Tag Archives: Ethos public relations

Christmas greetings from Ethos public relations

Season's Greetings from Ethos public relations

Well, what a year! It would have been impossible, just 12 months ago, to imagine where we would all be today and how the country would have been so savagely affected by a new virus, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and here at Ethos public relations are looking forward to 2021 with hope.

As a small, well-established business, we have been able to weather the storm of 2020. Of course, our business has been affected – whose hasn’t? – but we’re still here and planning ahead for a busy year in 2021 when things finally start to get back to normal.

Working from home we have been able to maintain our client base, as well as developing websites, online shops and social media for a number of new clients, who realised that they needed to do more to promote the work they do and to do it better.

While none of us can forget the human suffering caused by coronavirus, it’s impossible to ignore that some businesses have done very well this year and that consumer habits have changed. Whether things quickly return to how they were before, as testing improves and new vaccines are rolled out, is of course hard to say.

Many organisations have – and have had to – adapt, and opportunities arise, whether we like it or not, out of every crisis.

The next year or two will continue to require businesses to be nimble and prepared to move quickly as things change. Perhaps not the recipe for a quiet life for any of us, but it’s certainly the only way that many organisations will survive.

And that’s where PR comes in. It really couldn’t be more important to get your message out quickly to your target market and to keep your customers informed about your business and any changes. There have been quite remarkable examples this year, often of small and highly flexible businesses, which have not only survived the crisis but thrived in it too. Sadly, there have also been many that have struggled or failed.

We are optimistic about 2021 and we’re hopeful that things will improve soon, and we’ll be there to help many more businesses, charities and social enterprises to get their message out to people.

And so, it just remains, at the end of another year, to raise a glass and enjoy a palm oil free mince pie as we wish you a happy Christmas and very best wishes for 2021. Keep safe and well!

Season’s Greetings 2018

It’s that time of year again where we look back on the previous 12 months and raise a glass to the next.

Mince pie - Ethos public relations 2018 has been an important one for us as we reached our 20th anniversary. It is hard for us to believe that we have been successfully running our business for over 20 years now, starting out as we did in a small back bedroom in Manchester.

As with any business, we have had challenges and frustrations along the way, but we’re proud to be here still, offering the ethical public relations services that mean so much to us.

Of course, the nature of our work has changed dramatically over the years and much more of what we do is now online, whether creating and writing websites, managing social media accounts or designing leaflets and promotional materials.

The last 12 months have been interesting ones, as we have welcomed new clients such as Refil, a Dutch company that makes recycled plastic filament for 3D printers, and EAE Aesthetics, which offers medical and cosmetic skin treatments in the Midlands. It is also rewarding to welcome back clients such as Co-operative Futures in Gloucester, which organises the Future Co-ops conference every two years and which we are proud to support and promote.

We continue to work with a number of local Shropshire-based organisations, as well as charities and credit unions in other parts of the UK. In fact, our client base continues to demonstrate that we are willing and able to work with organisations all over the UK, and beyond, to help them communicate their business.

The next year looks set to be turbulent not only for businesses in the UK but for people too. We, like many others no doubt, long for the return of certainty and stability, so we can get on with our work – and lives – without unnecessary worry and stress. If ever there was a time for strong political leadership, now is the time, and we would urge politicians of all persuasions to put the country first, before their own interests.

Of course, if past experience is anything to go by, we will all muddle through and the rollercoaster economy we have become used to over the last decade will continue to excite us one minute and scare us the next.

Our Christmas break begins at lunchtime on Monday 24th December and our office will be closed until Wednesday 2nd January 2019, although we will of course be checking our emails, social media accounts and text messages, so do stay in touch.

It’s now time for us to enjoy our customary mince pie and glass of sherry, so it only remains to wish all our clients, suppliers, friends and future clients Season’s Greetings and a very successful 2019.

Conference: Can co-operative deserts bloom?

Ethos public relations is proud to be supporting a conference in the New Year addressing the issue of co-operative deserts and how new co-ops can be helped to bloom.

Future Co-ops 2019, which takes place on 1st and 2nd February 2019, will address how the co-operative sector can grow.

Not everywhere is created equal. There are some well-known pockets of success in the UK where co-ops flourish – big cities, small towns, north and south. But there are plenty of co-op deserts too.

We’re all agreed we want more co-ops, better co-ops and, sometimes, bigger co-ops. Particularly in co-op deserts. But no fairy godmother’s going to wave a magic wand, so what do we, as a diverse sector, do with what we’ve got?

Join Co-operative Futures in Birmingham on the 1st and 2nd February, where they’ll be working with Central England Co-operative’s talented Think:Digital innovation team, using their new insights and participatory problem solving techniques in a fun and effective way to explore new, practical actions that participants can all take away to help co-op deserts bloom!

According to Jo White of Co-operative Futures, the organisers of the event, co-operatives can be found right across the UK but their distribution is uneven.

“Future Co-ops 2019 will focus on why these geographic imbalances exist and how we can all help create the right environment to make new co-operatives flourish.”

