In England we are seriously lacking a greeting rule. We have all done it – leaned in for a kiss on the same side, poked someone in the stomach with an outstretched hand, taken the kiss cheek too far and hugged as well. We have managed to put a man on the moon and invent almost a whole language in anagrams, yet we haven’t established a method of greeting each other? OMG How?

I have just got to the age where this has become a problem. Through School and then University I got by merely nodding at a new arrival, or possibly waving depending on the distance – but usually a simple ‘hi’ did the trick.

Now I have entered the working world a nod or wave is simply not enough – enter the awkward-shuffle-greeting-mess. And it is now not only work, somehow this ineptitude to greet someone has leaked into my social life as well. My peer group seems to have taken the awkward shuffle greet from their new ‘real’ jobs, along with their first brand new suit, and bust it out on a Friday night. Enough is enough! I propose we start a British greeting rule!

This is what I propose:

Work – man & man – shake hands

Work – man & woman – shake hands with one cheek kiss

Friends – hug

Failing that maybe we should all revert back to the ‘I’m cool’ school nod?

It was only at the end of last year that we announced our success at the Home Counties South CIPR PRide awards for our dedication to public relations.  Last month, Wildwood shot to success again, after being short listed as finalists for two awards at the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards.

This Award scheme – run by CADIA – celebrates and recognise local businesses who consistently contribute to improving the Gatwick Diamond area. With many entries and a lengthy and strategic judging process, only three make it through to become a finalist.  Tanya Houston, our MD and founder, was declared a finalist in the Business Person of the Year Category – an absolutely marvellous and well deserved achievement.

The second category where we made the final three was the ‘Award for Developing People for Business Success’.  We were up against the mighty Virgin Holidays and Reeves & Co LLP; proving that even though we are a small business, through hard work and determination, we can compete with larger organisations and contribute to the local economy.

At Wildwood PR, entering awards is not an unfamiliar task. As a PR agency with a host of clients, it is often our responsibility to place those clients into relevant industry awards and getting them the recognition they deserve. As finalists ourselves this year – it is a fantastic achievement to recognise our own hard work. 

The most resonating piece of advice I have ever received is to always use the telephone. Admittedly, these four words were probably the most I ever heard from that particular managing director, but never the less, these words have stuck with me – and I still believe that actually speaking to a journalist is the best way forward.

Here are my Wildwood top tips for working with journalists:

• Understand the magazine you are approaching and its readership – you need to be giving the journalist something they want and believe is newsworthy – it’s our role to make it hit the spot.  
• Know the product/client you are selling in – make sure you sound knowledgeable and can answer any questions the journalist asks – it’s not about knowing absolutely everything, but being confident and fully prepared
• Don’t be afraid of the word no – I know that hearing the word ‘no’ can be hard, but speaking to someone is, in my view, the best way to get your message across, adapt to the journalists needs and build successful relationships.   
• Have the information to hand – always, always have details on what you are trying to sell in at your finger tips. That – and be prepared – have I said that already?  I know from experience, that it is when you are on the phone, deep into a pitch, that is when your computer is guaranteed to freeze and the piece of paper you are looking for will not be where you thought it was!
• After the call, follow up professionally – if the journalist asks for more information make sure you send this quickly – and definitely do not miss a deadline.   

The good news is, when you get it right and you pick up a publication and you’ve scored a hit – doesn’t matter if it’s The Times or Fry Monthly (I promise you this magazines exists and my clients have been in it!) – that initial telephone call will feel more than worth it.

Last weekend, Wildwood PR faced its greatest professional challenge to date when the 13.1 mile navigation of an alien landscape was undertaken by two directors and two employees.

Tanya (aka Tayna), John, Lauren and Ash all ran the Tunbridge Wells ½ Marathon as honoured guests of event sponsors, Lifestyle Europe’s own running club, Team Lifestyle. Dame Kelly Holmes was in attendance to start the race and the proceeds of the race were divided between her own charity, The Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust, and Lifestyle Europe’s nominated charity, The Pickering Cancer Drop-in Centre, in Tunbridge, sorry Leah, Royal Tunbridge Wells.

