PR and Communications Archives -

We’re back

chris@precisionpr.co.uk — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 17:56:32 +0000

Precision PR is once again accepting new projects

After a couple of years during which we had to scale back our activities, we’re now able to stat accepting new projects. We’re available for content creation, PR consultancy and sustainability programmes.

At some point soon, we’ll be available to take on new websites and full PR programmes again. Chris and Cary are both healthy again, and we’re rebuilding our team of associates and specialists. So if you’re looking for a specialist in digital imaging, medical imaging, services to dentistry, practice management software or sustainability, please get in contact. We’ll be happy to discuss your requirements and how we might held.

Please email chris@precisionpr.co.uk or call +447432 189149.

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Double celebration for Enspec

chris@precisionpr.co.uk — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 15:20:41 +0000

Enspec stays safe during lock-down and celebrates with an honour for director David Jones

Power quality engineering specialists, Enspec Power Limited, today announced that David Jones, company director and joint founder of Enspec, has been made a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology for his contribution to the work of the IET in inspiring, informing and influencing the global engineering community to engineer a better world.

David Jones, Fellow of the IET and Director of Enspec Power Ltd

David’s many contributions to engineering include developing the company’s industrial energy-saving equipment and power quality solutions as well as developing safe working practices, such as those needed through the COVID-19 lock-down. He has been successfully co-running Enspec for over 20 years, and was the driving force behind Enspec’s initial development into equipment manufacturing. David (49), said; “This is a great honour which reflects the work ethic and innovation culture we’ve created at Enspec. Our philosophy has always been to help clients to improve their processes, to save them money and increase their profitability, which we can do as electrical engineers.”

That work ethic and culture allowed Enspec not only to protect the jobs of all its staff during lock-down, but to find new practices to deliver existing projects on time and even win new business. David continued; “We are involved in a number of major engineering projects that realistically couldn’t be paused, so we immediately had to develop new safe working practices. Much of our industry shut down for at least two months. Although we had to pause manufacturing for a few weeks while we made adjustments that met Government guidance, we were able to implement home working for management and engineering staff very quickly, which meant that we have been able to fulfil all our contractual commitments and retain all our staff.”

Enspec uses a cloud-based IT infrastructure that enabled an immediate switch to home working. A vehicle single occupancy travel policy further reduces cross-infection risks between staff. At the company’s manufacturing site in Washington, Tyne and Wear, Enspec has implemented hand sanitising stations, PPE and shifts, allowing for a prompt return to work – some manufacturing staff were furloughed for a short period while these changes were implemented.

David said; “As well as needing to find safe ways to continue working, we had staff whose partners work in frontline roles, so they needed support to be at home to care for their children. We also put in place processes to support staff who fell ill or were self-isolating, but I’m thankful that we’ve not needed to use them.” To date, none of Enspec’s staff have reported COVID-19 symptoms. And the new practices mean the company is able to continue with plans to recruit two new apprentices during the summer.

//-ends-//

Notes to Editors

About Enspec Power

Enspec helps organisations to make money and to save money – professional engineers can do this! It offers specialist engineered products and services such as Power System Studies, Power Factor Correction, Harmonic Filters, Reactive Compensation, Point-on-Wave Switching and Site Services. The company helps all manner of heavy electricity users such as utilities and renewables, oil and gas, manufacturing and other industries.

Enspec has been making businesses more profitable since 1998 when its sibling founders, fed up with the bureaucracy of larger organisations, decided to go it alone and set up a friendly, flexible engineering company.

Two decades on, the Enspec team is still a friendly bunch and one of the UK’s leading independent specialists in power quality engineering. The team really understands electrical power systems and is passionate about what it does and what’s happening in the wider world of technology.

Enspec is a progressive member of The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) with links to academia – so if the team don’t have the immediate answers, chances are they know someone that does.

You can find more about Enspec Power Limited at: https://www.enspecpower.com/

For more information about digital, traditional and hybrid PR campaigns, please contact us by email or call Chris on 07432 189149 (please leave a message if not immediately available)

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Cary in the press

chris@precisionpr.co.uk — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 15:17:16 +0000

The world looks different from my ivory tower

Cary Cray Webb – recently published in the BDJ-Team magazine

Cary has been in the press again, this time writing for the BDJ-Team magazine about working in Special Care Dentistry and the switch from nursing to admin.