Early Bird prices online available until Christmas.

Where: Hillscourt Hotel & Venue in Birmingham

Info: https://futures.coop/future-coops-2019

Ethical public relations versus fake news

For over 20 years, Ethos public relations has described itself as an ethical PR agency. We might not have known it back then, but what we were really saying was that we were against ‘fake news’.

In recent years, a number of things have contributed to the term fake news being bandied about, almost every time someone disagrees with some information or an editorial stance. This is not at all useful and is only going to increase mistrust of information and expert opinion.

In the PR context, what we meant by ethical PR was not engaging in spin but focusing on the real news behind a story. For many clients, especially in the charity and social enterprise sectors, this is particularly important as they have meaningful stories to tell supporters and funders and we believe this is best done with real, honest case studies and stories that demonstrate the real impact of their work.

Back in the 1980s it wasn’t fake news that made us develop our honest approach but rather spin and ‘kiss and tell’ stories.

Unfortunately, the transformation to fake news from this was almost inevitable and was supported in part by some bad editorial decisions by the media along the way.

It’s easy to blame editors, but a free media does need to be protected, and probably almost everyone working in public relations can cite examples of where really interesting, pertinent and newsworthy press releases have gained no coverage, while less socially useful information gets on air or in print.

Journalists aren’t social workers, but they do need to take a responsibility to their community and reflect what is going on in a balanced and holistic way. We have always subscribed to – and done our best to adhere to – the NUJ principles in our dealings with the media.

In a pre-digital age it was true that air time and newspaper space was limited, but that’s hardly the case now. Real, good quality and verifiable news should be able to find an outlet on trusted media sites to balance the seemingly endless rise of so called ‘news’ sites peddling opinion as fact.

New dimensions to PR: celebrating our first 20 years

Ethos public relations was established in Manchester in April 1998 and is still going strong. Here, Shaun, one of our directors, looks at some of the changes we have seen in that time and considers a new opportunity for the future.

Over the last 20 years, there has been a transformation in the way news is communicated, not just in how people access the latest stories, but in terms of how organisations reach out to journalists.

One of our first commissions was to write an article for a trade journal. The article was printed and published and that was that. It wasn’t posted on a website; it wasn’t shared on social media; it wasn’t ‘liked’ and ‘linked to’, forever present in the online ether. No doubt the article remains in a dusty archive somewhere, but for all intents and purposes it was never seen again.

In those days, it wasn’t unusual for a PR agency to put a press release in the post to a journalist, in anticipation that it would be used days, weeks or months ahead. Nowadays, like all of us, journalists track websites and social media channels for the latest stories – which can circle the globe within minutes – while doing their best to sniff out fake news!

As a result, most of our PR work is now online – writing and managing websites; handling social media accounts for clients; producing online newsletters, adverts and marketing materials and so on. To survive the many changes in our industry over the last 20 years, we have had to be flexible and adaptable, and no doubt there are many more changes to come.

For example, these days printing now means something different to us – something almost inconceivable 20 years ago – and that’s three-dimensional printing. Our latest client in our 20th anniversary year produces recycled 3D printer filament which can be used to manufacture a wide range of household objects, practical items, ornaments and small mechanical parts.

We’ve all seen the startling headlines about body parts being produced by 3D printers, as well as cars, houses, clothes and food, and although it might be some time before 3D printing replaces more traditional production methods, one thing’s for sure, it’s here to stay and the potential is huge.

For us, it seems, printing has come full circle. As printed publications, which once provided our bread and butter, have declined and moved into the online world, a new form of printing – 3D printing – has emerged to fill the gap.

And finally, talking of new dimensions, from day one we had a unique, ethical approach to PR, something unheard of in the late Nineties’ world of spin, and this is something we have stuck to over the last 20 years – not just because it sounded good, but because it was what we believed. Ironically perhaps for a PR agency, it is this authenticity, which goes beyond words, that has been the anchor of what we have achieved.

Season’s Greetings 2016

Another year is almost over and once again we are raising a glass of sherry and tucking into a mince pie as we reflect upon the last 12 months.

Since our move to a new base near Oswestry in Shropshire almost two years ago, Ethos public relations is pleased to be working with a number of local businesses and charities, as well as continuing to support clients across the UK.

The nature of public relations has changed significantly over the last few years and we have adapted to meet these challenges, with much more of our focus now on website management and social media. Of course it is still nice to do traditional media relations and, even today, it is rewarding to see a press release we have written in the newspaper, or listening to an interview we have set up on the radio.

Thank you to all our clients for supporting us in 2016 and we look forward to working with you in the New Year.

We will be closed over the Christmas break from lunchtime on Friday 23rd December until Tuesday 3rd January 2017, but we will of course be checking our emails, social media accounts and text messages, so do stay in touch.

We wish all our clients, suppliers, friends and future clients
Season’s Greetings and a happy 2017!

Happy birthday to Ethos public relations

We are 18 – again.

