“When it comes to graduates looking for a job, any effort is welcome.

I get shed loads of letters and emails from grads that start ‘Dear Sir/Madam’.

How difficult is it to look up my name?

From there on in it is clear that the applicant has no clue about my business and has sent the same letter to a thousand other people. If I do bother reading on, I generally (more than 80% of the time) find the letters to be riddled with typos, spelling errors and general nonsense.

Worst of all though, on a few occasions I have taken the time to respond - politely - and point out what they are doing wrong and how to improve their chances. Out of three times I have done this, how many times do you think they have responded? None. Which just proves to me that they were never going to be worth employing. Rant over.”

Now two things before I get started: there will be a terrible typo here that undermines my authority for writing this entry and secondly I have had similar experiences although surprisingly I am not the number one destination of graduate career aspirations.

So here are a few simple tips, which somehow are not followed as often as they should, that is they should be all the time:

Do some research - I have a blog and a Twitter account and lots of references about Artisan on the major search engines.   It is not hard to find out some interesting things about the company you want to work for. Use that research to show you are keen and have some resourcefulness.

Find out the name of the member of staff you are applying to - personalise your application.  A quick call will give you the name you want if it is not online or not clear who the best contact is.

No spelling errors - I reckon a CV takes at least four hours to write and much longer to proof, edit and amend.  Make sure there are no mistakes.  The latest application had this mistake “Daily mail” on the CV.  We all do it but that’s no excuse - get someone to proof it.

Social media - Use Twitter.  Read blogs.  Make some contacts on LinkedIN.

Follow up -  Even if it is a “no,” it might be a “yes” next time.  Initiate contact, generate a rapport if possible, ask advice.  You never know what might happen, maybe a nod towards someone that can help.

Be prepared to accept that job searching can be a thankless task that takes time unless you are lucky or stupendously good - Rushing off / spamming every agency you can find with cut and paste covering letters is easy to see through and generally does not work.

Some people will be rude.  They are probably not working for if it is indicative of their general attitude.  But many employers will not.  They might have been in the same situation.  But if you want them to help at least show you are displaying the respect you want them to show you.

Speaking from the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, he said that advertising revenues for traditional media will not bounce back with a recovery.  Indeed he called this a “reset” and not a recovery, as this implies that things return to as they were.

The only question is how long print has got according to his arguments: as little as 10 years.  He argued that within this period all content will be consumed digitally.

Ballmer was unable to say how traditional media could cope in maintaining its current advertising revenue nor could he actually give a model of how digital could make substantial profits, bar a reference to Google.

It is a big statement, especially as his predecessor Bill Gates’ record with the Internet hardly matches up to his record with software.  And Ballmer gave no idea of how things might actually work in future, it all seems a little “attention grabbing” and “we have heard this all before.”

Where is the insight from the managing director of Microsoft?

There is no doubt that newspapers and magazines are facing challenging times and that some will not survive, but some of this must surely be down to the recession.

I believe Ballmer is in part right: print media is going to have to think long and hard, as is digital.  But the thing about predictions is they are often wrong, especially if you make them as absolutes.  Thankfully I am not in the prediction game.

Yes, print media is facing unprecedented challenges and will need to adapt - it might be much reduced in size within a few years.  Yes, some print and digital will disappear as the environment changes but I would be surprised if newspapers are not with us at all in 10 years.

As one of the comments left (and this is one of the polite ones) from MediaFace says: “I’m prepared to place a hefty wager with Mr Balmer that I will still be buying newspapers on a Sunday.  Along with a good few million others.”

Well maybe a story like this probably was bound to happen at some point soon - somehow some big corporates don’t have a feel for it -  but I am still shocked at how blatantly deceptive and poorly thought out this was.

Habitat are facing the ire of many Twitter folk at the moment after using hash tags inappropriately to drive traffic to a sales offer.  The fact that some hash tags were about the recent events in Iran did not help.

The thing about social media is that is gives the small guy a voice.  And many users see themselves as social media Robin Hoods: you cannot throw your corporate weight around or throw a big budget to get a result - you play by the same rules as everyone else.

Really, social media follows many of the same etiquette as face to face networking and other human interactions, so common sense, manners and a bit of thinking come in handy.  Three simple rules to start:

No hard sales - nothing turns people off you as being sold to, especially if they did not ask to be the centre of a sales talk

Be honest - try to fool people on social media sites and you set yourself up for a backlash

Listen and contribute as much as you speak and take, if not more - giver’s gain

Habitat say they are “sorry” and that this particular use of hash tags was “absolutely not authorised.“  Good so far, but as Habitat declined to name those responsible - in-house or agency - means that this will go on for a little longer than necessary.

