Pressman PR

I had a great time at a Profit Club networking event last night and met some great people. Hi, if you’re reading!

The guest speaker was Mark Shaw – an interesting guy who started out as a freelance copy writer and went on to found Jupiter Design which he built into one of the UK’s biggest and most successful design companies. Amazingly he did all this from Ruddington - the same little village in south Notts that he grew up in.

With his company turning over £6m a year Mark was able to “retire” last year! An inspiring story which he told very well. He came across as a thoroughly decent chap and is living proof that you don’t need to be a hard-nosed b**tard to make it in the business world.

It’s a lesson that the contestants on BBC1’s Apprentice could do with learning. Each year the Beeb recruits a motley crew who seem to think they have to stab everyone they meet in the back in order to win.

The whole thing is of course compulsive viewing and I’ve been glued to every episode of this series as I have been to the previous series.

Tonight is the final and I will be rooting for Lee McQueen. A rough diamond but a passionate operator and someone who has proven his ability to sell and to lead as well. He stands head and shoulders above the other remaining contestants – mouthy Club 18-30 rep Claire, snake in the grass Alex and self-righteous Helene. Go Lee. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

Squidoo: I now have a Squidoo page where I describe ten steps to create a snappy press release. Click here to visit and please rate it.

New Business: I’m pleased to be working with Steve and Raun Temprell owners of Woodwards Jewellers. Woodwards is one of Nottingham’s most well known jewellers having traded from their shop on Derby Road since 1946. Later this year though they will be moving into the city centre and Steve and Raun have hired me to publicise the move. It’s all very exciting as their new shop in town will allow shoppers to view master craftsmen at work. Woodwards is so much more than a retailer it’s a true traditional jeweller where customers can order bespoke items and watch them being created. I’m really looking forward to working with Steve and Raun to publicise their exciting business.

What I’m Reading: I am currently reading The Google Story by David A Vise. A fantastic book detailing how two nerds changed the world. An incredible and inspiring business book. It turns out Sergey Brin and Larry Page had never planned on becoming super-entrepreneurs. They developed Google as part of their PhD studies – both planned on becoming academics.

They knew they had something hot so they tried to sell it to Altavista and Yahoo who were the leading search engines back in the 1990s. Brin and Page asked for one million dollars (only £250K each) for Google but Altavista and Yahoo both turned them down flat.

They then hawked it around every other search engine in the USA but no one would take it off their hands for the asking price. In the end they had little choice but to take a leave of absence from their studies and have a go themselves. Three years later they were the youngest billionaires in US corporate history.

Lesson learnt – if you’re passionate about your business then you’re the best person to take it forward.

How the execs at Altavista (who?) and Yahoo must have kicked themselves later. Surely the biggest business slip-up since Decca said “No thanks boys.” to the Beatles.

Pressman and The Naked Trader: A couple of years back I became interested in the Stock Market and the whole concept of buying and selling shares to make a profit.Before taking the plunge I turned to the mighty Amazon to help me research the subject. There are lots of books on share trading but I was immediately taken by The Naked Trader by Robbie Burns.

The book had many great customer reviews on Amazon – always a great sign. I Googled Robbie and quickly found his own website. After ten minutes reading I was hooked.

Like me Robbie is an ex national newspaper journalist who read Rich Dad Poor Dad and decided to start working for himself. He soon found he had a knack for buying and selling shares and has never looked back since.I admire Robbie because he has a talent for finding multiple income streams and he’s a man who lives life by his own terms.

A couple of months ago he added an update to his site detailing how his father-in-law had suffered a heart attack and been treated in the hospital in my home town of Nottingham.

Robbie was extremely positive about the hospital staff and the overall experience of being a patient. I thought it would make a great story for the Nottingham Evening Post – we get so used to media scare stories about the NHS that a piece saying how wonderful the treatment at an NHS hospital was too good to pass up.

I began my journalistic career at the Evening Post and now write a column for the paper on parenting so I have good connections there. I phoned a friend on the newsdesk and forwarded the url to Robbie’s site. Sure enough a few days later a story appeared. Click here to read.

