Our primary concern is with the legality of sending unsolicited html emails. These would count as SPAM and so would fall foul of new European Parliament legislation spearheaded by The European Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email. The rules state that “Commercial Email in European Economic Area will not be allowed without recipients’ prior consent”.

The way forward is to compose a driver email encouraging the reader to seek more information and interaction from a splash page. We have outlined this as a real life case study here. http://thirdsectormedia.com/emsse-e-flyer

We spent some time talking about press releases and who to send them to, how frequently and how to present them. We suggested that unless an individual has an existing relationship with a particular journalist then releases should be sent to a publication’s news editor who will assign a journalist to the story accordingly. Frequency of releases entirely depends on the organisation and their ability to divert resource to not only writing the release but being available for follow up questions.

A second tip with press releases is to write them in the style of the target publication. The releases that are written for the Nottingham Evening Post, for example, are always focused on people as the newspaper in particularly interested in publishing human interest stories. We demonstrated how we would approach press releasing by showing the Partnership Council’s press release section of their website. http://www.partnershipcouncil.co.uk/index.php?/press-releases/  As a very busy local charity the Partnership Council are issuing about four press releases a month.

Other topics included independent reviews of existing websites, annual reports and newsletters. We also spend half an hour with one person discussing how to target communication to encourage student volunteering.

The feed back we have received from the surgery was all positive we are pleased to report. Third Sector Media are definitely going to be running a second surgery in the new year, watch this space for details.

The top tips for low budget/no budget message communication is to use freely available platforms and channels that are already in existence. Use Word Press, Blogger, Flickr, You Tube, Facebook, snippets submitted to existing news bulletins, relevant reciprocal links online and of course the ubiquitous email (and email footer)

We would like to wish all of the new social entrepreneurs in Kirby in Ashfield the very best of luck in their forthcoming endeavours.

Book now and receive:

• Free advice on all aspects of marketing and communications
• The chance to get an answer to a specific marketing and communications related question
• Access to media professionals experienced in project management, commissioning, design, writing and PR
• The opportunity to find out more about what’s available, from online technologies to funding

Third Sector Media has over 15 years experience when it comes to marketing and communications - including website design and build, design for print, copywriting, PR and project management. Plus, as a social enterprise with a good knowledge of the third sector we understand the issues that are important to you.

To find out more and to book your free half hour appointment
please email alan@thirdsectormedia.com or call Alan on 0115 970 8200.

Places are limited so book now to avoid disappointment!

The surgery is open to all charity and voluntary sector organisations including community groups.

Leon and Alan discussed how community groups could use websites and blogs to increase their reach both with funders and the public.

Kemet Radio is Nottingham’s first urban radio station broadcasting around the clock locally on 97.5 FM and online at http://kemetradio.com/

New Start is the weekly magazine for regeneration, economic development and sustainable communities. They picked up on our recent press release and shared the essence of it with the country.

Link to our original press release

Third Sector Media, which is a social enterprise and re-invests its profits into good causes through its partner charity the Partnership Council, was set up in response to the way many charities and community organisations are treated by some design agencies and media companies – often unused to dealing with the charity and community sector. 

Alan Carter-Davies from Third Sector Media explains:

“I’ve worked in the charity and community sector for a few years now and during that time I’ve seen many organisations who are doing good things settle for bad websites. Often, organisations are sold expensive and technically over-complicated websites that they don’t need and don’t have the skills or expertise to keep updated.

Similarly, I’ve seen organisations sold websites that just aren’t up to scratch design-wise. Naturally many charities and community organisations don’t have large marketing budgets, but that shouldn’t mean they have to put up with sub-standard design work.”

Alan continues:

“Third Sector Media’s approach is to help everyone make the most of online media, regardless of their budget. For example, we’ve recently helped a small start-up business get off the ground by designing them a website using existing online software, which is therefore free. Using this software we’ve been able to create a website that can be easily updated – even by someone with no technical know-how. Plus members of the public can post their own comments on the website which means it’s very interactive and can be used to gather feedback – something that’s very useful for any organisation.

By using existing online software we’ve been able to save our client money, which has instead been spent on creating a strong, original and professional design for the website.”

Third Sector Media has also recently helped the East Midlands School for Social Entrepreneurs (EMSSE) to promote its courses.