Let’s be honest though, how many people enjoy something as big as Habitat messing up?

But the perennial PR question that comes up is: “What is the value of such coverage?”

The Guardian boasts:

• A circulation of near 350,000
• A readership of 1.2m
• A very high percentage of ABC1s - not sure what I come under, if indeed I do register as an ABC.  I could be a “q” or “r” if such demarcations exist.

Advertising rates hover around the £50 per square cm, but can go as high as £90.

I would assume that to advertise on a full page is about £20,000 - £25,000, perhaps.

Then as a PR I could argue that editorial is much more valuable than advertising, so times by….

But then again what really counts is how it raises and improves the profile of Ashley Hoyle - very hard to determine.

And then there is the bottom line question: “Did the client get any inquiries or did it make there job easier when approaching a candidate?”

Then, I pitch, show my work and get asked, after a “very impressive” response:  “What was the benefit to the client?”

Thanks to Leo Benedictus for a great article - intelligent and witty.

The Big Chip 11 is the set piece event for the North West digital media sector.  This year the event was held at Manchester’s Palace Hotel, and was well attended by agencies, in-house digital departments and interested parties.

The Big Chip used to be an award ceremony that everyone took part in and Code Computerlove won.

Well this year it won again but was joined by Love and New Concept Gaming Limited in the victory stakes.  Other notable wins, as I know the guys well, were Simon Wharton and his motley crew PushOn who picked up Best Use of Search and Melbourne who won The Big Green Chip Award and AdInsight with Best Newcomer.

The effort this year, the push behind the awards, was to get the sector revitalised, to generate interest outside the sector as well.

Manchester Digital, the body behind the awards, feels that the North West can compete with London agencies.  Shaun Fensom who is chairman of Manchester Digital opened the evening by saying that agencies in the North West have a collaborationist outlook, success isn’t just measured by how many pitches you win – the sector up here is as talented as anything else in the UK.

With this in mind Simon Wharton, supported by many contributions, used blogs, Twitter (#Big Chip 11) and any other social media techniques he could think of to push the message home.

The event was a success, no doubt.  I think it was going to be anyway, but the effort in promoting the event to act as a catalyst for the industry being viewed as a more recognised and integral part of the business scene is the interesting issue.

Whether this is the start of something new will be decided in the coming months, if the sector maintains the momentum.  It is up to the efforts of digital media professionals as well as Manchester Digital.

Whatever the conclusion, Big Chip 11 shows the digital media industry in the North West is vital.

Too tired to proof again.

Marketing is only really as strong as the product or service in the end.

I wanted to give an example of how two different experiences have reinforced the marketing effort or made it inconsequential.  I suppose I wanted to give credit where it’s due and vent my spleen at the same time to be truthful.

Let’s start with the baddie: (apparently 5 star rated) Qatar Airways, not the world’s favourite airline nor indeed mine (to borrow the world’s cheekiest run airline’s strap line (MD Willie Walsh wants staff to work for nothing for a month)).

Qatar Airways, what can I say?

The flight times are changed three times, I’d better check and confirm with Qatar once I arrive advises my travel agent.

Bags go missing on arrival at Delhi, over 2 hours trying to find out where at three in the morning.

Qatar office asks why they are in Bangkok!  I have to explain?  (Oh I wish I was there now).  Do I get any money for toiletries or for the inconvenience, you bet not.  It arrives – 36 hours late.  I check my latest flight times with staff, a puzzled look, and told that they are of course right.

Going back, arrive at Delhi Airport with 800 Rupees (about £10).  Even though the train was 4 hours late my flight doesn’t leave for several hours.  I can relax and have a coffee.

I decide to check in early: the flight’s gone.  Qatar changed the flight back (without telling me).  Luckily sympathetic airport duty officer gets me back to Manchester with Lufthansa.  I am not the first to have this problem with Qatar he informs me.  If I didn’t have the print out of my flight times then I would have been stuck - my card doesn’t work over here.

I write to Qatar for some satisfaction (it must be two months ago or more): nothing.

I take a swipe at Qatar on Twitter: progress, they follow me.  I decide to take another swipe to see if I can start a dialogue: “sorry” would be a start or why are you not happy with our airline?  Nothing!  What is the point of using Twitter for your marketing if you do not actually act on it?

