This month it was announced that Manchester has officially been named the best city to be a landlord in the UK.

Roland Dransfield has been appointed by elite networking and events club The Manchester Sporting Club (MSC).

It is a given that, in today’s society, building your business’ online presence will kick start your journey to success and lead you well on your way to a thriving property scheme in a busy Manchester market.

In 2018 influencer marketing campaigns are firmly secured as the best way to reach your customers. With follower counts frequently in the 100,000s, Manchester influencers are the tool to focus on in your next campaign.

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to touch base with your target audience – you can do it en masse, you can tailor your messaging to ensure you’re getting your key points across, and you can almost guarantee that everyone will see your email popping into their inbox (which is great for brand awareness).

The UK’s property industry is thriving, and where industries thrive, content follows suit. It can be a full-time job keeping up to date with property news, whether you work regionally or nationally, so we thought we’d compile a list of the three best UK property news sites to follow in 2018 - one's that aren't necessarily on the same scale as The Guardian.

Less than a month after getting shortlisted for the Prolific North Awards 2018, we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve been shortlisted for the national UK Content Awards 2018.

Unlike most social media platforms, LinkedIn is not primarily used as a form of entertainment. It’s to share business news, scheme updates, and provide helpful information that meets your end-goal.

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve been shortlisted for the Prolific North Awards 2018, under the PR Agency of the Year category.

Roland Dransfield has been appointed by the Blackpool Pier Company to handle PR for the seaside resort’s illustrious North, South and Central Piers.

ROLAND Dransfield has been appointed by high-end fashion brand MANCUB to provide PR for the UK launch of the new fashion label.

In the wise words of everyone who works in the marketing sector – content is king.

Greater Manchester’s property sector is booming. Manchester has been named one of Europe’s fastest growing cities and demand for new property in and around the city has never been more evident.

In the Spring Statement, Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond has appointed his first wave of funding to help roll out high-speed broadband across the UK in a bid to upgrade the country’s digital infrastructure. Greater Manchester is one of the key regions that will feel the benefit of this.

Gaining media coverage for your Manchester-based commercial property scheme is a key way to get your scheme noticed on a huge scale.

It’s safe to say the Manchester property market is booming. Every day we’re seeing more and more commercial and residential buildings gracing our skyline, vying for lettings in market that’s continuously saturated.

Manchester Life is the joint venture between Manchester Council and the Abu Dhabi United Group, who own Manchester City FC, which is driving forward the development of Ancoats, New Islington and east Manchester.

A MIPIM first, Manchester and London will be partnering on an event to close out the week.

Manchester has always been years ahead of its time regarding technology. Without the exceptional Mancunians that have paved the way, we mightn’t have the resources we have today – from Google to Network Rail.

Networking at any major event can be a daunting and intricate affair – and MIPIM 2018 will be no different. You’re going to be surrounded by people who are after the exact same leads and new business contacts as you, so you have to bring your A game.

We’re not quite sure how, but MIPIM 2018 is back next month. Now you may already be setting up your meetings, putting together pitches and deciding which conferences to attend – but have you selected what MIPIM essentials you’ll need on your trip?

It’s the month of love! As it’s Valentine’s Day, we wanted to let you know how to give your Manchester commercial property scheme all the love it deserves this year!

What a difference a year makes. Just one year ago, the MIPIM Manchester delegation was out in force with exciting and hopeful plans to change the way we provide accommodation in Manchester, do business and socialise.

Whilst social media can be incredibly powerful, getting a campaign wrong can ruin a company’s reputation in seconds. 2017 was full of marketing fails from companies who usually get it so right. We’ve picked our 5 worst marketing campaigns of the year.

The hashtag is one of the great phenomena of our decade.

Social media marketing has been a mainstay for businesses for over a decade now and has become a necessary component to a successful online marketing strategy.

You’re going to have aims and goals for your property scheme – whether they’re to fill spaces or really embed your scheme into its new city. One way to achieve these aims and goals is by utilising social media platforms like Instagram.

We’re delighted to say that our Director, Lisa Morton, has been crowned PR & Marketing Personality of the Year at Downtown in Business’ Mancoolian Awards, 2018.

Over the past decade, LinkedIn has become an essential personal branding tool.

In a recent report from The Guardian, Build to Rent (BtR) schemes haven’t come out with a huge amount of hope for 2018 growth.

2.07 billion. That’s how many people are on Facebook as of quarter three of 2017. That equates to a whole lot of posts being shared every day – 293,000 a minute, if you’re interested.

It’s important that you give your commercial or residential scheme the best chance of success, and having sought-after trophies in your back pocket to showcase your scheme in the best possible light is a great way to do that.

Whatever you do, the world is watching… and in the social world of 2017 it couldn’t be truer.

Regardless of whether your commercial property scheme is in development or on its way to being fully-let, a great way to generate interest and amass a target audience is through social media.

If there are two things we know for certain, it’s that the Christmas season is officially underway, and BtR schemes are more popular than ever.

Mixed-use schemes are growing in popularity, particularly across the North West. From Altair in Altrincham to Rochdale Riverside in Rochdale, you only have to take a look at property news to see the huge explosion of mixed-use schemes across our region.

It’s that time of the year when 2018’s big property events are being talked about and planned – particularly MIPIM 2018. The partners have already been announced and property leaders from across Manchester are deciding what they’re going to get out of this year’s event.

A fantastic way to get your brand name well known in Manchester is by getting influencers and advocates onboard.

One of the key ways to ensure you maintain a healthy flow of business in a city like Manchester is through connections.

Congratulations, you received planning permission, developed your scheme and now you’re officially a brand new member of the city. Hurrah! We’re sorry to break it to you though, as your work is definitely not over.

If you’re thinking of north shoring your company to Manchester or you’ve already made the move, it’s important to know exactly how to market your brand to get the most exposure possible in your brand new city.

If there are two things we can be certain of in 2017, it’s that we’re never going to be short of a new residential scheme in the city, and people still REALLY love video content.

Manchester is the UK’s hottest property right now. With the influx of businesses north shoring and leap shoring, as well as the huge digital growth of our city, there’s never been a more opportunistic time to move to Manchester and begin marketing your brand here.

It’s hard to remember living in a world where thoughts weren’t conveyed via the use of a hashtag.

 

In this blog, we’ll look at some of the reasons why you should consider north shoring (or “leap shoring”) to the UK’s second city.

 

When planning an event for a client or for your own organisation, the most important thing to consider is the event’s purpose.  

When you put a lot of work into something, it can be disheartening to see it fail. A property scheme is not only a huge commercial investment, but it’s something that a developer, contractor or agent can take a huge personal investment in – you want to see your hard work pay off.

In this wonderful, online world that we’re currently inhabiting, content is constant. Whether you’re reading the news, watching a YouTube video or laughing at a tweet, you’re consuming content. It’s an unstoppable force.

Is your company online? We’d hope the answer to that is yes! With over 3.4bn internet users in 2016, it’s important to have an online social presence to really build your brand’s awareness. The best way to do this is by getting more followers on social media. 

Whether you’re developing your own build to rent (BtR) scheme or helping to manage one, the most important aspect should be getting it noticed. Getting people engaged with your scheme and drumming up interest are quintessential in its success.

Manchester-based PR and marketing agency Roland Dransfield has won a number of significant new retained accounts.

When writing a press release for any niche sector, it’s important to keep your audience in mind. For property journalists, the requirements for your press release totally depend on what type of development you’re covering.

We’re thrilled to have won the Small PR Agency of the Year award at the Prolific North Awards 2017.

Social media has become an unavoidable platform when looking at your marketing strategy. It allows your business and your stakeholders to interact with consumers and businesses like never before. With over a billion daily active users, you’re missing a massive opportunity to interact and grow your target audience.

Whether you have a huge library of content or simply post a couple of blog posts a month, there’s a strong chance you have copy that can be repurposed to give your site the exposure it deserves.

Video is becoming the most popular way we consume media online, and it's only set to grow. By the end of the year, Google has estimated that 87% of all web traffic will be video, meaning that you'll be falling behind your competition if you're not using it. Social media has accelerated this shift towards video marketing, with Facebook reporting over 100 million hours of video consumed per day in 2016.

Reputation management is a job that’s never done.

Another year, another BrightonSEO event. Throngs of SEO and content specialists from across the country congregated at the digital event of the year to gain insights into what’s ahead for the SEO world, and how to make the most of the tools we have at our disposal.

PR and marketing communications agency Roland Dransfield has announced a number of new client wins, following on from a successful visit to global property conference MIPIM.

Oh fake news, you nuisance. In 2016 and carrying on into 2017, fake news has been a huge talking point across the world.

