The iLove media collective has chosen Manchester as its first place to launch, and combines a collective, which includes myself as a content and social media marketer, offers affordable marketing resource to independent Manchester businesses.

Instead of hiring a whole agency a small company can just pay for a small project and pick and choose which elements they want.

The collective also includes specialists in graphic and digital design, direct mail (Uneeq Creative), digital and mobile app development , mobile marketing (15 Watts), print management (Jay Creative), video production (Two Sugars), public relations (Reputation Consultancy).

This is all linked in to the new I Love city guide, which will be published both online and as a quarterly printed book and a smartphone app. The launch of the guide, which will see 40,000 booklets distributed within Manchester in the run up to Christmas, is also being supported with advertising on Smooth FM.

The theme for this year’s TEDx in Liverpool was The Future of Mobile. Although the focus was from the technology and design point of view, my personal interest is from the marketing and PR standpoint.

Taking place at FACT, this was a really well organised and thoroughly interesting event. For those who are not familiar with the name, TED stands for technology, entertainment and design. These conferences in California have become so popular that they lend the name to independently organised events, which are denoted by the ‘x’.

More than 300 people were gathered together because those devices that each and every one of us possesses have untold potential. Mobile technology has developed so quickly. Internet enabled phones have been around for a while, but it was Apple’s revolutionary iPhone touchscreen, launched just four years ago, that was the game-changer.

Smartphone sales have already overtaken that of PCs and there are many countries where large percentages of smartphone owners have never used the internet on a desktop.

Talks were kept short, which kept the whole afternoon fresh and interesting as ideas and new concepts were thrown around. Talks ranged from the futuristic vision that our mobile phones will talk to chips in our bodies monitoring our health, through to Mill’s concept of ‘succailure’. This was his account of which iPhone apps have failed in popularity, and those that were massively popular but still didn’t make any money, which was really interesting.

But what I wanted to think about was how do these changes in communication and internet use affect the PR and digital marketing industry. Many people in the industry are still discussing the most effective ways to do digital PR, develop content marketing strategies and utilise search, as well as the best way to measure the effectiveness of these. Of course, it doesn’t mean these things just disappear overnight – they’re all still valid. So essentially it means that people are consuming information differently when using a mobile device.

In some ways, this could be a positive for the marketing industry because there are increasingly diverse ways to target consumers. Along with desktop web use, there is now mobile and tablet use, which gives us three channels to communicate our messages.

But then again, are we going to be given three times to budget to roll out our communications to these different platforms? Unlikely, so we’ll have to figure out good ways to tailor the marketing to each platform.

One of the points raised at the conference was that Google has a smaller role in internet use for the mobile user. They are much more likely to use social networks to search and learn about new content because the screens are too small to use Google exactly as you would on a laptop or desktop.

Overall, it was useful to find out just how fast mobile is growing and how the market is developing so fast. It’s something we all need to integrate into marketing strategies and understand the needs of the mobile user.

As I’m returning to work as a freelance PR consultant after producing a baby, I thought it was a good idea to get some snazzy business cards and a logo made.

In the past, I’ve just used a cheap online printer to create my own – but let’s face it, they don’t really cut it. If I’m working in the creative industry, then I need to showcase myself in a more creative way.

So this is where my good friend and business associate, freelance graphic designer Annie Carpenter comes in. Annie designed my wedding invitations as she knew I wouldn’t like something classic or plain. The results were rather funky and trendy, so I knew I wanted my business cards to be the same. Then people might think I’m funky and trendy too :0)

Now I just need to go and hand them out!

Carolyn Hughes is a freelance PR and copywriter in Manchester. 

TEDx Liverpool is on November 7 and although now sold out, were £15 each. The title of this day conference is A Mobile Future which will explore the rapid innovations in mobile communications.

Obviously as a freelance PR and marketing consultant, this is of interest to me and hopefully it won’t be too techy for me to follow!

Next up on November 24 is the SAScon mini-conference at The Hive  in Manchester. I went to the first SAScon two years ago and it was really well organised and interesting. Tickets were £10 + 90p fee, which is a bargain, but sadly this event is also now sold out.

I’m sure both events will be live tweeted and blogged by many attendees, so if you missed out on buying tickets you’ll be able to follow online.

Carolyn Hughes is a freelance PR and copywriting consultant based in Manchester. 

I’ve been experimenting with two websites – About.me and Flavours.me - where you can create your own homepage or ‘splash page’, and integrate all your social media in one place. This is ideal for anyone new to the freelance world who hasn’t yet got their own website.

Here’s my two tester pages I made:

http://about.me/manchesterisace

http://flavors.me/manchesterisace

As you can see both are very similar and just as easy to use. Both of these profiles only took me about 15 minutes but you could spend a lot longer faffing around with layout and images to make them look even better.

