Originally posted on: www.carnsight.com
Press releases are a valuable tool for communicating important information about your business to the public. However, all too often, press releases are filled with generic, cliched quotes that fail to capture the attention of readers (are you really “delighted” about this piece of news?) If you want your press release to stand out, it’s important to avoid these common cliches and instead aim to provide quotes that are interesting, informative, and add value to the story you’re telling.
Here are three top tips for avoiding cliche quotes in your business press releases:
One of the most common mistakes people make when crafting quotes for press releases is trying to put words in someone’s mouth. Instead of trying to shape a quote to fit the existing narrative, listen to what your spokesperson or subject actually says and use their exact words in your release. This will make your quote feel more authentic and less forced.
Another way to avoid cliched quotes is to keep your ears open for interesting things people say in other contexts and be sure to note them down. This could be a quote from a book, a movie, or even a conversation you overheard in a coffee shop. By incorporating elements of these unique quotes into your press release, you can add a fresh perspective and make your release more memorable. Remember, it’s not about copying, it’s about taking inspiration and learning from others. When you see or hear a quote you like, ask yourself what you like about and how you can implement that in your own quotes.
Finally, it’s important to think about how your quote can add value to the story you’re telling. Instead of just repeating information that’s already in the release, try to provide insight or a unique perspective that will make the quote more interesting to readers. Your quote is where you can be a bit more salesy and show your enthusiasm (within reason). You can (and should) reinforce your key messages in your quote. Your quote is where you can shine. This could be an anecdote or a new piece of data for example.
By following these tips, you can create quotes that are interesting, informative, and help your press release stand out from the crowd. Remember, the goal of a press release is to communicate important information to your audience, and cliched quotes will only detract from that goal. So take the time to craft quotes that are authentic, original, and add value to your story.
Guest posting as a tactic within SEO has gotten a bit of a bad rap over the past few years with many using it as an exercise to get links and that’s about it. There are a lot of sites out there that offer paid for guest posts and this has contributed to the bad image of this particular tactic of digital PR.
Despite the image issues, we are still a massive fan of guest posts for clients and provided you are doing it in the right way it can help you get some coverage on some amazing websites and drive some great value links for your client.
In this week’s blog we chat about all things guest posting, and how to do it right to leverage good results for your digital PR campaigns.
Guest posting is the act of writing content for another website, it can come in the form of a writer looking to promote their work or a company looking to add to their field through publications. Sites often indicate that they accept guest posts and these are often good places to reach out to if you are looking to get coverage for your website.
When it comes to SEO, guest posting gives you the chance to link back to your site in relevant content form an authoritative and relevant site, this is a good tactic to use early on when your content may not be getting as many links as you would like.
As discussed, this area of digital PR can be tricky to get right, but following the below dos and don’ts will keep you and your rankings on the right track.
Content is the backbone of any website, and it’s what will ultimately attract and engage your audience. By focusing on creating quality content, you can establish yourself as an authority in your niche and those you are reaching out to will appreciate it, increasing the chances of you earning placements through guest posts.
While it may seem like a quick and easy way to build links and improve your search engine rankings, paying for links is a violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can result in penalties, including being removed from search engine results altogether.
When reaching out to guest bloggers, be clear that you are after content only placement.
Linking to your target pages can help improve your site’s rankings and drive traffic and SEO value to the pages that matter most. It’s important to ensure that the links you include are relevant to the content and provide value to the reader; this is the key part when it comes to guest posting. Don’t include links if they are not relevant for the reader of the blog.
Exact match anchor text refers to the use of the exact keyword phrase you want to rank for in the anchor text of a link. While it can be helpful in improving your rankings for that particular keyword phrase, overusing exact match anchor text can lead to a penalty from Google for over-optimisation, so make sure you are using logical anchor text that incorporates keywords, but not in a spammy way.
Building long-term relationships with other bloggers in your niche can be incredibly valuable for growing your website. By establishing a relationship with other bloggers, you can collaborate on projects, exchange ideas and guest posts, if you are working in an agency you can also write content for different sites depending on the relevance, and having that pre-existing relationship in place will help massively.