Now that MIPIM, the property event of the year, has come and gone and you’ve had time to evaluate your time there, your effectiveness as an organisation, your preparation for the event and your presence both physically and socially, is there anything you would have done differently?

As the sun sets over Cannes and MIPIM for another year, our property PR team board their plane back to the UK and reflect on what has been one of the biggest and best conferences to date.

Yesterday, our Managing Director Lisa Morton (@lisam2301) and our Head of Media Alex Bell (@AWBell1985) caught up with Sir Howard Bernstein, Gary Neville, Rupert Goddard and Ian Simpson.

Public relations (PR) is the art of distributing information between a key individual or organisation, and a targeted audience through online, digital and media forums.

 

As MIPIM draws slowly closer, you’re going to want to have a social media plan to ensure you look relevant, attract attention from potential new contacts and can share your insights on the property event of the year.

Premier real estate event MIPIM is back again for another year, and with it come the most influential players from all sectors of the international property industry for four days of networking, learning and deal-making.

Spoiler – there’s no one size fits all approach. We know, we’re sorry.

PR and marketing communications agency Roland Dransfield has appointed Carolyn Lewis as online reputation manager to bolster its digital team. 

In the days before paid posts and advertising, the only way to be noticed in a content-driven world was through quality organic content with the hope that your followers would enjoy it and interact with it.

Social media management is a key aspect of your marketing strategy – it’s important to make sure that you have an active, relevant and results-driven social presence.

If there’s one thing that any company needs to be aware of, it’s their reputation. How you’re known and perceived within your industry is incredibly important for doing business.

It’s no secret that video is taking over the internet – it accounts for 74% of online consumption in 2017. A video is able to positively activate people’s emotional responses in a very small window of time, and as such they’re a great way to drum up business and get your brand name out to your intended audience.

Whether you’re trying to join the corporate world or you’re already a fully-fledged member, it’s important for your professional presence to be known – after all, social media dominates.

There’s nothing that stresses a company out more than having to handle a crisis in our increasingly social world. People don’t miss a beat in 2017.

One of the most iconic things about your website and brand are the images and visual identity that you choose to identify your company.

In June last year Instagram announced they would be offering a service for businesses – and rightly so. Created in 2010, the mobile photo and sharing app and social networking platform has over 500 million monthly active users and after hundreds of interviews with businesses the outcome was for the introduction of a business page.

If your company engages with external audiences, participates in media relations or could face a potential crisis then you need a spokesperson to respond to enquiries and represent the company.

New stories break on Twitter and reactions to those happen almost immediately. This is why it’s important for you to follow the right type of people.

Earlier this week Facebook officially began rolling out its new innovation - Facebook for Work. The new product offering is called Workplace by Facebook and has a fancy new logo and UX.

Facebook is confident that Workplace will work, but the biggest questions are, what are the benefits? And does your company need it?

It’s no surprise that companies who blog generate more traffic and more than half have won a customer through this activity. A blog that's updated regularly with interesting, relevant content attracts new and returning visitors.

You’re probably familiar with social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn, but do you know the difference between personal profiles and company pages?

Manchester PR and marketing agency Roland Dransfield has appointed experienced account manager Alexis Darby to support company growth following a series of client wins.

Renowned Manchester music personality Clint Boon will DJ at city centre networking event Suits & Vinyl this month.

Social media is more than just a way of contacting your friends or sharing photos - it’s a tool for doing business.

When the majority of us (57.7 per cent) voted to leave the European Union in June, we had no idea the impact this would have on British politics.

Infographics are simply graphic visual representations of information, allowing us to present information quickly and clearly.

The use of visual information has certainly boomed over that past few years and infographics have grown in popularity, proving successful for many businesses of all shapes and sizes.

When deciding to embark on PR activity, it’s important to be able to identify what is and isn’t a good story. What does a strong news story look like and what should you avoid?

A successful launch event can be extremely effective in building up awareness of your business and lending it credibility, but can often involve a lot of effort on the part of the organiser.

Whether you’re launching a new scheme, product or building, you’ll want to make sure you put on a good show. So in this guide, we explore things you need to consider when organising the perfect launch event.

We're delighted to have been awarded Best PR & Marketing Agency of the year at the City of Manchester Business Awards (COMBA) last night.

When companies launch their PR activity, the first task is to set goals which will evaluate the success of the campaign. The key to accurately and efficiently measuring the success of PR depends on choosing the correct metric to correspond with the objective of the PR activity.

Roland Dransfield were delighted to attend the launch of Beech Holdings’ new city centre headquarters last week.

 

A successful consultation event is the linchpin to any public engagement strategy regarding a planning application. A key tool in your community engagement arsenal, a consultation event gives stakeholders an opportunity to be part of the decision making processes, and provides the developer with a great way to showcase their plans and gather direct feedback.

Here are Roland Dransfield’s five top tips to make your consultation event a success.

Last week, we reported on what we learned from one of the UK’s finest search, analytics and social conferences, SAScon. Amongst a whole host of industry experts, one session that called to me was Laura Thomas’s (Head of Online Display at MediaCom) “Paid Social and the Quest for Creativity” talk, where she explored what it means to be creative and how technology is influencing us.

As part of the digital team, I’m always looking at new ways to push our team to be more creative and the thought that technology is empowering us to do so really interested me. So I delved in deeper to what this means for us and the industry.

RDPR's digital team was privileged to attend SAScon 2016 last week (June 17-18th).

For those of you who didn't manage to make it, we've put together some key points that we gleaned from some of the fantastic search and social speakers in their fascinating presentations.

Jam-packed with industry experts and insights, SAScon is billed as one of the UK's finest search, analytics and social conferences – and it certainly didn't disappoint.

So without further ado (and in no particular order), here’s twelve lessons we took away from the tech-filled two-day event:

RDPR’s digital team were delighted to attend SAScon 2016, held at MMU Business school last week.

Still revelling from some of the fantastic sessions and presentations on day one, we were excited to see what day two had in store for us.

A recurring theme of SAScon yesterday was the importance of understanding your customers' behaviour, knowing which platforms they use and the best tools to reach them.

Instagram is one of the fastest growing social networks, so it was only a matter of time until they developed an offering for businesses – after all, 50% of Instagram’s 450 million monthly active users follow a brand, and 60% learn of a brand or service through the app.

The Mail Online recently reported that a school spent £6,500 on Public Relations and legal teams to suppress rumours about a major playground brawl.

PR and marketing agency Roland Dransfield has announced a number of new client wins.

The Manchester-based company has out-pitched a number of agencies to successfully win significant accounts across a number of specialist sectors.

Doing PR within the property sector comes with a host of unique challenges and the dawn of digital has certainly had an impact on the way we work.  But what does this mean for successfully launching your new scheme to the market?

In this guide, we explore how a PR and social strategy is crucial to a successful lettings strategy whilst at the same time building a positive reputation for your property and your organisation.

Social Media is now more reliable for feedback than the traditional forms. It encourages direct, honest and frank comment from customers – unfortunately, these aren't always going to be positive.

It’s not always clear what the best course of action is when receiving negative comments and many managers today don’t know how to react appropriately or effectively.

Instead of ignoring these messages which could damage your brand, here are a few tips to help you manage negative posts on social media.

Prominent figures gathered to discuss Manchester’s instant and ongoing response to the IRA bomb that rocked the city centre 20 years ago.

The event, sponsored by Roland Dransfield, focused on major regeneration programmes that have since shaped the city, as well as people’s constant willingness to ‘make Manchester better’.

Twitter is consistently being promoted as the must-have social media platform for any business and there has been multiple success stories as to how Twitter has proven an unrivalled tool for brands.

It acts as a great way of keeping up with the latest news and trends and has essential turned into a competitive weapon. In this guide, we've compiled the main benefits of Twitter, with some comparisons to its main competitor Facebook.

You may have already read our guide on why your business should use GIFs on social media but for those of you who missed it, let’s take a quick recap:

GIFs (or Graphics Interchange Format) are basically a series of images played in sequence, like a flipbook.

While they’re not always suitable for every type of content, GIFs can be used to liven up posts, drive home a point and add a level of richness and media to otherwise dry content. It also helps you to stand out on social media, adding moving images can really catch the eyes of consumers when they appear in their social feeds.

So now you know ‘why’, let’s delve into the ‘how’.

In this guide, we take you through an easy step-by-step approach to creating GIFs and more importantly – how to share them.

The social media phenomenon has rapidly turned into a key part of the modern marketing mix. A flexible presence on not only Facebook and Twitter but other platforms, is a must for any business. What better proof than 1.04 billion daily active users on Facebook and over 1.3 billion registered accounts on Twitter?

