Media Neutrality and Ad Avoidance – ‘A local shop for local people’

I started working in advertising in the early noughties. Back then the world of media was a very different landscape. There were a plethora of local papers covering every inch of the UK the same could be said for radio and TV did not have the technology to pause and invariably fast forward through adverts not to mention the advent of subscription services such as Netflix which are totally ad free. Back in those halcyon days reaching the right audience for your client was like shooting fish in a barrel. Of course our recommendations were always supported by research but we almost always instinctively knew which media would achieve the best results for our client’s.

The effects of the recession have had irreparable damage on the world of media. The ad to content ratio in most media is so far out of kilter that consumers are switching off their local radio station and where there is still one prevalent barely reading their ‘local’ newspaper. Where I live we used to receive a free weekly local newspaper which reported on local news. This reminds me of the League of Gentlemen

We still receive a ‘local’ newspaper but unfortunately this only carries a handful of truly local news stories the rest is from further a-field. I don’t envy the job of local newspaper journalists now. Less than 20 years ago we had an office in our town for our local newspaper journalists lived in the area and were passionate about reporting local news. So where do you turn to find out what is really happening in your local area?

For me personally it’s the internet, there are several local online outlets within my local area. But in the main these new media offerings are not run by professional journalists but anyone who has bought a URL specific to the area in question. I’ve had many a heated conversation with the ‘editors’ of these publications who will not accept a press release because they ‘don’t work for free’. Whilst I have sympathy for these local entrepreneur’s news should be treated as just that. Not news for the highest bidder. These local websites and to a certain extent magazines are not regulated in the same way that traditional media is so anyone can create their own outlet. I sometimes question the motivation of such publications do they really want to deliver the best news for our area?

The problem with our now fragmented media is the lack of sense of community. With our inability to unite people through media comes the lack of ability to support the local community. A new business opening, charitable cause or local event is increasingly difficult to promote. Advertisers and PR consultants need to work extra hard to reach their audience and in many cases are operating on smaller budgets. Is it any wonder so many local businesses struggle to thrive? Once again I look to Singapore they still have one main English language paper the Straits Times/Sunday Times with a daily average circulation of 393,000 you can ensure that your advert is reaching 8% of the population. This is all the more impressive when you take into account that “English is the native language of 32% of Singaporeans…” (Source). 

I was delighted when Jazz FM returned to the airwaves last year the ad to content ratio is spot on and I’ve found the adverts to be informative like the recent campaign by the FSA something I’m genuinely interested in. That’s the beauty of well-planned media selections. If you take the time to investigate the correct media outlet for your audience, you can still achieve sensational results.

At Icon Marketing Communications we offer media neutral, tailored solutions to help our client’s realise their objectives. Yes, the task is much harder but not impossible. Recommendations are developed based on clients’ goals, research and of cause budgets. Although the media landscape can at times seem bleak there are still many ways to reach out to your target audience. If you would like to talk about realising your objectives feel free to get in touch. kiesha@iconmarketingcommunications.co.uk or 01625 533102.

Wedding April 10th 2012

As Icon Marketing Communications' company ethos is ‘skilful, affordable and approachable’ I thought I’d share a bit about me. I love to organise events there’s something quite rewarding about bringing together various elements for a special occasion. I’ve previously worked on car launches, birthdays, restaurant openings and charity events. Here’s a little bit about the biggest event of my life…

I met my husband in a bar in my home village of Alderley Edge. I was out with the girls having a great time and he was out with a group of friends/colleagues. I accidentally knocked a full tray of drinks over him (they were his drinks). It was one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever done. As his back was turned I did what any self-respecting woman would do and denied all knowledge.

Unfortunately, or should I say fortunately the bartender knew me and called me out for it. It’s quite an unconventional way to meet someone but we got chatting. We were stood underneath a stag light fitting (the reason that Icon’s logo is a stag’s head). He later told me he was trying to find a way to strike up a conversation with me well I certainly broke the ice and a few glasses if I remember rightly!

We started dating and found we got on so well. No arguments ever, just a lot of fun times. He proposed to me just before my 30th birthday I couldn’t have been happier. We set about planning our wedding. My idea was to get married outside but where in the UK could we guarantee good weather? We decided to get married in South Africa at Belvidere Manor  a beautiful hotel in the tiny village of Knysna. South Africa is a stunning country the food is fresh, the roads are relatively quiet there are amazing safari parks and there are exceptional vineyards to visit. We set about making our plans which was surprisingly straightforward considering we were organising it from the UK (South Africa is part of the British Commonwealth).

We invited all our friends and family but due to the distance we ended up with a small guest list of just 16. We hired a lodge for everyone to stay in and had two days of chilling out before the wedding day and enjoyed a traditional ‘Braii’ (South African BBQ) on the first night. On those two days it rained non-stop, quite unusual for SA *insert joke about the weather following us from Manchester*. But on the day of the wedding the Sun shone so brightly. We arranged to have a traditional African choir to sing and I rewrote a poem from Sex and The City to fit with how we met. It was an exceptional day.  

