Bananagrams hires UK PR

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BananagramsLogo

I am thrilled to announce that Bananagrams®, Inc., the creators of BANANAGRAMS®, the award-winning anagram tile game named Toy Fair 2009 “Game of the Year,” has chosen LS Media to handle its entire PR function in the UK, with immediate effect.

I’ll be handling publicity for all five games in the Bananagrams family – including Zip-It, Fruitominoes, Appletters and PAIRSinPEARS – working on campaigns encompassing print and broadcast media relations, celebrity endorsement, blogger outreach, social media and much, much more.

This is a hugely exciting development for me and further reinforces my ethos of working with brands I can truly get passionate about. The games have been invented by three generations of the Nathanson family and are underpinned by a heritage which actively promotes family interaction through playing games together, a value I share.

For more information about Bananagrams and how your family can enjoy them, visit Bananagrams.

 

 

Bloggers blagging freebies – my tuppence worth

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I, like many PRs, subscribe to a service called Response Source. In a nutshell, the system enables journalists, TV and radio producers, freelance writers and bloggers to contact subscribing PR consultants directly with requests for information – anything from real life case studies and expert opinion, to competition prizes and review products.

I’ve been a subscriber since my days at Consolidated PR and I find Response Source essential for the vast majority of my clients. In the past year or so, the blogging community has increasingly used the system to request review products. I have absolutely nothing against this: we’ve all been embracing the fact that good coverage extends far beyond just the papers and mags for years now, so it should be no surprise that bloggers are actively sourcing products to review on their sites. In my mind, it’s no different to a journalist calling me for a review copy of a book or DVD.

As the volume of review product requests rises, so does the cynicism amongst my colleagues in the PR world and I am guilty of the occasional eye-roll as I read another email asking for free stuff. There has been a lot of chatter on the web about this today after another PR sent out a spoof Response Source enquiry, but some of the fall-out from that made me feel a little uneasy about how relationships between PRs and bloggers are being managed on both sides.

Speaking from my own experience, I feel I’ve always had good relationships with the bloggers I’ve engaged for client campaigns. I put this down to spending time finding out who writes about what, how they might be influential to my target market and thinking creatively about how best to approach them (or “sorting the wheat from the chaff”, as it were). Erm, much the same as how I work with ‘traditional’ media and journalists then?

I think what jarred with me most today was the sweeping generalisation that bloggers have poor writing skills, only want free stuff and won’t deliver the promised review or will deliver it badly. A good PR will identify a good blogger, surely? I wouldn’t ask my client to part with their product if I didn’t truly believe that we would get a review out of the exercise – in the same way that I wouldn’t send a travel journalist on a press trip without confirmation of a fully-credited feature for my client at the end of it. In my mind, that’s just common sense and good practice. And the bloggers I’ve worked with in the past have all delivered. Yes, some took a little chasing, but then again, don’t we PRs have to spend hours calling journalists to follow-up on our press releases and pitches too?

I have devised and implemented blogger-outreach campaigns for a number of clients including gadget website ParamountZone.com, children’s communication charity I CAN and maternity brand Sporty Bump and know for a fact that the truthful, frank product reviews from bloggers have increased traffic to the product website and ultimately resulted in increased sales. In turn, the bloggers have been provided with a catalyst to decent content for their site, helping drive traffic and increase readership. A good result all-round then I’d say.

Comments welcome…

Background reading: Daryl Willcox’s blog post on today’s spoof Response Source enquiry

LS Media’s lawyer & client scoops Mumpreneur Award

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Suzanne Dibble

Dragons’ Den veteran Duncan Bannatyne was among the judges who voted business lawyer Suzanne Dibble’s venture Lawyers4Mumpreneurs a winner at the national Mumpreneur Awards ceremony on Sunday 25 September 2011.

The accolade recognises Suzanne’s growing practice for the outstanding support it provides to smaller, family-run businesses, since launching in 2010. The only law firm in the UK to do so, Lawyers4Mumpreneurs focuses solely on mumpreneurs’ needs in setting up and growing their businesses, offering friendly, cost effective, jargon-free business law advice. Suzanne spotted her opportunity in a market where many small businesses need legal help with protecting their business and growing it. Mumpreneur clients have kept her busy ever since, seeking and receiving high calibre advice and support on such matters as brand and data protection, advertising compliance, limitation of liability, franchising, licensing, contracts, distribution and investment agreements.

Commenting on the win, Suzanne says, “I’m delighted to be recognised at the Mumpreneur Awards, because the organisation really does stand for everything my clients are and hope to be, approaching business success in the same way as I do. With a high calibre and entrepreneurial judging panel including Duncan Bannatyne making the final decision, I feel it’s a tremendous accolade, which inspires me to do even more for the mumpreneur community and in support of my current and future clients.”