When it comes to assessing the value of a website for your backlink profile, it’s important not to rely solely on domain authority as a metric. While domain authority can provide a general idea of a website’s authority and influence, it’s not always an accurate measure of the website’s quality or relevance to your niche, look at other metrics like Trust and Citation Flow from Majestic and your judgement of the relevance of the website to your niche.
If you are unsure on where to start when it comes to guest blogging then get in touch with a member of the Varn team, Our SEO team have been combining digital PR tactics for years and driving great results for clients, just make sure you focus on content and you can’t go far wrong.
Originally posted on: www.carnsight.com
Awards can provide a great boost to a business’s reputation and can often lead to new opportunities and increased success. Writing an awards entry is an important part of the process, but often, winning an award comes down not just to the quality of the work but the way in which you present it. That’s where we come in. In this blog post, we’ll explore five things to avoid when writing awards entries to help ensure that you put forward the best possible submission.
When writing an awards entry, it’s important to provide specific examples and evidence to support your claims. Avoid being vague and general in your submissions. Provide detailed information about what you did, how you did it, and why it was successful. Use specific metrics and data to quantify your achievements and demonstrate the impact that your work has had.
One of the most common mistakes made when writing awards entries is focusing too much on you or your business, rather than on the actual award criteria. Before you start writing, carefully review the award criteria and make sure that you address each requirement in your submission. It’s important to showcase how your work aligns with the award’s values and how it has made a difference in your field.
This is SO important when submitting an award entry and many people don’t realise this. Spelling and grammar errors can be very damaging to your entry. Make sure that you take the time to proofread your submission thoroughly. Don’t rely solely on spell-check software, as it won’t catch every mistake. Why not ask someone else to review your submission before you send it in.
An awards entry is an opportunity to showcase your personality and unique style. Don’t be afraid to show your passion and enthusiasm in your writing. However, it’s important to balance this with professionalism and avoid coming across as arrogant or boastful.
Writing an awards entry takes time and effort, so it’s important to start early and give yourself enough time to craft a strong submission. Waiting until the last minute can result in rushed writing and a weaker submission. Make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to brainstorm, draft, revise, and proofread your submission before the deadline.
Take a look at a recent article from CEO World Magazine where you can find many useful tips on how to make your awards application stand out.
Get in touch if you’d like to hear about we can help with your awards entries. At Carnsight Communications, we’re experienced at crafting award entries for a range of industries – from legal to advertising to business – to help you tell your story in the most compelling way.
We start by establishing the story – the thread that should run throughout. We pare entries down to their most impactful elements – often working within word limits. And we focus on results, presenting everything in a digestible way. After all, many awards judges only have time to scan each entry. So it needs to stand out.
If you’re shortlisted or win an award, we can also help with media and social media promotion, helping to maximise each entry.
If you don’t know which awards are the most powerful for your business, we can spend time researching, helping to create a database with detailed information on entry details and deadlines.
If you want your business to succeed, you must consider the relationships you have with your consumers.
Creating and nurturing customer relationships has changed in recent times along with client expectations.
Having a physical site was necessary for consumers to shop there. Now almost everything can be bought at the click of a button. So, how do you keep a customer coming back to your website?
Audience members can feel entirely cut off from a company, even in today’s hyperconnected environment. Because of this, more companies are investing in ‘community management’.
Community management definition
Creating a community among brands and customers through online interactions is community management. Brands can recapture the human element of consumer brand loyalty, that technology advancements have deprived them of.
It connects to other marketing and PR aspects, such as social media, content, and search engine optimisation (SEO). It must complement your overarching marketing, public relations, and communications strategy.
Why do businesses benefit from an online community?
For organisations, community management is not only useful but essential. Adopting a community management strategy can improve consumer satisfaction by boosting brand recognition and loyalty. A community management plan that is effective can:
One excellent option for brands to build authentic relationships and get customer feedback is through a community that facilitates actual discussions. Even effective word-of-mouth marketing campaigns may benefit from it. 83% of customers believe that word-of-mouth advertising directly affects their purchasing behaviour.
What distinguishes community management from social media management?