We are delighted to be sponsoring Insider's 20 years after the bomb breakfast on Tuesday 17th May, which celebrates the amazing transformation of Manchester since the IRA bomb 20 years ago.

News is simply defined as, "newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent events.”

In this guide, we layout five notable areas of importance when discussing whether or not a news story will be scooped up by the press. Ideally, a great news story should typically embody at least two of these when competing for publication.

When your website is live on the internet, every update you make contributes to your interactions with visitors, customers and search engines. A static website without updates is essentially a dead entity, which will go unnoticed in the scope of the world wide web. 

On Monday, Twitter celebrated its 10^th Birthday. In that time Twitter has gone from a micro blogging platform based around SMS messages, to one of the largest social networks in the world.

In the 10 years it’s been around, Twitter has amassed a user base of over 320 million people sending in excess of 500 million tweets per day! The most followed people are celebrities on Twitter, the top of which being Katy Perry, with a mind-boggling 85 million followers!

We sent our Head of Media Alex Bell to Cannes for the week to cover the MIPIM global property conference.

In between dining on yachts and stand sessions he reported plenty of MIPIM news.

We're ecstatic to have been shortlisted for Small Integrated Agency in the 2016 Prolific North Awards.

We're delighted to announce two major new client wins.

Greater Manchester was mentioned a handful of times during George Osborne’s hour long address. As such, we reached out to our clients to see what they had to say about the announcements for the North West.

Bilfinger GVA's Chris Cheap reflects on a memorable MIPIM 2016

Ongoing innovative collaboration along Corridor Manchester will help propel the city above others - both in the UK and Europe.

That's the opinion of Rupert Goddard, partner at architect Sheppard Robson, who was speaking from global property conference MIPIM which is held in Cannes.

Once again, MIPIM is very much alive and buzzing. 

This year's global property conference is at the halfway point as we speak - and hasn't disappointed so far. 

There has been around £6 billion of transactions in the Northern Powerhouse area in less than two years. 

That's according to Bilfinger GVA Regional Senior Director Mark Rawstron, who also said he would be hugely disappointed if investment activity couldn't be doubled within a very short period of time, as economic activity feeds through the regions.

The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a bitmap image format – think of them as a series of images played in sequence, like a flipbook. GIFs have been around since 1987, but they’ve made a humble comeback and now feature heavily on social media. The fact is, more and more brands are getting on board with them – and so should you.

The most influential, international property players will be once again dusting off their passports to attend the biggest annual property conference, MIPIM at Palais des Festivals, Cannes next week (15-18 March 2016).

Breakfast events, meetings and dinners are shoehorned into the four day event, with the objective of casting the net further to make new relationships and solidifying existing relationships.

In this guide, we'll explain why using social media is a must at MIPIM, if you want to grow your business and offer some ideas that'll help you be part of the #MIPIM2016 conversation.

The transition from traditional marketing to inbound marks a paradigm shift in the business world and it’s therefore easy to understand why many property companies fall foul of some of these common pitfalls.

To help you sidestep these, below we’ve looked at some of the most typical mistakes made by newcomers and the best ways to prevent or fix such situations.

Content marketing simply describes the practice of attracting qualified leads by appealing to them via ‘organic’ search, social media and good old fashioned word of mouth with quality, original content that speaks to their needs, desires and pain points.

While improving search visibility is a key benefit of content marketing, if the content itself isn’t up to scratch, generating all the traffic in the world won’t be of much use to you. There’s no way to ‘game the system’ when it comes to producing engaging content that your target audience will actively seek out, enjoy and share.  

Moves in this direction are something of a double-edged sword. They’ve made the process of SEO (search engine optimisation) somewhat easier to understand and put more power in the hands of people that might not necessarily have a raft of technical expertise. However, to be successful, property companies must now focus on gearing themselves toward frequently producing genuinely interesting and engaging content that captures the attention of their key demographics.

Roland Dransfield is supporting the Big Change Fund campaign in Manchester to help the homeless.

We're delighted to welcome Sam Hughes to the team as our new head of digital.

Alex Bell has been appointed as head of media at Roland Dransfield PR after almost eight years at the Manchester Evening News.

We're delighted to annnounce the appointment of two new staff members to strengthen our growing team, following a number of new client wins.

 

We're proud to announce our partnership with local charity Cheshire Connect to encourage closer collaboration between businesses and charities.

It's easy to become cynical about networking events in the property industry. There's nothing worse that nervously walking round a room clutching a coffee and having to wander up to total strangers and introduce yourself only to come away with no new contacts or business opportunities. Complaints about the saturated opportunities for new business at these affairs are rife, but somewhat unjust.

Overwhelmingly, these opinions are voiced by those who go to the same old haunts, see the same faces and stick to the same circles. But for those looking to break the mould and make new links, we've put together an 7-step guide to making new links in the property industry.

If you've invested in PR, you've bought into the concept that unbiased, third-party coverage is just as, if not more, valuable than shouting your key messages in an ad.

One common pitfall that many newcomers, and even veterans, fall foul of is trying to have the best of both worlds – littering their press releases with ad-style copy that adds little to the news that's being conveyed.

In this guide, we'll present four compelling reasons why it pays to bin the baggage when it comes to your press releases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're delighted to announce the appointment of two new staff members, following several new business wins.

A reputation is a delicate thing, which can take years to build up and mere moments to sully.

And the way a company communicates with stakeholders and the general public during a crisis can be pivotal in determining whether it bounces back stronger than ever or is irrevocably tarnished by its response to the situation.

In this post, we'll take a look at some of the best and worst examples of crisis communication and discover valuable lessons that these responses can impart.

 

The Roland Dransfield team is over the moon to announce we've been appointed to help Allied London establish its exciting XYZ brand.

We're exceptionally pleased to announce our appointment on the forthcoming Embankment regeneration scheme in the heart of Manchester.

 

With hundreds of potential commercial properties available at the click of a button, it's harder than ever for schemes to differentiate themselves from every other development in the market. 

Fortunately, few seem to take advantage of online avenues and the number one way to set yourself apart on the web is by publishing content that out-performs that of your competitors. 

In this guide, we'll offer some top tips on creating relevant content that will pique the interest of potential occupiers, as well as how to leverage these qualified leads and get them over the line and on the books.

We're ecstatic to have been shortlisted for Agency Blog of the Year in the inaugural 2015 UK Agency Awards.

Our entry focused on our inbound marketing campaign, of which our blog is a crucial element.

Over the past two years, we've been focused on transforming our digital assets into a platform for lead generation by utilising inbound methodology to bring prospects to us.

And we're delighted to report that the campaign has worked brilliantly – attracting a wealth of potential customers from our target sectors and beyond.

 

PR, and its media relations aspects in particular, can be great for getting your name in the headlines, but you're missing a trick if you're not using your online assets to extend its reach.

The dawn of digital has made it easier than ever to connect with key audiences and in this guide, we'll illustrate some simple ways to complement your PR by making proper use of digital channels.

 

RDPR’s digital team were delighted to attend the Big Social Media Conference 2015, held at Lancashire County Cricket Club last week.

If you weren't able to attend, or simply want to catch up on the expert social media marketing advice offered by the event's expert panel of speakers, we've put together a handy round-up.

 

If you want to really understand someone, you have to walk a mile in their shoes.

I'm not going to sugar-coat it. Google+ isn't the best social network in the world, nor the most active or popular – particularly in the UK.

However, none of that changes the fact that it's still something that pretty much every business should be using and in this guide, I'll set out several compelling reasons as to why your organisation should still be using Google+.

First difficult choice of the day - how do we decide? #SAScon2015 pic.twitter.com/LCOWz69Q9H

— Roland Dransfield PR (@RDPRtweets) June 11, 2015

 

RDPR's digital team was privileged to attend SASCon 2015 yesterday (Thursday June 11^th).

Billed as one of the UK's finest search, analytics and social conferences and now entering its sixth year, it certainly didn't disappoint.

For those of you who didn't manage to make it, we've put together some key points that we gleaned from some of the fantastic search and social speakers in their fascinating presentations, as well as their slide decks (where available).

 

Whether in-house or agency – all PRs have been there. Your client or contact gets in touch to pitch what they think is a great story, a momentous milestone or provocative project, but it turns out to be a dead duck. 

Situations like this can leave us between a rock and hard place. Collaborations are vital to PR success, but selling in substandard stories can sour your relationships with key publications. 

So in this guide, we'll discuss diplomatic ways of knocking back a dead duck and offer some suggestions on constructive ways to feed back on staid stories. 

As PR professionals, one of the obstacles we face are clients who simply don’t understand the importance of investing in good photography.

The importance of images should never be underestimated, yet the amount of times I have been told: “I have someone in the office with a digital camera who can take a few shots” is scary.