Her role is to manage referrals into a special care dentistry service. It’s a new service to Cambridge CDS (CCDS), allowing all the referrals for CCDS to be centralised and handled by one hub, and for the initial pre-assessment appointments to be made by one team.

Taking on a newly created role has meant facing the challenge of learning new IT systems, developing the procedures needed to run the service every day, and then teaching it all to two junior staff. I’m also responsible for advising people with problems accessing the service, dealing with complaints, and some telephone triage of my service and the minor oral surgery service.

You can find the full article at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41407-019-0209-0

Precision PR and Dentistry

We are a rare beast amongst PR agencies. Our directors have between them decades of PR experience, years of understanding digital and medical imaging technologies, and a genuine, up-to-date GDC Registration number! So if you want to work with a marketing agency that knows how to tell your dental technology story, better contact us by calling Chris on 07432 189149 or emailing cary@precisionpr.co.uk

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One couple’s day out in Birmingham – at the BDIA Showcase

chris@precisionpr.co.uk — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 12:57:54 +0000

A review: BDIA Showcase, NEC, 17th-19th October

Apparently, people we know think we’re a bit weird. “What are you doing this weekend?” they ask. “We’re going to the BDIA Showcase at the NEC,” we reply. “Oh! Why?”

Why indeed? Including the trip to Colchester to drop our youngest son at his brother’s house for the day, the NEC is 156 miles from home. So it better be worthwhile as we’re investing a whole Saturday.

After Cary’s obligatory McDonald’s breakfast (amazing what she’ll agree to for one of these) and a stop off at the surprisingly pleasant M6 Corley services, we hit a bum note.

We arrived at the NEC as planned just after 11:00 am. And it seems that the entire UK caravan and motorhome community chose the self-same time to visit their trade show. A queue to get onto the site, queues for the carparks, queues for the transfer bus. Not a good start to the day.

We finally made it into the building just before noon, and dodged the bag search. NEC, please take note – Security didn’t have their A-team on duty. It was then an easy walk to Hall 3. The bus driver had announced Hall 5, but he wasn’t part of the A-team either.

Bags we collected at the BDIA Showcase (but NOT at the entrance). We think one is cool, one is ‘hot’, and the other we would be very happy to quote for new artwork.

First impressions

Registration was in the hall entrance. This is a good thing as you don’t have to wander around the atrium trying to work out how to register and get in. Note – the A-team weren’t issuing the passes, but it was such a simple process they couldn’t muck it up too badly.

Walking in, the walkways were clear, straight and wide, decorated with a pleasant cerise carpet. BUT no pre-made packs, no goody bags, and the show guides seemed hidden (we found ours on the way out!).

Plenty of space for the ‘crowds’

Crowds

‘Crowd’ might be a bit of an exaggeration. We spoke to several exhibitors who said Saturday was the busiest day, but it certainly wasn’t what you’d describe as crowded. One said he thought seriously about pulling out of Saturday as Thursday and Friday had been so quiet. Others thought Thursday had been acceptably busy, but that Friday was a write-off.

Halls 3 & 3a are not the biggest halls at the NEC, and it was difficult to see how much had been occupied by the show. There were several theatres which were large, and these made it difficult to see how much space was used. We certainly don’t think the halls were fully utilised. That said, the back of the exhibition was very close to the back doors.

Exciting new things!

Well, more like one exciting new thing. 3D-Printing is about to come of age in dentistry. We spoke to a couple of suppliers of 3D-Printing kit who told us that a number of processes and materials have been approved by the FDA for use in the United States. Certification is currently underway in Europe, and once complete, 3D-Printing will be available to both laboratories and dentists for making appliances such as dentures and clear aligners.

Beyond that, there wasn’t anything particularly exciting to shout about.

We only found Dentally, SFD & SOE out of the PMS suppliers

Things that were missing

Carestream! Not a sign of them. They were completely absent. So were all the practice management software vendors apart from Software of Excellence, Dentally and Systems for Dentists. If anyone else was there we couldn’t find them – which amounts to the same thing (only more expensive).

Several of the big kit suppliers were also missing, though several others were exhibiting (Planmecca, Durr, Belmont, Acteon, etc).

Nobody had ‘stupid’ attention-seeking stands either – certainly no scantily clad Santas or inexplicable ‘dwarfs’.

