Press + PR: Making it work for you

Last night I attended a brilliant 'Creative Hub' session at Hidden Art. I love Hidden Art and have been a member for over 10 years. I've really valued and continue to value the support, networking and business opportunities that they create for designer makers.
The session looked at effective ways to get press both in traditional media and how to paddle your way through the rise of social media streams. The speakers were Barbara Chandler, who has been writing about design and decoration for a long time and is a fantastic photographer. In fact Barbara has a great archive of pictures around Broadway Market and Hackney. Some of you may have purchased one of her cards here. The other speaker was Lilly Shahravesh, who I don't know as well as Barbara but she has a company called 'Love my Dog' which produces luxury doggy accessories and I've got a feeling she had a stall on Broadway Market once upon a time!

'Controversial Debates' game developed with Belle Tidswell
(spin off from the Emotional Baggage Handling service)

Barbara asked everyone in the session if they have had any press on their work and how they got it. This is my current favorite piece of press an item of my work has featured in, which actually Hidden Art achieved, as part of their PR activity for their e-shop.

'Controversial Debates' was selected as a suitable product for
Barack Obama by a Dutch design magazine.
I wonder if someone has bought it for him? - this would be truly superb!

Back to the session! There was lots of good advice, but these nuggets struck a cord:

Barbara's top tips: The 1+1+1 approach, that is make your approach to the press personal, do your research, go the extra mile, develop relationships, be focused and individualise.

Lilly's top tips: Always think about your customer or who you are trying to reach. Don't be afraid to experiment and use your creative skills in your marketing campaigns.