I emailed Robbie who said he was very happy with the piece. Never being one to pass up an opportunity I inquired if I could help him win publicity for his book. Robbie put me in touch with his publishers but after a few emails to and fro it seemed the publisher felt no extra publicity was required. It seems a short term view but as Robbie’s book is still on Amazon’s bestseller list, I can’t really argue.

This was around the time I was publicising Shed Simove’s book Ideas Man – click here to buy. I arranged for a copy of Shed’s book to be sent out to Robbie. He read it and asked to meet Shed. The two of them got together in a pub in Putney for an author love-in. The next day Robbie wrote an extremely positive review of Shed’s book and their meeting on his site. Click here to read.

I was very pleased for Shed – Robbie has an extremely loyal readership and his review sparked sales of Ideas Man which zoomed up Amazon’s list.

Robbie’s book has now been updated – click here to buy it. It remains essential reading for anyone interested in the Stock Market. It explains complex concepts in terms so simple even a hack like me can understand.

His site is wonderful because he puts so much of his own life into the updates it is almost like subscribing to a private soap opera. Last month I even managed to sell a story to The Sun based on one of his updates! He was talking about bumping into Dr Who in a bar. When he said The Doctor was complaining about the price of lager I just couldn’t resist giving one of my mates on The Sun a ring! Click here to read.

So if you want to make money and be entertained too, buy Robbie’s book and take a look at his website.

More Pressman Success: My current incredible run of national newspaper hits for my clients just keeps getting better and better. I have been working with author Greg Waggett for several weeks now. Greg is a really interesting guy who has written a memoir of his time fighting with private security forces in Iraq. In My Blood is a great read. Click here to buy it.

The book was quickly published – and Greg was elated. But then it failed to sell. Greg told me: “The problem is no one knows it’s out there Steve.”

The small publishing house behind the book had little know-how when it came to publicity, which is why Greg turned to me.I identified the human interest elements of his story.

A couple of years ago, when he was 58 years old, his relationship and his business both collapsed within weeks. At a low ebb Greg decided he needed to make a break from the past and go in a different direction.

I’m sure most of us can relate to that feeling of needing a change after a lover gives us the elbow (such memories are pretty distant for a happily married chap like myself of course!) but where most of us would go and buy a new top or perhaps have our hair cut Greg took things much further and headed out to Iraq to lend his weight to the private security forces out there.

Once I had boiled the story down to a punchy Pressman style release I began punting it around my contacts in the media and I’m very happy to report the story has been picked up by The Sun. Click here to read it on The Sun’s website.

It is a fantastic result for Greg who has been desperate to tell his story and who had been trying extremely hard to get a paper to pick it up for months before turning to me. I couldn’t be happier for him.The Sun has the highest readership of any daily English language newspaper in the world so this piece will help him reach millions of potential new readers.

Last week was my best ever. As well as The Sun piece on Greg Waggett I won features in the Sunday Express for Patients Talking (double page spread) and a great piece in the fashion pages of the Daily Mirror for Bagnificent along with a page five lead piece with pic also for Bagnificent in Business 7.

Gerry Campbell, the founder of Bagnificent has emailed me to say hits on her site have gone “through the roof” so that’s very gratifying and shows the incredible power of PR in action.

I also had page leads in the Nottingham Evening Post, The Leicester Mercury and The Derby Evening Telegraph. I have also had verbal agreement on pieces for other clients in The Sun and The Daily Mail. Once they’ve been published I’ll put up full details here on the blog.

It’s a very exciting time at the moment and I seem to be on fire with everything I touch turning to gold right now (hey, it’s no good being modest when you’re running your own business!)

Free Money: Ei42 is a great new shopping portal which lets you earn cashback on all your internet shopping - even eBay! Click here for details.

Inspiring Entrepreneurs: I now have my own bookshop - in association with Amazon. It is stocked with all my favourite business books and all the books which have inspired me over the years. Click here to visit the Pressman Bookshop.

