Top team: Quest PR celebrates Sharon’s finalist accolade.
The profile of some of our region’s fantastic businesses have been catapulted further into the spotlight after last night’s 20th York Press Business Awards held at York Racecourse.
Quest PR MD Sharon Cain was a finalist in the Women In Enterprise category along with Louise Smith of The Jug & Bottle, Bubworth, an award-winning independent specialist off-licence and delicatessen and Angela Langton who started Bellezza Academy which provides a training academy for disadvantaged women.
The vibrant and packed event was attended by 250 people including Julie Hayes from @thepress – and the party rocked into the small hours.
Winning awards can be a big pull for potential clients and compiling powerful submissions is key to this success. See our Top Tips post for help with this.
Winners at a glance
Lifetime Achievement Award
Richard Gregory OBE
John Guy Memorial Award
Bellezza Academy Ltd, Bridlington
Small Business of The Year
Winner: Renovo of York
Finalists: Wold Top Brewery, Driffield and RJB Couriers, Clifton Moor
The region’s high-profile Yorkshire Business Insider magazine, known on Twitter as insideryorks, put the spotlight on the opportunities and risks of social media this month.
Journalist Richard Abbott covered hot issues along which included the importance of setting up a crisis plan (Quest’s recommended read by social media guru Jon Buscall).
Insider’s article provided a balance of views spanning The Fuelcard Company, professional services and the public sector. It also highlighted the legal minefield that social media presents for employers – a topic which Quest covers in its social media strategy seminars.
Here are the Insider’s chosen list of top tweets which we hope you will enjoy:
@ TheFuelcardCo Social media provides the opportunity for companies to engage with their stakeholders (not just customers). But above all they must remember to BE RELEVANT.
Colin Peters, head of marketing, The Fuelcard Company, Knaresborough
@Adrian_Johnson Find sales leads: set alerts for key phrases, people looking to buy often Tweet it; monitor competitiors’ feeds to see what they are doing.
Adrian Johnson, owner of PR and social media agency, Umpf
If you hire a PR agency, check out thoroughly if their credentials match your requirements.
PR can encompass so many wide-ranging activities. If you’re seeking to be an expert in your field and go on the telly and radio as a ‘thought leader’, for example, you need to be confident that your agency has the expertise to deliver.
It’s also crucial that your PR is aligned with your business plan and complements your social media and communications activities for maximum impact.
To ensure accountability with your agency, establish what coverage they will achieve as setting and agreeing expectations at the outset is also important.
Here’s one of our fabulous clients explaining what PR does for his business.
