The Fantasy Fairytale day is here!

It’s tonight!  And there’s just a few hours to go before The Cutting Edge’s Fantasy and Fairytale Bridal Evening at The Gallery – Ryehill Golf Club.

 

There are a few tickets left – why not come along and join in the fun?  If you would like a last-minute ticket, phone The Cutting Edge now on 01295 278910.  They can be reserved for you for collection on the door.

 

The tickets price is just £7.50, with a donation from each ticket going to support Tiago’s fund. Tiago is a 4 year old boy from Banbury with cerebral palsy – it is a wonderful cause!

 

Tonight the winner of the Bridal Princess competition will be announced – who is going to be the lucky girl who will win all her wedding hair and beauty treatment?  Come along and find out.

 

Included in the ticket price is:

 

• Bucks Fizz reception
• Refreshments
• Hair and beauty demonstrations
• Fabulous wedding displays
• Close-up magician Richard Young will amaze you with his own special kind of magic
• Each person will take home a wedding bag which includes a FREE pair of earrings worth £10!

All for just £7.50 per person.  Do come along and support this wonderful evening.  This event isn’t just for brides – if you are going to a ball or a prom perhaps, come along and find out how you can be a Princess for the night.

 

Reserve those last tickets now – phone the Cutting Edge on 01295 278910.  If you can’t come along, you can still donate to Taigo’s fund here.

 

 

Fantasy Fairytale Bridal Event to Support Tiago and Alison’s Fund

The Gallery, Ryehill Golf Club, Milcombe, Banbury.
31st March 2011.  7.30 – 10pm

Photograph by kind permission of Fiona Baker

The Cutting Edge Hair and Beauty Salon in Banbury  has nominated Banbury’s Tiago and Alison’s fund as the benefiting good cause at its ‘Fantasy Fairytale’ bridal evening at The Gallery – Rye Hill Golf Club on Thursday 31st March 2011.

The Cutting Edge directors were moved by the story of four-year old Tiago Dos Santos and his mother Alison and their appeal.  Tiago, who lives in Banbury with his mother, has cerebral palsy.  The fund has been set up to raise funds for his treatment at London’s Bobath Centre, to help pay for additional physiotherapy, and other specialist equipment.   Tiago’s father Paulo, was killed in a road accident in 2006.

A percentage of the ticket price will be donated to the fund.  Included in the Bridal Fantasy Fairytale evening’s entertainment will be a raffle draw.  Prizes are being donated by the event sponsors.  The star prize is a set of TheO heated rollers worth around £200.  Other prizes include a £100 voucher from The Cutting Edge in Banbury and  50% venue discount donated by The Gallery, Rye Hill Golf Club.

The highlight of the evening will be the announcement of the winner of the Bridal Princess competition.  Entries are still being taken and forms are available from www.the-cuttingedge.co.uk.

Tickets are available from The Cutting Edge, Rotary Way and Henry’s of Banbury in the High Street.

Included in the evening’s entertainment will be hair and beauty demonstrations, and a fashion show with bridal wear from Katherine Allen and Henry’s of Banbury.  Close-up magician Richard Young, will be on-hand to perform his magic for the audience.

Fifteen local companies are co-sponsoring the event.  These include wedding photographer Fiona Baker, and the Balloon Lady. Cakes for All will be providing bridal cupcakes on the night.  The event will be compèred by Ken Norman of Chipping Norton’s Best Man Boot Camp, which provides speech writing and delivery training for wedding speeches.

Cutting Edge director Kirsty Pearce said, “We wanted to support a local charity at this event and when we heard about Tiago and Alison, they were the obvious choice.  Our event sponsors are generously donating raffle prizes so we’re looking forward to helping swell their fund.”

Tickets for the event are priced at £7.50 and include a Bucks Fizz reception and light buffet.  Each person attending the event will be presented with a free ‘Wedding Welcome Pack’ which includes a pair of Pilgrim earrings worth £10 per pair, donated by Lilly Maes Gift Boutique of Brackley.

The event’s sponsors include:

The Gallery, Rye Hill Golf Club
Fiona Baker Photography
Katherine Allen Bridal Wear
The Balloon Lady
Henrys of Banbury
Ken Norman: Best Man Boot Camp
Cakes for All
The Sweet Company
Banbury Wedding Cars
KNR Jewellery:
Richard Young Magic
Blueice Roadshow
Lilly Maes Gift Boutique: Brackley
Fresh FX Video Production

Original concept by WORD-right – copywriting and marketing

Copywriting standards

As I’m sure you know, the WORD-right crew are big fans of social networking.  In our opinion,  Twitter and Facebook are musts for any business.