The AA: this is shorter, so stay with me.

I have been with the AA for I don’t know: years.  I have used them 4 or 5 times in the last couple of years and they have been nothing but polite, friendly, highly skilled and professional.  If I hadn’t broken down I would say it is a real pleasure to deal with them.

What’s the key difference: I will tell anyone who is flying to Dubai or onwards not to use Qatar; I would tell anyone looking for a breakdown service to use The AA.

Clients are your most powerful marketing communications, whether it is good or bad, not your marketing spend.

What does planned communications matter at this point, once you have experienced the service yourself?

But don’t take my word for it have a look at the advert, which has to be the funniest and most cringe worthy thing I have seen in a long time.

Remember the Comfort Wipe is only $19.95 if you buy today.  Click here to see video.

I will be back on serious entries after this.

Found through the power of Twitter and Sally Whittle’s RSS feed.

• 133,000,000 – number of blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002
• 346,000,000 – number of people globally who read blogs (comScore March 2008)
• 900,000 – average number of blog posts in a 24 hour period (seems a bit low)
• 77% - percentage of active Internet users who read blogs

This naturally presents a golden opportunity to convey your message.  And if you have a very sector specific target audience there is bound to be a multitude of blogs that will cover the topic.

Yet, I still hear of companies and agencies that go about pitching the wrong way.

It is certainly harder to pitch to a blogger than a journalist (although there can be a correlation).

The media needs stories.  The media relies on PRs to supply those stories / interviewees on a regular basis, it has a continuous appetite.   A relationship with a journalist is very helpful but not essential for getting your release or article published.

A blogger does not need a PRs’ stories, of course they need material but that can come from a number of sources.  A blogger might post every day, week, month – there is not the same pressure generally to deliver content.  Gaining coverage with a blogger relies far more on relationships.

It is a different dynamic: a journalist is paid to generate content for an organisation, a blogger tends to be working for him or herself, often for nothing, and they can relate to their blog in a very personal way.

(With way over 100 million blogs these observations can be nothing but generalisations, there are bound to be exceptions but I think they are rough guidelines nevertheless).

For me the key difference is that I can pitch to a media channel whether I have or not in the past worked with them, it is not too important if I have a good idea or subject – I would not do the same with a blogger.

The key, I believe, to taping into the blogosphere is spending the time to develop relationships, learn about individual blogs.

Use Twitter to initiate a conversation.  Better still if your client has a blog leave (relevant insightful) comments on the target blog.  It will help show you have some knowledge of social media, which will help gain acceptance, it will show interest and it might make the blogger feel that they are obliged to reciprocate.  It is a first step in the pitching process.

So, for me, it is the conversation before that really counts.  Of course you might contact them directly and succeed with a brazen salesy press release, but you might be deleted as spam more likely.

And remember, if you have developed a reputation though social media or indeed traditional media then you might find that you are pulling in interest from bloggers.

This all takes time and that is where it goes wrong: PRs and clients don’t often have the luxury of time.

Please note

I have just upgraded my blog and there were a few issues with plug-ins, so I have (hopefully) reset the comments, which had requested a Wordpress account to leave a message.

I would be appreciate if you did leave a comment to see if it is working and if not please drop me an e-mail rob@artisanmc.co.uk

It’s not easy and the recession makes an attractive career in PR or marketing even harder to come by.

If you are not a marketing / PR / business graduate it becomes even harder, and no experience, well….

So what can you do if you feel that you could grow into this type of career?  How can you invest your time to build a platform to build a career?

Here are a few tips that I hope will be of some help.  They derive from my experience and as you know experience can be described as a collection of mistakes - peppered by a few successes - that helps you learn how to do something proficiently.

Resilience - you are going to get knocked back unless you are very lucky, well-connected or brilliant.  It is not easy to get a letter like this if you feel that you are perfect for a job: “Even though you are an excellent candidate we felt your skills were not quite right for our organisation on this occasion….”

You need to have a thick skin and move on, and don’t look back.  It’s not easy.

Give yourself a range of options - You might want to work in fashion PR, it is your ambition since you were 17.  But be flexible, so if a job in consumer PR comes up consider it carefully.  You can always move to other sectors at a later stage (although HR can have a habit of pigeon holing people).

Make a start and do not wait for the perfect job - You have to start somewhere.  The first job might be far from perfect but does it get you to the place you want to go?