As a former newspaper reporter, I can tell you that as soon as that image lands on the picture editor’s desk, it will be deleted and then the sad likelihood is the accompanying story will also be spiked.

Because like it or not - PR isn’t just about press releases, it’s about supplying engaging, quality content to whichever publication (on or off-line) you are trying to secure coverage within.

And sometimes, a good photograph can be the ONLY reason a press release is ever run in the first place.

Crises are a reality for any business, but thankfully few ever make the light of day. 

While public-facing crises are few and far between – when they do arise they can do incalculable damage to a reputation that's taken years to build. And in cases like these, the strength of a crisis communication response can make or break a company. 

In this guide, we'll explore some high-profile examples of crisis communication responses – both good and bad – and discuss why choosing the right person to represent an organisation can make all the difference.

 

We'd like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the clients, associates and other Manchester businesses that took part in our charity bowling night, raising more than £2,500 for two young Cerebral Palsy sufferers.

 

 

 

 

We're absolutely over the moon to announce that we've been shortlisted for Best Content team in the Prolific North Awards 2015.

 

While advertisers have enjoyed the ability to measure the performance of their promoted tweets for some time – Twitter recently rolled out its analytics to all users, enabling you to assess the performance of all your activity on the platform free of charge. 

In this guide, we'll take you through how to access Twitter analytics, what the metrics mean and how you can use the information to better your social media marketing. 

 

We’re excited to be hosting a fantastic fundraising event in aid of the Nicholas Bamforth Appeal, to raise money for 11-year old Nicholas, from Middleton, who suffers from Cerebral Palsy.

 

'Should I be using LinkedIn?' and 'How should I be using LinkedIn?' are two of the most common questions I'm confronted with in regard to B2B social media. 

And the answers, while fairly simple, are far from straightforward. So in this guide, I'll be taking a look at what you can potentially gain from this powerful platform, as well as the best and most time-efficient ways to get the most out of LinkedIn. 

 

When it comes to social media, it's not what you know, it's who you know. Seeking out the top influencers and curators can help you keep your proverbial finger on the pulse of industry news, as well as helping to exponentially increase the potential reach of your communications.

To help you make the most of your social media activity, we've put together a comprehensive list of the best users for housebuilders to follow and engage with on Twitter.

 

When introducing newcomers to content marketing, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is the belief that their customers have neither the time, nor inclination, to delve into a lengthy blog post.
 
Despite what your own reading habits and conventional wisdom might suggest, long-form blog posts – among other types of content – are the most successful format on the internet.
 
In this guide, we'll explore why readers gravitate towards longer blog posts, how you can emulate the best performers and offer advice on how to go about producing long-form content that engages your key audiences.

The Budget has been and gone, but opportunities still abound for savvy companies that will exploit its content to show off their thought leadership over the coming days. 

If you feel a pang of envy when seeing another businesses' name in the papers, then this is the guide for you. So without further ado, let's delve into some of the best ways to capitalise on the Budget – and similar political events – with a view to boosting your PR, marketing and online presence.

 

The great and the good from the world’s property industry are once again cutting the tags off their new sunglasses as they prepare for another trip to the sunny shores of the Cote D’azur for MIPIM, the annual property conference. 

Breakfast events, meetings and dinners are shoehorned into the four day event, with the objective of casting the net further to make new relationships and solidifying existing relationships. Over the last few years, social media has transformed the way in which the MIPIM fraternity communicates - helping to increase your reach change in person and overcome the criticism that “it’s just Manchester but by the sea.” 

In this guide, we'll explain why using social media is a “must” at MIPIM, if you want to grow your business and offer some ideas that'll help you be part of the #MIPIM2015 conversation.

 

 

Fine dining venue 47 King Street West has hit the headlines this week after its manager took to social media to issue a vitriolic response to complaints about the experience of one hen party at the eatery.

But what can Barry H's decision to brand his customers 'chav cheap trash' teach restaurants about how to handle complaints online?

 

While not as popular as they once were, forward features remain a staple of PR and media relations. 

These resources, also referred to as 'editorial calendars' provides a glimpse into what publications plan to cover in the future – giving PR agencies and in-house teams time to plan, prepare and pitch contributions.

In this guide, we'll take you through the best practice of using these assets and offer some top tips on increasing your chances of gaining coverage with editorial contributions.

If you're a LinkedIn user, you've undoubtedly seen people's self-published content popping up in your news feed. 

But why is this happening and why are people flocking to the site's new publishing service? In this guide, we'll introduce you to Pulse – the platform driving this trend – and offer some compelling reasons as to why it could be worth posting your own stuff there.

 

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past decade or so, it'll have been hard to ignore the rapid pace with which our daily lives and routines have become more intertwined with digital technologies.

We're not merely comfortable with carrying around powerful computers in our pockets – we're reliant on them. The increasing ubiquity of connected devices, like smartphones and tablets, has transformed both our day-to-day lives and the way we do business.

And in perhaps no other sector has the change been as profound as in residential property. In this guide, we'll take a look at how the house-buying process has changed and examine the implications for residential developers in the coming years.

 

Speak the words 'social media' and many newcomers envisage staple sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

But did you know content can also be social? In this guide, we'll explain why this important facet of online marketing is often unfairly lumped in solely with SEO (search engine optimisation) and offer guidance on how best to incorporate the content your produce into your social networking efforts.

 

The web's intricate system of hyperlinks ('links') is what makes it possible for modern search engines to operate. And the quality, diversity and number of links pointing at your site can play a huge role in determining where you'll appear in search results for any given query.

In this section of our guide, we'll take an in-depth look at the role links play in SEO for property companies and offer advice on the best and most sustainable ways to acquire these.

 

Opinions are divided on HS2. Utter that fateful initialism and you're likely to be met with a range of reactions – from the apathetic and the enthusiastic to the outraged. 

And more fuel is constantly being thrown on the fire as plans are amended and high-profile figures like Boris Johnson – who recently claimed that Crossrail 2 might be more beneficial for the economy - add their two cents to the debate. 

But before we throw down our rail tickets in an act of defiance and sign up to Stop HS2, it's worth noting the several ways in which HS2 could enhance the north-west's economy and bolster our rapidly-recovering property sector.

 

Google has unveiled a new tool to help users discover how friendly a website is in terms of mobile browsing. 

The announcement goes on to confirm that the search giant will also be focusing on trying out this criteria as a ranking signal – potentially giving sites that cater to mobile devices a boost in ranking potential.

Within mobile search results, it'll also be granting mobile-friendly sites a corresponding label to denote their status. This builds upon a 2013 update that saw Google roll out ranking changes that penalised websites that failed to cater for this fast-growing segment of internet users.

Whether it’s on television, online or print, we’re all exposed to relentless amounts of PR every day from companies trying to put their product in the best light possible. 

Without question, the rise of social media in people’s lives on mobiles and tablets means that a greater amount of an organisation’s attention is placed on creating a successful Twitter/Facebook post.

Achieving a substantial amount of views on one of these websites can be similiar to gaining front page on an established publication like the Finanicial Times. 

This can be done via amusing pictures, engaging with their audiences in online conversation or even a public stunt, all which would be documented across several different online platforms. 

Some companies have taken full advantage of this ever-growing way of reaching their audience with some brilliant PR campaigns in the last year, whereas some have fallen flat or not quite got the right message across.

So without further ado, here’s our pick of the good and bad side of social media PR – ‘The Best and Worst Social Media PR Campaigns of 2014’.

 

Semantic search is a topic you're likely to have brushed upon if you've kept a proverbial ear to the ground in terms of digital marketing over the past few years. 

But what is this arcane technology and will it be a blessing or a curse for property companies looking to compete online? 

In this guide, we'll answer some of the most common questions about semantic search and offer practical advice on how property companies can get ahead of the game in the field.

 

Hubspot is a renowned provider of inbound marketing software and support. But what's it like using it on a day-to-day basis?

In this guide, we'll offer an in-depth review of how we've got to grips with Hubspot over the last 18 months and provide some insight on what kinds of businesses can benefit from it.

 

On the back of our investigations into digital marketing in the property sector, we decided to do some first-hand research into what the north-west's property agents think about social media and how they use it on a day-to-day basis. 

The Sample 

We surveyed 26 property agents on their social media usage via a web survey and looked into various facets of how they perceive social media in terms of both industry and personal usage.

As well as looking at the raw figures in regard to usage, favoured platforms and time spent – we also asked for qualitative impressions on how property agents viewed social media and its use within their industry.

 

How not to outreach 

As covered in our guide to SEO for the property sector, acquiring inbound links is a major focus for companies looking to bolster their performance in search.