The course record that day – in both the male and female categories – was broken and, although not by anyone at team Wildwood (timing chips must’ve been broken), sterling efforts were put in all round with no consideration for shins, joints, quads and general walking related matters and anatomy.

Legs burnt, tears were shed, tantrums were nearly thrown and lungs bled. None of which, however, deterred any of our fearless competitors from starting the race. Wildwood also chose to support the Pickering Centre and joined in with Team Lifestyle’s fund raising efforts.

With a target of £10,000, people gave generously and at the time of posting the total had rested at £6,286.00. The success of finishing the race pales into insignificance when considering the success of the charity and for your support of The Pickering Centre, we are truly grateful.

Please continue to support the charity where ever you can afford to and if we reach our target of £10,000 our account managers, Ally and Shereen, have agreed to compete in next year’s race as the two required halves of a pantomime horse…right Ally, right Shereen?

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=teamlifestyle

So what does this mean for the industry, university students and employers?

The PR industry is huge, and contributes around £7.5bn to the UK economy every year. It is a highly trained specialised industry and with the recent rise in tuition fees there is a danger of the size of the industry shrinking and contributing less. The apprentice scheme will hopefully ensure a steady stream of high calibre professionals for the industry, and will show the advantages of vocational education. This will in turn create a more diverse industry, offering the career path and its benefits to those whom may not have heard of it, but still hold a unique and special set of skills applicable to PR.

As my director at Wildwood PR, Jeff Hayward, relates, there are companies out there with an open mind: “I think the scheme is fantastic.” Comments Jeff. “As an organization we have always been the recipients of the benefits of graduate employees, and our staff have always brought professionalism, independence and organizational skills they have learnt at University to the workplace. However, in recent economic times we have felt the strain of the diminishing employment market and truly believe all companies should be open to hiring apprenticeship-trained PR employees. Not only will it bring a strong diversity and creativity to our industry, but if those individuals have the will and determination to complete an apprenticeship programme, they will also bring that dedication to the office environment. A degree does not define a persons skills, just enhances them, and this can just as easily be bought out and developed through an apprenticeship scheme. As an employer I am more than willing to consider and hire apprenticeship trained candidates alongside graduates.”

It is no secret that the employability of graduates is suffering. Partly down to the economy and partly down to the lack of practical skills they possess. I personally believe that strong work experience is more powerful than a degree; something a lot of graduates do not have. Degree content is over saturated with theory, with no strong emphasis on the practical advantages of learning. Although this may be acceptable in certain circumstances, for example a History or English degree, it is certainly not acceptable for PR. You simply cannot teach the day-to-day responsibilities of a PR practitioner, because no day is the same and depending on internal and external influences, a new problem will be thrown at you everyday.

So how do University students feel about the apprenticeship? As a student currently in my third year of studying Public Relations and Marketing at Leeds Metropolitan University with my third year of growing debt, it definitely was a mixed bag of emotions. For me, I was quite annoyed this was not available three years ago. Have a similar learning experience without the huge black cloud of debt hanging over my head once I have finished? Sounds perfect.

On-the-job training or practical experience is not offered during learning hours of most University courses and although encouraged – is very much down to the student to obtain. The new apprenticeship scheme is set to offer more practical content, with on the job training provided as well as work experience and qualifications. During my time at University I have been able to obtain a strong catalogue of work experience for my CV but for others however, work experience was not a first priority (sometimes due to full time job commitments or money issues) and had more practical teaching been encouraged and available at University, we may have more employable graduates.

Unfortunately the benefits of a PR degree are not readily available to those deciding what to study at University, and its not really taught in schools. (I studied Media Studies at A Level and never heard the term once.) With the rise in tuition fees and the constant talk about the dire state of the economy, University is becoming a less desirable option and going into full time work seems the most sensible decision to make. An apprenticeship scheme offers young people the motivation to continue their learning into a specialized subject and learn more about Public Relations, without having to burn a huge hole in their pocket.

