Why the most powerful button in the world isn’t the nuclear one…
Monday, January 17th, 2011

Always think before hitting Send
….but the send button on your email programme. Pitching for a film project with a local public sector client, I was quite surprised when the following email dropped into my Inbox: “Paul, have you gone with this man? – I just tried to have a look at what he recommended on his site – they are OK but I am not blown away and his videos are not as good as the work of xxxxx. With regards to the music – please bear in mind that my son is currently doing his Btec in sound engineering and has written some fantastic music. He might be persuaded to help – either for a very small fee or nothing”. I don’t mind people not liking my work, it is the nepotism that I object to. There are plenty of local professional musicians, living on shoe string budgets, for whom a composing or performing rights fee is a vital part of their income.

Not Sergey or Larry, but someone from Google Local. ‘Not a bad website’ Mr Google said. ‘Hey, thanks, I’ll tell my website designers’. How would I like to get more leads and enquiries? They could place my business in the top three listings of their Local Pages listings for video production for just £90 per month. Mmm, sounded tempting. Then I realised that the clients I build productive relationships with are ones that I meet at seminars or ring up and make appointments to go and see. It takes an effort to maintain relationships in business, but a phone-call (don’t forget to smile) or an email can work wonders. I’d rather be proactive and use my marketing resources to maintain and build fruitful relationships with my clients than set up a direct debit to that great cash machine in cyberspace.



vacantly as if I’d just declared my support for Belisha Beacons, Trilby Hats and Listen with Mother. And then it dawned on me. He wasn’t just using Amazon as an on-line shop, he was using it as a library.