A few weeks back, we hosted a breakfast briefing by Mark Williams, the man dubbed ‘Mr Linkedin’ by Linkedin themselves.
In the briefing, Mark covered how to use Linkedin for business development, ensuring that actions and activity which take place on Linkedin are firmly focused on acquiring valuable new contacts and business, rather than the scattergun approach of amassing lots of Connections with no real purpose – something we’ve possibly all been guilty of at some point.
Mark gave some great examples of how Linkedin can practically be used, whilst introducing us to the concept of the ‘Social Seller’ before finally sharing his top tips.
The briefing lasted over an hour, but we’ve edited it down to one session of just under half an hour, and two smaller snippets covering Linkedin for business development and Mark’s top tips.
LinkedIn is widely accepted as the definitive networking and business development tool. However just because businesses are investing time in their presence on LinkedIn does not necessarily mean they are also getting tangible results out. Monetising LinkedIn is tricky and most of us would admit we could do with some help.
Finn PR has joined forces with Search Laboratory and Adam Recruitment to create an unmissable event that will help you get more from your LinkedIn presence. Hosted by the man dubbed ‘Mr LinkedIn’ by LinkedIn themselves – Mark Williams; this session will combine practical help with informative advice and discussion about how to successfully integrate the platform into your marketing and business development strategies.
Mark Williams is one of the world’s leading authorities on LinkedIn. He became its first (and only) UK certified trainer in 2010, one of just two worldwide.
Join us for this informative session on 11th September 2012 at the Round Foundry Media Centre, Leeds. Breakfast will commence at 7.30am and the event will start at 8.00am sharp (for a 9.00am finish).
RSVP:
To register for a place at the event, please email hello@finncomms.com
Some great news for the Finn team today– we’ve been shortlisted for 11 CIPR Awards, which is a new record (according to Ian Briggs at the Business Desk!)
This is a great testament to the team and the hard work everyone has put in over the last year. We’re really proud of the broad range of categories we have been shortlisted for, which span the FMCG, finance and public sectors.
A special mention must go to the digital and social team, who have secured nominations for five of the six places in the digial and social categories.
Congratulations to everyone who has been shortlisted for awards this year.
Below are the awards we have been shortlisted for. Please click here for the full list of nominees.
Over the last few months, we’ve been inundated with CVs and covering emails from students looking for work experience. It’s great that we’re on the radar of the city’s brightest talents, but to be honest, I’ve been left disappointed by pretty much every approach I’ve ever had.
But there was one exception. Our latest (and only) work placement student is Jon Haynes. I can’t remember anything from his CV off the top of my head, but (and sorry to embarrass you Jon!) his covering email was creative, funny and it showed that he took the time to do his research, and then he tailored his approach accordingly. When I say tailored, I don’t mean that he repeated lots of things we already know (like telling us what awards we have won recently), but he read our web site in-depth, had a think, and then he sent us this…..
Finn looks fantastic! (I’ve already written my about me!)
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the profiles on our team page, please check them out – Jon approached us with his profile written in the Finn format – simple but very effective. We invited him on-board in an instant. This is the only creative approach I’ve had in my five years at Finn!
Here’s another (and more famous) example of somebody who was creative in their pursuit of work – Graeme was applying for a permanent position at Frank PR, but the same theory applies.
If you are looking for work experience or you’ve just graduated, please be creative in your approach. Think about what you can offer us in return for us offering you a work placement. Remember, we’re looking for people that stand out from the crowd – people that can PR themselves first and foremost!
To get you started, here’s a few ideas / pointers…
PR yourself by getting your name in a newspaper, on a radio programme and in a blog post in the space of a month (don’t ask me how)
Pick a small, local business or charity and offer to do some free PR for them. **The first student who lines up a company / charity who are willing to have their PR done for free and gets in touch with me, will get an hour of my time and a free lunch, where I’ll help them structure a mini-campaign and then we’ll review over another lunch a month later
Demonstrate that you can spot a trend / opportunity and then capitalise on it. I don’t mean to blow my own trumpet too much (but hey, I’m going to!) – but check out how I raised over a grand from total strangers in a couple of days for the NSPCC
Think of an idea for a current client of ours and offer to present it to us
DON’T start your email “Dear Sir / Madam”. If you can’t be bothered to research our names, we can’t be bothered to read your CV
Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy – Gold winner
The agency demonstrated that it used innovative communications to drive business growth. The strong focus on achieving commercial results for clients is impressive and the culture they have fostered contributes to their success. The performance against business objectives and budget was outstanding and the introduction of robust measurements around fee income per head has driven client satisfaction and improved profitability. The campaign example for Baxters was creative and effective, working hard across many elements of the PR and marketing mix.
