Hello from Chaz and the Team
We are continuing to respond to the needs of businesses whose products and services are under increasing economic and market pressures to remain competitive, through our free PR helpsheets and PR & Marketing Twitter Tips and our extended range of PR and Marketing services which have now fully embraced Social Media as part of the promotional mix. We have also delivered Social Media Training Programmes to several businesses and will continue to meet your training needs in this area into 2012.
We are also increasingly undertaking comprehensive marketing audits for businesses as part of our strategy consultancy services. We’re all running around so fast these days, accessing email and working on the move that we need to stop and make sure we’re running in the right direction! We’ve developed our business consultancy package to help with just that; we undertake an audit of your business from an external objective point of view, and then not only help you to stay on track, but also to move forward in the right direction and hit your targets! We are pleased to be known as a ‘hands-on’ business partner and we’re always available to chat through any Business, PR and Marketing questions or queries that you have without you feeling under pressure. We know that decisions take time. We are very much looking forward to helping you get your running shoes on and above all ensuring that you are running in the right direction!
Wishing you all a very Happy Easter as well!
The Chazbrooks TeamWhat's New...
This is our first newsletter from our lovely new office on the High Street in Guildford. Eastgate Court is an elegant office centre next to the Royal Grammar School and a hub of business activity under the watchful eye of three sheep - in our courtyard there’s a statue of three sheep commissioned to pay tribute to the wool trade of Guildford in the Medieval and Tudor times. See the pic below...
We moved here just before Christmas and as always we have an open house policy when it comes to table football, freshly brewed coffee, warm croissants and a relaxed atmosphere. We’re keen to get some snapshots of Guildford blown up and framed on the walls, but the creative discussion is ongoing.
We’ve also officially launched our brand new website in the past month – lots of hard work behind the scenes! Please do come along and have a look, leave your messages and register for our fact sheets or top tips. Don’t forget to keep following us on Twitter and LinkedIn too for the latest news and top tips!
Your News...
This month we’re looking at some recent Local and National successes for our clients. Everyone loves a winner and we are proud to be working for some inspiring businesses who are being rewarded for their excellence across their technical prowess, business acumen, entrepreneurship and above all their contribution to social and local communities across the Nation.
The Toast of Surrey Award for Businesses with a turnover up to £5 million was won by Consult Hyperion, and Gibbs S3 has scooped the Fast Growth Business Award for Family Business of the Year as well as being shortlisted for the Precious Awards & Asian Woman of Achievement Awards. And in light of the Barclays research around Surrey’s start-up figures, the Surrey Research Park has had great online and radio coverage from both BBC Surrey and 96.4 The Eagle due to its Business Incubation centres, mentoring support companies and passion for local innovation and development.
We are also pleased to announce that Gloria and Sam from Consult Hyperion will be running the London Marathon this year in aid of children’s charity Coram. Please do donate to this worthy cause and contact us for further details...
Hot Industry Topics
Are you getting value from Social Media, or Social Media fatigue?
Social Media can be a real drain on time and resources if you don’t know how to utilise it effectively. Now you may be one of the many that have already dabbled with Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or others, and come to that conclusion yourselves. According to recent research, nearly a half of those surveyed (in the first wave of this year’s Social Media Benchmark from the Chartered Institute of Marketing) said that finding the time to properly manage the channels is a significant barrier to progress. What's clear is that there are many people out there asking themselves if they really have the skills and resources and can realistically afford the time needed get involved in Social Media as a business tool.
So what should you do and where should you start? If you’re in any doubt of how to use Social Media effectively as a consistent and effective marketing tool, it’s definitely worth getting some help. Why? Because you could be missing out on a lot of opportunities to communicate and listen to your customers and your competitors may have already created their presence on Social Media platforms themselves.
#PRClinic
The Do's and Don'ts of Internal Communications
In a fast moving market where technology and globalisation is driving things forward relentlessly, are you finding that it's hard to keep on top of everything? Running in the right direction begins with your team. This month's clinic looks at simple approaches to managing risk and uncertainty amongst your internal team in turbulent and competitive environments.
Here’s some Do’s and Don’ts from us on internal communications…
DO extend your marketing strategy to your team and think of your employees as being stakeholders with their own needs and expectations
DO review your appraisal systems to ensure that communication, participation and agreed ownership of goals are embedded into the process. If you can get the fit right between personal, team and company goals then this positively influences both motivation and performance
DO ensure that busy managers have the time and resources to interact with, lead and motivate staff and to help staff organise their own work
DON’T forget that changes will bring other changes with them! There is often no right answer but there are certainly better informed decisions that can be taken both in terms of how to communicate with your staff and how to support them. This can be acheived through a companywide focus on participative (aka democratic) leadership
DON’T stick rigidly to rules and regulations - go for a balance between control and flexibility, and for feeding back what has been learnt back into the planning process
DON’T forget that successful managers spend a lot of time networking, and this should be for external business networking as well as for internal socialising. Informal groups will spring up as an outlet for letting off steam if managers don't involve staff in important decisions that will affect them and their needs
If you would like to know more about how internal communications can benefit your business, please do get in touch. We offer a range of consultancy projects for companies looking to build internal awareness of business direction and change or maintain and improve staff morale. As work-life balance marketers, our credentials lie in our Investor in People status, and we are an award winning learning and development company. Please ask Olivia or Mandy for further details: oliviac@chazb.com or mandyb@chazb.com