A note of caution:  Sometimes an opportunity comes up but it is not right because it will not develop your skills, you don’t have the right attributes to build on in the first place or the boss or environment is not for you.  It takes real courage to turn something down when you are desperate to get a career started.  However, it is often the best option, so think carefully before accepting a position that you have a bad feeling about.

Desperation - the enemy of job seekers.

If you are desperate it will come though at interview and you will not get the job or as above it will cloud your judgement.  When you are starting out you often don’t have much perspective and little experience - you need to get on NOW!  Try and relax, if you are determined you will get there.

Qualifications - These can be more important in securing your first position rather than what you learn.  (I cannot remember 90% of my Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma).

Apprenticeships - take them.  It shows employers your intent and gives you insight into your profession.  It might convince you that it wasn’t for you all along.  But remember a bad experience doesn’t mean you won’t thrive elsewhere.

Networking - If you develop good contacts it can help flag opportunities.  The least it might do is give you a real insight into the profession.  So start to attend CIPR events, ask friends who they know, can your lecturers help make introductions for you?  Be proactive, it will also deveolop your business skills and you as a person.

Social networking - It is hard to go to a business event as a wannabe PR and feel confident that you will be taken seriously.  You might think, “What can I offer the other attendees?”

These thoughts are understandable, but that doesn’t stop you using Twitter, monitoring blogs or indeed blogging yourself to start to establish a greater insight into your new profession and to initiate contacts.  If you are engaged in these pursuits at this moment in time you will probably be admired by the best professionals.  In a couple of years perhaps it will be nothing special at all.

Take control of things yourself - I have one client that could not get the summer job he wanted so he found projects for himself and by the time he graduated he had enough work to form his own business.

Not everyone is confident or able enough to do this, most people need to learn the ropes before they can work for themselves.  Saying that, if you feel you can offer something, why not do PR for a small charity or organisation?  (Caution: you might look back on the mistakes you made here and cringe, but it could be useful for your CV).

Find a mentor - someone who can help and guide you is invaluable.  Even getting snippets of advice from professionals can help, so be open and receptive.

Someone, family or friend, that can give you support can be just as crucial when you are feeling down thinking about the ridiculous odds you might encounter going for an entry level position.

If you want it you can get into marketing or PR - be proactive, focused and determined.

Even though I wrote that two years ago it is still a popular post.  This is of course not surprising with the current economic climate.

When Manchester Masters was launched it seemed like a promising development - apprenticeships for students and graduates wanting a career in marketing and PR.  And not only that, it was supportive and generous beyond many people’s expectation - certainly ones that had had to devote unpaid work to get on the career ladder themselves.

Why had such a scheme not been thought of before?

I was looking through The Guardian when I spotted the name of  Sandy Lindsay of Manchester PR agency Tangerine.  I was drawn into an article about selection for Manchester Masters.

Any scheme offering a real opportunity to grow (and a rent free apartment for a year) is going to be popular, in good times and bad.

But how do you select the 10 lucky students out of the 100 applications?  (This actually seems a low figure).

Well The Guardian gave the answer: Apprentice style activities such as putting a flat back together while being questioned.

These tasks were designed to weed out the “wallflowers” but as journalist Daniel Cookney observes “is it possible that the competition overlooked good candidates who were simply not suited to such a format?”  Others agreed.

It might be that the PR for this was seen as key and it was generated successfully.  After all I read about it in The Guardian.  It could be that the PR agency let its instincts take over or they took some publicity for themselves (we all do a bit from time to time).  It could be that this was seen as the best way to select, but I doubt it.

What I know is that it can be incredibly hard to get started, the recession might, I should say “will”, destroy the hopes of some graduates to attain a career in PR and marketing.

But we need to be fair as possible, perhaps this was.

The key thing is that the desperate desire to win one of these apprenticeships is taken with the upmost seriousness.  I am sure it was, but using techniques that have a touch of business reality TV gives the wrong impression.

One winner Charlotte Gush gushed, “My specialist knowledge does not lie in PR, marketing or media, but the competition challenged me to demonstrate my transferable skills, knowledge and abilities.”

How do you exactly know that if you have not worked in any of the fields?  I can’t see how the exercises did at all.

It has the ring of cliched and hackneyed CV soundbites.

For me Manchester Masters is a brilliant opportunity for 10 lucky aspiring marketers to get a real head start.  It is bound to miss talented people that make it through other means.  But it has to show that it has gone through fair and professional means to find the apprentices.  Anything less is unfair on those that missed out and on the integrity and reputation of the scheme.