Bad language: it’s always a sign
I’ve just had a guest blog post published by Mortimer Chadwick Gray, a public relations company based in Leeds and London. They invite guest bloggers and copywriters like myself to contribute articles on subjects like photography, marketing, food, PR and language. I chose the latter and penned a light-hearted tongue-in-cheek rant aimed squarely at poorly written public signs. It’s a subject close to my heart since attending a copywriting course run by the Plain English Campaign. Why obfuscate a public sign in incomprehensible gibberish that has just one objective: to be...
Read MoreGraduate Entrepreneurship case study
As a dedicated follower of the blog, you’ll know that I’ve just been back to school, at the Entrepreneur’s Boot Camp: to get a tight grip on the practicalities of things like tax, law and finance. I came away with a suitcase full of new knowledge, buckets of inspiration and a coach-load of new friends I’ve made along the way. As a follow-up, the Graduate Entrepreneurship Project chose a few case studies from amongst the attendees at the event and my business was selected as one of them. You can read the full article on the Graduate Entrepreneurship Project web site. Oh...
Read MoreGoing back to school
I’ve sort of had a taste of my own medicine. When I went freelance, part of my mission was to help people who don’t have time to tell the world about themselves because they’re too busy getting on with it. Well here I am: getting on with it, solving that problem with copyriting and photography. But now I’m too busy to get to grips with all the practicalities of running a business: cash flow, tax and law to name but a few. Necessary evils you might say or “worry about them later” you may also advise. Well, I think it’s only right that now this little...
Read MoreOrb Community Arts blog goes live
After a careful period of planning and analysis, another one of my projects: the Orb Community Arts blog is now up and running, telling the world all about the great work they’ve got going on at their Knaresborough based art and music enterprise. Form just a couple of informal chats with Leon and Mark at Orb, it was quite clear that they’re very enthusiastic and passionate about their mission: to promote a positive attitude to mental health and social inclusion within the community of Harrogate and North Yorkshire. With an in-house music recording studio, art workspace, computer...
Read MoreGet your house in order first
With social media, it’s tempting to run straight out the front door with all guns blazing, pistol duelling with every site in the Wild West of social networking but neglecting to take care of the obvious things back home first: the humble web site. Hands up, when I meet a new charity client I’ve been known to get a little too excited about all the great support services, case studies and community events they have ready for me to plug using social media. It’s very easy to start telling the world all about it, but without the collateral to back up the tweets and status...
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