10 July 2006
At Semantic we've known for quite a while that we are freaks, and every now and then someone comes by to confirm it for us.Typically this happens with professional advisors who want to help us improve our business. Years ago I had a couple of meetings with an advisor working with a UK based agency. The first meeting was a free get-to-know-you kind of deal. He said that he could help us increase our client base and work-rate... and I said I didn't really want more clients, and liked our laid-back (lay-about) lifestyle. Not exactly a meeting of minds.
But I was also kind of scared. I was in business by accident, and knew just enough to realise how hopeless I was. 'We need help', I thought. 'You can't keep on making decisions using your gut rather than your head*'. So we pushed on into a paid relationship, and a second meeting.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The guy came back armed with strategies that were immediately and obviously useless to us. I spent the meeting nodding like a nutter in the hope he would leave as soon as possible... only to have the poor man take it as enthusiasm... on and on he chuntered. It was like 'Waiting for Godot' by Alan Sugar.
In the years since that meeting I've had many similar conversations... which is why it was refreshing last week to meet someone who 'got' Semantic. Ian Peel is a Director at MCC International, a PR company that specialises in dealing with technology businesses.
Ian was good enough to drop by despite my slightly sniffy assertion that PR was something for all those other guys. He made a strong case and, critically, illustrated how we could use PR to talk about the kind of company Semantic is... rather than what it does. Now that's interesting...
Honestly I'm not sure whether we'll do any PR or not... being so busy... but if we do I feel certain it will be with Ian and the team at MCC. Should you be looking for representation in this area I'd recommend a chat with Ian, whether you're a freak or not.
*Actually this still does scare me, even though it seems to work.
Posted by Nick Warren at 8:36 PM
