I went to the marvellous Like Minds in Exeter at few weeks ago.

Two days of immersives, learning lunches and inspirational speeches. I didn’t even make the evenings of music and film as my fuses were blown. But I’d recommend going along to anyone going next time. It made for some great (overheard) breakfast conversations about whiskey and tapas (among other *things*).

I’m not going to launch into a blow-by-blow account. So much was synthesised, it’s hard to resist the temptation! Instead, I’ve pulled out key learnings in the hope they may be of use.

1. Consider Your Role

The theme was Curation and Creativity – my first ‘one-off’ workshop discussed this with regard to the publishing industry. Fascinating. I could have carried on all day and beyond.

It was posited that we are now all curators. We decide what information to disseminate and to whom – whether it’s Flickr pics, news stories or twitvids sent via Buzz (!), LinkedIn, Facebook etc. So where does this leave the publishing industry?

Many agreed that traditional media should look to evolve relationships with readers. The Times paywall effectively destroyed thousands of relationships – how else to maximise and indeed monetise these rather than focusing on a traditional model?

As someone said, ‘It’s just a journey’. Sure, the media are great at producing stories and have (in some cases) acted as arbiters of taste. But analytics and customer insight enables us to learn ‘how’ to curate or provide news according to audiences.  This is surely a good thing – rather than continuing to arrogantly assume that we know exactly what readers want.

As an ‘insidious marketer’ who creates content for brands, I felt there was a degree of  sneering at brands getting in on the act.  I don’t seen how this has less value or credibility than that of the media writing within an editorial policy. Brands have value to add in terms of contacts, product/sector information and customer relationships? They just don’t offer the breadth and ‘objectivity’ that traditional media offers.

In fact, much of this sentiment echoed that of the Festival of Ideas’ News Futures event ‘What’s The Bloggin’ Story’.

Andrew Dubber negated curation later in the conference suggesting it was not for us to curate content – leave it to the masses. An interesting argument – democratic to the extreme. But it felt slightly messy to me. And a little inconsiderate for those trawling through future content and ascribing values – cultural or otherwise – to something that may have had no value to its originator.

2. Evolve Your Business / Organisation

Evolution of business for the information age was repeated in the lunchtime speech entitled, ‘Can You Crowdsource Creativity’. After a stunted start, defining  crowdsourcing, we agreed that it effectively enables clients to supercharge their pitching.

For those in-house, it was agreed that this is *a good thing* as long as briefing and evaluation is properly managed.  For agency-side, we identified it was necessary to adapt to trends and evolve business and recruitment accordingly.

3. Be Brave
The second ‘one off’ workshop by Shaa Wasmund ‘How To Grow Your Business in the 21st Century’ was less immersive, more inspirational speech. Wow, what a woman.

Shaa gave us some great advice – lots of it intuitive but good to hear illustrated with real life examples.  Top tips?

Build partnerships – be bold and punch above your weight. Collaboration is crucial for success – on and offline.
What’s the worst that could happen? None of us like failure or rejection. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. And if you don’t ask that big corporate to sponsor, get involved, etc – you’ll never know what was possible.
Admit your mistakes - we only learn from our mistakes and we all make them. Showing your stomach shows self assurance and confidence. And asking questions rather than assuming you know (or should know) the answers is another powerful lesson I’ve learnt.
You can’t be good at everything – no wo(man) is an island. An important lesson in these days of micro-business. So build a team and play to your strengths.

4. Stay Present
What initially appeared to be a leftfield speech by Karren Brook from Whitespace Leaders couldn’t have been more apt. Karren talked about the need to be present and aware. Important when talking to clients, collaborators – pretty much anyone really.

Having been to numerous conferences filmed, tweeted, photographed by attendees, I sometimes find it slightly irritating. To properly understand and discuss issues, I find it useful to stay present. Sure, it’s good to share – but often conference organisers already have this covered. As this brings up the issue of curation, I guess it depends on your objectives for the event – to learn, to document or to be seen and heard.

Great Minds Think Alike?
Tosh. I saw on the hashtag an acerbic tweeter getting their knickers in a twist about Like Minds.  Despite it’s billing, the (beautiful) irony is that people don’t think alike. I was keen to debate and hear other views rather than reaching consent with a bunch of polarised groups. And this was fortunately possible – without any  bunfights!

The fabulous Scott Gould and Andrew Ellis compered with panache and dynamism. The best I have seen in fact. Thanks again for a great conference. Looking forward to the next.