Fergus Brazel from EMSSE says:

“As a social enterprise ourselves I was keen to use a social enterprise like Third Sector Media. I was amazed though how they managed to make such good use of my modest marketing budget, primarily by using online media to promote EMSSE courses and events. They handled every aspect of the campaign too, from suggesting how I could best promote EMSSE to designing and writing promotional materials. I’ve had a great response as a result and it’s been good to work with a design agency who really understands the charity and community sector. Third Sector media are fast, efficient and highly professional.”

Alan believes that it’s now more important than ever for charities and community groups to make sure they have an effective, hard-working website.

According to a recent article in Third Sector magazine, one of the UK’s leading publications for those working in the charity and community sector, more people than ever are visiting charity websites. In fact, the research shows that the proportion of visitors to charity websites rose by a third last year, whilst over the last five years, the numbers have almost doubled.
 
It’s a similar story for voluntary organisations too, with volunteers nearly twice as likely to look for voluntary opportunities online, compared to non-volunteers. 49 per cent of volunteers said they surfed the net to find voluntary work, compared to 25 per cent of non-volunteers.

Alan concludes:

“I really believe Third Sector Media’s approach offers charities and community organisations something new – design produced by creatives who have worked in the design industry for over a decade, combined with a unique understanding of the charity and community sector.  We therefore understand just how precious charity and community budgets are and feel very strongly that they shouldn’t be squandered on unnecessary or ineffective media projects.” 

To find out more or for a free initial consultation please contact Alan Carter-Davies on 0115 970 8200 or email alan@thirdsectormedia.com

www.thirdsectormedia.com

To view the East Midlands School of Social Entrepreneur e-flyer visit www.thirdsectormedia.com/emsse/

To find out more about Third Sector Media’s partner charity, the Partnership Council, please visit www.partnershipcouncil.co.uk

From what I can gather WiMax seems to circumnavigate the golden mile long guarded by Telco’s. The mile of copper wire that connects the user to the telephone exchange. The practical upshot of this is that WiMax could be a viable alternative to the mandatory enforcement of a landline as a basis for domestic and commercial broadband. Log onto WiMax as a gateway to WiFi. For this reason north Nottingham could well be a fruitful study for Intel. There is a high transitory population with many residents not leasing landline phone services, and sub sequentially broadband connectivity, for a number of reasons. Having said this, the session this morning was aimed squarely at early adopter businesses in the catchment of the WiMax antenna. Many of the speakers talked about community but the whole event was very much about what the community could do to further the interests of the project sponsor parties. As both Nottingham and Nottingham Trent Universities are partners then we heard quite a bit about student placements, academic research and piloting. From the technology partner we heard that we could try connections across an unknown radius to see if the system would work. These messages were not particularly reassuring both from a confidence in new technology point of view nor from a benefit to the community point of view.

The sheer volume of investment in WiMax could well make it as viable as 3G and as ubiquitous as WiFi. The potential benefit for digital inclusion within a community that is routinely excluded from an ever techno-literate society is apparent. The main question seems to be whether the technology companies and academics who are currently heading up the programme can translate techno excitement into practical and tangible results.

http://www.ingenuitygateway.com/default.aspx

We would like to thank our clients and referees for helping us to achieve such a good rating. As a working Social Enterprise we strongly believe that a good position in the regional brokerage database helps to validate the ethical policies under which we work.

For more information on the EM Brokerage database please visit http://www.embrokerage.co.uk/

A recent flyer (pictured) proved to be successful in delivering the “don’t worry, we know what we are doing” message. TSM are looking to use the flyer as a starting point. The flyer design was devised from some rudimentary research into potential client base and commissioners. An odd snippet of research showed that classic the VCO commissioner is quite likely to drink non caffeine hot drinks in the afternoon. Personal experience working in the voluntary sector seemed to bear this out. The flyer design drew elements from a peppermint tea packet, a reassuring and comfortable consumable.

Once the general message had been established and defined, luckily TSM has been working on this in advance; the next step was to browse the identity books. These are heavy thick catalogues containing thousands of existing logos. We are not looking for one to copy. We are looking for elements and themes from which to draw. Do we want a serif font (like Times New Roman) or a sans serif one? Do we want a device with the text, just a device? A square style logo or a banner style? Which would be most adaptable?

The next step is to outline some concepts. These will be done in an old fashioned way with pencil and paper. Watch this space to see what happens next.

Previously, such organisations had to settle for second best when it came to their website,

Figures show visitors to charity websites and voluntary organisations are booming with people twice as likely to seek voluntary opportunities online.

To find out more, contact Alan Carter-Davies on 0115 970 8200 or email info@thirdsectormedia.co.uk

(Nottingham Evening Post 29th February 2008)