Although there are many similarities between social media marketing and community management, their agendas are significantly different. The focus of social media marketing is on sharing social posts on social media channels. This is done to expand the brand’s client base and increase traffic and interaction.
A community manager will interact with your community across all online channels. The activity incorporates aspects of social listening, customer service, and community rules for participating in online forums. Intimate connections are developed through careful management. They also create communities both inside and outside of social media.
Community management techniques
Customer service is only one aspect of community management. There are, in reality, six main categories of community management efforts. The acronym SPACE makes it simple to recall the methods of community management:
Internal engagement is another method of community building and management that is frequently utilised to create an online community. Your team members, partners, and vendors make up your internal audience. Your consumers, fans, supporters, brand advocates, ambassadors, and followers make up your external audience.
Developing a community management strategy
Building effective networks that foster sincere, lasting relationships requires a solid plan. A successful community manager will organise all of your happy consumers in one space and look after them by encouraging good interactions.
These are step-by-step instructions for creating an online community management strategy:
When it comes to deciding how community managers measure success, there is no right or wrong way. The metrics depend on what’s important to you. Maybe you want to gain more followers on social media, or perhaps you’d like to enhance sales and conversions. Possibly you require greater brand recognition or more website visitors.
Clearly identify your aims and the tactics you need to measure your success by setting goals.
Before developing your plan, you must identify your primary audience. For instance, knowing the demographics of your target audience will enable you to focus your efforts on engaging that group.
Construct customer personas to understand your customers’ interests, preferences, etc. Find out where your audience is and then create content for them; they tend to be more active on one or two social media platforms, sites or forums.
Keep in mind that community management provides opportunities for small and close interactions. With a better understanding of your community’s members, ensure your content will interest them.
A great place to start creating your brand’s reputation and online community is on social media. Your community will know what to expect from you if you consistently release new content on social channels.
Social media platforms are fantastic resources for learning about your target audiences’ demographics and finding out what interests them. Encourage the sharing of user-generated content, a great way to share the love with your audiences and show that you value their interactions with your company.
It may even inspire creativity and generate suggestions for improving goods or services. In fact, 90% of online communities regularly share ideas about how to make changes to products.
Keep track of your progress while you work; test and learn to understand what works and what doesn’t. It will constantly change as your brand grows and your community expands. Adapt your goals and the KPIs monitoring your success to ensure they reflect your community’s continued growth.
There are plenty of analytical tools available to help you monitor and encourage growth of your social media channels. choose the ones that will work for you.
What does a community manager do?
They are experts with the knowledge and qualifications to put effective community management strategies into practice. Four different strategies are used by community managers to manage interaction across numerous platforms, including social media:
As social media becomes more and more important to a company’s success, ensure that you have an active community manager who can help build and grow your audiences.
Originally posted on: www.carnsight.com
Google My Business is a free platform offered by Google to help businesses manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. As a business owner, you likely have already claimed your Google My Business profile when you confirmed your business location with Google (more info here if not), but did you know that having a fully complete and optimised Google My Business profile can significantly impact a business’s visibility and credibility? In today’s blog, we’ll discuss some best practices for maximising your Google My Business profile and making it work hard for your business.
Make sure all your business information, including the name, address, phone number, and website, is accurate and up-to-date. This information should match what’s listed on your business’s website and anywhere else online. Ensure you’ve also added information regarding your business hours services.
Adding high-quality photos of your business, products, and services can help potential customers get a better sense of you and what you offer. Make sure the photos are well-lit, in focus, and showcase your business in the best light possible. Let your business personality shine through in the photos you upload. Don’t be too perfectionist about it, high-quality images of you at work are also great. be sure to keep updating the images on your page. Don’t let it sit stagnantly.
Choosing the right categories for your business is crucial as it helps Google understand what it is your business does. Be as specific as possible when selecting categories and make sure they accurately reflect your business. Many people are tempted to select as many as possible to improve their reach, but this ultimately harms your listing. Be considered in your approach.