Best Use of Media Relations
Holland’s Pies – Maintaining and Building Brand Equity in the North West
Having been tasked with generating media coverage at a time of year when sales often fall, Finn PR tied in Valentine’s Day and British Pie week. Impressive print coverage particularly for ‘Aphro-piety’, combined with exposure via other media channels gave impressive coverage reached figures. The campaign was timely and executed precisely on a fairly limited budget.
Best Campaign £10,000 and Under
Leeds Brewery’s Crowd-Sourced Beer
In so many categories this agency demonstrated the power of setting out clear, measurable objectives which any client would not only understand but buy into. Consistently the results were also excellent, the creativity was evident and the results were typically outstanding. This entry hit the mark on all of those counts, while also showing just what is possible even on the most modest PR budget.
PublicSector
Knowsley Health & Wellbeing – Transforming Health and Wellbeing in Knowsley
This campaign boasted a superb set of meticulously planned tactics. Not only were they creative and focused, but were carefully geared to mesh with the needs of a wide variety of other communications stakeholders. The result was to transform the client’s media profile beyond recognition. The campaign was meticulously delivered with a clear focus on ‘humanising’ the work of the client and to make it relevant to all the stakeholder groups. The outcomes at every level are exemplary and the agency has shown an excellent grasp of the importance of measuring, particularly against clearly set objectives.
So, it’s the morning after the night before… and what a great evening it was for all us Finnsters! We had to split ourselves in two last night, as we had the CIPR Awards in Leeds and the MiAwards in Manchester.
In the CIPR Awards, we won best agency of the year, best use of media relations for Holland’s Pies, best public sector campaign for NHS Knowsley and best campaign under £10,000 for Leeds Brewery.
We also picked up silver for best use of social media for Morphy Richards and best use of consumer relations for Baxters.
Our very own Chris Bennett picked up a silver for best young communicator (I think it should have been gold, but then again I would say that!).
We also picked up the award for the best FMCG marketing campaign for Baxters at the MiAwards in Manchester.
Thanks to all our clients for their continued support and we look forward to planning and running more award winning campaigns in 2012!
Delighted to have won Quorn Foods as our latest retained client, following a five-way pitch.
We’ll be working in conjunction with Quorn’s communication, media planning and digital agencies, and the brief is to make the healthy eating benefits of the brand salient to a wider audience of new users.
2012 will see an extensive drive to increase sales, led by TV advertising, PR and product renovation.
Chris Wragg, Quorn marketing director said of the appointment, “We’ve chosen Finn to join the team because they understand the growth potential of this brand. Strategically they were spot-on, having taken the time to really understand the Quorn consumer, taking our insights and translating them into what will be a seriously effective campaign.
“We’re embarking on an exciting journey for the Quorn brand, creating the world’s first $1bn meat alternative brand and we’re delighted to welcome Finn onto the team.”
Our MD, Richard, said, “This is a really exciting win for us. Quorn is a massive brand, and Chris and teams’ plans for the brand are inspirational. We’re really excited to get cracking.”
Quorn is a top 50 grocery brand with over £119m retail sales (IRI 52 weeks to we 1st October 2011). It was sold by Premier Foods to private equity firm Exponent in early 2011 and is targeting significant growth over the next decade, driven by investment in marketing communications.
We’re blushing at Finn HQ today – we have been voted the number one PR agency in the region by our peers for the second year running, as featured in this month’s Yorkshire Business Insider.
Apologies for the iPhone picture but its the quickest way of getting it uploaded
Every agency in the region was asked to vote for their top three; 1st place = 10 points, 2nd place – 5 points and 3rd place = 2 points.
When your competitors think you’re the best, then that really does say something. So thanks to all who voted for us
I get lots of CVs from prospective candidates, and on the whole the standard is about average (especially I might add, graduates of the Leeds Met PR degree).
This week however, I’ve seen two stunning examples of young PR people presenting themselves outstandingly well using their blogs.
‘Celine is looking for a fashion job‘ was tweeted by @AndrewBloch and RT by Martin Ballantine @piracycorp. As both commented, if you’re looking to hire. Then hire – quick.
I also spotted that Amanda Fox started at Hatch on Monday. I wish her luck with her new role…and if I’d seen her digital resume, I’d definitely responded in the same manner as Andrew and Martin’s tweets.
I believe that the best measure of an agency’s success is how much fee income they make per head – an agency with 10 people making £1M in fee income is almost certainly outperforming an agency with 20 people making the same amount.
Very simply, its total fee income divided by number of staff. Any agency, in the top 150 or not, can work out their average income per head to see where they figure against the country’s best.
Please scroll down for the re-worked Independent and Out of London league tables. And here is a link to the original list… PR Week Top 150 Consultancies