SEO Tips: My top two tips for search engine optimisation are so simple - if you haven’t done them yet what is stopping you? Tip 1: Google Maps - creating a Google Map listing for your business is free and takes about five minutes. You’ll instantly leap up the Page Rank.

Tip 2: Use the link at the top or bottom of this page to join Touch Local. You can join for free to create a simple listing - which will help - but I recommend creating a full listing which will allow you to include your website url. You’ll find the phone calls and emails soon start flooding in with new inquires. There are some great SEO books in my bookshop.

Pressman Seminars: If you would like to find out how to slash your advertising spend yet gain lots of great publicity for your company, how to plan your PR strategy, how to find an angle about you and your company that the press will love, and how to craft punchy press releases that journalists won’t be able to resist, then come to one of the Pressman seminars.

Seminars take place in Nottingham and run from 10am to 4pm. The cost is just £295 per person with lunch, parking and tea / coffee all included in the price. I will take you through exactly what the press need and want and help you identify what aspects of your company, products and services, are PR-able.

I will work with you on an individual basis to help you create a perfect press release to kick start your campaign. You are guaranteed a marketable release – if it isn’t finished on the day I will complete it for you later and email it to you within a couple of days. If you would like more details email me at steve@pressmanpr.co.uk with “seminar” in the subject box.

A couple of years back I became interested in the Stock Market and the whole concept of buying and selling shares to make a profit.

Before taking the plunge I turned to the mighty Amazon to help me research the subject. There are lots of books on share trading but I was immediately taken by The Naked Trader by Robbie Burns.

The book had many great customer reviews on Amazon – always a great sign. I Googled Robbie and quickly found his own website. After ten minutes reading I was hooked.

Like me Robbie is an ex national newspaper journalist who read Rich Dad Poor Dad and decided to start working for himself. He soon found he had a knack for buying and selling shares and has never looked back since.

I admire Robbie because he has a talent for finding multiple income streams and he’s a man who lives life by his own terms.

A couple of months ago he added an update to his site detailing how his father-in-law had suffered a heart attack and been treated in the hospital in my home town of Nottingham.

Robbie was extremely positive about the hospital staff and the overall experience of being a patient. I thought it would make a great story for the Nottingham Evening Post – we get so used to media scare stories about the NHS that a piece saying how wonderful the treatment at an NHS hospital was too good to pass up.

I began my journalistic career at the Evening Post and now write a column for the paper on parenting so I have good connections there. I phoned a friend on the newsdesk and forwarded the url to Robbie’s site. Sure enough a few days later a story appeared. Click here to read.

I emailed Robbie who said he was very happy with the piece. Never being one to pass up an opportunity I inquired if I could help him win publicity for his book. Robbie put me in touch with his publishers but after a few emails to and fro it seemed the publisher felt no extra publicity was required. It seems a short term view but as Robbie’s book is still on Amazon’s bestseller list, I can’t really argue.

This was around the time I was publicising Shed Simove’s book Ideas Man – click here to buy. I arranged for a copy of Shed’s book to be sent out to Robbie. He read it and asked to meet Shed. The two of them got together in a pub in Putney for an author love-in. The next day Robbie wrote an extremely positive review of Shed’s book and their meeting on his site. Click here to read.

I was very pleased for Shed – Robbie has an extremely loyal readership and his review sparked sales of Ideas Man which zoomed up Amazon’s list.

Robbie’s book has now been updated – click here to buy it. It remains essential reading for anyone interested in the Stock Market. It explains complex concepts in terms so simple even a hack like me can understand.

His site is wonderful because he puts so much of his own life into the updates it is almost like subscribing to a private soap opera. Last month I even managed to sell a story to The Sun based on one of his updates! He was talking about bumping into Dr Who in a bar. When he said The Doctor was complaining about the price of lager I just couldn’t resist giving one of my mates on The Sun a ring! Click here to read.

So if you want to make money and be entertained too, buy Robbie’s book and take a look at his website.