 I often think about the traditional African choir we had singing at our wedding. One of the singers was due to get married the next day. I wonder what her wedding day was like? I would have loved to see it.  If you have a special occasion coming up and need some help feel free to get in touch kiesha@iconmarketingcommunications.co.uk or 01625 533102.

Cheshire White Collar Boxing - In Memory of Julian Churchman

Cheshire White Collar Boxing are holding an event in honour of Julian Churchman who sadly died earlier this year of stage 3 stomach cancer. Best friends Dave Bridgewood and Julian Churchman first met playing pool 30 years ago. The original plan was to send the Ashton based family on a once in a lifetime trip with the funds raised from the GoFundMe page,  raffle and auction but unfortunately Julian lost his fight to cancer at the age of 44 before this was possible. The money raised will go to Julian’s widow and daughter.

The Event

The ‘Ultimate Challenge’ Friday March 17th and ‘Fight Night’ Saturday March 18th will still go ahead and Dave hopes it will raise awareness of stomach cancer as well as being an enjoyable event. The event will be held at Wilmslow Leisure Centre doors will open at 6:30pm with the first fight starting at 7pm there will be 10 fights per night, tickets start at £25 with ringside seats available at £35.

Julian leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter, Paige and wife Michelle. Over the years Cheshire White Collar Boxing and Cheshire Fitness have raised in excess of £110k through their online charity donations, raffles & auctions. The goal is to raise £5000 for the family. Michelle Churchman says;

“Julian was the life and soul of the family, hard-working but fun. He will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him. Especially the family”

The Ultimate Challenge is an opportunity for white collar workers to participate in a boxing match this has recently been extended to any type of worker. White Collar Boxing is open to fighters aged 18-57 years. The boxers for the March event range in age from 19 to 49 and cover a wide variety of professions: banker, director, construction workers, accountant, solicitor, barbers, recruitment, health care, leisure & fitness. White Collar Boxing is safer than traditional boxing as the gloves used are larger and there is rarely a knockout.

There are people taking part from all over the South Manchester & Cheshire area with most participants living in either Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, Mobberley, Hale and Lymm. Luke Brown from Wilmslow is the youngest contender at 19 years old, and Dave Bridgewood the eldest at 49. As well as participating in a match, Dave and his wife will be in attendance on the night as medics.  The referee on the night will be British featherweight champion Andy Morris Jr.

Background

Cheshire White Collar Boxing was established by ex-professional boxer Glenn Williams in 2012. They are the first local company to bring back the glitz and glamour of the original white collar boxing which originated in New York. Fights have previously taken place at Mere Golf Club, The Hilton Deansgate and The Titanic Liverpool. For many of the white collar boxers this is the opportunity to fulfil a lifelong ambition, stepping into the ring in front of their friends and family. Boxers are being trained by a wide range of coaches including Bob Shannon, former coach to Ricky Hatton.

For ticket information speak to Glenn on 07886 432658 or email kirsty@cheshirewhitecollarboxing.co.uk to find your nearest outlet. For more information, please visit their Facebook page @CheshireWhiteCollarBoxing

Of the event Glenn says;

“Once again we are proud to be hosting our event in Wilmslow. White collar boxing as a sport is bigger and better than it has ever been before. Many of our fighters have taken part in other sporting trials, but white collar boxing takes it to another level; the physical and mental strength required is immense. Stepping into the ring is one of the most adrenaline fuelled challenges these guys and girls will ever face.”

Good Customer Service

Not so long ago I spent 4 years working for the late Tim Bacon the founder of Living Ventures a group of restaurants and bars including Gusto and the Living Room. I learnt a great deal, his Core Manual is one of his greatest legacies almost biblical!

In it Tim teaches you how to give excellent customer service and at the root of his teaching is that the customer is always right. Many people couldn’t understand why a degree educated person would want to work in a restaurant with the long unsociable hours and relatively low pay. I never explained to customers that I was a Business Development Manager and that there was much more going on behind the scenes, they just viewed me as a host (well what’s in a name?). Those 4 years taught me so much about providing good service, dealing with difficult customers (sometimes drunk) as well as creating a welcoming environment. A fellow hospitality worker once said that ‘hospitality should be made a national service’. I really couldn’t agree more.

Unfortunately, this has made my expectations very high and I find it quite frustrating when I don’t receive the same good customer service from other business to consumer enterprises it’s not hard to get it right just put yourself in the shoes of the person you’re dealing with and ask yourself what would you expect? In many other countries i.e. America hospitality is viewed as a career whereas over here many view it as a stop gap.

