ACPR Blog

The Great Toy Guide is published every Christmas, and includes independent advice and reviews of the best educational toys available in the UK, along with exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions. It’s distributed nationwide through Talking Tots classes, as well as being published online on various parenting websites and blogs. 

This year, we’d like a family to help us test out some of our short-listed toys. So if you’re in the UK and would like to try out some new toys with your kids this summer, just leave a comment on this post or email us, telling us about your favourite toy for pre-schoolers, together with information on your children’s ages.

If you represent a toy retailer or a company that provides goods/services to families, and you’d like to nominate a toy for inclusion in the guide, or find out more about advertising and sponsorship opportunities, get in touch here.

Have you started an ethical business? Shilpa Unalkat is looking for inspirational social entrepreneurs who would like to share their story for my next book. Shilpa is the author of Business Head, Spiritual Heart – Align Your Head & Heart To Improve Performance, Profit and Happiness. Please email shilpa.unalkat @ googemail.com if you can help.

Thanks to PR in Your Pajamas for this tip: there is a new service for passing on media requests in Canada at www.journalistsource.ca. For UK requests, see www.responsesource.com, and Help A Reporter Out, for US requests.

Via GettingInk:

I’m working on a feature for a small business magazine looking at the process of applying for grants and subsidies. I’m looking for small businesses of all kinds to talk about things like:

- how they found out about sources of funding
- the challenges involved in making an application
- whether this kind of funding has made a difference to their business
- advice and tips on successfully winning funding

I’d also be interested in speaking to consultants and other experts who can offer tips to small businesses on this topic.

email Sally: mail @ sallywhittle.co.uk

To celebrate the start of a second successful year in business, www.findatvexpert.com is giving experts who want to be considered for TV&Media opportunities the chance to win a year’s free membership worth £100. “Britain’s Got Experts and I want to help promote them to TV researchers, development producers and commissioners who are hungry for ideas, inspiration and the next ‘big thing’,” says Claire Richmond, ex TV producer and founder of findaTVexpert.com. Everyone with the skills, training and qualifications to prove they’re an expert in their field of business can enter the competition, from architects to zoologists and all the experts in between – handymen & historians; wildlife, survival & adventure experts; sportsmen, business men & tradesmen; dentists & designers; scientists, sociologists, etc – because you never know what the industry will be looking for next. So if you think you could be the next Hairy Biker, Kim or Aggie, Handy Andy, Jamie Oliver, David Attenborough, Jo Frost, Tanya Bryon, Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen, etc, here’s what you have to do for your chance to win a year’s free membership on www.findaTVexpert.com. (more…)

If you’re going on TV for the first time, it can be nervewracking. Here are some short tips from Alec Sabin, author of You’re On!, to help you prepare.

1. Prior to interview you should ascertain certain essentials: is it recorded or live? Who is the target audience? How will the interview be used?
2. The end product could be a clip in a package, a longer factual, expert or feature interview, a discussion or a documentary each with its own very different form.
3. Ask yourself why you are being interviewed, and what the interviewer wants, to get the best out of it.
4. Define your message using key points and anecdotes.
5. Deal with challenging questions evenly, referring to your key points.
6. Find out the scope of the interview.
7. Focus on the subject matter to help deal with nerves. Check your appearance for TV. Help create visual aids to put your message across.
8. The interviewer may press you and repeat questions. Equally you can stop and go again if it is recorded. Remember if live you have more control.

If you want more great advice, read You’re On! How to develop great media skills for TV, radio and the internet by Alec Sabin, ISBN 978-1-84528-255-4, Available at all good bookstores priced at £9.99 or call  01476 541080 to order. We reviewed the book here last month if you’d like to find out more.

I love Response Source, where you get requests direct from journalists, so you know the information you provide is what they really want. However, it costs around £200 per category to subscribe for a year which can put it out of reach of some small businesses (although if you look at that at less than £20 per month, and weigh up the benefits of just one great piece of coverage as a result…)

Anyway, I’ve now found a free media request service. The downside for some product based UK business owners is that the requests are largely US based, but if you offer an information based business or an online service a mention in the US media could still be helpful. Check out HARO, or Help A Reporter Out, at http://www.helpareporter.com/. Let me know if you get any useful queries and coverage.

Getting Ink is a site where journalists post case study requests. It is worth signing up as you may be able to  get some free publicity for your business. Today, a freelancer for a national parenting magazine is looking for birth stories. Follow the link to find out more here.

If you are trying to improve your business profile on TV or Radio, you may want some help to improve your interview technique and give you confidence. I read this book from the point of view of someone who is asked for interviews and to provide expert comments. I’ve also been on several media training courses – the slightly more expensive way to work on your TV interview skills. For people like me, Chapter 9 on Being Interviewed was very much the most relevant. It breaks down the skills needed to be interviewed in a logical way, and gives you straightforward tips too prepare for any interview. Simple things like asking if the interview will be broadcast live or whether it is pre-recorded can affect how you perform.

Beyond that chapter, the book is more aimed at those who want to learn to be a TV or radio presenter. There is still a lot that anyone who simply wants to promote their own business can benefit from. Depending on your weaknesses, you can work on your vocal techniques, your interaction with your audience, and the material you are presenting.

The author, Alec Sabin, is an actor who now offers voice and presentation training. You’re On! is published by How To Books Ltd and is available at £9.99 in major bookshops and online retailers across the country. To see more about the book’s contents, click here. ISBN 978-1- 84528-255-4 

The market for case studies within women’s magazines and newspapers is exploding. Natasha Courtenay-Smith explains the appeal and how to use case studies to gain publicity for your business or client.

Ten years ago, I rarely used the term ‘real life case study.’ Save for women’s weekly magazines such as Take a Break, which have always predominately featured individual’s personal stories told in first person (as though it is they themselves writing the piece), there simply wasn’t such a demand for what is termed ‘real life’ within the press. (more…)