Enterprise UK Blog

Palm trees and palm pilots – that’s what reminds me of my trip to the South West Meet Up. The warm Gulf Stream that helps to give it that ‘Riviera’ reputation acts as a great tourist attraction. But I’ve also learnt that the South West is also the UK’s enterprise hot spot with a buzzing innovative culture that’s acting as a magnet for entrepreneurs looking for new opportunities in a place that’s wired up for the latest advanced digital technology. South Devon College is a great example – it’s all 21st century design with a tangible atmosphere of creativity and innovation – the perfect setting for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009’s first Meet Up. What a great warm up! Speakers Geoff Hallett and Kirstin Hemmingway demonstrated how a ‘can do’ attitude can make such a difference – not only to your profit margins but by bringing tangible social benefits to your community.

And of course no business or event can max its potential without great PR so it was good to share some top PR tips at the Meet Up from my happy days as a hack on the Rutland and Stamford Mercury which stakes its claim as the UK’s oldest newspaper in circulation since 1695.

Top Tips include:

• Writing a great newsy press release
• Making the story topical by including regional issues – how can you add this as a theme to your activity?
• Inviting a journalist to be judge at your event or a local celebrity / high profile business person
• Write great local case studies
• And think about some really creative photo opportunities and get the date in your newspaper’s diary!

Please share your PR tips here!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Global Entrepreneurship Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.