As a copywriter, I follow other writers on Twitter.  We regularly communicate and there is a great sense of fellow-feeling.  But I’ve recently unfollowed three copywriters – all for the same reason – swearing!

There is good and bad in every business sector.  There are as many good builders as there are fly-by-night ones.  Copywriting is no exception.  I always urge people, if they are planning to use a professional writer, to check out the standard of their work.

Perhaps now I will recommend checking them out on social media too.  A copywriter is meant to be good with words.  If the best they can manage is to string together a few four-letter words, would you want them writing about your business?

If a copywriter can’t express him or herself clearly and succinctly without resorting to profanity, my recommendation is they find another job where professional standards don’t matter!

Blog post by Joy McCarthy

Secrets of a successful press release

Many years ago (in the dark ages before email) I went to a PR workshop run by a local newspaper. They were keen to encourage people to learn how to write good press releases – they genuinely wanted to publish the stories in the paper.

They couldn’t use a lot of the press releases they received because they didn’t contain the right information.  Worse still … some didn’t even include any contact details, so they had no way of getting in touch with the sender!

That’s a great shame, because PR is a powerful marketing tool.  Yet even today, many small businesses don’t really understand how to make use of it.

Sadly people feel daunted by the thought of having to write a press release and let great promotional opportunities slip away.

Because we want to change that, we’re running a Press Release Writing Masterclass – where you can come along and learn the ropes for yourself.

This is your opportunity to roll your sleeves up and learn how to write a press release to get your business noticed.  It really is a hands-on experience!

The Press Release Writing Masterclass is on Wednesday 6^th April at Bloxham Mill Business Centre, near Banbury,  from 9.15am until 12.30.  The cost is just £40  + VAT.  Book online now – spaces are limited and there are only a couple left.

Did we mention there’s going to be coffee and buns as well?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you a secret agent?

Having posted a copywriting tip about the importance of prominent contact details on Twitter and Facebook, I decided the subject was worthy of a blog post.

I’m sure I’m not alone in suffering the frustration of wanting to contact a company after looking at their website, and several minutes later giving up because their details were not to be found!  I touched on this subject in an earlier blog about calls to action and recommended you include a phone number there too.

Companies which fail to provide their contact details on their marketing materials are nothing new.  Perhaps worse are the examples of incorrect contact details – old addresses and phone numbers which are no longer in service.  Have you experienced this?

For want of an address a sale was lost!

In the late 1990s, a brochure from a garden centre was posted through my letter box.  It arrived at a very opportune time.  I decided to pay them a visit and buy some plants.  But, I had recently moved to the area and I didn’t have a clue where this particular garden centre was located.  I combed the brochure from start to finish and – nothing!  Undeterred, I went online to see if I could find a website – there wasn’t one (but that wasn’t uncommon at that time).  Because the garden centre wasn’t in the immediate area, they weren’t in my Yellow Pages either.  Needless to say that garden centre didn’t get my sale and I can’t  help but wonder how many other people were put off by their oversight.

What the law says

But aside from the inconvenience and the possible loss of business, companies failing to put their contact details on their website are breaching the legislation.  The law states a company must disclose its address on its website, other marketing materials and business communications.  Sole traders or partnerships must give a business address – a PO Box doesn’t count.

Limited companies must display their registration number, state where the company is registered and give the registered office address.  If you are VAT registered, then your VAT registration number should also be given.  Remember: this doesn’t just apply to your website – even your email signature should contain the same information.

Address it and gain!

Apart from the legal implications, companies which hide under a veil of anonymity are missing some very obvious marketing opportunities.

In today’s market there is an increasing desire to ‘keep it local’.  ‘Business miles’ are as important to some as ‘food miles’.  If your website visitor can’t tell if you are in Wick or Winchester, you could be missing out on valuable local sales.

Then of course there’s the matter of trust.  Are you going to spend your hard-earned cash with a company you know nothing about and can’t contact if things go wrong?  I wouldn’t and I don’t think I’m alone in that!

I know many home business owners are reluctant to display their address publicly.  If it does concern you, perhaps using a virtual office address is the solution.  The benefits of being open and visible can far outweigh the disadvantages of being a well-kept secret.

Blog post by Joy McCarthy