While exploring this enchanting realm, I found a new book to read. Whenever I travel on planes I become drawn to books that I probably wouldn’t read in ordinary circumstances. Call me cowardly, but I like to avoid anything with war, violence, heartbreak, terminal illness or sudden death at 33,000 feet. Business books are a safe bet and with the added bonus that I feel very wholesome as I digest them. At altitude, like alcohol, they can have more profoundly intoxicating effects. You can carry their lessons from the sky to the ground and it’s always edifying to bring a new perspective home.

The book I picked up for the plane journey was called Brainstorm – Unleashing Your Creative Self by a Disney Film producer called Don Hahn. It fell more into the personal development bracket than any dry business book – although it was refreshing that the author appreciated that business can and should be an incredibly creative force and that there is a great beauty in truly creative businesses. It was a really interesting read, even at Florida swamp level. I had finished it long before reaching the airport for the journey home. Travelling with a toddler, I was very glad for the refresher course on unleashing my creative self.

Working as a writer in the business technology sector, I am fascinated by the language of my industry. Sometimes it becomes an impenetrable code and you can only crack it if you have a Geek Speak translation chip implanted into your elbow. I suppose this is sometimes the challenge for my ‘creative self’ to find a writing style that seems sincere and illuminating, without relying on all the old clichés of “faster, smarter decisions”.

I nearly fell off my chair laughing when on page sixty of a chapter about the power of words, Don Hahn offered:

“a handy method for selecting the name of your new technology company. Combine a word on the left with any suffix on the right”:

Brainstorm – Unleashing Your Creative Self, by Don Hahn

In the context of an industrialised society, these words are all quite descriptive and make sense to most people now, even without the aid of the Geek Speak Translator. This may not have been the case 15 years ago where you needed a handle to open a window, a cage for a mouse and a net was only really useful for catching fish and butterflies.

Language is changing. Feelings about technology are changing. I did a quick and unscientific survey in the office to see what powerful emotions my colleagues felt in response to technology, to offer companies in our industry a new naming lexicon:

OK, in the world of Business to Business technology a company named ‘Open Fun’ might be mistaken for something else – and horribly misunderstood on the NASDAQ. We don’t need to stay rooted in the dryly descriptive language of the past though. And we can throw out all the old technology clichés too. People just turn off when they hear them now. Perhaps when it comes to business it is more about creating the language of business values, rather than relying on raw emotions. We may write the new language of technology with our hearts and still edit with our heads.

For any caged creative spirits, I would really recommend Don Hahn’s book, available on Amazon.  Trust, Integrity, Excellence, Security, Strength, Vision, Innovation, Creativity, Success, Fulfilment – this is the language for our market leading clients at JD Marketing.

It’s a question not many of us take seriously as we are growing up; it’s something that changes on a daily basis and why shouldn’t it? The sky’s the limit!

As we grow older and discover our likes and dislikes, choose our school subject options on the basis of what we are most interested in, we don’t fully know of how these come to shape the path we take in our careers.

There are 2.65 million unemployed people in the UK at the moment, 1.2 million of that statistic being young people aged 16-24. (The Office of National Statistics) http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/index.html

These are shocking statistics that seem to be constantly rising and the young seem to be feeling the full force of it.

After studying Business Studies at college, I left aged 18 deciding that university was not for me and I wanted to start in the world of work. Being in education is a safety net and once you leave it you feel very much on your own, not knowing where to start.

My job search started with the internet, registering with countless recruitment sites and agencies. Every day, I would apply for jobs, mainly office junior and administration roles in lots of different fields. When I did receive replies from employers their reason for not taking my application further was due to the high number of applications they had received, and because I did not have the experience required.

I found this very frustrating. How are you meant to get the experience required if nobody will give you a chance?

My interests in events lead me to volunteer for Breakthrough Breast Cancer in their events department. Volunteering in an industry in which you would like to work is definitely something I would recommend. Not only are you gaining useful skills, work experience and building up your CV, at the same time you are showing potential employers that you are taking the initiative. Okay, you are working for free, but the positives certainly outweigh any negatives.

So, my advice for anyone stuck in a situation where they are struggling to find out what they want to do, not being able to find a job, or deciding whether to go down the university path or not, is to gain as much work experience as you can. It is the perfect way to sample all the career options out there and get a real sense of your chosen industry. Doing something is most certainly better than doing nothing.

My other piece of advice is to not limit your search at recruitment agencies – try writing direct to organisations with your CV, the more direct your approach is the more likely you are of getting a response.

Businesses need to give young people the opportunity to show what they can do, the chance to make a contribution to the economy and to society. Everyone has to start somewhere after all.

As for what I would like to be when I grow up? Well I am enjoying finding out.

You’re about to spend £20,000 on a new car.  £20,000 is a lot of money to spend, and you want to make sure you’re going to spend it on something you’re going to really like.  You don’t want to spend valuable weekend time getting the hard sell from a desperate salesman in a car dealership forecourt just yet.  You want to shop around, see what’s out there.  You have a few different makes and models in mind, but you don’t know much about them.  So you Google them.

You’re faced with three options: first, a link to a dealership telling you what the car’s price is and that it’s the best car in the universe; second, you’ve got a forum of petrolheads listing all the specifications of the car in minute detail – page after page of facts and figures that you don’t really understand; third, there’s a video guide to the car – what it looks like on the outside, what it looks like on the inside, what interesting bells and whistles it has, and a quick idea of whether it’s worth the money or not.