One of the most important elements is reviews. Reviews play a significant role in your Google ranking and overall online credibility. Encourage your customers and clients to leave a review on your Google My Business listing by providing excellent service and making the process as easy as possible (you can share a link with your clients/customers to keep everything running smoothly). Respond to both positive and negative reviews to show that you’re engaged and committed to providing the best possible customer experience.
Google My Business posts are a great way to share updates with your target audience. These posts can be anything from an announcement about a new product or service to an update sharing recent behind-the-scenes sneak peeks. Use images and call-to-actions to make your posts more engaging.
Google My Business Insights provides valuable data about your listing’s performance, including impressions, clicks, and actions taken. You can use this data to understand what’s working well and what can be improved to drive even more traffic to your listing. Make your efforts count by using the information provided to steer you in the right direction.
It’s important to regularly update your profile to ensure that all your information is accurate. Keep your business information, photos, and posts current to provide customers with the most accurate representation of your business. You don’t want potential customers to take a look, see you haven’t posted in a year, and assume you’re out of touch or out of business. Regularly updating your profile also signifies to Google that you are active and engaged with your community, which in terms helps your listing’s ranking.
Having a complete and optimised Google My Business profile is essential for any business looking to increase its online visibility and credibility. By following these best practices, you can maximise your profile and drive more traffic and leads to your business.
Get in touch if you’d like to hear about we can help with your Google My Business profile.
At the end of last year, Open AI released ChatGPT, a first-of-its-kind machine learning chatbot. The revolutionary chatbot experienced explosive growth, reaching 1 million users in just 5 days.
In January we posted our blog “How ChatGPT will impact search marketing”, here we explored some possible use cases for ChatGPT across the four core teams at Varn. We also wrote about some of the potential limitations of the technology. Over a month on, we have now had some time to experience using ChatGPT to aid in our SEO work.
As a team at Varn, we have identified three key use cases where we have seen the most value in using ChatGPT.
No matter if you love Regular Expressions or are terrified of them, this tip will help all of you!
Regular Expressions (Regex) can expand the possibilities of important SEO tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog and more. For example, we recently wanted to filter out all the URLs in Screaming Frog so that only those containing a query string would display. This is exactly where we would want to reach for a regular expression.
However, with all the rules and complexities, writing Regex is very difficult. Even using documentation, writing a simple regex string can be incredibly time-consuming. This is where AI tools like chat GPT can come in extremely handy. Because AI has an understanding of what a user is asking, and can use this to write the Regex for us.
Here is an example chat log with chat GPT:
As you can see, we simply asked the chatbot (in plain English) how we would like to sort our URLs. Within seconds it gave us the working regex code, along with a handy description of how it works. By copying and pasting this regex into the Screaming Frog filter, we were able to sort URLs so that only those containing query strings were showing.
The true power of this feature comes from its flexibility. As SEO professionals, we could easily be presented with any number of pages or queries that we may need to filter down. But with the analytical abilities of AI, we can convert any written command into a working regular expression in seconds.
This use case has improved the way we use Regex at Varn, but it does come with limitations. ChatGPT will always try to do the best job with the prompt you have provided, but it will rarely ask for more information if it feels your query is inadequate. This means that when writing your prompts for ChatGPT you should always be as specific as possible, leaving no room for a different interpretation.
Additionally, you should be very careful to not just copy and paste this code if it’s being used for something important, like a client-facing Looker Studio filter. Instead, you should use a tool like regex101.com to test the regular expression against any unusual edge cases it may encounter.
One of the most challenging parts of writing SEO-friendly blogs is coming up with an engaging idea. But Chat GPT can help!
Chat GPT is extremely versatile, and it is also able to assist with more creative processes, as well as technical tasks such as writing Regex.
Blogs can be a great way to improve the Search Engine ranking of a site. They also provide value to visitors which helps to keep them engaged. However, we will often find ourselves racking our brains for a blog idea that is both engaging to a user and will also tick all the boxes for SEO.
Here is an example of where we have used Chat GPT to assist in the ideation of new blogs on the Varn website.
