Artisan Marketing Communications offers clients PR and marketing communications advice, practical support and implementation.

Friday, April 28, 2006

A great couple of weeks for Artisan Marketing Communications

The past two weeks have seen Artisan Marketing Communications achieving superb results for our clients in manufacturing, professional services and IT sectors. Among the coverage are the follwing results:

Restore Foam - French Tradings first foray into the world of PR resulted in a half page feature in the Manchester Evening News. Even though it's early days enquiries were forthcoming. The cost of advertising for half a page in the MEN business supplement is GBP6000. The supplement is viewed by 125,000 readers. This client has been developed in a joint marketing campaign with Manchester web developers Virtuaffinity.

Networking4Business has enjoyed some good coverage over the past few weeks. You can find out about Mark and the art of networking in the current issues of the following publications: Entrepreneur NW, Business 550 and Manchester Chamber of Commerce magazine.

Networking4Business' Chorlton event was attended by South Manchester Reporter. Please look out for the Life in Pictures section, which will have a photo spread in the next few weeks. If you were there you might be in.

Vital Football were featured recently in the Liverpool Daily Post. The lads (directors) were shown playing Subbuteo although the icLiverpool website does not show them displaying their table football prowess.


Skype
Artisan can now be contacted on Skype: artisan1074

Free PR offer
Artisan is happy to do PR for a charity as our commitment to the community. There will be no charge but we are asking for smaller and less well-resourced causes that would like a helping hand.

Monday, April 17, 2006

10 PR Crimes

Rob Baker of Artisan follows on Mark Greenwood’s Networking Criminals article (that appears in the current issue of Entrepreneur North West) with 10 PR crimes that should be outlawed.

Writing poor English.

Anything that hampers the reader: long sentences; long paragraphs; over use of capital letters; jargon etc.

Disguising a press release as an advert – PR is about news, it is not free advertising. If it reads like an advert then you will not get in the paper, but you might get a call from the sales department inviting you to advertise.

Sending stories to papers that are of importance to you but are of no interest to anyone else.

Not recognising a great story when you have one to tell.

Not recognising all the titles and media channels that would be interested in your story or a contribution from you. It is alright getting in the Obscure Suburban Times
or the Unheard Of Village Enquirer but it is a rather limited outlook that will not yield the best results.

Telling the reader how delighted the managing director is that the company has won a one million pound account –would never have guessed that he or she would be pleased, but you can never tell. Quotes should be interesting and give a further insight into the story.

Dull photos. Use images to really enhance your story –it makes all the difference.

Not engaging with journalists. You should build up your relationship with journalists. Anonymous blankets e-mail shots with your story can have their place if you do not have much time. However, working with journalists, learning about their publications, their foibles and needs will really help you.

Writing poor English
–it has to be said again.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Artisan Marketing Communications offers clients public relations advice and practical implementation.

What we do

In two words - media relations.

We get you in the papers and magazines that are read by your customers and potential customers.

(We can offer advice on integrating your PR programme into your overall marketing activities).

How is that beneficial?

PR is a far more effective way of communicating with your market than any other marketing, including direct marketing, tele-marketing and advertsing.

The only exceptions are word of mouth and nepotism.

Papers have a wide reach – The Manchester Evening News sells 148,000 papers each day- and readers generally accept the truth of what they read. If a paper talks about you then you’re are newsworthy. It is almost an endorsement from a “neutral” source. That is a powerful way of conecting with your potential clients.

Will I have to pay the papers?

No. Artisan gets you in the press because we create newsworthy stories that an editor will want to publish.

Is it expensive?

It can be if you go to a big agency. Many agencies charge £750 per day, that’s £100 an hour.

We are considerably cheaper –within the budget of a Small to Medium sized Enterprise – because we do not have big offices or egos.

We provide a service that is based on getting you results.

Other agenices will state they provide the same service. How can you be sure that we will? Well, we depend on word of mouth. So, we depend entirely on delivering the results and customer service you expect. This means that doing a superlative job will get us the new customers we need by referral.

If we lose your account it will hurt. Some agencies only care when they lose a big account because that is the only time it hurts for them.

Curious? PR might be the catalyst for your growth or it could support your current PR?

Please call and we will be happy to explain more about how PR can help you.Please contact Rob at Artsian Communicationsrob@artisanmc.co.uk07957611834