Here’s an example:

Hyundai i30 review – CarBuyer

In three minutes of video, you get what no other source can provide – a balanced, detailed, insightful look at what you’re interested in buying.

This is just as useful in the world of IT.  Software demonstrations, how-to guides, discussions of industry challenges… these can be found in abundance on YouTube.  However, they’re often done by third-party reviewers or just end-users looking to get some hits on YouTube.  They can be critical, they can miss the point, and they might not sell your product as well as you’d like.

Many businesses are having trouble making the leap from rigid advertising and ‘corporate’ video into the realm of informative multimedia.  Businesses can create videos that impartially cover common topics of debate in an industry, provide opinion on a topic or useful guidance on business strategy for potential customers to find and watch.  These videos raise the prominence of the business above its competitors.  The viewer connects with the brand and feels comfortable with the business because they’re getting friendly, informative advice – not a hard sell.  So when it comes to the hard sell, they’re less likely to get uncomfortable and back away.

IT solutions are frequently complicated, and video can help break information down in a way that’s easier to digest for someone looking to find out more about your products.  Faced with a choice between downloading, opening, printing and reading a white paper, or clicking on and watching a video, most people would go with the video.

We produce videos for all of our clients as a central part of communications activities.  From product overviews to customer case studies, videos can speak specifically to your prospects.  They can get thousands of views and drive traffic to your website.  Video is a very simple but powerful sales tool.

For more examples of our videos click here

For more information on how video services can support your business call us on 020 8297 5388 or email info@jdmarketing.co.uk 

It is something I’ve come across time and again.

In my experience, writing is something that most people think they can’t do. (I’m sure there’s a joke about writer’s block in there!) But in all seriousness, many people really do believe they can’t write. In my role, I create materials from whitepapers, to releases, opinion articles, content for brochures, microsites, email communications – you name it, I’ll turn my hand to it. I’m fortunate to be someone for whom words come easily.

But for many people, words really are a challenge. There is a considerable fear factor involved in taking the message that you want to communicate and putting that into words that will enable your audience to understand what you are trying to say. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to offer a little advice. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not wishing to put myself out of a job here, but I do believe that a little guidance can go a long way.

1. What is the purpose of the material you want to produce? Is it a piece of sales collateral? Is it a blog post? Think about what you want this material to help you achieve.
2. Think about your audience. What is their level of understanding of your business or subject matter?
3. Identify the top line message – what is the single most important message you want to get across in your collateral?
4. Once you have your key message, what are the 3-5 supporting statements that will help you best communicate this top line message?
5. Keep your language simple and relevant. Keep your audience in mind. Are they going to understand the language you use?
6. Be succinct – you don’t need to repeat yourself or to waffle. Easier said than done, but increasingly our attention span is getting shorter, which places even more importance on getting the right message across quickly.

One of the core elements of the PR role is being able to communicate a message clearly and effectively. It is something that we at JDM are committed to doing. So if you’re still struggling to deliver your message appropriately, why not give us a call?

Still, Christmas shopping  is now providing a worthy reason to dip my fingers back into the online honey pot to see what exciting new retail possibilities are available. If you’re buying things for other people then shopping becomes a noble, selfless occupation and it also aids the economy. With no more excuses needed, I will be thundering down the virtual aisles waving my credit card with benevolent glee.

Has the massive growth in online retail finally run out of steam? I was reading Retail Week’s Etail Power list today, compiled by the lovely Joanna Perry. She highlighted slower growth in retail online sales whilst pointing out some interesting developments in convenience, mobile and international market development.  The mighty Asos has, for the first time, reported flat sales for the UK, all of its enviable growth has come from International Markets.

So no, online retail has not run out of steam entirely because there are new markets to tap. Christmas is coming, but the online goose may not be getting fat at quite the same rate.

Now, back to my Christmas shopping mission: what’s new and exciting for me, for Emma, for her family this Christmas? I tap ‘Christmas Shopping’ into Google and Tesco is the only retailer today who is listed through natural search. I get more specific, looking for gifts for my daughter who is 18 months old, and I can already feel that I am going to need to have a good sort through the online shelves to find relevant product. This is the challenge for the multi-channel world: how to, in a world of proliferating competition and information, become more closely acquainted with me, my online search patterns and therefore market specifically to me.

I have fallen in love with notonthehighstreet.com. Even as I type this post another very personal communication from them has landed in my inbox. They are so innovative at the product and service level. I don’t feel mass marketed to, I feel like their communications are like their products and are selected with loving care. They have achieved marketing nirvana and connected my desires with meaningful information… to create new desires for me to spend more money with them. Oh yes, these people are smart and know exactly how to market to me.

What started as an innovative small business has grown to turning over £15.1million in sales last year. Congratulations to them. I’m also applauding service innovations from Amazon, their new locker service is cool; I really like the whole click and collect concept that Argos really pioneered as well. Where exactly will I end up shopping this Christmas? Well that remains to be seen, but the retailers who innovate in product, service and relevant marketing will be the ones who get my cash.

We currently manage websites, blogs and social media profiles for a number of our clients, and decided to create a new blog for ourselves when we refreshed our website.

Here you’ll find an informal showcase of what we do and some insights from us on the industries we work with.  You’ll see examples of:

-  Coverage we gain for our customers

-  Events we manage for our customers

-  Videos we create for our customers

-  Digital and social media content we produce

-  Thought leader pieces on developments in the technology, retail and marketing industries

You can subscribe to the blog using RSS or follow us on twitter here: http://twitter.com/#!/b2bmarketingpr

Stay tuned for more updates.  Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!