Here you can see that as a result of our request, we have been provided with a bulleted list of ideas for potential blogs on the Varn site. It is important to remember to give a very descriptive prompt for chat GPT – In this example, we found that we needed to specifically state that we wanted the answers in a bulleted list. Otherwise, we were presented with completed blogs, rather than blog ideas. We also provided a list of keywords that we could potentially use, but needed to make it clear that using these keywords was optional. Otherwise, GPT would just cram as many keywords as possible into each bullet point. This extreme level of specificity is vital if you want to unlock the true power of chat GPT.
There are a range of ideas in this list of potential blog posts (some of which are better than others), but overall this list could be a valuable resource when coming up with new blog topics. For example, the 8th blog in the list brings up an interesting idea about deciding when to reach for PPC or SEO for your web promotion. There are some ideas in this list that are too broad, or which lack a certain context, but overall there are many good prompts that you could use when creating a future post; They may just need some work to progress them into a workable blog title.
Writing Metadata and headings with SEO in mind can be time-consuming, but Chat GPT can help streamline this process.
In the previous section, we showed how we have been using chat GPT to assist in generating blog ideas. However, we can also use Chat GPT to create content for these blogs.
Here is an example of how you can generate metadata and headings using Chat GPT.
Once again within this section, we found it was very important to be hyper-specific with our prompts to Chat GPT, even going so far as to state the desired length of the metadata we wanted. The results are very interesting, the meta and headings are all well related to the blog topic we gave, and they do a good job of including keywords we might want to optimise for. In addition to this, the content reads well and tells a good story of what kind of content the rest of the blog might include.
Despite the fantastic quality of this AI-generated content, there are some problems. Firstly, the metadata actually exceeded the character limit we provided, this is because GPT cannot directly count the number of characters it is generating. For this reason, the character counts are often not what we asked for, even if it’s usually not off by much.
The biggest limitation preventing us from using Chat GPT to generate content like this is the risk of search engines picking up on our use of AI-generated content. Historically, Google has explicitly given guidance to avoid the use of “automatically generated content”, and this is what makes us so cautious about using AI-generated content on websites.
However, over the past year, Google has been slowly changing their guidance on AI content to appear more in favour of its use. Last month, the company properly clarified their stance on AI-generated content, essentially saying that it doesn’t matter how the content is produced, it will be judged based on the content’s quality. This suggests that AI content could be usable in SEO, provided it is user-friendly and meets the E-E-A-T guidelines set out by Google. Despite this statement by Google, we still tend to air on the side of caution and remember that AI-generated content is not perfect. It is also important to remember that as SEO experts, we have a fully formed understanding of the specifics and will be able to produce higher-quality content than a chat bot. For this reason, we tend to use AI generation as a tool to help inform our own content and will never copy and paste anything directly from Chat GPT.
So far chat GPT has had an extremely positive impact on our SEO work at Varn. It has allowed us to speed up some tedious technical tasks and allows us to put more time into other areas of our work. Even now, we still believe we could find other uses of the technology to better improve our workflow, and we are excited to explore these possibilities.
However, we also believe that it is best to think of Chat GPT as an (albeit very powerful) tool in our toolbox, not a superpower that will do all of our work for us. This means it is still important to have a good understanding of the task you are trying to accomplish, so that you can review the quality of the response and provide Chat GPT with accurate information and context.
Catherine Frankpitt has a 20+ year career working in PR and communications. In 2020, she decided to launch her own business. Strike Communications works with organisations that are doing something positive in the world, such as delivering education, creating cultural opportunities and supporting disadvantaged communities.
Catherine launched her business just a few weeks before the start of the first coronavirus pandemic lockdown. A year into her entrepreneurial venture, she joined Bristol Creative Industries.
She tells Dan Martin about starting a business during the pandemic, how it has grown and the benefits of being part of the BCI community.
“I started out at the Mail on Sunday’s You Magazine as a 21-year-old. They had regular features called ‘My Last Good Read’ and ‘My Last Good Buy’. I phoned up celebrities to interview them. I spoke to Lloyd Grossman, Carol Smillie, Ulrika Jonnson and others
“I had a media degree and didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do although I knew it was on the editorial side of things. At the magazine most of the stories were coming from press releases and the copy was just rewritten. I decided that I wanted to go into PR because they were the ones actually having the fun writing the stories and coming up with the ideas.”