Don’t get me wrong, University has taught me a lot; mainly how to cook something other than beans on toast and work a washing machine without turning all my clothes bright pink, but also the art of being professional, independent, how to make things happen and go out and get what I want. It is also some of the best years of your life, and it is a shame that many will miss out on that due to the rise in tuition fees. But that’s the great thing about the apprentice scheme; it offers those who want to learn a second chance.

Seeing as we are almost at the end of January, and Christmas is nothing more than a blur of already faded memories, I thought I would write a little post about 2012 so far.

January is generally a miserable time of year – Christmas has passed, the weather seems to have got colder, and the sky greyer; or maybe it is because there are no longer twinkly fairy lights sparkling on the houses? In any case it is the month that boasts the most miserable day of the year – January 19th.

However, somehow throughout this month of misery, Wildwood has managed to have a pretty cracking first month. Aside from running around like people possessed, especially for the team off to Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) next week, 2012 has really started with a bang.

The great news is that in the first month of the year, we have won three clients. We haven’t just been sifting through the mass of emails received over the holiday break; but we have also been busily pitching for two new clients (both of which we won!), and being taken on for the second year running by a third project client – all very exciting…

InstallerLive, the national plumbing, heating and renewables show at the NEC Birmingham on the 14th – 16th October 2012, has appointed us to handle the PR for their 2012 show, after a successful event in 2011.

Our new clients include: the Brighton Centre, one of the largest purpose-built conference and exhibition centres in the South of England and Nvelope, a nattily-named company, providing cladding support systems that are safe, economic and effective.

So the New Year really has brought us New Starts and the ‘misery month’ of January has in fact been anything but – so instead of the much-talked about Blue Month / Blue Monday, I think we’ll just carry on as we are – it certainly seems to work for us!

Lauren

I heard it reported on three separate broadcast channels, when the news broke, that is was the former: “Gary Dobson and David Norris have been found guilty of murdering the black teenager Stephen Lawrence.”

Forgive my entry-level understanding (or lack thereof) and inquisition of linguistic deconstruction but is it important where the word black appears? Can ‘black’, in the first instance, be read a disclaimer? A rationalisation as to why he was murdered?

Doesn’t ‘black’, in the second instance, better convey the absurdity and mindlessness of Stephen’s death? A murdered teenager is sad; because he is black, senseless. Does framing him as black first affect how we read that statement?

At the crux of what we do in PR are our words, our press releases, our features, our stories, our messages. In the age of web 2.0, of Twitter, Facebook statuses and, so called, ‘democratised’ free speech, a culture of throwaway comments, noise and what-I-had-for-breakfast tweets has come to dilute the importance of words.

This is why, I think – when we in PR have to be ever mindful and reactive to social media trends – we have to keep the importance of words at the forefront of what we do; to be aware of the signifiers and the signified in our work, with attention to detail now being more important than ever.

If a typo in ‘expansive’ causes a service to become ‘expensive’ then every other word in the 750 word feature you wrote is worthless. The devil, as they say, is in the detail. This point is brilliantly highlighted in Curb Your Enthusiasm when Larry submits an obituary for a family member, the typo causes havoc (I can’t go into the detail of what it was here but that’s what YouTube is for).

It is the same with buzz words, there are always buzz words and with a plethora of vacuous adjectives that have become trendy (random currently doing the rounds), it’s important which we use, if any. Recently, I wrote about a product that, in my words, was quirky. I’m not sure what quirky means. The more I thought about it, I decided that quirky was the sense of humour possessed by an IT guy with sweaty palms and thick rimmed glasses who has that poster by his desk saying, “You don’t have to be mad to work here…but it helps.”

Working quickly and efficiently is so important, especially given copy deadlines, but effective communication still wins out as the priority. A wiser man than I (of which there is no shortage) once wrote, “There is nothing outside the text”, if this is true then our words are our best asset.

