Not quite Verbatim on ITV Thames Valley

Ah, the best laid plans... ITV Thames Valley Tonight did a terrific job covering the kind hearted gesture by call handling supremos Verbatim to handle the calls for one of its staff when she gives birth later this month... except they did not mention Verbatim by name!

Morgan PR always explain to clients that while public relations is the perfect way to promote the news stories within an organisation, the superior rewards of being in the news are tempered by the control you relinquish. If you want to guarantee what will appear in any medium and when, then advertising is the method - but of course does not attract the same objective consideration from the public.

All that said, it is not unreasonable to expect the hallowed six points of good journalism to be addressed - Who, What, Where, When, How & Why. These boxes were ticked, but only superficially - for example 'Who' is Donna Cox - which gets mentioned, but it is also founder and director of Verbatim Graham Hill and Verbatim itself, neither of which is mentioned.

On the brighter side, other media watch the news and are a bit more resourceful and one eagle-eyed publisher spotted my name on the text message that appears during the report and was quick to get in touch!

Below is what ITV showed last night - or rather it is what they showed with some helpful titles and subtitles to help fill in the gaps.

Getting on the telly: Morgan PR helps Verbatim, the phone answering service appear on Thames Valley Tonight

Morgan PR works closely with clients to help identify what they want public relations to achieve for their business and sometimes this can involve television exposure - this was certainly the case when Verbatim, the phone answering service came up with a brilliant idea to help one of their employees who is about to go on maternity leave - and this tempted the TV cameras.

Donna Cox is one of the team who answers the telephones at Verbatim, which can take overflow calls through to providing a full call handling service for its clients - which includes Morgan PR! She is expecting her second baby in a few weeks time and is just about to go on maternity leave safe in the knowledge she will be under less pressure than many pregnant women.

Above: Donna Cox is interviewed by ITV Thames Valley reporter Kate Cooney

Founder and director Graham Hill takes up the story: “Using the same service we provide to clients we are able to put Donna and her immediate family in control of the phone, and when they speak to people. They can turn the phone off to enjoy some peace and quiet, to spend some quality time with the new baby or even to get some vital sleep all without being disturbed.

“All of her callers would get to speak to the Verbatim team who could update on any progress and take all of the messages of congratulations and well wishes, then send them through to Donna.

“Our VIP list is normally used so we recognise our clients’ regular and important callers, however by getting Donna to input everyone she wants to know about her happy event, she can make one call to us and we can send a text message to everyone to let them know. We are also providing a 0845 telephone number so we can take messages and pass them on without callers disturbing Donna and her baby.”

From a PR point of view this is a lovely story and one that we were able to tempt ITV Thames Valley into covering a much of today was spent filming with them at Verbatim's offices on New Greenham Park, south of Newbury.

Above: Verbatim founder and director Graham Hill is interviewed.

We will need to wait until tomorrow night to discover how many seconds more than three hours of filming will result in, but this exposure will be the start of wider PR campaign.

New Networking Buzz - Ladies who Latte launches in Newbury

Ladies who Latte was launched in Newbury today, hosted by print guru Joanna Harwood of Sentio Print and Multimedia.

This was a lively, fun meeting with many great local businesses represented. It wasn't just the caffeine talking, there was a genuine buzz around the group and there were ladies I just didn't have time to get to talk to.

Some I did catch up with were Mia Drennan, recruitment entrepreneur from Square Mile Connections (who is currently helping Morgan PR with our recruitment), Wendy Storey from ironing service (what bliss for busy ladies!) Absolutely Steaming, graphic design expert Tamalia Reeves from Flat Lizard and Lucy Venables, marketing consultant extraordinaire from Red Prosper Marketing.

The group will meet at 10am on the fourth Thursday of each month, at Donnington Valley Hotel, Donnington, Newbury.

The only cost is the investment of your time and the price of your coffee; how can you afford not to be there?!

'Waterproofs' seminar goes down a storm at NRG Networks in Reading

Earlier today Sally Rainbow-Ockwell from ActionCOACH and me, Nigel Morgan from Morgan PR gave our first presentation of the ever more topically named: ‘Waterproofs for the Economic Storm’ at the monthly NRG Networks meeting in Reading.

More specifically it was at the sprawling Wokefield Park near Mortimer. Parking problems at Wokefield Park – which bizarrely either has insufficient parking or poorly signed space locations – meant quite a few people arrived late to the seminar, but we had over 20 professionals eager to learn ‘How to double your sales and halve your marketing spend”

Essentially we were talking about how your existing customers hold the key to revenue and growth. When it costs six times more to get business from a new customer than an existing one, it should be a no-brainer, yet it was clear few people had even surveyed their existing clients to find out whether they are indifferent, satisfied or even delighted.

The seminar went well. There were some good questions and people were definitely engaged in what we had to say – hopefully they will have taken at least a few ideas away that will keep them dry!

The seminar was followed by the opportunity for informal networking, and then a lunch and as ever at NRG event there was a delightful buzz around the table as members and guests got to know one another through a positively generous two minute presentation – which uniquely to NRG concludes with ‘something no-one knows about you’.

Diane Morgan was a mediator on a neighbouring table, a role akin to that of a facilitator – and the person who has to hold everyone accountable on their secrets!

I must confess that while those around these tables rarely admit anything especially mortifying or even actionable it does seem improper to reveal them here! Mine I am happy to share: an exchange on the business social networking site LinkedIn has led to Morgan PR being likely to be included in the next Guerrilla Marketing book to be published early next year by Guerrilla Guru Jay Conrad Levinson and Scott Sorrel, founder of Sales Adrenaline. Not bad eh?

Like all networking, NRG is firmly about building the relationships with fellow members that in turn lead to the referrals as you grow to understand one another’s proposition and today we certainly met people that we relish the opportunities to get to know one another better at future NRG meetings.

The Newbury Business Group - networking now with added wild mushroom foraging

This morning started bright and early with Morgan PR's weekly attendance at the Newbury Business Group, West Berkshire's foremost independent networking group. A flurry of late apologies had dwindled the group to two tables and added an intimacy to proceedings and did nothing to detract from the collaborative nature that make this group so great.

I feel a special mention in despatches for one of the group's members, Cat Shepherd (pictured), who never fails to deliver a thought provoking one minute presentation from way out of left field - fields somewhere near the Pot Kiln to be honest! That is the heavenly pub owned by chef Mike Robinson in Frilsham, and he is also behind the Game Cookery School at Yattendon which is who Cat represents at the networking group.

Previous one minutes have ranged from lessons in knife sharpening through to advice on bread making; however today she came with a basket bursting with mushroom that she had picked before coming to the meeting. It was truly bountiful and neatly promoted the wild mushroom foraging courses being offered at the cookery school.

There is huge interest in the field of foraging for wild mushrooms at the moment. Few people realise that with our warm, damp climate we are better suited for mushrooms than either Italy or France, where gathering wild fungi is a national obsession. The area around the Pot Kiln is abundant during the months of October and November, during which time they can pretty much guarantee to find a diverse range of species, including ceps, chanterelles and blewits.

As wild mushrooms have a very short season indeed, you need to be quick off the mark in booking a place. They only run the course for a few weeks in October and November. Matthew Dorich, a local mushroom expert, teaching the courses, which cost £230.

There are plans for the Newbury Business Group to 'go on tour' one morning soon where we will meet at the cookery school and have breakfast there!