‘cynicism: ˈan inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest; scepticism.’ ‘an inclination to question whether something will happen or whether it is worthwhile; pessimism The bones of this word derived from a school of ancient Greek philosophers, the Cynics. They knew stuff. My question is, if they knew stuff (and I don’t doubt they did), why do we have to relearn what they already knew? Did they have to shout louder? Or did we have a ‘teenage’ hea

Most are now realising that Content marketing  is one of the finest ways of engaging with and getting a reaction from a specific targeted market. This infographic from Content Plus explores just how successful content marketing can help businesses grow online. Read their blog post exploring this infographic in more detail  here  or  watch the  animated video . NEW!  The Anatomy of Content Marketing in more languages :   Arabic Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian

That makes the ‘little people’ a hugely important section of the UK economy, but sadly, many of them are not making full use of digital tools. The SMEs who are confidently operating online and by that I mean, they have a strong brand identity and visibility across the world wide web, are more likely to have grown in the past two years and will no doubt be optimistic about future growth. “With over a third of SMEs reporting they need support in developing basic online skills,

I wanted to draw your attention to a couple of questions that have popped up as they have been on mind for quite some time.  And that is; how important social is in business. It seemed to be the biggest point made on Monday at various talks. I am flagging this up today because many clients and brands I have come across or worked with this year, still don’t realize this. Some do, some understand they have to have it, but don’t get the bigger picture, which is that social is on

40 Brilliant Facebook Tips for Freelancers Who Want More Clients and Consistent Income

I wanted to say a personal thank you for the support you have shown MY blog this last year and wish you all a very Happy  Christmas and a prosperous 2013. My most popular blog of the year for your reading pleasure!  Happy Holidays: Do you Tweet on a regular basis?  Are you a one an hour kinda guy? An every two hour kinda girl? Or like me? A Binge Tweeter? If you answer yes to 2 or more of the following questions, then you need to get a handle on your tweeting…perhaps this blo

SO – end of the year is here and I suppose it’s time to evaluate the blog. Urgghhhhhh. Well, its not just about writing one is it?  It’s vital to know how it’s doing, and work out a few stats. For me, this task is similar to doing my tax returns. I dread it.  I detest it. It’s like a  summer holiday without the sun, chips without salt and vinegar..a Sunday roast without a Yorkshire pudding. Oh you get the picture.   Ahem. Still it IS a necessity. Unfortunately. Necessary for

Happy Monday!.. I came across this brilliant infographic which gives you the best and worst times to post up on your social media channels and wanted to share!  I found this via a fellow follower, who writes a great blog, Marianne who found it reading Tony Phallets blog!..Are you with me?! You can follow Tony on his blog , Twitter – @tphallett – and  Google+ ) Enjoy! Source: social caffeine | Embed this on your own website (FREE) #socialcommunities #SmallBiz #Twitter #Face

Another infographic from the delectable Brafton and  here’s their brilliant blog post to go with it  written by Katherine Griwert ( @kgriwert ) their Head of Marketing Content and Communications.  We know that quality written content is brilliant for Google rankings and search friendly content, keywords and quality information presented for your readers also adds to that. Granted.  This infographic fabulously shows how this is so!  Thanks Katherine… Source: Brafton | Embed t

Have you seen it?..Who hasn’t! I wanted to share with you reasons why I think it rocks and wanted to prove that although I understand we aren’t all over-flowing with marketing budgets the size of the sea, it can all be solved with a little magic creativity! That wasn’t meant to rhyme. Ahem. “ We love self expression. That’s why we want to hear your original songs and help you share them with others. If you’re an aspiring singer-songwriter, upload your song or songs and you ju

What actually is an effective marketing strategy?  Wiki says A “ Marketing strategy  is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable  competitive advantage .“ Well, if you are like me and despise the word ‘strategy’ but realise its’ importance within most long term goals, you will understand that there are several steps in which to take to make sure you reach those goals

If you have a charity event coming up, it’s vital that as many people as possible know when it’s happening to make sure it will be a success. Whether you’re raising money for a charity with a sporting event, an auction or community fair, there are lots of quick and free online tools to help generate publicity for your cause. Supporting a worthwhile cause is an excellent opportunity to show potential customers that your business is more than just a faceless organisation and ca

We’ve posted about Twitter many a time on Online PR UK but the questions I receive are all the same. Are you one of those people that open Twitter in the morning to see if you’ve had any mentions, RTs etc RT a couple of tweets yourself and post up your own PR tweet of the day? Thought so. Stop. Lets think like England did in the EURO2012 against Italy. (Kind of). GOALS GOALS GOALS. What do you want out of this? what does your business need? Increase sales? Increase subscriber

OPT offers you top 5 tips that your competitors will already know! read on… It is fair to say that online pr is NOT the same as offline pr. The differences are significant.  And it is important to learn that both are pitched differently.  This is something successful marketeers have learnt over time and you can learn this from them. Online PR is a varied mixture of brand reputation monitoring and management activities and it’s main goal to influence media, communities and au

How about beginning a audio or video tutorial for your niche? Do you think that your audience will benefit from you offering them a mentoring service? Tips and Tricks for your specialist service? Whether your skills lie in being a creative or an expert in your niche (you could be a great golfer or know how and when to pot certain plants a musician, or a retail manager, etc) Think of the qualities you could share with other businesses in your field or your online clientele. Re

OK, So you’ve got your twitter page looking hot, you’ve written your 3-month campaign and have a decent strategy in place. Then comes the networking right? Imagine you have been invited to one of those work events, you’ve got your name badge and you are fully equipped with a head full of mind numbing questions that you really don’t need to know the answers to, wine in hand – off you go. GULP. One of the upsides of twitter is that you can do all this in your PJs from the comf