The MOD recruitment stand was empty too, which was a shame as we wanted to talk to them. Right at the back of the show, they probably gave up after the poor audience on Thursday and Friday.

SFD’s goody bag – we think they’ve read what we have to say about branding your exhibition investment

Conclusion

We went to the BDIA Showcase last year at the London Excel, and we thought that was a great show. This wasn’t. The audience was poor, and exhibitors were relatively thin on the ground.

Did we achieve our aims? Yes. We met the two organisations we had planned meetings with and our discussions will progress. The fact that the crowds were so thin on the ground probably helped. We also had a chat with a few other interesting organisations. But if we had been going for some other purpose I don’t know that we would have thought the show a success.

Shows rise and fall in a complex cycle. Each grows through investment, success and rinsing phases.

In the investment stage, the organiser goes above and beyond to create a ‘show brand’.
In the success phase, they deliver on their promises – audience, promotion, value.
In the rinsing stage, they believe the brand is self-supporting – pricing creeps up, promotion slows down and value plummets.

SOE Piggy Banks – the cutest give-away we found

The BDIA showcase at the NEC is in serious danger of moving into the rinsing phase. I would recommend to the organisers (and to exhibitors) to ignore the NEC and focus on London Excel.

A note to all organisers

Dentists earn money by seeing patients. Some of them earn A LOT of money. If you want them to give up money to attend, better make it worth their while and tell them WHY they should be there. The same applies to persuading them to send their staff during the week. And also the staff themselves if you want them to attend on a Saturday.

Likewise, picking a date during a major religious festival (Diwali) celebrated by a significant part of your target audience is dim.

Some parts of the BDIA Showcase were busy

Are exhibitions in fashion?

Outside of the efforts of individual shows, exhibitions as a whole go through a success cycle.

We’re not entirely sure where they are in the UK. Some shows are succeeding, some aren’t. They are definitely doing well in consumer markets – B2B is more of a mixed bag.

On the continent, European mega-shows in Holland, Belgium and Germany look like they are maintaining their popularity and value.

But what do you do if you are focused on the UK market? If you’re not a European-wide brand, the pan-continental mega-shows are just too expensive, and the audience too disparate.

1st class (Hons) in Fine Art (ceramics and sculpture), but 4:58 to complete a child’s puzzle – Cary on the stand of of Morris & Co (specialist dental accountants)

Our advice

We continue to recommend that dental businesses exhibit. However, we would suggest that the London Dentistry Show and BDIA Showcase in London are better exhibitions than BDIA Showcase at the NEC.

The organisers of the Dentistry Show at the NEC during the spring have assured us that they are taking action to correct the deficiencies of this year’s show, and that may well make it a recommendable show next year.

But at the moment, we recommend using your exhibition budget to also create your own smaller events. More effort – possibly. More manpower needed – definitely. But success will be due to YOUR marketing efforts, and focus will be on YOU.

So what do you think?

If you attended or exhibited at the BDIA Showcase at the NEC, we would love to hear your views. Contact us at cary@precisionpr.co.uk or call Chris on 07432 189149.

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3D-Printers everywhere – a review of the TCT Show

dawn0206 — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 13:43:16 +0000

My impression of the TCT Show, September 2019

I’ve been to many CAD/CAM and Manufacturing shows, but I think yesterday was my first visit to the TCT Show in Birmingham’s NEC.

The TCT Show – busy on Tuesday & Wednesday – not so busy on Thursday pm

The show ran from Tuesday 24th to Thursday 26th September. I chose to visit on the last day because I hoped it would be quiet. However, I wasn’t quite prepared for how quiet it was. Admittedly I didn’t arrive unto after 12:15 (due to an argument with an ‘upgrade’ on my ‘phone), but it was very quiet. Good news is that Wednesday had been very busy, and Tuesday was also reasonably brisk.

The organisers had chosen Halls 3 and 3a, and the show certainly didn’t seem lost in the space. Most of the 137 exhibitors had decent sized stands. One or two were spectacular (Stratasys probably won that little battle), but most were not overpowering and were nicely put together.

A point I must take issue with is the organisers claim on the website that there were 300 exhibitors. If there were, then 163 didn’t make entries in the catalogue. In fairness though, something that I quite liked was that several of the big stands had a lead-brand and then a number of others making-up their ecosystem to provide a more complete service offering. So if that’s how they reached their total of 300 exhibitors then maybe, but I think it’s a hard claim to justify, as is (I suspect) the 10,000+ visitors they claim. But that’s just a niggle worth remembering when you negotiate for a stand next year.