One popular tactic is offering to write guest articles for another site in exchange for a link back to the domain of your choice. This form of linkbuilding is known as 'outreach' and despite Google's warnings about link schemes, remains a popular avenue for many digital marketers.

There's a right way and wrong way to go about this, however, and I thought I'd share one cringe-inducing, real-life example that landed in my inbox and highlighted some of the worst practices.

 

Press release writing is one of the most important disciplines within PR, but far too many newcomers fall afoul of common mistakes that can be easily avoided.

To help you get the most out of your releases, we've put together this handy infographic example - illustrating some of the most typical mistakes made by those producing their first press release. 

 

Your new company has just created a fantastic and innovative product or service. Your business plan is in your hand and you’ve rehearsed your elevator pitch excessively. Now you need to let people know about what you’re offering and go about attracting customers. 

While traditional marketing and advertising might be a common port of call for new businesses – there's also a compelling case to be made for the use of PR for start-ups. 

In this guide, we'll highlight several of PR's key benefits for this demographic and offer some top tips on how start-ups can get the most out of PR without breaking the bank. 

 

Our infographic on how house prices have increased in areas within close proximity to a Metrolink station has been featured in the Manchester Evening News today.

 

Complaining has become a lot easier of late. It doesn’t seem that long ago when getting something off your chest consisted of a stern letter being furiously assembled on a typewriter, followed by an angry walk to the nearest letterbox.

Now times have changed and the role that social platforms like Facebook and Twitter play in the complaints process means there’s an increased pressure to respond in a magnanimous manner.

The instantaneous nature of these new technologies has enabled consumers to take a step back from the somewhat soulless and streamlined automation and hierarchies that had previously governed the complaints process in recent years.

The dawn of digital has facilitated a reversion to more natural behaviours – talking directly to company representatives and amplifying the power of word of mouth, as well as making evidence of bad complaints handling practically indelible.

Opting to buy a house is one of the most important decisions a consumer is likely to make and it's no surprise that it's not taken lightly. As with virtually every purchase these days, reams of online research will be carried out when looking into a new build or specific developer. And if their digital profile is hopelessly tarnished, trust can be lost – along with a potential sale.

In this article, we’ll look at some of the worst responses to new builds on social media and see what we can learn from the way the developer in question handled the complaint.

 

What is media relations?

Organisations' relationships with the media can be a somewhat contentious issue and PR agencies are often blamed for facilitating this skewed association.

For those of us in the industry, however, this everyday practice is far less controversial. And in this guide, we'll get to the bottom of what media relations is and how it works on a day-to-day basis.

 

Video is huge. Ever-faster internet connection speeds combined with the vast proliferation of mobile devices means people are no longer tied to desktops and their appetite for multimedia content is ravenous.

More than six billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube alone and companies across all sectors have been keen to get to grips with video to market their products and services. And with playable video search results now coming as standard on Google - it's clear the world of search will be placing ever-more emphasis on multimedia in the coming years.

In this guide, we've investigated a sample of property companies with operations in the north-west to provide some insight into how they're utilising video to extend the reach of their property marketing.

 

Following the promotion of former planning minister Nick Boles to Minister of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, as well as the Department for Education yesterday (July 15^th), the coalition government has named his successor as Brandon Lewis.

Lewis, however, will not simply be taking on his predecessors' responsibilities - and for the first time in five years, the UK will see the ministries of both housing and planning combined into a single position.

In this article, we'll provide a brief overview as to what this step can tell us about the coalition's intentions for both housing and residential development, as well how the appointment is likely to be received in the property sector and beyond.

 

Content has been king for the best part of two decades now and its popularity shows no signs of relenting.

Businesses that subscribe to content marketing attract roughly three times as many leads as those that don't and enjoy a conversion rate almost six times higher than non-adopters.

And while you've certainly got to be in it to win it, unlike a primary school egg and spoon race, simply taking part won't earn you any medals. Producing sufficient levels of tailored, effective and engaging content in a timely manner are commonly cited as some of the biggest challenges for marketers, particularly in the field of B2B.

Content shouldn't be confused with copy, however, and while the likes of video, visual and other types of rich media are on the up - written articles remain a steadfast favourite for newcomers and veterans alike.

In this guide, I'll tap into the experience I've gained after spending the best part of a decade in the field as a professional writer and reveal my one sure-fire method for producing better content that attracts leads and delights your prospects.

 

If you've paid any interest to the world of digital marketing in the past few years, you're likely to be as sick as I am of the phrase 'Content is King'. However, the role content plays in SEO for property companies is undeniably important. 

In this section of our guide, we'll delve into the affect content can have on where your site appears in search results, discuss best practice and address some of the most popular misconceptions surrounding the field.

 

With Manchester having up to a million international visitors in a year, hotels are an essential part of the city. By 2013 there were 7,860 hotel rooms around Manchester and with plans to increase this number in the works, it has been said that the figure will jump to a huge 11,137 by 2016. It's all well and good building masses of hotels, but will developers be able to cater for all of Manchester's 1,171,000+ worldwide visitors?

Considering this, events in the city, such as the yearly Christmas markets, constantly growing in popularity and adding £74.3m to the local economy in 2012, there's definitely a gap in the market for new brands to join the hotel world and massive potential to fill the beds.

In this article, we'll investigate which Manchester hotels are making the most of social media and share some of our top tips for creating a strong social marketing plan that will help you attract new customers in the increasingly competitive hospitality market.

 

The design of your site and the optimisation of behind-the-scenes elements are two vital considerations when it comes to promoting SEO-friendliness, as well as giving your visitors a better experience.

Depending on the state of your current site and its architecture, undertaking an SEO campaign might necessitate some changes. This can range from a complete overhaul, to some relatively minor cosmetic alterations and anything in between.

There are a wealth of situations where choices in this regard can help or hinder your SEO campaign, but as this a beginner's guide, we'll shy away from focusing too much on the technical elements.

 

Welcome to part two of our comprehensive guide of how to do SEO for the property sector. In part one, we got a good chunk of the theory behind SEO under our belts, so in this section we'll be concentrating on how to generate a plan, undertake research and set up your campaign.

 

As SME month comes to an end here at RDPR, we've decided to end proceedings with a detailed look at real-life examples of how some of the top SMEs in the region are utilising online marketing.

Using the SME 300 table produced by North-West Business Insider in November last year as a basis, we've delved into the web presence of the top ten companies to see how actively they're embracing online marketing, what platforms they're using and suggested potential areas where they could expand their efforts.

 

Social media marketing is becoming an increasingly popular avenue for businesses of all shapes and sizes. As a cost-effective replacement for a traditional advertising campaign, using several platforms to communicate your brand values is a great option. But what many fail to consider is the time that it takes to deliver a strong campaign that'll generate leads and effectively attract your potential clients.

In this guide, we'll offer our top five tips on social media management tools that'll help you meet your social commitments in a fraction of the time it'd take you to do things manually.

We're firm believers that PR for SMEs is a worthwhile activity. If sufficient time is allotted to goal setting and strategy and tasks are carried out in the right way - it can deliver exponentially better returns than many other marketing avenues.

In this guide, we'll set out some of our top tips on creating a PR plan that delivers and how to get the most bang for your buck from a campaign.

 

Online marketing has undergone a sea change in the past few years. Producing and disseminating quality content is now one of the best ways to differentiate yourself from your peers and increase your chances of being found by your target audiences.

However, producing enough content to make a dent in terms of search and even finding stuff to talk about is commonly reported to be a major challenge, particularly for businesses at the smaller end of the scale.

In this guide, we'll introduce you a technique that could help take some of the pressure off and recommend some top sources that'll help you discover content to attract and delight your key audiences.

 

Allan Prits is Head of Corporate Communications, Media and PR for UMIP, The University of Manchester's agent for Intellectual Property (IP) commercialisation. UMIP helps turn the results of world-leading research from the University into world-beating businesses, products and services which it achieves through the sale of IP or through licensing or spinning out companies.

In this guest blog, Allan looks at how PR support over the past ten years has helped not only launch spin-out companies and their first products or services but also further develop their profiles both on and offline. He gives some simple tips and advice.

 

The government's landmark Growth Voucher scheme is well underway. More than 1,000 SMEs of all kinds have received vouchers from the £30 million pot, which equates to £2 million worth of advice on support on areas like IT, finance and marketing.

In this guide, we'll take an in-depth look at the scheme and explore the ways that the initiative can make PR and marketing for SMEs much more cost-effective.

 

Getting started in PR and marketing can be a daunting prospect for SMEs, but fortunately there's more resources than ever to help you get to grips with the basics.