All pics thanks to Harry Duns – http://www.flickr.com/photos/harryduns

I was asked to work my inner Deborah Meaden on Friday at the superbly run Plunge event with City of Bristol College. Organised by the guys from Working Knowledge,  I joined a panel of over 50 business experts aka dragons from across Bristol. The brief? To add a dose of reality, advise and inspire over 360 16-17yr old students taking their first forays into enterprise.

I’ll admit, I was a little nervous about meeting fellow dragons. Being afforded the title ‘Expert’ and ‘Dragon’ set certain expectations.  Despite studying business, working in marketing and being self-employed for over two decades, the fear of not being up to the grade was palpable. These fears were heightened when:

1. I was mistaken for a student at registration (yay!)
2. I entered the experts room in non Meaden inspired cycle-friendly ‘executive shorts’ and boots to be met by a sea of suited and well heeled business people (oops!)

Fortunately, fellow dragons were friendly, knowledgable and down-to-earth. Most owned thriving  businesses as well as having specialist skills in key business functions.  I got to meet the face behind the tweets – @alifmtp @bristoloffice. And I spotted Bristol & Bath Marketing Network’s Oakleigh Wood and @copymojo across the sea of faces but didn’t have the chance to say hi.

Groups changed over the day, however, my core group included Diane of training specialists Intelligent Dialogue, Rebecca – business development expert from Rejoove, Ovi – an Education Studies Phd student and Julie a seasoned Plunge dragon and business expert.

The day was well structured and fun.  Dragons were put through their paces with extensive briefings, copious amounts of paperwork and grade scales for a dizzying number of areas.

The ideas were superb – a kinetic smartphone charger, a webcam-mp3-satnav to stop you falling asleep at the wheel, pull-on shoe grips to help you walk in icy conditions, hair vacuum for hairdressers that instantly tidied cut hair etc. The list goes on….

Many student groups had dwindled. This meant that some were downbeat – others rose to the occasion and their enthusiasm was infectious. Ben (Hair Away) deserves a special mention for his unswerving attention to detail and professionalism, which grew as the day went on. Marlon from the webcam team was a slick salesman (Diane said she’d employ him in an instant).  And Evan of the motion sensitive TV controller (the eventual winner) was passionate and eager to learn. We loved his team’s suggested celebrity endorsement of the Pope.

What did I learn?  From a marketing perspective, virtually all of the students solely considered consumer marketing. This was to be expected – and I was impressed with those who had thought beyond this.  Though B2B isn’t so ‘sexy’ – and you could see many of them wince when you suggested trade shows, trade press and strategic alliances – it’s absolutely crucial for those starting out in business looking to expand routes to market.

Many insisted on using billboards and advertising and we were told that, despite students being avid Facebookers they would not view it as a promotional channel. This was true – and surprising that they opted for advertising given its diminishing effectiveness, relatively high cost and limited reach.  Some didn’t understand the concept of PR or free editorial causing me to consider its power and subtlety as a communications tool.

Also, chatting with Peter Weeks of Metaphor Consulting after an initial pitching session, we mused about it’s key lesson – helping students to ask for money.  As James Lott from Working Knowledge said,“As a nation, we’re awful at asking for money.” Something I’d heartily agree with – and it’s a skill which is often undervalued or seen as uncouth. Maybe that’s why Jerry Maguire’s “Show Me The Money!” catchphrase has become so often quoted. But probably not the most appropriate phrase to drop into a business conversation.

I enjoyed and heartily endorse the experience. If there’s one in a city near you – I urge you to get involved. It’s a blast – and only a wallet of paper money (£1 notes?!) is involved..

The relative quiet of the summer break is nearly over and students are either back in the fold or stocking up on books and booze in readiness for the new term. So are you ready for the onslaught of online conversations about to be unleashed?

We recently completed a large project for Glyndwr University – auditing the sector then developing their social media strategy, guidelines and a series of How-To wikis for staff. Social networks were established and integrated and web, marketing and alumni services trained on their effective management (training presentation below).

The US is still leading the way in the use of social media – no doubt due to a more hard-nosed business model.  The UK is slowly following suit, however, and adopting similar methods and tools. Selling the use of social media internally is difficult for a sector with a typically closed culture.  Here are some suggestions on how best you can do this.  We’ve also added a few tips to help you manage social media within your broader marketing strategy.