A benefit (for me) of the show being quiet was that people staffing the exhibition stands were not pushed for time and were happy to talk, even though they knew I was ‘selling and learning’.

3D-Printing

The theme that dominated the show was without doubt 3D-Printing. The SLA models I first wrote about 20+ years ago are still there, but they have been joined by a range of other techniques. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, but the most astonishing to me were the systems that print in metal.
Laser sintering of metal has really taken off, with exhibitors displaying aircraft components in titanium, jewellery in gold and many other amazingly complex items that would be impossible to make economically any way other than using 3D-printing technology.

There will always be a place for 4 and 5-axis milling devices. One of them has been an area I’m currently very familiar with – dentistry. However, I even saw one company (Zortrax) that was 3D-Printing dental crowns and inlays. It appears that the range of applications for 3D-Printing is bounded only by what people are prepared to try.

Other Technologies

Another technique that intrigued me was the layered wire system demonstrated by Cranfield University. This technique builds high strength items by layering wire and welding it together. They had a very impressive story to tell.

There were also a number of people demonstrating milling and cutting systems, but I’m a ‘software guy’ at heart, and I was disappointed by the lack (or at least visibility) of CAD systems on show. But I was taken by Open Mind Technologies and their hyperMILL system. This is a focused CAM system. Yes, it reads CAD designs, and yes, it can modify them. But it is focused on making a design manufacturable – turning designs into practical tool-paths that work in a production environment. I like that approach, and it is rare to find a CAD/CAM/CAE vendor leading with the CAM component.

Other stuff

Catering seemed adequate, but it’s difficult to judge with so few people there. But the coffee stall smelled very nice. Less pleasant was the £16 parking fee.
Again, probably because I was there on a quiet day, the busses had seats available, the car park had places to park, and there were no traffic issues with getting off the site – I’m going to start going to the NEC for the last afternoon of shows in future.

I didn’t go to any lectures or presentations, but there was a full programme, so well done to the organisers.

Another nice touch was the TCT Connect meeting area. I didn’t use this because I wasn’t sure what time I’d be at the show, but I’m certainly going to try it next year. Essentially, when you register, you can book a meeting table on the TCT Connect stand and meet exhibitors etc (if they agree) in a quiet, more relaxed space than their stand. Again, they were empty on Thursday, but full on Wednesday – worth a thought for next year.

Yokogawa flow meter

Flow meters on display

My badge for TCT also allowed me to enter ‘Sensors & Instrumentation Live’ next door in Hall 2. This was a small exhibition with about 50 stands. It was running over Wednesday and Thursday and was pretty dead by the time I went in on late Thursday afternoon.

I heard very different opinions about how busy it was from different exhibitors. One chap I spoke to on a stand that was near the entrance said it had been very quiet for both days. Whereas a stand tucked away, right at the back of the hall, told me they had only just slowed down having been busy both days.

Because of the work I’ve done in the past (with Yokogawa), I guess I’m attuned to flow meters, but there did seem to be a lot of people showing flow meters. I really only registered pressure sensors and electronic test equipment beyond this, but I was very impressed by a circuit testing system shown by Devtank. Top Hex’s interfacing system was also of interest, and they certainly had the best presented stand in ‘Sensors & Instrumentation Live’.

So, worth driving 125 miles?

Yes, I’d say so. Even though I was streaming with cold and the person I specifically went to see wasn’t expecting me, and even though my ‘phone was trying to get me to launch it across the half-empty car park, I had a really good afternoon. I learned a lot and met some very nice, unhurried and friendly people prepared to give their time to explain their products, and to discuss any possibilities of working with Precision PR in the future.
And attending on the last afternoon is a strategy I will be following again and would recommend to others.

Precision PR in Computer-Aided Manufacturing

Chris Webb has been working with manufacturing, logistics and engineering design systems since 1984. Having worked on brands such as SDRC-IDEAS, Solidworks, CATIA, Epson, Brother, SSI, SSA, QAD and Adatsys (and many others) he has an excellent understanding of engineering and manufacturing processes, and some great press contacts. For more information, contact us on 07432 189149 or email chris@precisionpr.co.uk

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Case Study: Pearl Dental Software

chris@precisionpr.co.uk — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 18:46:04 +0000

New product, new image

BHA Software‘s dental practice management software, Pearl, is well established. In fact, it’s the third most used product of its type in the UK. However, because the company had always sold Pearl through word of mouth, it had received very little marketing investment and simply didn’t look the part.