Greg Waggett in The Sun

My current incredible run of national newspaper hits for my clients just keeps getting better and better.I have been working with author Greg Waggett for several weeks now. Greg is a really interesting guy who has written a memoir of his time fighting with private security forces in Iraq. In My Blood is a great read. Click here to buy it.

The book was quickly published – and Greg was elated. But then it failed to sell. Greg told me: “The problem is no one knows it’s out there Steve.”

The small publishing house behind the book had little know-how when it came to publicity, which is why Greg turned to me.I identified the human interest elements of his story.

A couple of years ago, when he was 58 years old, his relationship and his business both collapsed within weeks. At a low ebb Greg decided he needed to make a break from the past and go in a different direction.

I’m sure most of us can relate to that feeling of needing a change after a lover gives us the elbow (such memories are pretty distant for a happily married chap like myself of course!) but where most of us would go and buy a new top or perhaps have our hair cut Greg took things much further and headed out to Iraq to lend his weight to the private security forces out there.

Once I had boiled the story down to a punchy Pressman style release I began punting it around my contacts in the media and I’m very happy to report the story has been picked up by The Sun. Click here to read it on The Sun’s website.

It is a fantastic result for Greg who has been desperate to tell his story and who had been trying extremely hard to get a paper to pick it up for months before turning to me. I couldn’t be happier for him.

The Sun has the highest readership of any daily English language newspaper in the world so this piece will help him reach millions of potential new readers.

Pressman At Wembley

I spent Monday at a fantastic meeting at the all new, very plush Wembley Stadium. It was great fun, our meeting was in one of the corporate boxes and we pushed back the doors and strolled outside to have a look at the guys setting up the stage for the Foo Fighters concerts this weekend.

My meeting was with Mike Pink - Wembley’s head of commercial. The reason I was there is because my client King Sturge are to auction off the famous goal line from the 1966 World Cup Final.

It’s a fascinating story. The 1966 World Cup is, of course, sacred to all Englishmen (and women too) because it is the only time in our history that English hands have lifted aloft a major trophy. The goal line is of particular interest because one of Sir Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick goals that day famously bounced on the line.

The Germans claim to this day that it shouldn’t have been allowed - but the Swiss ref, Gottfried Dienst, and the Russian linesman Tofik Bakhramov, said “Goal” so it stood. These were the days when other countries liked us. How things have changed - just ask poor Andy Abrahams.

The famous goal line was dug up when Wembley was re-turfed in 1968 and a TV producer calld Bob Gardam got to take it home. He planted it in his back garden where it has remained ever since.

Now though the new owner of the home has asked King Sturge to dispose of it. Part of the line will be donated to Wembley and the National Football Museum while the rest will be sold at an online auction with some of the proceeds going to charity - possibly to the Bobby Moore Foundation.

Today’s meeting was to explore the possibility of launching the sale with a press call at Wembley - hopefully involved Sir Geoff Hurst. It turns out Wembley still have the crossbar from the 1966 final while the National Football Museum has the ball - it would be fantastic if we can reunite all four - Sir Geoff, crossbar, ball and goal line.It was fascinating to see inside the stadium.

I was told that Wembley is in debt to the tune of £780m, and there are only 16 sporting events planned for this year, plus two concerts (the aforementioned Foo Fighters and Madonna) so I’m guessing it will take some time before that debt is repaid.

This sale will be the latest in a series of high profile sporting auctions which King Sturge have overseen. Most notably they disposed of much of Aresnal’s old Highbury Stadium including embossed bathroom tiles, the pitch centre spot and even George Graham’s old desk.

Such sales make great opportunities for PR and I am confident I can get substantial TV and newspaper coverage for this. I’m really looking forward to it as it’s a fun story to tell. There is even talk about us doing the press call at England’s game against the Czech Republic later this year. That really would be something special.

Pressman Success Stories

The past week has been amazing. As well as The Sun piece on Greg Waggett I have won features in the Sunday Express for Patients Talking (double page spread) and a great piece in the fashion pages of the Daily Mirror for Bagnificent along with a page five lead piece with pic also for Bagnificent in Business 7.