“While working at a big agency, the clients that I was really interested in were the likes of charities who had lean in house teams and were not able to maximise the opportunity to do bigger and better things, reach more people and get more funding etc because they hadn’t got the capacity and resources to do it. They need the support, but can’t afford the bigger agency fees.
“I’m motivated by working on communications that I think people need to know about. I work on a lot of causes, charities and culture where the comms plays more of a role than just selling. It’s not just a transactional thing. It’s reaching people that benefit from knowing about it.
“That’s why I decided to set up Strike Communications, to provide a full service agency offering but keep the costs leaner than a bigger agency.”
“I was director of communications at UWE. There are some brilliant people doing great things at the university, but while managing a big team, I missed being hands-on. I like to get stuck in and ask ‘what’s the problem?’, ‘what are the objectives?’, ‘let’s get creative’.
“I wanted to do my own thing so I went from running a department with 85 staff to running a business on my own during lockdown in my spare room!
“I’ve been a single parent with a single income for a while and I’ve always been careful with money. I took out a loan in advance of starting the business just in case something went wrong. That was the best decision I could have made. I very quickly needed it because I launched the business with two anchor clients but within a few weeks of lockdown, everybody went insular.
“It was scary to start with because I didn’t qualify for any of the support that the government introduced. All of my network was in Bristol and that’s where I had planned the work to come from but I had to rethink the plan and widen my reach.
“Eight weeks or so into the first lockdown people started realising that they needed to communicate more than ever. A previous boss once said to me that in a crisis, the first thing to go is the comms and marketing and the first thing to come back is the comms and marketing. She was absolutely right.
“Suddenly people were knocking on the door and saying they needed extra support. I worked with two London universities because their comms teams were so busy doing internal activities and keeping the students informed.
“My networks changed almost overnight and I teamed up with people in the same situation. My experience during lockdown shaped the business in a way that I didn’t expect. We were working with organisations in Devon, Basingstoke and London which we probably wouldn’t have done without the pandemic and everyone being online.”
“There are now three of us full time and two associates who work with us regularly plus a few others we bring in as required.
“In March, we celebrated our third birthday and appointed Scott Fletcher as our new creative director.
“I got some advice from a business coach who said in year one, you do anything for anybody. Year two, you start working out the things that you don’t want to do. Year three, you work out who you are. That’s absolutely what I’ve found.
“In terms of reasons for success, I’ve got a really good network because I’ve worked with a lot of organisations and that has been really helpful.
“Also, I very much operate on gut instinct and my idea for the sorts of organisations that I wanted to work with that I thought needed the help at a certain price point has proven to be true. Whether it’s dealing with COVID-19 or the cost of living crisis, there is always a need for support at a certain level and a certain price. While there are plenty of creative people in Bristol we have created our own niche.
“I find it very hard to do anything other than be honest and transparent. I have strong values and the people that work with us, whether it’s staff or clients, buy into those values. People look at how we talk about ourselves and see that we’re authentic. There’s an appeal to that. There are certain organisations that we just wouldn’t work with because it wouldn’t be right for us. There are others that we really care about and want to help.”
“It’s important to be part of an organisation that is championing your sector, listening and supporting you. It’s also very useful for learning, networking and meeting people.
“I love the Friday morning Wake Up Call webinars with bite-sized advice. The members’ lunches have also been very helpful and I’ve made interesting connections. You can’t underestimate the importance of peer-to-peer support and solidarity, particularly for the founders of smaller businesses like mine. By talking to others, it makes it feel less overwhelming and less of a lonely place.
“The Bristol Creative Industries jobs board has been really useful when recruiting.”
Watching Wake Up Call webinars, attending free member lunches and unlimited job postings are some of the benefits of Bristol Creative Industries membership. Find out more.
“You need to know what it is that you’re trying to achieve, who it is that’s going to help you get there, what they are going to be interested in hearing to help you get there and where you will find them. Your comms should frame around that.