Early in 2017, work was well advanced on a new version of Pearl, boldly named Pearl Dental Software. The established ‘Pearl Plus’ had reached the end of its development life and was built on a old-style architecture. With new work patterns emerging and many regulatory changes expected within dentistry, Pearl Dental Software needed to provide up-to-date features built on the latest development tools and based on a cloud architecture.

Such a major change in the product would be bound to cause some customer concern. So, the new product needed to be good. It also needed to tell users and potential customers it was good too. For BHA, it was time to invest in marketing.

A partnership is born

Also in early 2017, Cary Cray-Webb (a registered dental nurse and nurse-tutor) and Chris Webb (a technology PR professional for nearly 30-years) decided that it was time for some creative thinking of their own. Chris had spent years managing in-house PR teams to create some highly successful communications campaigns. He had also spent years working for PR agencies and freelancing. Read more about us.

Precision started business development activities and was soon in touch with BHA Software. BHA requested a proposal. After a visit to BHA’s office in Leicester, the deal was sealed for a content-based social media campaign.

Precision would help BHA build LinkedIn profiles and attract members of the dental profession to connect. BHA’s profiles would then share content, such as case studies, opinion pieces and articles from the Pearl website. This would develop the company’s visibility and credibility, and drive traffic to the website. There was only one flaw in the campaign plan – the website.

A fresh look

Unfortunately, the Pearl website was not up to the job. It looked, shall we say, ‘unattractive’. Worse still, it didn’t actually have the capability to curate the content necessary for the social media campaign. A new website was needed. One that looked fresh, reflected and described the product, and that could ‘compete’ with the websites of competitive products.

Working with Precision’s associate website designer, Dawn Li, Chris drew-up a specification for the new website. BHA quickly accepted the proposal. Development was scheduled for the site to be in place in time for the official launch of Pearl Dental Software – in just a few weeks.

The new site was built on the WordPress platform. This provided three key advantages:

Easy to maintain
Easy to develop further in the future
Easy to curate and share content for social media

While the new website was being built, content for the social media campaign was posted directly to LinkedIn or hosted on the Precision PR site. This was transferred to the new website ‘Opinions and Ideas’ section once the site was completed.

Branding

Creating a new website soon became the lead element of a full-on re-branding exercise. Dawn recommended that the Pearl logo needed updating. It needed to show that Pearl Dental Software was a new product – not just a re-platforming of Pearl Plus. Precision PR treated her design as an integral part of the project – other agencies might have chosen to charge for it as a separate project.

BHA quickly adopted and adapted the new logo for the product itself. Pearl Dental Software was starting to look as good as it is functional.

A wider remit

The new website was universally viewed as a success. As well as posting on LinkedIn the campaign was broadened to Twitter, and (to an extent) Facebook (each social media platform needs its own approach, so curated content designed for one doesn’t always work on the others).

The key purposes of the campaign were defined as retention of existing customers, and encouraging migration from Pearl Plus to Pearl Dental Software. Precision PR recommended regular newsletters to BHA’s several hundred of user contacts. The same curated content could be sent directly to the people who use and love Pearl Plus. And the message that Pearl Dental Software is even better would get to the people who need to hear it most.

Working with Charlotte Taylor, Marketing Manager at BHA, Precision started designing and editing newsletters. These were sent through Mailchimp, and eventually also taking on the distribution process. These were eventually going out every two months. However, a new plan (launching 2019) will see monthly ‘technical updates’ about the product itself. Newsletters, sent quarterly, will deal with issues and stories from the world of dentistry and dental software.

Precision also works with press and publishers on behalf of BHA. All advertising now goes through Precision who maintain relationships with the key industry publishers and event organisers. As Ben Baker, MD of BHA, says; “This means that we act strategically with advertising and exhibitions. Salespeople no-longer bombard us with calls, trying to fill up an issue. But we still maintain a relationship with the publishers. Precision assesses each opportunity and passes on their recommendations. We can select from options we already know are worth considering.”

A star is born?