Lawyers4Mumpreneurs is unique in focusing specifically on mumpreneur businesses. Using primarily social media, Suzanne has established the practice’s reputation in the sector and grown her business from nothing to over 70 clients in less than two years, working part time around her now 14 month old baby and being available when it suits her clients. Growth this year has been largely fuelled by recommendations from scores of delighted clients. She has recently taken on two colleagues and plans to expand her staff to ten within five years, to meet the demand for flexible and user-friendly legal advice and services.

With 14 years of corporate law experience behind her, at DLA Piper LLP, Virgin, ITV Plc and on the main board of property firm Hamptons International, Suzanne’s professional excellence is assured. In her own practice she makes this expertise accessible to business mums, turning the potentially daunting experience of hiring a lawyer into an easy, pleasant and constructive one. She explains: “My clients love the fact that I am one of them, speak their language and explain things without legal jargon. I am passionate about helping their businesses grow and have structured what I do specifically to address their needs, offering a completely flexible service.”

Suzanne’s blend of experience means that she is a trusted advisor to her clients on both commercial and legal matters. Her input is so valued by some clients that they have asked her to join their boards of directors.

Sam Willoughby, multi-award-winning founder of parenting e-business What’s on 4 Limited, sums up the value of Lawyers4Mumpreneurs:  “Suzanne’s involvement in our franchising has made all the difference to us making it happen.  She took the time to understand the business and asked lots of questions to ensure we had considered every business and legal aspect of franchising.  She really understood the pressures of a small business and particularly the juggle of being a parent running a small business.  She delivered as promised, responded very quickly to emails, didn’t confuse us with legal jargon and was very fair and clear with the costs.  After four years and three other solicitors, I have finally found one I can recommend and that I will use again.”

For further information about the services provided by Suzanne Dibble, recent blog posts, testimonials, awards and accreditations, please visit www.lawyers4mumpreneurs.com.

 

James Caan praises LS Media’s client, Talk to the Press

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Natasha Courtenay-Smith

My client, Natasha Courtenay-Smith, has been praised this week by former ‘Dragon’ James Caan. He comments, “To the lay person who has no idea how to get their story published, I can imagine finding Natasha would be a relief to a lot of people. I like the conscientiousness and due diligence here.”

Earlier this year, Talk to the Press director Natasha was selected to attend James Caan’s business academy, The EBA, in which she is guided by his team of business experts and mentors as Talk to the Press grows and develops.

The EBA’s managing director and serial entrepreneur Bev James adds: “Natasha is playing to her strengths, skills and passion and it’s evident she is set to become the leader in her niche. Reputation is everything in business and Natasha really knows this and is building a great brand through her people skills as much as her professional skills.”

Talk to the Press is an agency that helps individuals manage press attention in their lives, or to sell their story to national newspapers and magazines. The agency has helped nearly 1000 people since launch in 2008, and has represented individuals such as Ann Timson, who made national headlines when footage of her foiling a gang of robbers with her handbag went viral.

James and Bev aren’t the only well-respected names to comment on Talk to the Press. MP Esther McVey recently posted on Twitter, “If anyone is ever thrown into the media spotlight, check out @TalkToThePress.”

For more information, visit www.talktothepress.co.uk or contact Natasha Courtenay-Smith on Natasha@talktothepress.com

 

 

When and why it’s worth paying for PR

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Newspapers

This is a guest blog post I recently wrote for my client, TalkToThePress.co.uk. They specialise in selling your real life story, in order to generate national newspaper and/or magazine coverage. Their clients might be raising awareness of an issue, sharing a personal story to help others in similar situations or hoping to create publicity around their business or charity. If your own motivation for generating press coverage is the latter, you may also need to consider the services of a PR agent to help spread the word further than simply the large-scale real-life-based articles secured by Natasha and her team.

 

PR agents like myself specialise in generating awareness of brands, people, charities, products and services. Whether it’s pitching products for review or securing profiling pieces and interviews to further promote your company, we have the skills and experiences necessary to identify your story and pitch it to a variety of media. We’ll look at which angles will appeal to your local newspapers and radio, and identify further opportunities for exposure in the nationals, online, in trade publications – wherever your target audience may be.

 

PRs bring more to the table than just a well-written press release or a meaty contacts book. We’ve honed our skills over many years, learning how to pitch a story correctly depending the publication or particular journalist. Our instincts are trained to spot a good news story. Our press contacts are more likely to take our calls because we’ve worked hard, sometimes for a number of years, to build and nurture that relationship. We make it our business to get under the skin of your brand/product/service and to communicate your news as passionately as you would yourself, but in a style and manner that we know will be appealing to the journalist. When you hire a PR, it’s this you buy into, not just the tangible tools.

 

Good, solid PR and communications are vital to any business and needn’t cost a fortune. LS Media has packages priced from just £250. To find out more about our approach, services, wealth of experience and array of happy clients (including Natasha Courtenay-Smith of TalkToThePress.co.uk), take a look around the website.

 

To discuss your exact needs further, please email webenquiry@LSMedia.co.uk or call 01234 752 663.