Gerry Campbell, the founder of Bagnificent has emailed me to say hits on her site have gone “through the roof” so that’s very gratifying and shows the incredible power of PR in action.

I also had page leads in the Nottingham Evening Post, The Leicester Mercury and The Derby Evening Telegraph. I have also had verbal agreement on pieces for other clients in The Sun and The Daily Mail. Once they’ve been published I’ll put up full details here on the blog.

It’s a very exciting time at the moment and I seem to be on fire with everything I touch turning to gold right now (hey, it’s no good being modest when you’re running your own business!)

Free Money

Ei42 is a great new shopping portal which lets you earn cashback on all your internet shopping - even eBay! Click here for details.

Inspiring Entrepreneurs

I now have my own bookshop - in association with Amazon. It is stocked with all my favourite business books and all the books which have inspired me over the years. Click here to visit the Pressman Bookshop.

SEO Tips

My top two tips for search engine optimisation are so simple - if you haven’t done them yet what is stopping you? Tip 1: Google Maps - creating a Google Map listing for your business is free and takes about five minutes. You’ll instantly leap up the Page Rank.

Tip 2: Use the link at the top of this page - right under where it says Pressman Public Relations - to join Touch Local. You can join for free to create a simple listing - which will help - but I recommend creating a full listing which will allow you to include your website url. You’ll find the phone calls and emails soon start flooding in with new inquires. There are some great SEO books in my bookshop.

Pressman Seminars

If you would like to find out how to slash your advertising spend yet gain lots of great publicity for your company, how to plan your PR strategy, how to find an angle about you and your company that the press will love, and how to craft punchy press releases that journalists won’t be able to resist, then come to one of the Pressman seminars.

Seminars run from 10am to 4pm and cost only £295 per person with lunch, parking and tea / coffee all included in the price. I will take you through exactly what the press need and want and help you identify what aspects of your company, products and services, are PR-able.

I will work with you on an individual basis to help you create a perfect press release to kick start your campaign. You are guaranteed a marketable release – if it isn’t finished on the day I will complete it for you later and email it to you within a couple of days. If you would like more details email me at steve@pressmanpr.co.uk with “seminar” in the subject box.

My client Soozi Rowbotham, founder of Patients Talking is featured in today’s Sunday Express.
In a fabulous piece, spread over two pages of the newspaper with photos, Soozi tells her dramatic story of how she founded Patients Talking after IVF almost killed her and her baby.

I have been talking to the Sunday Express for weeks on this one so it’s wonderful to finally see it in print and such a fantastic show as well. I’m very pleased for Soozi, who I know will be delighted.

Here is the piece:

I Love my son but if I’d known IVF could have killed us both, I would have adopted

When Soozi Rowbotham suffered a rare complication of IVF she lost one twin and both she and the other baby could have died. One of the hardest things, she tells Michelle Stanistreet, was the isolation, so she has set up a website to help others.

Like many newlyweds, Soozi Rowbotham was looking forward to motherhood and began to try for a baby soon after her wedding seven years ago.

But Soozi’s excitement turned sour when, month after month, she and her husband, Jonathon, faced disappointment. Eventually the couple turned to IVF and their dream appeared to have come true.

But the situation turned into a nightmare when Soozi was diagnosed with ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS), a rare but potentially deadly complication of IVF that affects less than one per cent of women undergoing the treatment. It occurs when the ovaries over-react to treatment and rapidly swell up.

“We’d exhausted all routes to having a baby naturally so we turned to IVF,” explains Soozi, 41. “Like a lot of couples out there, we were told that our problem was ‘unexplained infertility.’ It’s an incredible blow when you’re desperate to have a child. IVF seemed like our only option to have a child of our own.”

The prospect of a baby put the physical process of IVF and the thought of possible complications right down at the bottom of Soozi’s concerns. “Of course you realise that there are risks involved, and the mention of OHSS is there on the forms that you sign, but in very small type.”

Sadly for Soozi, she became one of the few who experience deadly complications from IVF after three viable embryos were implanted. “Two of the embryos took. I already knew I was susceptible to OHSS because when the doctors had extracted my eggs, they’d hoped for 13 or 14 but I had over 40,” she explains.

