5 Networking Mistakes From 20+ Years of PR
After more than 20 years working in PR and communications, I’ve been to my fair share of networking events. Breakfasts, lunches, conferences, industry events, informal coffee mornings, large-scale receptions, speed networkings, ‘tweet up’s’… you name it! They’ve not all been the most enjoyable let me tell you! However, I continue because I genuinely believe that […]
Stop Running Someone Else’s Race
Anyone who’s ever laced up their trainers and pounded (or plodded) the pavement will probably know how easy it is it is to compare yourself to everyone else when you’re running. There’s always someone running further, someone running faster, and someone who seems to make it all look effortless while you’re wondering why your legs […]
Reputation is like a houseplant?
Reputation is one of those things that is always talked about in business, but not always clearly understood in practice. It gets mentioned in strategy meetings, written into brand guidelines, and referenced in crisis planning, but in day-to-day reality, it’s often less visible than people expect. That’s why the houseplant analogy works so well. At […]
Friendship and Business: Why Relationships Matter More Than Ever
We know that people do business with people they know, like and trust. That might sound like a simple idea, but after more than 20 years working across the Middle East, I’ve found it to be one of the most accurate observations about business. Behind every partnership, recommendation, introduction and opportunity, there is usually a […]
Your Elevator Pitch Isn’t About You!
…It’s about being remembered. For many entrepreneurs and business owners, one of the hardest questions to answer is also one of the simplest: “So, what do you do?” It sounds easy, but try explaining your entire business, experience, value and what makes you different in 30 seconds, and suddenly it becomes much more complicated. The […]
What Emojis Teach Us About Effective Communication
There was a time when adding an emoji to a business message might have felt a little unprofessional. Fast forward to today, and emojis are everywhere, from WhatsApp conversations and social media to internal memos and customer emails. Emojis have become part of the way many of us communicate, and whilst they might seem like […]
What the Gym Teaches Us About Building a Brand
I’ve spent enough time in gyms over the years to know that most progress is far less exciting than we expect it to be. When we start a new fitness routine, it’s tempting to look for dramatic results. We want the transformation, the breakthrough moment, the visible change that proves all the effort is working. […]
On Social Media Day: Why Visibility Alone Isn’t Enough for Brands
Social media has changed the way brands communicate more than almost any other channel in the last decade. It has given businesses direct access to audiences, removed traditional barriers to publishing, and created an expectation of constant visibility, but if you’ve seen our social media, you’ll have seen that this week I’ve been questioning whether […]
What Yoga Teaches Us About PR, Marketing and Sustainable Communication
Bear with me, it may sound a tenuous link and a desperate way to ‘occasion-jack’, but as someone who loves yoga, it’s nice to have an excuse to connect my work and personal passions. So I should start but saying I am by no means an expert, but I do love it – the physical […]
Don’t Stop Communicating This Summer!
For many people living and working in the Middle East, June often feels far more like the end of the year than December ever does. There’s a noticeable shift that begins to happen around this time. School terms finish, farewell gatherings fill the calendar, temperatures rise, and conversations increasingly revolve around travel plans, summer exits […]