With Flavors.me, you can also upgrade for more options and also better link juice.

Definitely worth a look!

Carolyn Hughes is a freelance PR in Manchester.

I am just looking at starting up my work again, having been on maternity leave since February.

You read a lot of negativity about companies not wanting to employ women who may leave to have children or who already have children in case they need a lot of time off.

But after looking after a baby for the last six months, I’ve discovered that it give you loads of new skills and really polishes up the skills you always put on your CV but were never sure how good you were at them.

Here’s what I mean:

1. Multi-tasking
Right, you have a baby, which needs constant feeding, rocking, jiggling and entertaining. BUT you also have to get a wash on, make the tea AND do the washing up. Oh, and it might be pleasant to get a shower at some point during the day.

You thought you were good at multi-tasking before? Well now you’re a true expert.

2. Staying calm with a demanding client
You’ve winded, fed, changed nappy but still they cry. However the trick is lots of deep breaths and staying calm otherwise it just makes them worse. Hmmm rather like a difficult client, non?

3. Forward-planning
Whether it’s just boiling the kettle in time to make a bottle and cool it, to getting all your carefully prepared purees out the freezer, or planning where you can go to the toilet and change a nappy in the next half hour, planning ahead is essential.

A skill that will certainly come in useful when I’m back juggling PR, copywriting and marketing projects all in one day!

4. On the go with little sleep
Work is hard, especially when you’re self-employed. It’s not a nine to five job. Many times it’s a seven to seven job, if you’re lucky.

But hey, being a parent is a 24/7 job, so working for a mere eight hours a day is a BREEZE!

5. Getting ready quickly
I used to struggle to get to work for 9am whatever time I got up. Washing hair, shaving legs, faffing with hair and putting on make-up all used to take ages. But when you’re looking after a baby you learn to get ready super-quick! Run through the shower, clean teeth and get dressed. So really, you only need 10 minutes. Great skills learned for getting back to the office nice and early in the morning!

Obviously this is a tongue in cheek post – I adore having a baby. But I’m also looking forward to starting work again as I’m lucky enough to do something I really enjoy.

Give me a shout if you want to talk to someone about copywriting, PR or marketing.

Happily I have since discovered that this lack of good grades has never been a problem in the course of my career, nor I have actually been asked what my grades were.

So I thought I’d whip together a blog post with some advice on how to get a job in the media and PR industry (which is the only industry I know about). I know for sure it’s not about getting good A-level results.

1. Do work experience

Getting qualifications may well be essential but having paper certificates to your name is just part of the package. Get out there during your time at university and do as much work experience as you can.

Most companies will give work experience placements as long as you’re happy to get stuck in and help out. You may not be given the most glamorous jobs (any good at shredding documents?) but it’s a good idea to make friends with someone friendly and ask if you can help them out with some of the more interesting tasks.

2. Do your time

It’s great to come out of university raring to go, but sadly the chances are you’ll have to start at the bottom and work your way up. You may get a job at an PR agency but end up making the boss’s coffee and photocopying, but if you’re keen and you’re good you will get noticed.

If it’s a good company, you will absorb masses of knowledge and expertise just by listening to those around you. Soak it all up – and use it yourself!

3. Get your online profile sorted

You young ‘uns today have it sorted. When I went to university only a couple of rich kids had brick-sized mobile phones and I had yet to write my first electronic mail. But these days, we’re all using Facebook and Twitter on our smartphones and what-not.

Make sure you’re on LinkedIn and consider setting up your own blog or online CV to showcase your skills.

4. Check you’re Google-able

Ok, Google-able *perhaps* isn’t a real word, but it’s certainly one I use a lot. Following on from the last point, do a quick Google check of yourself. Make sure there’s no public Facebook photos of you mooning or passed out with regurgitated kebab all over your shirt.

Employers will Google you to find out what you’re been up to so make sure there’s no nasty surprises lurking out there in cyberspace.

5. Ignore the news

Forget about the doom and gloom out there telling you how hard it is to get a job. There was a recession when I finished my A-levels as well – it’s always tough for school-leavers and graduates.

BUT these are good times, people.  All you need is your laptop and an internet connection and you can do anything. Start a business, start freelancing – just go for it!

Carolyn Hughes is a freelance copywriter, PR consultant and journalist based in Manchester. 

There were some great speakers, some even flying in from Europe, and the key note speaker was Bruce Daisley, from You Tube. Considering the video streaming company is only five years old, they have grown in size and influence beyond belief.