Of course, these are just the tip of the iceberg and no doubt you’re already doing many of them. If not, now could be a good time to get prepped for the student year ahead.

1. Start Listening: People are talking about you online – it’s a given. Only by establishing a listening strategy will you be able to identify and deal with issues that may arise. As well as responding via twitter and Facebook, monitoring online mentions can highlight student questions about your University in places like Student Room. You can then either help and learn from these, or send in student ambassadors where appropriate.
2. Generate Support: Chances are that many at your University or College still think social media is ‘flash in the pan’. So how do you get it onto the agenda and encourage effective use across the organisation? Often listening to what’s been said can help you do this. Why not benchmark online mentions against competitors to see how you compare?  There are likely to be a number of social media literate staff already blogging or tweeting. Celebrate these and ask them to become social media ambassadors. It’s amazing what a bit of internal competition can do
3. Rein ‘em In: Chances are there are numerous Facebook Groups and social networks already in your University’s name. Some may have been created by students – others by progressive staff looking to manage subjects or classes. Don’t fret! As long as your brand isn’t affected by offensive content, it’s good to encourage this behaviour subject to establishing best practice guidelines.
   • For students, review their IT policy and make sure they’re aware that using the University logo is a no-go. Most are now a lot more savvy about privacy online, however, let them also know you are listening and that offensive or defamatory comments will not be tolerated on as well as off-line.
   • For staff, provide guidelines and a dynamic social networking wiki with a series of How To’s on best practice. And celebrate/promote their use of social media internally.
4. Create A Facebook Fan Page: If you don’t already have one, where have you been hiding?! Many US Universities no longer give students email – preferring to engage them using social networks. Get admissions, student information and alumni relations involved as well as marketing. Use it to engage, help and communicate with students – not just as a broadcasting platform.
5. Engage Alumni Using LinkedIn: LinkedIn enables Universities to offer alumni networking and work opportunities as well as sharing experiences and contacts online. There’s even a LinkedIn AlumniNets support group if you’re managing an Alumni network here.  Consider creating sub-groups within your alumni group to enhance networking. And use newsletters and feeds to keep them engaged with rich and interesting content.
6. Review Where Content Is Hosted: Everything your University creates – images, report, film clips etc – is an asset. Consider whether this is being maximised, or whether it’s languishing on a hard drive or private network. There may be targeted social networks for these, which centralise content and drive traffic to your University website. For example, Flickr (photography), YouTube (film clips), Scribd (pdfs) & Slideshare (presentations). NB, once hosted publicly online, these need to be managed. So it’s worth reviewing whether you have sufficient resources to do this.

Online is evolving rapidly, with Facebook’s introduction of Places, the cool new kids on the block, Foursquare and Gowalla, are being given a run for their money (more about them later). And social networks are two-a-penny as everyone tries to get in on the action.  By all means keep up with online developments but remember that they won’t all be relevant to you. Before you implement any campaign using social media, make sure you’ve defined your objectives. Only then can you evaluate and continue learning how best to reach and engage online audiences.

Do you work at a University?  What are the main issues you have to deal with?

While doing some research into top end homeware products for Brabantia, I happened upon a Wikipedia entry on Sabatier knives. This was after looking at a fairly dire website on said kitchen utensils. On Wikipedia I found, to my surprise (apologies to those already in the know) that Sabatier is not a registered brand name. Rather, it’s “considered to imply a high-quality knife produced by one of a number of manufacturers in the Thiers region of France using a fully forged process”.

So no quality assurance there – note the use of the word ‘considered’. Yet it’s still recognised by many (myself included) as one of the best knife brands you can get. Wikipedia goes on to state that “knives legally bearing the name range from high-quality knives made in France to cheap mass-produced products of poor quality from France and other countries”. Why I oughtta!

Y’know. I kind of like the way the French celebrate regional business. Apparently Thiers has been associated with the cutlery industry since the Middle Ages. And the region of Champagne has, well, pretty much the monopoly on a certain sparkling beverage. OK, so quality isn’t consistent across each bottle of bubbly, but for many, the real talking point is the brand and its associations.

It got me wondering whether there could be benefits in clusters of producers joining forces to create and communicate high quality brands (ideally subject to stringent quality guidelines). Co-operatives are aimed towards co-branding but from my experience (and please correct me if I’m wrong), they often don’t communicate that air of exclusivity.