Sorting the wheat from the chaff is no easy feat however, and the average small business owner doesn’t have the time to trawl through the vast volumes being written on these topics.

With this in mind, we've brought together ten of our favourite resources to help you get more from your marketing.

 

PR and marketing for SMEs can be a trial, especially when your business is just getting off the ground. While there's obvious benefits to promoting your product or service on a wider scale - smaller firms are often constrained by time, resources and budget.

In this guide, we'll examine some options that you can implement today for little-to-no cost and offer some top tips on getting started.

 

Strategically planned content is more crucial than ever in order for businesses to hold their own against online competitors. To make your content do the hard work for you, you need to make every word countand including the right keywords is vital.

In this guide, we'll explore how you can use Google Keyword Planner to inform and optimise your content by getting a handle on what it is exactly that people are searching for. 

Does the Digital world know more about us than we do ourselves?

What I learnt at Digital Swot

One of the most interesting talks at the recent Digital Swot conference was The Next Web's Martin Bryant's presentation which offered an insight to how digital technology is set to advance over the next few years. Something that fascinates me in particular is the question of whether it will expand at such a rate that we are unable to control what is being created. 

 

One thing Martin went into detail about is the development of new search apps. The main idea of these apps, such as Google Now and Yahoo's Aviate, is the fact that apps will learn things about us that we might not want them to.

 

Content writing services in Manchester: Have you considered an apprentice?

The digital world is ever-evolving and the people working in it are caught up in the middle. Businesses are trying to achieve a great deal in the online world, but are beset by limited budgets.

And, on the other hand, there are innumerable students and school leavers looking to gain practical experience in a fast-growing field? So how can the two parties benefit one another?

 

As housebuilders' month draws to a close here at RDPR - we've decided to round things off by delving into some real-life examples of how some of the top industry names are utilising their web presence.

We've taken a look at some of the country's biggest and brightest, compared their social activity, what platforms they're on and offered our picks on who's doing it best, worst and not at all.

Savvy online marketing has historically been associated with large multinational corporations. But, in reality, everyone is searching the web for information on products and services and looking for advice on absolutely everything.

Gone are the days when mammoth marketing budgets determined the success of a housing scheme and with 90% of home buyers are using the internet to conduct their research, online marketing has now become a necessity for housebuilders.

In this post, we’ll explore how house builders can effectively employ online marketing tactics to create and most importantly connect with a targeted online community.

 

With residential house sales showing a strong start in the New Year, house builders are swiftly moving ahead with plans for further development and, according to a recent RICS report, the UK aims to bring up to 5,000 new homes to the market in 2014.

In this guide, we'll take a look at how some of the big names handle crisis communications and provide some suggestions on how to tackle complaints in a way that reflects well on your brand.

 

For years the housebuilding industry has relied on traditional and local media outlets to promote new homes. However, with the Liverpool Daily Post closing its doors last year due to both falling advertisement revenues and circulation figures - housebuilders are undoubtedly considering alternatives.

The fact that digital marketing techniques are on the up and up is pushing more and more businesses to rethink their marketing output and adapt their strategies when targeting, pursuing and converting new home buyers.

In the past, we have seen regional papers work wonders in attracting new buyers, however, with our local publications depleting at a rapid rate there's never been a more opportune time to investigate alternate ways to advertise and promote housing schemes.

 

The Localism Act has placed the onus on developers to pay more than lip service to community consultation during the pre-application planning stage, and will make the degree of consultation a material consideration at the determination stage.

In this post, we will be explaining why developers need to stand up, take notice, and engage with the increasingly enfranchised local community before submitting an application as failure to do can have a negative impact on the scheme and your reputation. 

 

 

Housebuilders are often responsible for managing the properties they construct and let's face it - mistakes can happen. If you were to move into a new home and find a fault with the windows, a certain fixture that isn't fitted properly or discover the heating doesn't work - you'd want to voice your annoyance.

While your company undoubtedly has a formal complaints structure in place, consumers in virtually every field are increasingly opting to abandon these routes in favour of venting their frustrations on online channels like social media.

So what can housebuilders learn about handling online complaints from the failures and successes of others both within their sector and beyond? In this article, we'll find out.

 

The Liverpool Daily Post's closure was announced earlier this week, marking the death of yet another beloved regional newspaper.

However, it seems as one Post closes, another opens. And on Monday, Google rolled out a revolutionary new advertising format - +Post Ads - that take advantage of its flagship social network Google+.

In this article, we'll take a look at how these two events illustrate the changing media landscape and discuss the long-term implications for marketing and PR.

 

 

Running a company is a time-consuming activity. This is probably stating the obvious, but it's important to understand right from the start that a lot of time and energy is taken up with growing a business (particularly in the current economic climate) and simply moving things along on a day-to-day basis.

And with all these various plates spinning, how on earth are you supposed to make time for social networking on top of this?

In this guide, I'll be talking about a few ways to use what little time you have effectively when it comes to social media and share a few tips and tricks that'll let you work smarter, not harder when it comes to social networking.

 

 

 

 

May the best brand win

A significant amount of how you manage your online reputation is determined by the brand values you want to get across to your audience.

Getting people to recommend your brand through word of mouth, social reviews and referrals is one of the key aspects of creating a relatable and successful image. Social promotion will help you engender trust, loyalty, and popularity from your customers.

In this guide, we'll examine how to ensure your brand values help portray your company ethics in a way that creates a bond with your intended audience on both a physical and a psychological level.

 

A large part of any digital agency's role is advising clients and prospective clients on how they can improve the way they use their website.

But while many companies are vaguely aware of issues with their site, devoting the time, resources and strategy needed to correct them often gets pushed to the back of the to-do list in favour of more pressing day-to-day tasks.

In this guide, we'll give you the low-down on how to objectively review your site, see how your current offering compares to that of your competitors and most importantly - offer advice on how to make the most of your online assets.

 

Corporate event planning is one of the bread and butter services of a PR company. In this guide, we'll share tips gleaned during our years' of experience in the field to help you pull off a successful event without making it look like you've broken a sweat.

 

By now all major retailers in the UK have launched their Christmas campaigns, however, this year it seems more are ploughing their budget into online activity in an effort to mirror their audience's shopping habits.

While some argue that the kick-off for Christmas advertising gets earlier every year, things typically get underway just after Bonfire Night. It's a magical time of year, when retailers and virtually every other type of business commence their seasonal advertising campaigns to encourage shoppers to get in the mood for the celebrations and shell out some festive funds on their goods and services.

In this article, we'll look at examples of the UK’s bigger retailers Christmas campaigns and the results they have achieved with these so far. We'll also investigate why we think retailers might be looking at shifting their mindset to offer advertising campaigns for TV and online.

 

Despite being knee-deep in the 21st Century, we all-too-often complain about the lack of flying cars, jet packs and robot servants that attend to our every need. 

While technology has certainly moved things forward, there's an obvious disparity between what we've got and what science fiction has led us to perceive we should have at this stage. We've made great strides in some areas - for instance our communications technology eclipses what Captain Kirk and co. fielded on away missions. 

However, one issue that has always struck me as a gaping omission is the way we interact with computers. Why in this day and age are we still (mostly) tethered to a mouse and keyboard?

In this article, we'll take a look at the past, present and future of voice recognition technology and investigate the implications this field has for search, marketing and the media in general.

 

This month, we're featured guest bloggers for Fashion Rider, where we discuss why you'd opt for PR and how to make the most out of your agency. 

 

Social media is one of the most popular marketing strategies of the 21st century. However, as many leading businesses have found, it's becoming ever-more difficult to protect your company's brand values when using social media platforms.

In this specially-themed guide, we'll help you take advantage of best practice, while preventing your profiles from becoming a social media horror story.

 

Writing a press release would seem on the surface to be a simple task and business owners can often be excused for thinking that it's something that can easily be produced without the use of a PR advisor (whether external or in-house), after all its just talking about your business, right?

The truth is, to write an effective business to business (B2B) press release that not only results in coverage but also helps to build relationships with journalists rather than hinder them is a skill and something which can take time to perfect.

In this guide, we'll examine the anatomy of the perfect release and give you some useful tips on how to structure and distribute a B2B press release for optimum results.

 

New statistics indicate that the UK retail sector has seen something of a rebound in recent months. But what's driving this trend and how can retailers capitalise on this newfound optimism?

Over the past few decades, attempts have been made to shoehorn the Internet into various paradigms. It has been called a database, a method of communication and networking, a platform for creating, and a form of entertainment. While the Internet as a whole cannot be placed in just one box, what we can all hopefully agree upon is that the Internet has vastly changed our behaviour as a consumer.

If you've been thinking about branching out into the world of online marketing, you've undoubtedly come across pay per click (PPC) advertising.

