment (7.8 million) and 20% of private sector turnover." Of these 4.8 million, a massive 3.6 million are sole traders.

I am reminded of a business school lecturer who advocated what back in those early 1970's when most of us still worked for big corporations  was then a very radical idea of not to employ any staff. As anyone who manages staff will know, once employee numbers reach about 9 oddly enough, they tend to take up all of your time. Something the entrepreneur is probably not trained to do, is  any good at and anyway is a major distraction from converting his vision into profitable business. The statistics of micro businesses tend to bear this out. Interestingly in another article, Management Today says that some global Internet names are not that much bigger with Wikipedia employing 65, Pinterest under 50 and Reddit just 12. As the work place changes, so a more flexible and mobile work force is emerging allowing companies to utilise external specialists without employing them and the burden of related legislation and overheads that accompanies it.

Technical Marketing Ltd has been in the vanguard of this trend, with our own skill sets augmented by those of other specialists as required, working on the Internet without the overhead of expensive premises and regarded very much as part of the business team by our clients. By outsourcing marketing expertise  these new expanding micro companies can grow turnover and profit without adding overhead of staff, buildings to house them and all the baggage of HR headaches they bring with them. You know it's worth thinking about.

Does the company blog replace the press release?

Although company blogs have become a news channel in their own right, they are not a substitute for a press release.

Press releases are written for the press, providing the basic information about a company news announcement for journalists to develop into a story, written in a style that will be of interest to the readership of the publication. The reality is that few company pronouncements are actually that newsworthy to prompt a journalist, or in the case of many trade journals, the editor, to call up and get more information. Some editors in the industrial sector now seem to edit more than one title and the only other staffers are not journalists, but advertising salesmen selling traditional display and classified space, but also editorial space. Not all publications do this, the better quality titles keep editorial decisions away from advertising influence. What tends to happen is that the press release, if the word count is within the required range, may be re-titled, or edited for length, but otherwise published as received.

Before blogs came the news aggregator web sites that unlike the print based titles who published perhaps as little as 1 in 20 press releases received, published everything. Some industry specific news aggregators may take a swift editorial review to tidy up copy, but some others are happy to publish news just as it comes in. The news aggregating sites were of interest to companies on several counts. Not only was their investment in PR rewarded by publication rather than rejection into the editorial trash can, but the sites did well on search results and links helped company web site ranking and to attract visitors. In short they had SEO value. The company blog was the next step, with the PR content published there too. But all this may actually now be working against high rankings as this recent article explains, "Why your press releases are getting you penalised." As more and more company web sites have turned to standard  development packages and CMS -- the wide landscape rotating image set at the top being a common distinguishing feature - there is often a "news" module in the kit. This is more of a blog module than a press resource, which in turn raises the question of what resources is the press looking for?

Research conducted some 10 years or more ago indicated even then 90% of journalists researching a company turn first of all to the company web site to discover what the business says about itself.  A background document that explains the company's business, introduces the important company officers, gives financials, brief history and key performance data, helps set the scene and save journalists a lot of time. What else might they expect to find there? Well current press releases with downloadable and captioned high resolution images and contact details for the press officer or PR agency. Perhaps too, searchable news archives to quickly find reference to related stories that help build up the full picture and how about an image library with hi-res and web ready images. For the company press officer other features would be great, such as automatic creation of an html press release ready to email out, news feeds such as RSS and news tickers that can be put on the home page, or other web sites and linking to the full story. The Virtual News Office offers all these features as a service to busy marketing and PR  professionals - it does a lot more than a blog!

Is digital publication the only future?

A rallying call for print and falling stock price for Facebook hints that the digital only future has not yet arrived.

Despite advocates regularly predicting the demise of print in an all digital world, with a few centuries of experience print has established some well entrenched business models.  Readers understand the concept of buying a publication and value the content. Publishers control the process including the quality of the final product and marketing issues such as 'cover appeal'. Digital meanwhile dabbles with a number of business models delivered through a medium where there is an expectation that content is free. Just as confusing is the  platform on which content will be read. Is it on a desk top computer, a smart phone or tablet? And even which way round will it be read - vertical or landscape. Some publishers have merely set up the publication for print and brought it to the screen using page turning software. Others have made greater use of the digital medium such as incorporating video, but still produce using software tools designed primarily for print. Few yet have abandoned the set constraints of a magazine size and layout and designed only as a digital publication.