Or, perhaps, as another man – again far wiser than I – once said, “it’s only words and words are all I have to take your heart away.”

Ash

There is a myth that having a PR agency based inLondonis somewhere better than being outside but after my experience here at Wildwood I would certainly disagree. Being based near Horsham we have the perfect train and road links to get anywhere in the country and with Gatwick Airport just round the corner we can be anywhere in Europe at the drop of a hat. And, anyway, who needs to stand on a cramped tube, look at a landscape of towering buildings and coffee shops to be good at PR, not Wildwood. We have wide open spaces and can breathe in fresh air to really let our creative juices flow.

This comes after a day when everything went my way. I found a parking space at Three Bridges station, my train toLondonwas on time and I had the perfect connections on the way back. When I’m next standing on East Croydon station, shivering and waiting for a train which should have arrived 10 minutes ago my perspective might change but right now there is no where more perfect than the Sussex countryside for a PR agency.

Ruth

So, here we are, in January 2012! As you may or may not know, as the first month in the Roman calendar, January is named after the God Janus, which, translated from Latin means door.

Oddly enough, as well as signifying the obvious (new beginnings, new openings and new starts), long long ago (auld lang syne) Britain would start the New Year with ‘the first footing’. This was a rather strange custom whereby as soon as January began people would hide behind their doors and wait for a ‘dark haired person’ to arrive.

The mysterious visitor would (all in the aid of counteracting any superstitions) carry a piece of coal, bread, some money and greenery to ensure that everyone had the essential ingredients to guarantee a long and happy life.

Now, although I failed to wait behind my door for a dark and mysterious stranger, and despite the fact I was not given coal, bread, money or greenery, I am confident that I will also be a recipient of a prosperous 2012. Why so sure you ask?

Well, in one word: Wildwood.

As the New Year begins, so do I as the newest member of the Wildwood team. Originally trained in Journalism and previously a Publisher for a legal company, (to summarise) I am a budding writer who is certainly looking forward to all the challenges that PR, its clients and the workload brings.

As I am writing, it is now my second day in the Wildwood office in Faygate. The sun, like the sheep in the neighbouring field is out and as I sit at my new shiny, desk everything seems particularly, well, idyllic. The other staff members have certainly taken me under their wing and I have every confidence that my time at Wildwood will be prosperous.

Yes, my door has been opened wide and the opportunities this successful PR company brings certainly fills me with cheer. Happy New Year everyone, I hope yours starts just as well as mine.

Rachael

Each year companies gather outside of the office comfort zone to embark on an evening that could result in chaos. I have heard many a story of staff party mistakes after one too many glasses of Mulled Wine, however luckily for us, our staff party ran rather smoothly; with none of the team getting so drunk they had to be put to bed!

Our very kind Directors put us up in a cottage for the evening, where we rushed to as soon as the clock hit 5pm last Friday. And when we arrived we all ‘ood’ and ‘aaad’ at our gorgeous home for the evening that got us in the Christmas spirit immediately!

After spending a couple of hours making ourselves look respectable we headed across to the Mannings Heath Golf Club to start our festivities. When we arrived we were taken to the ‘snug’ for a private champagne reception (That’s just how we roll!). After an hour or so in the snug and quite a few glasses of champagne later we made our way up to dinner.

Dinner was beautiful, especially the dessert a mix of chocolate and sponge and raspberry compote, not entirely sure what it was called. And then the music started. I would like to just take a moment to thank the woman who started off the dancing on her own, for providing the rest of us with entertainment whilst we slowly plucked up the courage (had a few more drinks) to get up there ourselves.

It didn’t take us long to get on the dancefloor. Tanya was up there ushering the rest of us up, and when Mambo number 5 came on that was it! Worryingly I do remember busting some moves to Petre Andre’s ‘Mysterious Girl’.

Suffice to say the evening ended in high spirits and sore feet by most of the women.

Merry Christmas!

Lauren