Lots of PR and communications specialists (and MDs and CEOs) have far too rigid an idea of what constitutes a crisis. With the world moving at such a speed these days, it would help to be more open minded and recognise that things can flare up out of nowhere and cause serious problems if you’re unprepared. A phenomenon I’ve noticed recently involves the ‘archive’ section of local newspapers. This is a real growth area with Read more
I fear the normally astute John Swinney is out his depth on this one. It’s a brave Government minister who puts his head above (blue) water and tells pupils, teachers and parents that the blue water coming out the taps in their school is nothing to worry about. He’s failed to grasp that even an independent review won’t satisfy many of the individuals affected. And that’s due to the fact that just because something is Read more
Radio phone-in programmes such as Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2, Kaye Adams on BBC Radio Scotland and James O’Brien on LBC are interested in one thing above everything else – making great radio. That means, when they are sifting through the calls, text and social media interaction and deciding who to invite on-air to challenge the guest, they are often influenced not simply by the content of the caller’s argument, but by the passion Read more
Last week, an online journal, SearchEngineLand, ran a story about a supposed drop in organic search traffic to the Daily Mail’s website. It carried quotes, which it claimed came from the news publisher’s ‘SEO Director’ Jesus Mendez. But had Mr Mendez really said what the website was claiming he had? Did anyone check? As SearchEngineLand stated in its article, ‘that’s according to a post in the Google Search Console Product Forms from a user claiming Read more
The summer months represent an ideal opportunity to learn some new skills. This summer, Comsteria is running one workshop which will transform the way you create video content for your business and another which will help you launch your own podcast. Both take place in our office in Glasgow city centre, near the bottom of Bothwell Street, a 2 minute walk from Central Station. Emma Baker will run the Smartphone Video Production course and Colin Read more
Tik Tok is the latest social media platform attracting serious hype and keeping teenagers amused for hours. I’ve been spending some time getting to grips with it for our new Social Media Investigations service. If you want to know more about how Tik Tok works, this video explains what it’s capable of and how to get started and this one from the BBC discusses the privacy concerns which every parent should know about. With such Read more
John Myers was a great guy, a brilliant broadcaster and an inspirational leader. I thoroughly enjoyed working for him during my time at Real Radio in Scotland. John passed away on Saturday and is being very fondly remembered by those who knew him best. My thoughts and condolences are with them all. For me, John represented a great deal of what I’d consider a great leader. He shared many of his views on life, work Read more
I experienced some first class face-to-face customer service the other day. The company we lease our office from had taken too much money from our account this month. Naturally, I was keen to get to the bottom of this and put things right straight away. I’ve been paying this company every month for more than 18 months now and while I have never previously had any complaints about our office or the service they deliver, Read more
Yet again, the 225 year old retailer with such a rich history (it invented the bar code) has been named as the worst retailer in the UK. It’s the 9th year in a row it has been in the bottom two, according to the Which? survey. Customers who took part cited poor value for money and an unpleasant shopping experience as factors in the poor scores. As a business, WH Smith is having a tough Read more
As someone who spends most of their working life in different business premises and training rooms running workshops, I’m very aware of the need to make sure every participant is feeling comfortable. So the latest debate about the ideal room temperature at work has caught my interest. Much is being made of some research which suggests men and women have a different ‘ideal’ room temperature for their working environment, with claims that there’s as much Read more