Ethos public relations is celebrating 18 years in business today. Over the past 18 years, we have worked with a huge range of businesses, charities, individuals and others to help them get their message out to a wide variety of audiences.

We have helped our clients launch new products; deal with a number of crises; produce videos, magazine and leaflets; create new websites; manage social media; prepare for newspaper, TV and radio interviews and engage with their employees.

The list of clients we have worked with over the years is a long one and the number of passionate individuals even longer. With hardly an exception it’s been fun, fulfilling and worthwhile.

We have helped raise awareness of issues as diverse as knife crime, disability, co-operation, Fairtrade, products made in the UK, tourism, credit unions, social enterprise, vegetarianism, local food, recycling, social housing and the closure of pubs.

Each of these issues required differing approaches but we hope we dealt with them all with the same commitment both to the subject, and as importantly, to the ethics with which we were founded back in 1998.

Our ‘ethical’ approach was adopted to try and counter some of the perceived negativity towards the public relations industry. Our approach was based on honesty and having an open dialogue with clients and the media. At times this was tested and back in 1998 we couldn’t have imagined how it would be the media itself that would become the focus of unethical practice. It seems both sides of our industry have work still to do.

We have written before about how things have changed, almost unrecognisably, since we first started trading. Posting out press releases and photos being replaced by email, faxes now defunct, far fewer local (and a couple of national) newspapers, not to mention the rise of bloggers and social media – the PR landscape is very different now.

However, our honest and ethical approach to the way we undertake PR has remained the same, and is so much part of who we are that it will remain. As we get near to the end our teenage years, we are wiser and a very different ‘person’ to the Ethos public relations of 1998, but hopefully our friends and colleagues will still recognise us.

So thanks to all our previous and current employees, clients and suppliers. We’ve had a great first 18 years. Time to crack open the fizzy wine – Fairtrade of course.

Powys social enterprise to relaunch websites and increase brand awareness

Cae Post, the Powys based charity and social enterprise working to provide opportunities for disadvantaged people in Powys and Shropshire, has appointed Oswestry-based Ethos public relations to relaunch its website and to help increase recognition of its trading brands.

Cae Post is based in Trewern, Welshpool, and operates the Council’s recycling collection service in North Powys, as well as commercial recycling collection and processing in Powys and North Shropshire. The charity has also recently launched a hydrographics print business in Mile End, Oswestry, called Liquid Print Factory, to help support their ethos of providing work and training for people with disabilities or disadvantages in the jobs market.

Speaking about the link up, General Manager Sue Packer said: “Cae Post is a well regarded charity based in Powys, with 20 years’ experience working with people with disabilities and those who are disadvantaged in the jobs market, offering them useful and worthwhile work opportunities.

“We are a business just like any other, but the income we generate helps us to fulfil our charitable objectives to give everyone a chance to be part of the working world. We are looking forward to working with Ethos public relations to relaunch our websites, to help us gain even more recognition of our work in Powys and North Shropshire.”

Shaun Fisher, a Director at Ethos public relations, said: “As a business with a social conscience, we are looking forward to working with Sue and her team at Cae Post to help promote the charity and its commercial objectives. We have worked with a wide range of charities and social enterprises over the past 18 years and we have a real empathy for the work carried out by Cae Post for their beneficiaries.”

Season’s Greetings 2015

As 2015 comes to an end, it has become our tradition to have a glass of sherry and a mince pie and to reflect on the previous year.

It’s now over 12 months since Ethos public relations made the move from an office based PR agency in Manchester into a more flexible operation near Oswestry in Shropshire. Much has happened over the year and we have made some exciting new contacts and friends.

We continue to support clients across the UK and as the nature of public relations changes from its broadcast and print heritage to an increasingly digital and social media focus, we have enjoyed supporting clients with new website projects as well as traditional media relations.

We will be closed over the Christmas break from lunchtime on Christmas Eve until Monday 4th January 2016, but we will, of course, be checking our emails, social media accounts and text messages, so do stay in touch.

We wish all our clients, suppliers, friends and future clients Season’s Greetings
and the very best and a Happy 2016.

Season’s Greetings

As another year comes to an end, it’s traditional to have a glass of sherry and a mince pie and to reflect on the year that was.

2014 will be a memorable year for Ethos public relations as we made the move from an office based PR agency in Manchester into a more flexible operation in Shropshire.

Public relations, like many business sectors, has changed enormously over the last few years. In the past we have blogged about how email, social media and electronic forms of communication have come to dominate the way we work, requiring much more flexibility in the way we communicate on behalf of our clients.

As the year draws to an end, that trend couldn’t be more starkly illustrated than by the news that Trinity Mirror are closing several of its print editions, including the Reading Post. The way we all consume news and information has continued to change at a fast rate and we have always aimed to keep clients up to date with these changes.

We will be closed over the Christmas break from lunchtime on Christmas Eve until Monday 5th January 2015, but we will, of course, in this digital age, be checking our emails, social media accounts and text messages!

We wish all our clients, suppliers, friends and future clients the very best and a Happy New Year!