However, behind this intimidating term lies a fairly  straightforward way to bypass SEO and get your  website seen by the people that matter. 

So how does PPC work? In this guide, we'll give you a primer on the ins and outs of the format and offer some tips on getting your first PPC campaign off the ground.

 

Content marketing is the marketing buzz word for 2013 and with good reason. The convergence of Google updates that penalise spammy content (and reward sites with a good stockpile of quality stuff) alongside the exploding popularity of social media means that more and more organisations are starting to behave like publishers.

The quality of your content has become one of the key things that differentiates you from your peers in the online world and it's therefore unsurprising that there's a growing amount of competition for the attention of prospects. However, not everyone has the time to churn out eye-turning content, nor the budget to outsource their efforts. And here's where the strategy of content curation can come in handy.

 

For small businesses, marketing is a key concern and finding the time, resources and tools to properly promote yourself can be a never-ending struggle.

Thankfully, the last decade has seen a sea change in the way we interact with the online world. With connection speeds growing and the ever-increasing proliferation of internet-capable devices, more people than ever are routinely turning to the web as part of their purchasing process.  

This changing behaviour has opened the floodgates for small businesses looking to attract leads through a process commonly referred to as inbound marketing. But how does this new discipline work and what are the best ways for SMEs to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the web?

 

In a world where we are inundated by choice, and are bombarded by marketing messages on a daily basis that try to persuade us to 'buy, buy, buy!' it is no surprise that many of us have learned to turn a deaf ear to the propagators of these messages.

With consumers becoming more and more desensitised to the effects of marketing and PR, we investigate how companies should approach the issue of convincing people to choose their brands?

 

Content marketing is a burgeoning field and unless you've been living under some kind of virtual rock, this increasingly popular discipline has probably caught your attention.

Despite the growing need for quality content to appease search engines, engage website visitors and attract those all-important inbound links, not all organisations have the resources, inclination or budget to churn out content like a publishing house - and that's OK.

For those of you in this situation, we've put together a handy guide that'll help you track down the best content marketing services on a local, national and international level.

 

Email marketing is a massively popular tool these days and rightly so. It's cost effectiveness, quantifiability  and potential for accurate targeting are unparalleled across the marketing spectrum, however, it's not uncommon for newcomers to the field to be waylaid by utilising outdated techniques or ignoring best practice.

In this guide, we'll look at some of these common pitfalls and address the burning question for email marketing beginners - should you attempt to quickly increase your contacts by buying or renting a list?

 

Despite the fact that businesses have welcomed many digital marketing techniques with open arms, blogging remains an oft-neglected avenue for many. While lots of organisations have a blog these days, the vast majority are either neglected or used to infrequently post self-promotional corporate dross.

In this article, we'll take a look at why blogging is so under-utilised and provide some practical advice on nursing your blog back to rude health.

Help to buy, the government's landmark mortgage assistance scheme, will launch its second phase today (October 8th) amid worries about high interest rates.

 

Despite the growing range of cheap digital marketing tools, small businesses are still at something of a disadvantage when it comes to promoting themselves and enhancing their visibility.

Many companies in this category lack a high-profile in terms of physical presence and won't typically have a huge amount to spend on paid methods such as advertising. While search and social media have certainly levelled the playing field to an extent, they're still highly resource-intensive tasks that demand both time and technical skill.

Given this situation, could it be worth it for SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) to branch out into PR? In this guide, we'll delve into the issue and provide some actionable advice on whether PR is right for your fledgling firm.

Ryanair seems to be subject to criticism on a weekly basis, however, recent revelations on Channel 4's Dispatches programme are amongst the most damaging yet.

 

The rise of the digital age and emergence of property marketing websites such as Rightmove and Zoopla has resulted in a drastic change in the way that people view potential properties.

In this article, we'll offer a brief overview of how the shift online has changed the way the UK property market works and provide some top tips on taking advantage of new and emerging marketing avenues.

Getting TV exposure for your company is a bit like being a contestant on the X Factor. You're one of thousands trying to be seen and heard, and how you look, what you say and how you say it are all important considerations.

So how do you make sure you're the one with the voice everyone wants to hear?  In this article, we'll take a look at some of the best ways to generate TV coverage for your business that shows you in a positive light and helps cement  your position as a thought leader in your chosen field.

 

Conducting online research before investing in a product or service is a given for the modern consumer and it's no suprise that the internet has become an increasingly valuable resource for those looking into buying a home.

To help you take advantage of this trend, in this post, we'll take a look at how getting to grips with social media can help attract more home buyers to your developments. 

Every man and his dog are on social media these days, and while you've got to be in it to win it - simply having a presence on a network is no guarantee of success. A lot of organisations establish a social media profile out of a sense that this is something they should be doing. However, approaching social media in this way will yield poor, if not damaging results.

 

In this guide, we'll take a look at the ways you can turn your in-house PR team into a galvanised social media machine and take advantage of the many opportunities provided by this new and exciting format.

Lawyers, in the main, don’t like to be seen to be ‘selling’. Historically, many have relied on prospective clients knocking on their door and bringing work to them without having to make any real efforts in terms of business development.

However, increasing competition, the recession and the changes brought by the Legal Services Act have changed things dramatically. There is increased pressure on lawyers to get to grips with sales and marketing – something that often doesn’t sit comfortably with the profession.

That’s why we think implementing a content marketing strategy is the perfect way for law firms to attract new clients without ‘selling’. And in this post, we'll get to the bottom of how those in the legal sector can best utilise this exciting new technique.

 

Retailers have only relatively recently started to embrace social media in earnest. However, shopping centres across the UK are still missing out on the revolution when it comes to targeting their audiences. 

Recent statistics have shown that shopping centres regularly excel at using the likes of Twitter and Facebook to attract more customers and increase footfall. Properly utilising these channels can make it easy to actively seek out and target key audiences. 

To help you get the most out of your social media efforts, we've put together our picks of some of the best analytics tools on the market, as well as our top tips on how you can use social media to attract, engage and delight your key audiences.

 

PR for professional services – a “nice to have” or something you have to consider when either you or your client makes a faux-pas?  Although many firms have a retained PR agency on hand for any crisis, few engage with them, yet are surprised when they don’t get the column inches they expected.

With the latest statistics from the Solicitors Regulation Authority highlighting that 30 of the UK’s top 200 law firms are in serious financial difficulty, with reports of a further 160 firms at risk of failure,  ensuring that you are getting the best return on investment has never been more important.

So what can you do? We’ve identified some of the areas where many organisations struggle when making their first forays into collaborating with a PR agency: 

 

We're near-constantly inundated with applications for work experience placements at RDPR and have been blown away by the quality of interns we've taken on. To give a little back, and hopefully offer some insights into what it's like working at a busy Manchester PR agency, we've put together some top tips on getting the most out of a placement.

 

Blogging is big, there's no denying it. However, there still seems to be some stigma associated with the practice in certain circles and particularly among companies in the B2B sector.

In this guide, we'll bust some myths about B2B blogging and provide some concrete advice on how B2B firms can use content marketing to attract, nurture and cultivate qualified leads.

 

QR codes were once the next big thing in combining off and online marketing, but with many industry luminaries sounding their death knell, it seems this relatively new technology could already be on the ropes. In this article, we'll try and get to the bottom of QR code usage and find out whether they're something that's still worth investing in.

 

Retailers have embraced social media wholeheartedly and it's no wonder. The interactive format is ideal for retail businesses and early adopters in the sector have used the power of social to devastating effect.  

Statistics show that retailers excel at using the likes of Twitter, Pinterest and particularly Facebook to go beyond simply engaging prospects - and are actively using these mediums as sales tools in themselves.

To give newcomers to the social scene some inspiration on how to best utilise these exciting new avenues, we've identified a few examples of retailers at the top of their social media game and discuss how you can emulate these industry leaders.

As the 2015 General Election draws ever-nearer, our intern Felicity Hall investigates what Britain's politicians can learn from their US counterparts when it comes to using social media to engage with the electorate.

With the healthcare sector under ever-increasing scrutiny, we investigate the best ways for NHS CEOs and Trusts to properly prepare and plan for negative press and media fallouts. 

 

If you live or work in Manchester, there's a good chance you have at least a passing familiarity with the city's infamous Metrolink tram system.

Despite the reams of Twitter abuse and queries being hurled its way over its poor operation, Transport for Greater Manchester (TFGM), the authority that oversees the service, seemed somewhat reluctant to engage with its stakeholders via the medium.

In this post, we'll investigate how one irate customer's open letter and the accompanying outpouring of support changed all that.

Blogs and social media posts that include images tend to perform better than those without, but sourcing and embedding imagery can quickly turn into a time sink.