Strangely enough, I was discussing this with Lou Campbell, Queen Bee at MyEhive – the online e-commerce site for handmade crafts. They have a cool project in the pipeline called Craft Nations that aims to do just that. Still in beta, the aim is to create a collective of luxury crafts suppliers that can be located using the mapping feature. This will be supported by a social network of smaller craftspeople who can register details on the site for free and find out about local craft fairs or network online.

As well as showcasing creative talent, the site plans to encourage people to invest in their local communities.

“Think Liberty co-operative.” says Lou. She worked at Liberty’s jewellery dept and has an eye for design as well as technical nous.

“We’re still at early stages but lots are already putting themselves on the map. FARMA have agreed to provide data on all of their farms offering crafts. The next stage is to get to London Fashion Week and start bringing onboard suppliers so we can start building the brand.”

It will be interesting to see how Craft Nations unfolds. Relationships are hugely important in business, and, with the growth of online networking and flexible working, it is increasingly likely that businesses will shapeshift into branded strategic alliances & project teams to meet different customer needs.

I’m all for increasing the power of smaller suppliers. But it’s a PR disaster waiting to happen if it becomes all about branding, rather than making sure suppliers comply to quality guidelines. And don’t get me started on Pierre Cardin…. 

Je vous presente….  our shiny new website with ‘fully integrated’ blog!

Our mums and dads would definitely approve.

It’s taken us an inordinate amount of time to get our act together. Frankly, this is embarrassing. But at least now we can talk about all the great stuff we’ve worked on. Plus all the cool jobs in the pipeline too. Oh, and other pressing issues like the price of fruit an’ all.

In fact, you’ll probably be sorry we ever got on this darn soapbox. Cos there’ll be no shutting us up from now on!  Um, unless you click on the button below…

I’ve been meaning to blog for years.  Just not got around to it.  So where are the trumpet fanfares and eagerly awaiting hordes – keen to hang on (or RT?) every word?

At Oakleaf, we recommend blogging to clients – Brabantia, Glyndwr University and many more. It’s a great way to get your name out there. Or to nurture and placate people already talking about your brand. We even manage the process and provide  training. So it felt hypocritical extolling the virtues and not showing willing.

As a lover of words, I think they should be used sparingly with impact and integrity. You wouldn’t think that to speak to me…

This is difficult in a growing online world where words are currency. They drive traffic to you and your website. In turn, this promotes products and services. But value and substance behind words drives talkability through social networks.  And, more importantly, helps elicit the *right* response.

So I thought about what I want to achieve, what I’d like to convey and an ethos for this blog. And maybe if I share the process, it will help if you’re considering blogging. Perhaps even if you already are.

Essentially, it’s putting strategy before tactic. An oft forgotten approach.

I realise I’m approaching my word watershed. So to start, here’s a short list of blog aims. A blogging manifesto if you like:

Be Useful - what’s the point in blogging if no-one gains from it?  I’ve pulled together some guys who really know their onions. See the line-up of guest bloggers here. And I’ll be linking to other useful stuff from t’interweb. Or if you have an idea for a guest blog, drop me a line. Feel free to provide comments and feedback too. Be nice please

Share Learning – We all make mistakes. We also do good work. Both can help us grow collectively. We’ll show you ours – why not show us yours?  Either in your comments or in a guest blog?

Engage - there, I said it. Overused in today’s over-marketed world. But a good word nonetheless. Life isn’t all about talking. To be good, you need to listen. Even if you don’t like what’s being said.  This helps us keep learning rather than stagnating and becoming lacklustre. We’ll be scanning the blogosphere and commenting where we can add to the conversation. Not for the sake of it. And not in a ‘green pen brigade’ kinda way.

Be Authentic - to us, PR & marketing involves understanding people – what inspires and enthuses them. So we’ll talk about what makes us tick – nature, science, philosophy, technology etc – in the hope it gets you fired up too. Often, there are analogies to be drawn. And we do like a nice analogy…. or is that cup of tea?  Hmm, both asamatteroffact….

Hello and welcome to our blog.

Eh, another blog? In a world already busting at the seams with information. Well, the plan is to offer ‘little acorns’ of knowledge. Teeny tiny ones – for those with limited attention spans and time. Covering a range of things – copywriting, branding, media relations, online, etc. Oh, and a healthy dose of strategy too…

Hopefully they’ll help if you work in marketing or communications. Especially if you don’t have the luxury of a roster of agencies or legions of people working on each marketing tactic. And if you can’t find an answer to your questions here, why not leave a comment. We do like a good challenge and will do all we can to help!