He said video is now one third of all traffic, but by 2013 it’s predicted to be 90%. In terms of marketing, video is already massive and is only going to get stronger. However, with more and more content being added, it’s going to be crucial to have quality and be able to stand out from the crowd.

Interestingly, Bruce also said that people are sharing video clips to convey emotion. They might send a friend a funny clip to cheer them up or to say Happy Birthday. I think this was a great insight in terms of PR and marketing.

There was a really useful session on using social media in the corporate world. Some of the more important things to come out of the discussion were:
- Make sure it’s relevant, don’t have a Facebook page for the sake of it.
- Make sure it’s written into the overall marketing strategy to ensure consistency in messages and branding.
- Top manager should understand the social media tools and why they’re being used.
- Look at economies for future. For example, one tweet could make one happy customer but is this economic?
- Some of the panel said they could envisage call centre style ‘Twitter centres’.

You can find full reports on the blog posts I wrote for the SAScon blog.
http://www.sascon.co.uk/blog/

1. Make it interesting

Always start at the most interesting point of your story. Think of what the unique point it, or the most exciting part and jump right into it. It’s always tempting to start a story at the beginning, but this could make for a rather long-winded and boring account.

Always think which parts would you tell your friends – try and think of any interesting points that could be developed.

2. Keep it simple

Don’t write sentences that are six lines long, with loads of commas. Write bite-sized sentences, keeping it short and snappy. If you have a tendency to write really long sentences, just go back and try breaking it into smaller sentences. Read it back out loud to see how it sounds.

3. Don’t repeat yourself

People tend to repeat the most important points throughout text, because they want to get across how valuable it is. However, this will just  sound boring to the reader. If you want to reiterate how important something is, then go on to explain why it’s so essential and give more information.

4. Don’t use big words just because they sound clever

If you don’t know what a word means, then definitely don’t use it! Don’t try to think up long words because you think they make you sound clever. The best prose always keeps it simple.

5. Start in the middle

In news writing, the first line is always the hardest to write. So to get started, remember you don’t need to start at the beginning. Just get all your thoughts down and decide on the most important facts. The beauty of typing on a computer is that you can constantly cut and paste to move sentences around.

Carolyn Hughes is a PR and communications consultant in Manchester, with seven years journalism experience.

Ok, enough of me banging on about what people say about Twitter. You just want to know how to use it and how it’s going to help your business or organisation. Here we go.

1. Join up
First things first, register. You need to upload an image, which can be your own photo or a logo. If your image is too large, you can crop it to below 300kb on www.picnik.com if you don’t have any other software.

2. Describe yourself
If you’re tweeting for business, you need to fill in your one line bio (click on settings to find it). You only have 160 characters so be concise.

I’d highly recommend putting your name in the bio, or in the ‘name’ section, if your company or organisation is your usename. In most Twitter clients, you will see the user name (eg. manchesterisace) and also the name (eg Carolyn Hughes). If you’re talking to someone it’s just nice to know who they are, if you’re trying to build client relationships.

3. Functions
To reply to someone hover your mouse under their tweet, and click on ‘reply’. You can also do this manually by typing @username in the text box. If you click on the righthand box marked ‘@username’, you will bring up a list of tweets that have been directed at you.

Direct messages are private and are all saved in the ‘direct messages’ folder. You can send someone a private message by clicking on their username and then clicking the little cog button, or by clicking your ‘direct messages’.

You can ‘re-tweet’ someone if you really like what they said and want to pass it onto your followers. This is a good way to build up good relationships with other people.

4. How to find relevant followers
Twitter is all about communicating, so to do this you need to follow people and have people follow you back.
If you follow someone they do not neccesarily need to follow you back.

One of the best and easy ideas is to find someone with similar interests to you and click on all their followers. You can also use the search function to search for key words.  In short, it’s better to develop your Twitter profile naturally and build it up over a period of time.

There are a number of websites to help you find new people to follow. Try We Follow, Twitterel or Twellow.

5. Get tweeting!
To get started just get talking and writing. Yes it might feel weird at first, and you might well be tweeting at just one or two people, but just give it a go.

If you’re a company or organisation, your objectives are likely to be:
- get your message across
- find new customers or clients
- engage with both exisiting customers/ clients in dialogue

However, remember Twitter is all about creating conversation so don’t just talk about your company or post your own website. It’s a good ideas include links to interesting news/ blog articles (use a tiny url to shorten the link), telling people what you’ve been up to and replying to other people’s comments.

Here’s some other useful articles with great great tips on top tweetings. Enjoy!

Twitter tips from Timesonline

17 ways to use Twitter by Dosh Dosh

Five tips for new Twitter users by Problogger

Carolyn Hughes is a communications and PR consultant in Manchester