“People get really bogged down by saying things like ‘we need to be on TikTok’ and ‘we need to be on Twitter’ but they are being led by the activity. You should take a strategic approach and know what you are trying to achieve and how the comms can support you to get there. It’s about working out who your audiences, stakeholders or customers are and where they are, whether that’s online, the media they read or where you can physically find them.”
Fancy joining Catherine Frankpitt as a Bristol Creative Industries member? Benefit from industry expertise, training, leads, curated news, kudos and more. Sign up here.
The iconic free family event of the summer, Bristol Harbour Festival returns from 14th – 16th July 2023, with newly imagined entertainment zones, Circus Playground moving to College Green and an inclusive water programme that celebrates the city’s harbour.
On Wednesday morning, organisers launched the return of the 2023 event with Mayor Marvin Rees and aspiring artists from Access Creative College.
For the launch, 18-year-old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Madara Plusa performed Massive Attack’s Teardrop, accompanied by 17-year-old guitarist, Jack Isgrove.
The performers were also joined by fellow students 21-year-old Shaye Stewart, a gospel musician, pianist, and producer currently studying Access’ Artist Development course, and 18-year-old DJ Fitz, a music producer and DJ studying Music Production.
Attracting over 250,000 visitors to enjoy over one mile of entertainment, the festival will feature a huge range of local talent, world-class circus, music acts and on the water activity from cardboard boat races to high octane jetpack stunts.
With five areas filled with music and entertainment, Bristol Harbour Festival fans can look forward to five performance platforms, bringing beats, boats and backflips to the summer extravaganza. Cirque Bijou will once again be bringing tricks and trapeze, children’s entertainment and pop-up performances at the Circus Playground which will now take pride of place at a brand-new city green space, College Green.
The Jelli Shack will take over Millenium Square, providing chill-out beach-bar vibes with an acoustic programme brought to you by the team at Jelli Records. Featuring an abundance of Bristol talent, the Jelli Shack will also have dodgems and refreshments, making this a ultimate spot to bask in the sunshine.
The Amphitheatre will become a great spot to enjoy a bite from the Food Court with music from Access Creative College, Ujima Radio and BCFM Radio as it becomes Harbour View. The perfect place to promenade alongside moored vessels and look out onto the stunning setting of Bristol’s floating harbour. It’s time to pull up a picnic bench and soak up the summer vibes.
On the Water entertainment will return to the Harbour Festival, bringing the water at the heart of our city to life with activities showcasing maritime magic from jet ski stunts to the iconic Pyrounaut showing off its skills.
Bristol’s Georgian Queen Square will transform into the Music Quarter; curated by Harbour Festival programming legend, Tony Benjamin. This space will kick start the festival on Friday night and will also feature the brightest talent from Access Creative College alongside established acts.
The festival has opened its annual Expression of Interest for those wanting to perform and get involved with the festival this year, hoping to attract the newest and coolest into the festival from all over corners of the city once again. With a large number of performers coming through the EOI form last year, applications are open to everyone and anyone looking to share their talent.
Access Ceative College has been providing creative education in Bristol for more than 20 years, offering full-time vocational courses in music, events, games design, computing, Esports, graphic design, film, and photography.
The college has a strong focus on diversity and inclusion, ensuring students, irrespective of background, successfully develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviours to thrive in the creative and sporting sectors.
Achievement rates are above national benchmarks and progression to higher education from socially disadvantaged backgrounds are double the nation average.
Bristol Harbour Festival’s new and reformed festival is brought to the city by Bristol City Council. The Circus Playground is supported and funded by the High Street Recovery Fund.
To keep up to date with all Harbour Festival news and updates, follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or visit the website.
ENDS
Originally posted on: www.carnsight.com
There are countless benefits to having a strong social media presence. In 2021, 55% of consumers learned about new brands through a business’s social accounts (SproutSocial, 2021). In today’s blog, I am going to share six reasons why it’s important for businesses to invest in a strong strategy. From reaching a wider audience to keeping up with industry trends. Even small businesses will benefit from investing in social media.