At the launch of Pearl Dental Software, Precision PR suggested that video would help customers understand the changes. Precision set-about managing the production of three short videos. They needed to be very ‘personal’, describing why the new product was necessary, what it was capable of doing, and how it would help customers. Ben Baker supplied the personal element.

“I think I’ve met all of our customers and most of their staff,” says Ben. “We wanted to talk to them directly, but individual meetings were going to be impossible. I hate doing things like this, but Chris persuaded me that video would solve the problem.”

Scripts were written, and a production team hired. A customer, JDRM, offered the use of a surgery in Coalville for the filming.

“I think you can see the difference in what we filmed before and after lunch,” says Ben. “It took me a while to relax in front of the camera, and we had to do some editing where I fluffed my lines. But I think the finished videos worked well with our users. Professional enough to be credible, but with me being me as well.”

Now and the future

In total, Precision PR provides about 5-days consultancy each month to BHA Software, plus weekly social media reports and a monthly planning meeting.

At time-of-writing, Precision PR has supported the marketing efforts for Pearl Dental Software for a little over two years. The work includes content creation, PR (media relations and social media), advertising, website maintenance, direct mail (newsletters and updates) and strategic advice.

Pearl or articles related to the product has appeared in several trade publications and journals (including The Probe and BDJ-Team). New customer signings are on the rise (including for the first time, practice chains). The number practices moving elsewhere has slowed to a trickle. All new and more than half of BHA customers are on Pearl Dental Software. And there is a queue of Pearl Plus users planning migrations.

Recommendation?

Ben Baker

So what does Ben Baker think of Precision PR?

“Precision PR opened our eyes to what could be done with marketing. They provide us with very cost-effective campaigns and don’t expect us to continually payout for extras. What they quote is what they charge. This predictability is really important for a small company such as BHA. Cary’s inside knowledge of, and opinions about dentistry are always useful. And Chris has dealt with companies of all sizes, creating many different campaigns for a range of technologies. So they always have ideas for both marketing and the product. I would thoroughly recommend Precision PR Limited to any technology business.”

More information

For more information, or for a chat about how Precision PR could help your business improve its brand, marketing and communications, please go to the call us page, call Chris on 07432 189149 or email chris@chrisprecisionpr.co.uk

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Case Study: Heditude 2019

chris@precisionpr.co.uk — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 14:02:10 +0000

Once upon a time in a rural Essex village …

Heditude is a community music festival. It’s the vision of a local man, Aaron Stevens. But it was brought to life by a small band of his friends – and Precision PR Limited. This is the story of how a bit of marketing discipline can turn a little dream into a successful music festival attracting 800 people and raising a four-figure sum for charities – even though it rained.

How Precision got involved

Facebook is the simple answer. When the organising team initially worked out what they needed to do, one thing that was obvious was a website. Precision PR was a brand new business at the time. As we are based in Sible Hedingham (the home of Heditude) we responded to a request for help.

Nothing much happened initially, and we thought we’d been lost in a wave of enthusiasm to get involved. But eventually, the organisers asked us to meet, agree on terms and define a brief for the site.

Our initial task was to build a WordPress website. This had to carry all the public notices and a description of the event. We advised on the addition of a number of pages and built the initial site. We also advised that we should also create a blog page for announcements and news stories that could be distributed through social media, leading readers back to the website where they could also get supporting information.

What happened next?

With the site up and running we started building content, such as announcements about the bands as they were signed, and about things such as tickets. It quickly became apparent that many people wanted to buy their tickets online, particularly if they lived outside of Sible Hedingham.

The Outside Chancers – Heditude 2019

We looked at plug-ins so we could manage this on the site, but that was going to be too complicated on the available budget, so we instead recommended setting-up an account with Eventbrite. Whilst this meant that Eventbrite took a cut, managing online sales was incredibly simple, and all that was needed to promote these sales was a blog or Facebook post that included a link the Eventbrite page.

Another bright idea was the creation of a second stage for acoustic acts. This means that Heditude can allow the sound crew 30 minutes to turn-around the Main Stage. But the music never stops – it just gets a bit more gentle while the next group gets ready.

Were we successful?

Point Clear – Heditude 2019

Yes. We sold one-third of advance tickets through Eventbrite and helped get 700 people to Heditude 2018. We also caught the attention of the local press, generating a full double-page centre-spread in the Halstead Gazette and further stories about the bands before the event and about the charity donations afterwards. All told, Heditude 2018 was able to donate £1,100 to charities – the first year of Heditude.

