People are often confused by the term PR. How is PR different from advertising, what can you expect from a good PR agency or freelancer, and what is unreasonable/impossible? This is a beginner’s guide for all those questions that you were too embarrassed to ask. Definition A PR’s job is to manage your reputation and build awareness for your…
One of the most frustrating things about getting older, and more experienced, is that you see the same mistakes playing out time and time again with similar results. This offloads some of my frustrations so you can, hopefully, avoid them. Get in touch if you want to understand more about how PR can be used to the benefit or…
One of the most common mistakes people make with communication is to assume that telling your target audience something is the same as communicating with them. To be heard, in a world where we’re bombarded with messages every minute of every day, you have to give your audience a reason to take notice in the split second you have…
There are fashions for everything, even words and job descriptions. My prediction for 2024 is that everyone will start talking about Fractional Directors. Of course, like all fashions, it’s not brand new, the term already exists across many disciplines, but I believe this year it will become mainstream, and the advantages will be embraced. If you’re one of those…
Inflation is a stalking beast that can threaten the survival of small businesses. Rising prices eat into profit margins and put the long-term sustainability of SMEs at risk—making it imperative to tame this predator. And well-managed companies that do so can even thrive like never before. But SMEs will need to take concrete steps to grapple costs under control,…
Last week Netflix released into the public domain, deliberately or accidently, their aggressive plans to end password sharing between households. Their aim is to boost flagging income by forcing people to get their own subscriptions. The plans included making users log in every month and attaching the account to the Wi-Fi, so that only those on the same Wi-Fi…
Prince Harry was one of our most popular royals. His tragic childhood and natural charm meant that the public was very forgiving and even protective towards him. The media coverage generally reflected that. The media’s attitude changed soon after he got married. What went wrong from a PR perspective? Why did THE interview result in their approval ratings plummeting even further?…
I have huge respect for journalists. We employ ex national, local, broadcast, print and digital journalists on the extended Onyx team. They are highly skilled at identifying what is and isn’t a story and in creating stories that people want to read (or listen to). They know what will engage a journalist and what will annoy them. They’re the best…
Three of our clients have been invited onto the radio this month and had the interview filmed for showing online. Delivering online interviews professionally is not as easy as it looks. Here are our top tips. You’ll also find most of these useful for other types of down-the-line presentation too. Set up 1. Check your internet speed. If it’s too slow find…
Nearly 3 years ago, in the autumn of 2017, I predicted that we were on the brink of a revolution in the way we work. That TEDx has now had nearly 60k views. With recent events the comments make for interesting reading. People at that time could not see the link between remote working and pollution and many believed…