Pressman PR

Following up our press release Business 7 chief reporter Greig Cameron has written a great page five lead piece about Bagnificent founder Gerry Campbell today. I’ve copied and pasted the piece below but to read it live on Business 7’s website click here.

Gerry on to a winner with webshop idea as demand for designer bags soars
A housewife has swapped the school run for designer handbags with her high fashion webshop.
Gerry Campbell imports sought after bags from overseas then sells them through http://www.bagnificent.co.uk/.

Brands she stocks include couture favourites such as Prada, Chloe and Fendi.
The mum-of-three was formerly a highflying management accountant with Kvaerner and Keyline Builders’ Merchants.

But she gave up work 12 years ago to raise her children before deciding to get back into business last year.

The 40-year-old from Glasgow said: “I love fashion, particularly shoes, so my first thought was to sell those but then I realised I’d end up keeping all the stock for myself so it had to be handbags.

“I was trying to find something that would suit the home and family and this is perfect as I work from home.

“I did not want to go back into a nine to five routine in an office, and accountancy seems a lifetime ago.”

Initially Campbell imported bags from Italy from an agent she found while trying to buy a bag for herself.

After successfully selling the products to friends and family demand for her services began to grow through word of mouth.

Eventually she was convinced there was a market she could work in and launched the website in September last year.

Now it attracts thousands of visitors every week, ships across the UK and Europe, and Campbell is sourcing bags from Italy, the UK and America.

She said: “We had a family brainstorming session with my kids and their cousins to think of a name for the brand. Everyone shouted out suggestions from Bagalicious to Bagalooloo, Bagamama to Bagnificent. In the end we plumped for Bagnificent.

“Our website has been getting plenty of traffic and we are looking to further extend our range. I couldn’t be happier.”

A range of second-hand bags, called Loved, has recently been made available on the site to offer more bargains. Campbell said: “There are lots of woman who have a different bag every time I see them and I had always wondered what ladies did with their old handbags when they wanted a new one.

“Now there’s no need to throw away your old bag - we will sell them for you and give you 65 per cent of the cash. A few customers have said cash is a little tight and I think with the current economic outlook shoppers are generally looking for a good deal.

“Selling your old bag is environmentally friendly and it lets ladies raise some cash to help buy their next bag. With a pre-owned bag the customer gets to own something expensive but at a fraction of the price they would pay if it were a new purchase from a High Street store.”

Coverage in the media will shape the way your customers perceive you. The media has no competitor in this respect. Whether you’re a brand new company, or launching a new product, or you’re an established player trying to challenge the monopoly of market leaders, media endorsement can make or break your business.

Whether you receive TV coverage or column inches in a trade paper, the neutral, independent sanction of the press is far more powerful than the most emphatic word of mouth recommendation.

If you want people to believe in you, make sure first that the press believes in you. An editorial is the ultimate advert. It’s true that advertising allows you to shape your own message and gives you complete control over the way your brand is positioned. It’s also true that when it comes down to editorial you’re in the hands of the media.

But that’s why PR companies exist. They can make certain that your company and its messages are communicated to the media in the most effective way, ensuring not only that the journalist covers you, but also that the coverage reflects you in the best possible light.

That’s why PR companies seek to place specific messages about their clients in the media, and track for the take-up of those messages in subsequent coverage. When it comes to comparing powerful advertising and a successful PR campaign, there’s only one winner.

Top-quality editorial endorsement is the greatest stimulant a business can ever experience. Ask any successful business what the X-factor in marketing is, and they’ll tell you: ” X = PR”.

PR is the most cost-effective marketing vehicle PR is a far more cost-effective tool than advertising, database development and e-marketing through brokered lists. Yet PR support is available to you at a fraction of the spend of traditional above-the-line communications.

One positive endorsement in a high circulation – or highly targeted – media title often produces a spike in traffic to your website or call centre. If you’re a trade operation, positive coverage can stimulate direct enquiries, and will make your business targets more responsive to your sales and marketing campaigns.

PR is now one of the most effective weapons in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) or “natural search”, on search engines, and is proving to be one of the most effective weapons in helping companies command the highest possible rankings.

Take up of your press announcements by wires and websites creates online coverage which in turn quickly gets picked up by the search engines. The outcome? Your company will be ‘discovered’ by people using search engines in ways you’d never previously imagined, because of the sheer weight of search terms that produce a result which points to your site. For this reason, online PR is now becoming a key element within PR companies’ strategies.