To save you time, we've put together a guide that'll take you through the role that images play in content marketing, provide tips on where and when to use visuals and how to stay on the right side of copyright laws when using other people's pictures.

During the last few months of completing my PR and Media degree, with my student days coming to an end, I was anxious to step into the working world and begin my prestigious PR career.

Little did I know, my lack of experience and the fact that I had and no placement year meant my chances of getting a job straight away like I thought were zero! Despite turning up to numerous primary and secondary interviews - a year after graduating I was still jobless.

That's when I put the applications on hold and began applying for work experience - eventually securing a placement at Roland Dransfield. It's been a great few weeks working at this prestigious Manchester PR Agency and I've learned loads. I've been asked to share my experiences, so in this post I'll take you through the difference between PR theory and practice and hopefully give my fellow graduates a taste of what's in store for them.

Your marketing team has drawn together an excellent advertising proposal for 2014.  High monthly unique users? Tick. Demonstrable ROI? Tick. Exposure to your target audience? Of course. What about considering the potential for the outlet to become embroiled in negative PR? Probably not.

Earlier this month, Ask.fm was thrust into the spotlight for its alleged lax moderation of cyber bullying, leading to David Cameron to call upon teenagers to boycott the ‘hateful’ and ‘sinful’ site. Obviously this is bad news for a site that generates its revenue through online advertising, so what lessons can this situation teach us about the PR risks of digital promotion?

Landing pages are a key element of any website that exists with a view to lead generation and sales. And while you may not be aware what they are, you've almost certainly come into contact with them at some point.

They're the pages you 'land' on when clicking an advert or search engine result for a certain term and given how beneficial they can be in terms of enhancing search visibility, as well as promoting sales - it's no wonder businesses and brands from virtually every sector have embraced them.

But given the thousands of pages that are out there competing for the attention of your prospective customers, how can you ensure yours stand out from the crowd? In this guide, we'll take a look at the elements that make up the perfect landing page and help you steer clear of common pitfalls in this area.

Here at RDPR, we're firmly of the opinion that content is still king and we like to practice what we preach. One of the key tenets of modern marketing is creating and utilising content that engages and above all interests key audiences.

Collectively, we've got decades' of experience in producing consumer and client-facing content for a variety of on and offline formats and we've decided to distil this down into a handy guide for your perusal. So without further ado - here's our top tips for producing killer content for the web.

 

So you've heard that content is king and have jumped on the bandwagon in earnest. But your content creation efforts haven't had the impact you desired and the rampant hordes of visitors are nowhere to be seen.

There's somewhere between half a billion and 14 billion websites on the internet right now and with content generation at an all-time high, it's more important than ever to find out why no one is reading your content.

George Osborne recently received praise for his tactical use of hashtags, but will this spate of social media activity mark the start of a new era for this controversial figure's lacklustre online presence? We investigate.

The value of press releases is often overlooked in favour of exciting new digital tools and firm favourites like printed materials and direct mail. However, despite some claiming that you should ditch the press release, here at RDPR we think it can be a powerful tool for businesses of all shapes and sizes when used in the right way.

In this guide, we'll take a look at the do's and don'ts of press releases and provide you with the tips you'll need to start producing and distributing top-notch releases that get your message out to the people that matter.

 

What is Google Author Rank?

Google's Author Rank has been pegged as one of the biggest upcoming  issues in search, which is somewhat counter-intuitive - given the fact that it's yet to be implemented and unclear whether it ever will be. In this guide, we'll take an in-depth look at this arcane technology and its implications for online marketing and the use of social signals in search.

We’re absolutely delighted to have won this year’s Prolific North Award for Small PR Agency and would like to extend our thanks to the organisers for a great evening and our amazing team for making this win possible in the first place.

 

Print, radio and TV advertising have been the traditional staples of retail marketing for many a year. But in today's climate, online marketing is just as - if not more - important for those with a message to get out.

With all the competition around these days, you can't just sit there and expect people to come to your website, you have to do something about it. There are many ways to increase your exposure on the web and we've put together a handy guide to help you during your first forays into online marketing.

 

A spectre is haunting search engine marketing - the spectre of metadata. But behind this intimidating term lurks a fairly simple concept. In this guide, we'll take you through the basics of metadata and hopefully go some way to demystifying this arcane website component.

 

Google+ (G+), once the underdog of international social networks, has achieved steady growth throughout 2012 and recently surpassed the likes of Twitter and YouTube in terms of activity. Far from being a ghost town, G+ is fast becoming one of the most important networks of its kind.

As such, businesses and brands of all shapes and sizes have been keen to get their foot in the door and utilise the plethora of marketing opportunities it offers. We're massive fans of G+ here at RDPR and in this guide, we'll tell you how to sign your business up for this burgeoning network and get the most out of the platform.

No one likes a time waster, but aren't we all perhaps just a little bit guilty of wasting precious minutes and hours on pointless tasks? There are the obvious ones - we check our emails constantly, we log on to Facebook and Tweet at every possible opportunity. But these distractions are only a drop in the ocean compared to large-scale day-by-day time wasting, especially around communications and writing. In this guide, we'll take a look at a few simple ideas to cut time loss, reduce duplication of effort and help your business to communicate quickly and effectively.

 

Marketing and PR are two terms that are used somewhat interchangeably these days. But do they still deserve to be recognised as separate disciplines and if so, what's the difference?

In this guide, we'll delve into the relationship between PR and marketing and hopefully bust some myths about the ways in which they work.

Winning awards can be a great boost to marketing and PR efforts, however many companies are understandably put off by the somewhat daunting prospect of creating a tender.

But with more and more niche and sector-specific awards being rolled out year after year, there's never been a better time to bolster your profile with some relevant accolades.

In this guide, we'll introduce you to the award entry process and provide some concrete advice on overcoming common pitfalls and ensuring your tender gets the recognition it deserves.

Over the last few months, both the red and blue sides of Manchester have lost a celebrated manager, but that's where the similarity ends.

 

Reputation management used to be something of an arcane practice - conducted behind closed doors and involving whispered conversations between influential people. However, the dawn of digital means that reams of dirty laundry have been brought out to hang on Google's front page.

This has made the field somewhat more egalitarian as it's not just billion-pound businesses and international corporations that have to fear bad press anymore. In this guide, we'll take a look into the world of reputation management and more importantly, explain how it affects you.

 

Social media is bigger than big, so you can be forgiven for finding the prospect of entering the world of social engagement daunting. The truth is, you don’t need to know how each of the abundant social media platforms work to realise that if you aren’t using social media as a key component in your property scheme’s marketing mix, you are missing out on a vital tool for engaging with your target audiences - potential occupiers who are using social media platforms to search for residential and commercial property space online every day.

 

With Manchester Comicon coming up this weekend, we thought it'd be a great idea to repost this themed blog from our old site (originally posted on May 4^th).

May the Fourth be with you and happy Star Wars Day! In this specially-themed post (read: shameless tie-in), we'll be discussing just some of the many things one of our favourite sci-fi franchises can teach us about content marketing.

When the business world fell off a cliff in 2008, tried and tested development tactics felt immediately redundant. Prospects weren't calling back, or returning emails, meetings were being cancelled, trusted contacts had lost jobs or moved positions.  New business opportunities had disappeared overnight.

The dawn of digital has had an indisputable affect on the world of PR, but has it changed the fundamentals of the discipline? In this article we'll take a look at the impact of new and exciting digital tools on a traditional field that dates back centuries.

 

Last night (May 23rd) saw the North West property industry come together for the biggest awards event in the calendar. Hosted by veteran broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, the evening attracted over 1,000 people from throughout the sector to celebrate notable achievements and milestones in the field.

You may have heard news of a Penguin being rolled out today. While there’s no new chocolate bars on the horizon, there is a significant update to the Google algorithm that could have implications for your search rankings.

Earlier this week, lumbering tech giant Yahoo! announced it would be acquiring the popular microblogging platform tumblr. The move marks the latest in a series of fundamental changes in the company, catalysed by its recent appointment of former Google executive Marissa Mayer as CEO and president last year.

BP, reputation management and crisis communications

Crisis communications strategies are a must for high-profile organisations, but even the big players sometimes slip up. In this article, we’ll take a look at the lessons that can be learned from the errors made by BP in the wake of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill and other, more recent, negative press.

 

Our ever-more connected world means that online customer reviews are an increasingly important driver of offline consumer behavior. A recent survey found 49 per cent of consumers claimed they are more likely to visit a business after reading a positive online review, while 69 per cent said they trusted online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

Given this trend, it's important to understand that reviews left on sites as Google, Yelp, Facebook or Twitter can make or break any business.