Social media is a great way to reach a wider audience. This process is simple. The more places your business shows up, the more exposure you receive. This can increase reach, engagement and ultimately, revenue. It’s important to keep in mind that different platforms have different purposes. So not every platform will be suitable for you. A good social media team will advise you on what platform/s is right for you.
Social media works wonders in increasing brand awareness. It creates an opportunity for businesses to share consistent, on-brand content with their followers. Being able to connect with customers in real time allows businesses to build customer loyalty and trust while increasing customer retention.
The way your business deals with negative feedback is important and social media is also a wonderful way for businesses to show what your brand stands for by listening to the concerns of your audience and then working on making improvements.
Social media is constantly changing and having a presence means that you can keep an eye on industry trends. This allows your business to appear dynamic, modern and able to adapt to the ever-changing needs of your customer base.
Choosing the right social media management team is equally as important for your business. There are countless companies offering services at budget prices that may seem tempting to smaller businesses looking to save on marketing expenses. An experienced team will provide:
An experienced team will hold a deep understanding of social media platforms, and algorithms and will be able to identify target audiences. If your business is in a more niche industry, a good team will complete thorough research before beginning on a strategy and will continue with this approach when creating content – something you won’t get if you opt for a more budget service provider.
If your company is already investing in PR and they also offer social media services, consider having them manage your accounts as well. They will already know your business inside out which means that social content will link up to PR and other messages that you want to get out there. They will be more likely to provide content that is on-brand and perfectly tailored to your business goals.
Being consistent in content creation, posting and engagement is important, and a good management team will be able to provide all of this at the highest level. Make sure that your team aren’t going days on end without posting. They should be responsive, and able to react to current events.
Need help managing your social media channels? Get in touch to see how Carnsight can up help you boost your strategy and ultimately achieve your business goals.
Originally posted on: www.carnsight.com
This question came out of a really interesting podcast with Tom Lewis – Agency ownership models are everything. It’s primarily about the advertising agency model and how Tom sees it in a state of decline. My career started in adland before I moved into PR, and when I worked with Tom he was CFO and I was in client services. Ad agencies are set up slightly differently to PR agencies or consultancies, but there are similarities. We’re both service businesses and the relationships we have with clients are much the same. And one question arose (amongst many interesting areas) – can agencies ever truly work in “partnership” with a client?
I’m certainly someone who uses the word “partnership”– we like to talk about working with our clients as partners. But one of the podcast hosts argued that clients and agencies could never be true partners, because the relationship is never on an even footing. One pays the other for a service and that will always be the model. That’s no basis for a partnership.
It’s certainly a straightforward way of looking at it. And, having worked in service businesses for over two decades, I’ve experienced first-hand that many of the client/agency relationships have felt very uneven and unbalanced. There was often a sense of master/servant and we wouldn’t have considered the clients our “partners”.
But, that’s not true of every client/agency relationship. And, importantly, partners has more than one definition. One financial definition of partners is “persons carrying on a business in common with a view of profit”. Agencies and clients might not be based in the same business, but they should be working “in common with a view of profit”. They should have a shared goal, and ultimately, that will be a financial one. That definition is certainly closer to the partnerships I try and achieve with clients. The word “common” is key for me. Clients and agencies should be pulling together, united in objectives that are, ultimately, mutually beneficial.
I’ve always found that the best results come from working together, respectfully. As a consultant or agency, you must respect the client’s business, goals and knowledge. As a client, they should respect your expertise, experience and ability to achieve results.
Keeping an open dialogue is an important part of any good client/agency relationship. Both sides must ask questions and listen to answers. Trust is key, and that might be trust that’s earned over time, rather than gifted instantly (which is one of the reasons we always start off with a three-month trial with clients).
Crucially, if you’re going to work together well, a relationship needs to be forged, and the best relationships see you working alongside each other, I’d argue, as partners. That means being honest with each other, and discussing the fundamentals as a team. In the past, agency make up and models have meant we haven’t been able to walk away from a client that doesn’t work with us in this way. But at Carnsight, that’s not the case.
So for me, a client/agency partnership in this spirit isn’t just nice to have. It’s an essential.
Is your small business wanting to start PR without blowing big budgets? Read our blog for top tips on PR for small businesses.
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