And this year?

Heditude asked us back for Heditude 2019. We were asked to update and manage the website (www.heditude.org) and generate news coverage. We also ran the Eventbrite site again and added direct mailing to promote ticket sales to people that bought tickets for the 2018 event, contributing to the total of about 800 people who attended (more than 10% of the combined populations of Castle Hedingham and Sible Hedingham).

‘Missy Lou’ of Hargreaves at Heditude 2019

We worked with our partners at East West Design to redesign and refresh the website. We also created commercially usable copies of the Heditude logo (so it could be ‘multi-purposed’ and reproduced accurately). Finally, we created a series of posters and fliers, together with a matching programme for the event. We wrote, designed and laid-out the programme – and we even sold a bit of advertising space for it. And to cap it off, we’ve been running market research through a simple, low-cost Survey Monkey survey to find out all we can about why and how people bought their tickets.

What about the weather?

Tracey Ashmead, Heditude event secretary, said; “Initial figures suggest we have made a similar amount to last year, maybe slightly more. That would suggest ticket sales were higher as we weren’t charging in advance for U12’s this year, yet money taken is about the same. But we still have money and donations coming in. So all in all (bearing in mind the rainy weather) a very successful and enjoyable day.

Ska-Mite doing what they do best – the clue’s in the name!

“There’s no-doubt that Precision PR played a big part in ensuring Heditude was successful last year and that it grew this year, despite the weather.”

For 2019, Precision PR achieved a 5.1% uplift in Eventbrite sales (despite lower ticket prices), coverage by several ‘Festival’ websites, created multiple news stories in local papers, and once again (with the help of two of our regular local freelance photographers) had another centre-spread in The Halstead Gazette.

What does this mean for you?

One of the areas of PR in which we have much experience is communications around events. We’ve handled PR for dozens of organisations exhibiting at trade shows. We’ve also handled one-off technology showcases and press events, and now at community music festivals. So if you have an event or an exhibition for which you would like PR and marketing support, please call Chris on 07432 189149 or email cary@precisionpr.co.uk

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Getting digital marketing right

chris@precisionpr.co.uk — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 17:10:05 +0000

Don’t shout – whisper

Digital PR and marketing apparently provide businesses with some distinct advantages over traditional methods. People will tell you that you can reach a bigger audience. Well, you sort of can, sometimes. But traditional media still has a massive reach.

They will also tell you that, you can more easily reach a better-targeted audience. Well, that’s true also true to an extent. But trade papers are by definition, read by people in the trade, and local papers by people who are local. So so don’t dismiss them as a targetted communications channel.

However, the biggest advantage of digital PR and marketing is ‘trackability’. They allow you to easily find out who you’ve reached and what effect your message has had. And this is the point.

Many people spend a great deal of time and money gathering data about who has seen their online marketing efforts. Some will then spend further time trying to work out what this means. However, the real key to success with digital marketing is continuously responding to the data to build your reputation and improve your marketing activities.

What to do

Tailoring your message to match the market is really difficult. It is too easy to believe that your vision is perfect and become so invested in it that you cannot make adjustments. You can have the best product in the world, but if your audience doesn’t understand what they will gain from buying it, then they won’t.

Success comes from cutting through the noise with a message that addresses the needs of the individual. So if your message doesn’t mean something to that individual it’s just part of the noise.

Let’s face it, you don’t really care if your competitor on the other side of town has a beautifully designed website. What you care about is getting more new customers or patients, and existing ones spending more money with you for premium services.

So work out what you need to do to let people know why they should trust you. In other words, what do they want to hear from you?

Show people that you are the expert in your field. That doesn’t mean just telling them – it means giving them reasons to believe. In other words, tell them something they will find useful.

Show them that you care passionately about your industry and profession. Let them see that you have pride in your work. In other words, demonstrate meaningful innovation and understanding of new developments.

Show them that you care about them. Focus on their needs and look at your business from their perspective. In other words, think how you would react to your message if they were sent to you by a competitor.

Show them others who you have carried out work for. Let them identify with those people and see that you are the right choice for them as well. In other words, put emphasis on testimonials and case studies that explain what you deliver.