So where does all this leave the marketing manager with regard to advertising and which media, format and platform to use? Talking to an advertisement manager of a technical publication earlier this week there was news of larger companies actually booking larger campaigns in the printed media. At the same time print industry journal PrintWeek reports that Barry Hibbert boss of mega print firm Polestar,  issued a rallying call to customers to invest in "the golden nugget of printing". Interestingly Polestar back this up with sales growth, investment in new print plant and success in securing long term print contracts.

Meanwhile over at Facebook falling stock values, about 40% off the IPO valuation, and a claim teenagers are getting tired of the social network, the hope is now focussing more on mobile. Unlike print which can command both a cover price and an advertising income stream, social media needs the advertising revenue. Although the prospect of reaching very carefully targeted individuals is appealing, real sales leads from Facebook, especially in the b-2-b markets are not something you hear about.

Although the company web site remains the first place to go, our research suggests that when customers type a search term into  Google it is more commonly for the brand that they already know than actually searching for a generic product to discover vendors. Business buyers it seems already have favourite destination sites, using search is just a quick way of getting there.

What does your email signature say about your company?

Does the email signature dominate the message content and create a negative impression of your company?

We have been using email as a communication media since the very early days and still find it probably the most useful messaging tool. In those pioneering times when only pockets of users were connected, in the company I worked then, only Marketing and R & D departments in London and Los Angeles were linked, but it revolutionised our working practice. At that time messages were much more casually written and more friendly, even amusing it seems in retrospect in a time before the legal boys wised up and started adding disclaimers. We didn't really expect the content to be formal as would be the case for official letters which then were still being dictated to an army of secretaries to transcribe. People were now writing their own content complete with spelling errors and absence of punctuation. But know what - we didn't care. Not only did we get the information we needed quickly, but we tuned in to the personality of the individuals and it did a whole lot of good for collaborative working for people in different locations and time zones. And once we had dealt with the message it was trashed along with any record of political incorrectness or corporate transgressions.

But once the wider business community embraced emails the geeky stuff got replaced by formal content and the signature kind of became excessively loaded with dire legal warnings. The emails didn't go in the trash can any more, they were filed for all time and instead of speaking to the guy at the next desk an email with appropriate audit trail is sent. Forwarded emails are worse because each time it is sent another great load of signature stuff gets stuck in between. Of course there are still some folks that haven't figured out it is customisable and leave in the default - 'sent from my iPad' - promoting Apple rather than their own company. Personally I favour sticking to contact details plus maybe a tagline or reference to a current promotion or exhibition the company is at - but short and to the point. I find the 'do you need to print this?' message a bit patronising, but nothing is as bad as the full legal sign off. I will conclude with this example - say no more. Names and addresses are removed to protect the creators.

"Thank you, for contacting our Enquiries Team at XXX College.

We hope to process your enquiry and where appropriate respond to your request within the next 48 hours.

Kind Regards

The Enquiries Team

This message may contain confidential information and is intended only
for the individual(s) named. If you are not the named addressee youshould not disseminate, distribute, print or copy this e-mail. Pleasenotify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mailby mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmissioncannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could beintercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, orcontain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for anyerrors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as aresult of e-mail transmission. Please note that any views or opinionspresented in this email are solely those of the author and do notnecessarily represent those of XXX. Finally, the recipient should checkthis email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. Althoughthis email and its attachments are believed to be free of any virus orother defects which might affect any computer or IT system into whichthey are received, no responsibility is accepted by XXX or any of itsassociated companies for any loss or damage arising in any way from thereceipt or use thereof.

XXX is the trading name of XXX College Corporation incorporatedunder the Further and Higher Education Act for the provision ofeducation to students, whose trading divisions are XXX College andYYY College and whose registered office is at ................................

XXX works nationally to meet diverse education and training needs inpartnership with its subsidiary companies:
The AAA Group Limited is a private limited company registered inEngland and Wales with registration number 0000000 whose registeredoffice is at ..................................
BBB is: a company limited by guarantee with registrationnumber 0000000; a charity registered in England and Wales withregistration number 00000; a charity registered in Scotland withregistration number 000000. The registered office of ....................................