PR is spanning wider than it has before with the development of digital media and new technologies.

Media outreach can cover one sector of the press, for example traditional print media, or it can straddle the wealth of information resources from online news sites and digital TV through to podcasting and forums.

Managing a company’s reputation is no longer just a focus on the national or trade press, it can also involve infiltrating forums and blogs to ensure that accurate and relevant information reaches the readers.

Often online journalists receive details from a third party or scramble across the web to do research. By reaching out to these networks PR can make certain that a business is represented in the best possible light. PR doesn’t just get customers interested in you! Press coverage doesn’t just stoke sales, it develops market-wide interest in your brand.

Typically, coverage can lead to requests for marketing partnerships, such as affiliate relationships, endorsements and sponsorships. PR develops speaker and expert opportunities. Newspapers, conference organisers and other media and marketing channel are constantly on the lookout for experts, either for speaker platforms or to join panels, think tanks or other types of event.

Press coverage helps position your experts as industry gurus, and press coverage is much more likely to lead to them being invited to participate in events. PR is essential to recruitment and to staff motivationPress coverage communicates to your staff that your company is going places.

Keeping staff informed about your latest media profiling is vital both to motivation, and to ensuring that staff act as roving ambassadors for your company. Just as importantly, press coverage often stimulates interest from prospective employees.

Companies often witness an increase in hits on the recruitment section of their website – and the arrival of new CVs - immediately after coverage appears.

Despite the credit crunch and global economic gloom one UK language company has reported record growth in its business last year with new orders coming in from every corner of the world.

Notts-based betterlanguages.com Ltd saw an increase of 38% in sales during 2007-2008 and director Mike Hunter said new business inquiries were coming in daily from all over the globe.

The company supplies native speaking translators of every major world language using a network of qualified and skilled linguists based both inside the UK and overseas.

Clients include Mothercare, Weetabix and New Look with betterlanguages translating text on packaging materials, labels and brochures.

Mike Hunter said: “Despite the difficult market things are good for us and our business is still gearing up. We are attracting more new customers with inquiries coming in through our website, networking and through pay per click Google advertising.”

Mike recently completed an EMDA funded e-business club course which convinced him to try pay per click marketing and he hasn’t looked back since.

He said: “I had looked at pay per click in the past and dismissed it as being expensive and ineffective. But the e-business club taught me that, provided it was very carefully targeted, it could be very effective indeed.

“We gave it a try and have been very pleased with the results. It has generated both inquires and sales.”

Last month betterlanguages won a contract to translate materials for Cuddledry – the innovative baby bath towel which was featured in the last series of BBC’s Dragon’s Den.

Other recently won contracts include the translation of a website into Spanish for UK based finance group TDX Indigo, the translation of baby goods for Danish company BabyDan and the translation of clothing labels and packaging materials from English into 11 world languages including Japanese for Esquel Apparel Inc, based in the USA.

They have also been contacted by a Russian firm who recently used native Russian linguists to produce an English language version of their website. The end result contained many errors and the firm asked betterlanguages to take a look and make it perfect.

Mike added: “The fact that our business is a global one with customers in every continent certainly protects us from localised economic upheaval. Right now, if one listens to some media reports, the entire world economy is supposed to be in difficulty but we certainly aren’t seeing any evidence of that.

“The trend for us is definitely up. This past month has been absolutely crazy with orders coming in faster than we can send them out to our translators. Business has never been better.”

The construction industry is one of the few remaining male dominated areas of commerce as mum of two Dianne Conroy discovered when she tried to break into the business four years ago.

Determined Dianne, who is a qualified assessor and verifier for the glazing industry, won a position with a national college, but shortly after the appointment, the post was withdrawn.

Undeterred, Dianne decided to start her own company, going into business partnership with her father David Smith, who brought a great deal of experience into the company.

The pair haven’t looked back since and are now celebrating after moving their business into new commercial premises in Arnold.

Their company Dianne Smith Associates Ltd has bought the freehold of the former doctors surgery on Chapel Lane, close to the centre of the town.

It will be a new base for Dianne and David as well as Dianne’s sister Jane Gale who is centre coordinator for the family firm.

Together they work in partnership with a number of national colleges, such as West Notts College, to offer NVQs and apprenticeships for the glazing industry.

The qualifications mean that tradesmen can obtain a CSCS card (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) which is required before they can work on commercial building sites.

