Parker PR

Nearly 40 business representatives from South Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire gathered at Field Mill, home of Mansfield Town Football Club, this week to gain invaluable advice from two of Britain's leading business gurus ate the first Business Booster event.

Finance specialist Steve Pipe and expert on networking & relationship marketing Rob Brown spent the day advising businesses on how to beat the recession. All delegate fees were paid direct to Macmillan Cancer Care as part of a campaign by Graham Parker of PR consultancy Parker PR to raise £68,000 for the charity.

Although this statement may be the antithesis of every marketing directors' ambition, it is, nonetheless, absolutely true; there's no point whatsoever in being on the first page of Google. In fact, there's no point being top of the list on the front page of Google either.                             .

Any discussion with a web designer or search engine optimisation specialist will ultimately revolve around getting your website on to the first page of Google. I recently had a conversation with a web designer who said that their whole marketing strategy was built around getting clients on the first page of Google. When I asked him why this was, he told me simply that his strategy was based on responding to customer demand. Can this be true? Do millions of businesses and organisations spend fortunes on websites just so they can be on the first page of Google or any other search engine for that matter?

No they don't - or at least, they shouldn't be.

No sector has been safe from the ravages of the recession in the UK, and hotels & hospitality is no different from any other. Phil Hooper, chairman of the British Hospitality Association’s Food and Service Management Forum said in March this year that the last 12 months had been tough for companies in the sector but, despite the recession, turnover had moved ahead by 0.7 per cent.

Set in context against slumps in overall sales, unemployment and rising costs in overheads, this should be seen as positive; and yet so many hotels are losing out on increased profits and repeat sales due to poor public relations.

For some time now there has been a whiff, just a faint one but still a discernable whiff of social rebellion in the British air. Something has changed or is changing in the social contract in this country - people seem far more open to not only challenging the old order, but actually consigning it to the dustbin. Where is the evidence for this? Look at the rapid rise in popularity for Nick Clegg and by default for the Liberal Democrats - is this down to better presentation, policy or simply the fact that the electorate have actually had enough of the existing systems?

Nick Clegg is winning the PR battle hands down, not because he is using the polished tactics of Mandelson and Campbell or the well groomed performances of Cameron; no he's winning because he is connecting with his target audience in a way that the other two parties have completely forgotten how to do. He is comfortable with his message, his style and conviction whereas Brown and Cameron look polished, professional and stilted. They look, and indeed are, the personification of what people are turning against.