But it wasn’t until the embryos were implanted that the symptoms took hold. “My body ached everywhere and I was in incredible pain. My doctor said I’d be ok, but eventually I had to go to hospital.”

Soozi spent three nailbiting weeks in hospital coping with pain so bad that she even considered terminating the pregnancy she had spent years hoping for.

“In order to prevent my organs shutting down, I was injected with an awful lot of water and kept in a bloated state. Within two weeks I was 30pounds heavier, even though I wasn’t able to eat. I felt so ill and so desperate I asked my doctor if I should terminate the pregnancy.”

She was told to “hang on in there” and eventually sent home, though she was clearly unwell. “I was swollen beyond imagination. It was Easter time and I looked like an easter egg,” she says with a wry laugh.

Soozi did indeed hang on in there, determined to battle on and keep her baby - by this time, one of the twins she was carrying had died - and she focussed on sustaining her health as best she could to carry her remaining baby to term.

But one complication led to another and she developed life-threatening blood clots in her neck. The only option was to take daily injections of blood thinners and hope for the best.

“It was horrendous, such a stressful time,” recalls Soozi. “I started to become a regular night visitor at my local hospital. The diagnosis of my neck was so difficult the doctors took photos that they use now for the students at Cambridge Hospital! I was still pregnant, but I was so far from the normal expectant mother.

I didn’t feel the joys at all. I spent the whole time worrying about which way it was all going to go, whether I’d survive the pregnancy and whether my baby would come out of it all healthy and well.”

The stress and isolation of battling a rare condition led Soozi to turn to the internet for information and comfort.

“Sadly, I was released from hospital without much information about my condition or what I could do to help it.

I was desperate to read or hear from someone who had the same condition as me. I felt so isolated anf adrift. I looked and searched online but it was actually really difficult to locate the kind of information and support I wanted and that would have been helpful to me and my family.”

It was this experience that led to a light-bulb moment for Soozi, and remarkably, despite battling a life-threatening condition, she came up with an idea for an online resource for people suffering from rare illnesses.

“I woke up my husband one night and said, ‘I’ve got it!’” recalls Soozi. “I wanted a site where patients could write about their conditions, where people could go and read good stories and bad. Nothing like that existed and I just knew I had to set it up. It was actually really positive for me to have that idea, which quickly became a real project, to focus on when I was having such a terrible time. I wanted to make sure this didn’t happen to anyone else.”

From this germ of an idea Patients Talking was born. Today it has over 800 patients on the site, giving people the opportunity to swop notes and make contact with others in the same situation. The site is popular with doctors as it does not offer diagnoses, merely support.

“Some people write daily, about how they’re feeling and how their day has gone. Others check in every now and then - people’s friends and loved ones who want to read about the condition have also found it really helpful.”

Soozi’s story had a very happy ending three years ago with the birth of son McKenzie Bartholomew (named after Barts, the hospital that “mixed him”). However, the legacy of OHSS lingers and Soozi now also suffers from Thoracic outlet syndrome which causes pain on the left side of her body and can make it hard for her to pick things up.

“I know I was one of the lucky ones really. The majority of people with such severe OHSS lose their baby, a few suffer from heart attacks and there’s the risk of brain damage.”

While clearly thankful to IVF for making her a mother at last, Soozi does feel that the risks of fertility treatment are not taken sufficiently seriously. With older celebrity mothers parading their IVF success stories there is perhaps a tendency to ignore the fact that this is invasive and stressful treatment which often fails and which can entail problems.

“The problem is that IVF is so successful, women don’t really consider the risks, or just think it’s a risk worth taking. Having McKenzie was wonderful, we were thrilled, but if I had known what would have happened I would never have had IVF,” says Soozi.

Instead, she insists, the couple would have adopted. And with the couples thoughts turning to expanding their family, this is just what they hope to do. “We’d love another child, we’ve got all the adoption forms now but it’s a long process, the ideal thing would be if it happened naturally.”
www.patientstalking.com