February 6th, 2015
New Clients, Campaigns & Clear Credentials
Jane Hunt, Catapult PR
At a business level, we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year than 2015 has provided. Not bad for a Lancashire-based PR consultancy! Having already taken on two new clients in November, we have so far attracted another three clients, with a further two (maybe three) new business meetings next week and then a spectacularly exciting one for the first week of March.
So far, we have added to our financial services client portfolio, our food and drink client bank and our health/sports list. We’d love fashion, food and hospitality to be next.
This week has been tremendously busy. It started with a big catch-up (on sleep, as well as projects) and was followed on Tuesday with a really productive meeting in Kendal (which will be part and parcel of a campaign that should grow another PR account). That was a lovely meeting, as it also provided the opportunity to find out what an old contact has been up to. I have to say, the coffee in Beales was really good!
Wednesday was the day of our monthly client meeting with a Yorkshire-based client and the list of things-to-do was pretty long by the time we’d discussed the whole of their marketing mix for five hours. Seeing all the snow around Huddersfield really brought back the memories of Fritzi – someone I worked with for three months and the person who now (famously) said she would miss my “glamour” – causing a lot of amusement in these parts!
Yesterday saw a bit of a blitz across all client accounts and today more or less culminated in a new business meeting that added a new client to the tally. We seem to suddenly be acquiring a few clients in this particular sector, so the opportunities to grow in that area are pretty big.
The community hero that I’ve been helping with pitch materials and copywriting since June appreciated my humour this week, while telling me (wonderfully) that he’s been invited to a super top-persons’ lunch in London, where he should be able to get his message across to the right people, with the right budgets hopefully! Men shouldn’t tell me things and then expect me to forget them!
Now it’s time to quickly work out the VAT payment due, work on a lot of PR and marketing campaign proposals and campaign growth propositions and get prepped for a trip to London on Monday, where there’s a change to add to our international client list. A wonderful idea came to mind for this particular account mid week, so I hope that will be equally loved when it’s pitched. I shall also have the opportunity to say ‘thank you’, in person, to the kind soul who recommended us to this potential new client and have a good catch-up with them too.
Once next Tuesday comes along, we should have a wonderful looking PR portfolio that will offer a wealth of opportunity and interesting things-to-do, both here and abroad. Having clients in two European countries by the end of next week would be truly exciting. I’ve had to turn down a temporary position and where I am with a proposition is hard to say. Too much going on to stand still long enough to think of anything but client results.
Somehow, the keen-eyed among you will see that we’ve found time to add a client area to the website and we also attracted almost 20,000 views of our Infographic (now on the About Us page. Best of all, I’ve even managed to book flights to Bologna and my hotel – where I am remembered. Truly hope my lovely curly-haired mini-bus driver is the one picking me up at the airport. Already feeling ‘taxi driver fluent’! On that note, one must find time to swot up on her Italian again, write to her pen friend, work out the cross-country trip to Florence, that will also form part of that trip, for a pick-up by my client Mr Manciocchi and a drive to Reggello, and then target some Bologna-based businesses.
And, if I really blitz it tomorrow, it’s just possible the new book may be started before the weekend’s over. The new client I took on today said he thinks I’m multi-talented. Good job I am!