If I have to call a business and get good customer service I’m actually amazed. Almost shocked if I get through directly to the person I need to speak to. Lansinoh are one such business I needed some replacement valves for my breast pump the lady who answered the call was able to deal with my query straightaway without having to pass me to another department. It made me think it doesn’t matter what communication method you use as long as you do it well. I recently had to speak to a large business who provide a wide range of electrical items let’s just say their name began with Sam and ended in ung. I was appalled by how poor their customer service was. Firstly, the line was very poor so it was difficult to hear them, they took me through their troubleshooting (basically) switch it off and on. When this didn’t resolve the issue they put me on hold for roughly 15 minutes until eventually my call was dropped. I called back only to have to go through the same process again and once again was put on hold for a further 10 minutes whilst the individual reviewed my notes. Finally, they deducted that my equipment (a sound bar) was faulty. I had called about the same issue a year ago and was made to feel quite foolish because my husband had removed the battery (I hadn’t checked before I called). On this occasion I was transferred to the supervisor who asked me over and over again if my problem was resolved, even though they knew it wasn’t.

As a parent you’re told to ‘praise good behaviour and ignore bad behaviour’ (not entirely sure which guru came up with this theory). I don’t agree with this theory. I do agree with praising good behaviour something I do loud and proud however, but bad behaviour should also be acknowledged. We shouldn’t insult the intelligence of our children by assuming they can’t understand right from wrong and this is why they should be punished. In the world of consumerism people don’t follow this rule (I’m as guilty as the next person). Giving feedback to a company is the only way to help them improve. Posting a negative review can be very damaging for a small businesses. So back to the electronics company there is an email address on their site where you can directly contact the CEO of the company surely he would care about the poor customer service I received? But I’ve received no response as of yet. I also tweeted their official twitter handle yet again no response.

You can be sympathetic to small companies not having the resource to be across all communication channels but a global business should be able to provide brilliant customer service. I am a big Gin fan and for Christmas I received a beautifully packaged bottle of Gin from the Gin Parlour with complementary bottles of tonic and beer matts it was a real treat. On their website they state in their FAQs

“WHY DON’T YOU HAVE A TELEPHONE NUMBER?

We are a small, 2.5 person, online company. We made the decision not to have a public phone number and instead embrace the various online methods of communication - email, live chat, Twitter and Facebook - because these enable us to provide a better, more reliable, level of customer service. We could put a phone number up but 9 times out of 10 you would have to leave a message for us to get back in touch with you. In our experience that frustrates people even more.

We know that some people see a phone number as a sign of a company’s validity and will not want to shop with us however we have been independently verified by our website security certificate provider and our independent review provider.”

This is a prime example of smart communications, you don’t need to be across every method of communication to give good customer service just pick a few and ensure you do them well.

kiesha@iconmarketingcommunications.co.uk 07979940526

Credit: Jonathan Farber

The Birth of Icon Marketing Communications

As my first blog I thought the best place to start would be to talk about how and why I set up my own marketing communications consultancy.

I went to University in Leeds and studied a degree in Media, Communication and Cultural studies. It was quite a diverse course where we learnt about the practical side of media as well as theory. We did work placements in related industries I chose PR (I really wanted to do a placement at a radio station), but communication is communication. At Uni we were taught to analyse things and look for the hidden meaning in things. Such as the stereotypical roles used in Disney films like the jive talking smoking crows in Dumbo. There are many subtle messages in mainstream media like the constant barrage of negative programming such as ‘Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole’. ‘EastEnders’ depiction of Stacey’s battle with post-partum psychosis or even the late George Michael's lyrics in his hit tune Faith.  We can learn a lot from the media we consume both positive and negative.

Having spent several years working in marketing/advertising/business development and radio change was on the horizon when I fell pregnant with my first son Nico. During my maternity leave I threw myself into various projects not to mention Mums & Tots groups. But if I’m honest they weren’t my cup of tea and believe me there was always plenty of tea! The only class I felt was useful was Tiny Talk a baby sign language class. Where babies learn useful signs to communicate with their parents before they can speak. I remember going round the circle when we were asked how many signs our babies had done and my answer was always none (but who’s to say the other Mums were telling the truth?). Many months later and even now Nico does various signs for me and has even learnt more.

Anyway the maternity leave went by quickly and it was time to take on the dreaded commute on the M60 to Salford Quays. I knew it would be tough (husband often works abroad) but I wanted to keep my independence and small income once nursery fees where paid. The world of media and particular social media is constantly evolving so if you take time out for too long it’s a major setback. It was becoming challenging taking on the commute and with no work from home option available I regrettably handed in my notice. With the encouragement of my husband I decided to set up my own marketing communications consultancy. Thankfully since setting up I have learnt so much including how to build websites.

Working as a sole trader is a tough slog; finding new business, getting expensive contracts written up, paying for office space and dealing with late payers. A survey by the Federation of Small Business in March 2015 found that 43 per cent of firms have waited over 90 days beyond the agreed payment date before they got the money they were owed. Is it any wonder that so many small businesses fail?

The hardest thing of all was coming up with a name it took me long enough to agree on a name for my children this was going to be just as challenging. After weeks of shortlisting I finally settled on ‘Icon Marketing Communications’, Icon being an anagram of Nico.

Icon Marketing Communications is designed to help businesses just like mine, people with an idea that just needs promoting to the outside world to attract customers. If you’d like to discuss your marketing requirements, please feel free to get in touch kiesha@iconmarketingcommunications.co.uk or 07979940526