And above all, don’t ‘sell’ to them. Digital marketing lets you cut to the sale so easily. But resist the temptation – give them space and time to ‘buy’ from you. In other words, people will only become happy customers or patients if they see real value in the products and services you offer.

In a world of shouting, the clearest sound is sometimes a whisper.

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Have you ever heard of Rehab4Addiction?

chris@precisionpr.co.uk — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 08:50:02 +0000

Advice for those seeking recovery from addiction

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a gentleman. He was asking me to provide a link to his website from the website of my band. Normally I consign such emails to the ‘blocked sender’ list. But this one caught my interest because of the song he mentioned, namely our recording of ‘When all you have is a hammer’ by Gretchen Peters.

For those unfamiliar with the song, it’s about a military veteran who deals with trauma he suffered by hitting the bottle.

So, I read his email again, called him and had a chat. I politely declined his initial request, and instead offered to write this blog post. Because, frankly, the song, his choice of it, and his backstory all resonated with events in the lives of people I know – including family.

So, what’s the score?

The gentleman’s name is Oliver Clark, and he helped set-up Rehab 4 Addiction to provide advice for people seeking drug and alcohol rehab clinics in the UK. Oliver told me that he got involved in the charity because of his own personal experiences.

Being a bit unthinking sometimes, I used to have an unsympathetic attitude towards addiction and alcoholism. But recently, I’ve realised how much damage was done to some of my family members by a crime committed against them. That’s led to a couple of them showing serious addictive tendencies. And then I thought about my wider family and realised that several others have had mental health problems and issues with alcohol, again in reaction to things that have happened to them through none of their own fault.

In fact, berievements and being on the receiving end of a serious crime has damaged several people I know, leaving mental scars such as depression and anxiety. And while I’m not aware of any family member having a drugs habit as a result, I do know a couple who consume more than a sensible amount of beer and whiskey. Others have had relationships collapse, trouble holding on to jobs and difficulties with education as a result of trauma.

I’m a fairly ordinary sort of person from an ordinary sort of family. So I have little doubt that my family’s experience of addiction and mental illness is nothing unusual.

So I thought I’d find out a bit more about Oliver’s charity, and help raise awareness (and SEO scores) by writing this blog post.

What does Rehab 4 Addiction do?

In a nutshell, Rehab 4 Addiction offers a free hotline dedicated to helping those suffering from drug, alcohol and mental health problems. Rehab 4 Addiction was founded in 2011 by people who overcame drug and alcohol addiction themselves. You can contact Rehab 4 Addiction on 0800 140 4690.

The charity facilitates admissions into over forty rehab clinics across the United Kingdom and internationally. Its advisors have extensive knowledge of a huge selection of alcohol rehab and drug rehab services throughout the UK and abroad. They create rehab programmes which cater to specific needs.

Mental health awareness

At the time I’m writing this it seems everybody (or at least every media outlet) is talking about mental health. Yet it still seems to be a taboo subject – somebody else’s problem. Well, I don’t think it is.

I’ve suffered anxiety and depression, so have several other members of my extended family, and some have resorted to alcohol to help forget the things that torment them. And I’m sure if you look around you’ll see people you know who have or are suffering mental health issues (major or minor). I think organisations such as Rehab 4 Addiction offer a very important source of help for those who can no longer cope with (or hide) their problems.

I’d like to thank Oliver Clark for contacting me. I hope my blog post helps to raise attention to Rehab 4 Addiction for both those who need its work and those who might like to support the charity.

If you would like to comment on the work of this charity and others performing a similar role, please contact me.

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Did you see ??? Cary in print

Cary Cray-Webb — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 10:18:03 +0000

Cary Cray Webb – recently published in the BDJ-Team magazine

Cary Cary-Webb in BDJ-Team

We’re very proud to be able to share an article from BDJ-Team. BDJ-Team is part of the British Dental Journal magazine series from Springer Nature. These titles are published on behalf of the British Dental Association.

https://www.nature.com/articles/bdjteam2018164

This is the FIRST article that Cary has written for a magazine in her own right. It deals with issues around staff retention and career development. She has since been commissioned to write another article which will appear in print early next year.

Please note – you may need to sign-up to BDJ-Team to read the full article, or you can find it on the BDJ page of LinkedIn.

For more information about our PR and content marketing services, or to commission articles by Cary, please call us on 07432 189149 or email cary@precisionpr.co.uk

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