Another thriving 4Networking group welcomes Morgan PR
Another day and another brilliant 4Networking meeting for Morgan PR - this time we were business networking in Faringdon, near Oxford, at the Carswell Golf and Country Club.
We get across to Faringdon quite often for the Faringdon Business Breakfast Club networking meetings at the start of each month so already know that this area - mid way between Oxford and Swindon is bustling with dynamic business and we met more of these at this morning's meeting.
It was also great to meet one of the driving forces through 4Networking's onward march towards national coverage; Terry Cooper, from sales and management consultancy Cooper Bradbury Associates, is also a director of 4Networking and it was great to hear how the organisation is marching forward and the list of new groups that seems to grow almost daily.
During the 4Sight session we were giving a refreshingly entertaining insight into the recent budget by Richard Mathews from Banks Chartered Accountants. Your typical stuffed shirt he is not! Alongside the hints and tips you might expect he was also keen to urge us all to have proper two way relationships with professionals like accountants and not be afraid to ask difficult questions.
I was also able to meet three fellow 4Networkers for the 1-2-1 sessions, starting with the Editor of the thriving Community Times in the Vale, Alison Neale, who keeps homes and businesses in Faringdon, Wantage, Grove and the surrounding villages up to date with news, features and offers a good advertising opportunity. It was fun to explore the ways that Morgan PR could help - my own journalism background obviously knows a thing or two about attracting readers!
My next 1-2-1 was with Simon Dormer, a commercial account executive from Jelf Insurance Brokers. We had a wide ranging chat about client acquistion and how social media can help businesses. Common with many B2B businesses it is not always clear how social media can help. I suggested that offering prospective customers downloads like - 10 challenging questions to ask your commercial insurance brokers (naturally Simon would be able to answer all 10 and readers would most likely give permission for future marketing!
My final 1-2-1 was with Hugh Mant from software project specialists Clere Consultants, who I had met at 4Networking in Newbury yesterday. We had met before but as Hugh commented on yesterday's blog - we are not sure when! Anyway, although we were supposed to spend five minutes each talking about ourselves, Hugh was on a mission to understand how Twitter and other social media could help an organisation he was involved in. Already refreshingly familiar with Facebook he had grasped the potential and we aim to meet up again now to work out the practical implentation!
Next week we will be heading to 4Networking in Marlborough - for starters!