Dianne said: “I grew up with an excellent knowledge of the industry because my father has worked in construction all my life.”

For the past four years their base has been Mercury House – the Nottinghamshire Business Ventures start-up centre. But their continued success has meant they needed to acquire bigger premises. Their new office comprises more than 1000 square feet.

They are licensed by the Glass Qualifications Authority (GQA) to deliver NVQs in all types of architectural glazing as well as window and door installation and manufacturing with assessments being carried out on site or in the workplace.

Dianne added: “We work with local and national colleges and have access to funding which enables companies to obtain qualifications for free or with just a small contribution thanks to the Government’s Train to Gain scheme.

“Companies are increasingly taking up places for apprenticeships within the construction industry under the Train to Gain scheme, and this together with general expansion has made a move to larger premises necessary.”

An independent survey of organisations that employ apprentices, conducted on behalf of the Learning and Skills Council found that more than three quarters of respondents felt their apprenticeship programme made them more competitive, and the same number believed apprenticeships led to higher productivity.

Dianne added: “Our experience and access to funding enables us to work with organisations large or small to create a programme that causes the minimum of disruption to the workforce whilst obtaining their qualification.”

Phil Smith, partnership manager for West Notts College said: “We’re very happy to see Dianne Smith Associates Ltd flourishing. The work they do is very important in filling the skills gap within the construction industry.

“By qualifying the existing workforce they enable companies to work on the major commercial construction sites. Without the qualifying programme contracting firms would only be able to work on small scale domestic sites so it’s absolutely vital work to the economy.”

Asset valuer Gary Harper has had some unusual assignments over the years – such as the time he was asked to sell several vials of bull semen.

Gary, a senior associate in the Plant and Machinery division at international property consultants King Sturge, has started work in Nottingham after moving from the company’s Manchester office.

He said: “I must be seen as something of a maverick within King Sturge. Whenever there’s something oddball or wacky to value it comes to me.

“It certainly keeps the job interesting. I thrive on the variety and I love it when something comes in that’s totally out of left field.

“The bull semen was certainly an interesting one. It came from a prize stud bull and there were several vials of the stuff in frozen storage. It turned out to be worth about £10,000.”

So how does one go about disposing of vials of bull semen?

“Cattle breeding is a competitive industry. There are plenty of cattle farmers out there who would love to get their hands on the stuff. Not literally of course!

“By researching the market we were able to approach several parties and found a buyer.”

As asset disposals go it has to rank as an unusual assignment but it turns out it is far from being the only livestock sale Gary has handled. Life in Plant Machinery, for Gary at least, seems to be far away from the image of selling factory fittings and heavy goods.

He said: “Much of the work is manufacturing machinery as you would expect but I do love to take on the oddball stuff.

“One of my favourite disposals was a kennel of long haired miniature Dachshunds. They sold for several thousand pounds.”

Gary began his career in property and has worked in several areas of the business before settling in P&M. He co-owned his own P&M practice in Altrincham, Cheshire for a spell before moving on to Savills and then King Sturge’s Manchester office, which he joined in 2004.

A barge restaurant used to entertain tourists hoping for a glimpse of the Loch Ness monster has been put up for sale.

The Loch Ness Barge Seafood Restaurant has served lunch to thousands of Nessie hunters over the past five years.

But with owners Highland Cruising Ltd now in administration new buyers are needed for the barge.

It is being sold by property consultants King Sturge’s Plant and Machinery division who are seeking offers in excess of £250,000.

The sale represents a unique disposal for King Sturge who were instructed by administrator Tenon Recovery.

The barge, originally called ‘Fairway’ was built as a steam-grabbing dredger in 1946 by Aberdeen-based Hall Russell.

Length 65 ft by a 23 ft beam, it was extensively renovated five years ago and rebuilt as a floating restaurant and pleasure craft, operated with three crew members.

The restaurant provides around 40 covers which can be increased in good weather by opening up the top deck.

The vessel is currently moored at Seaport Marina in Inverness, at the head of the Caledonian Canal, which is a very popular and beautiful Scottish tourist area.

Iain Fraser of Tenon Recovery, comments “It is a unique asset disposal and we expect it to attract considerable interest.”

Gordon Calder, a partner at King Sturge added: “We are charting new territory with this disposal and are confident that the vessel can be sold either as a restaurant or floating home.”

King Sturge is seeking offers in excess of £250,000 for the barge restaurant and further particulars can be obtained by contacting Gordon Calder on 0141 204 2221.