SAScon is about to have its inaugural conference launch on 28th April at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

The aim is to bring talented and knowledgeable SEO and search marketing experts, from Europe and the US, in one place to deliver informative and practical advice to marketing, PR and fellow digital professionals.

It is an exciting opportunity, especially as it is in Manchester and will promote the city as a centre of digital talent.

I spoke to Simon Wharton of search marketing agency PushON, and a driving force in organising the event, on why this is a must attend and what attendees will get out of the day.

Simon Wharton explains more, click here to hear the interview. (Is that alliteration?)

Are you a business based in Manchester, an SME perhaps?

Are you considering PR, would it help your business?

Well if you want to raise your profile in the business community, with potential clients, then this might be of more than some interest.

NESTA, a body that promotes innovation in business, is providing £4,000 towards the costs of marketing and PR projects.

Recipients will invest £1,000, but as this is matched by a £4,000 grant it will mean that 80% of the cost of a project or campaign will be covered.

The scheme called Creative Credits is a pilot project and is being launched in Greater Manchester, with a possible view to rolling it out to other cities.

So if your company is based in Greater Manchester then why not register, it takes about 10 minutes to do so.  (You will need a company number and be VAT registered).

Click here to register for Creative Credits.

There are 75 grants available, which will be selected in October.  If your business is chosen – it is a lottery process – then you can select a supplier from the online gallery on the Creative Credits Internet site to provide the service you need, be it photography, design or PR.

Artisan will be providing PR and copy writing.  Integrated campaigns providing marketing and social media elements can be provided in conjunction with PR.

Please feel free to contact me, Rob, if you need further information.

Northwest Vision and Media is offering the opportunity to gain some valuable experience in marketing in the games industry.

The paid placements are available to North West graduates in marketing and digital disciplines.

The deadline for applications is Friday 24th July at midday, so if interested contact ianw@visionandmedia.co.uk for an application form.

It looks like a good opportunity to get some valuable experience and get a career going – so what are you waiting for (if indeed you are graduate starting out)?

I have been meaning to get down to Social Media Cafe Manchester for some time but events conspire against me.  Still I overcame the odds and made it.

I was not sure what to expect exactly.  It was probably an unusual initiation as it turned out.  I did not break off into any of the groups but just had a chat with some of the attendees, it proved to be an enjoyable and productive evening if you are going to put values on things.

I had the opportunity to speak to Manoj Ranaweera, who I have been aware of for some time (through the Internet and social media sites) but somehow never met – a few name drops showed we share many associates, contacts and friends.

Manoj talked me through his Edocr document sharing site or as he puts it a “kind of document You Tube.”  With traditional media under pressure Manoj’s concept is certainly a welcome tool for pushing out content.  I will be exploring and I am sure using shortly.

I also got to talk to another journalist / PR freelancer Carolyn Hughes.  Carolyn has an interesting mixture of work and is in part guided by doing projects that she has a personal interest in pursuing.  It is interesting (repetition of “interest ” but cannot think of an alternative) speaking to other freelancers.

A special note about Craig McGinty, who was present.  Craig is about to move to France – a sensible move as his main blog is “This French Life.”

I know Craig will be on Twitter, e-mail, blogging, Facebook, probably LinkedIn but I must say I will miss hearing his wisdom over a pint or as he says a “sherbet.”  Craig is really knowledgeable about social media and also generous and honest with his advice.  I can only hope some of his views have permeated my intellect such as it is over teh past couple of years.

A mention for Mario Cacciottolo and his Someone Once Told Me site, which features an interesting quotes and photography project.

Last but not least Matt from Orchard Suits and Richard Hudson from Vanilla Storm who gallantly helped me prop up the bar.

I think I will be going again, especially if I can get there for the pre-match meal as organised by Sarah Hartley, the former Manchester Evening News online editor.

My only question is, “Does this count as work?”

I have been promising that I would give my support, as humble as it is, to a few local sites.

Perhaps the most patient although not sure he minds is Aidan O’Rourke. I am sure I have mentioned Aidan before but it is still good to highlight his photographic work again.

Aidan concentrates, at the risk of being corrected, on city and landscapes – with Manchester being a focus of his attention.  (The above image is his city panorama that was displayed at Urbis).

Aidan archives his work for sale on his blog, a useful resource for agencies and anyone that needs a good image for business or pleasure.

I have a feeling in many years time his work will be hailed as a “moment in time captured forever” as NW local news media like that angle and I can’t see that changing, even in a hundred years.

The second is Salford Online, which is starting to register around 50,000 readers a month and pushing toward half a million page views.

The site is gaining in confidence as well as numbers but advertising rates are very reasonable so worth contacting the editor Brian for more information: editor@salfordonline.com

Last but not least (not avoiding a tired phrase) is Mark Simpson’s everything you wanted to know about tax but were afraid to ask blog.

Craig McGinty and I worked with Mark and SBN and I think Mark has a rare gift for making complex subjects interesting and clearer to understand.

Mark and his practice are based in Old Trafford, nearer to the cricket ground – they have standards.

They are of course other blogs and websites to mention – apologies to those that I need or should be plugging – but one entry at a time.

On Friday I was at the the Manchester Chapter of the NUJ’s meeting to fight the proposed job cuts.

It was a passionate and compelling event and one that certainly opened my eyes.

The received wisdom that many might have is that digital media is the main cause of print media’s demise and in turn the local media – it’s an unstoppable force.  Well the speakers eloquently expressed a different side to the debate.

One of the key messages and this is especially relevant to the Manchester Evening News and the Guardian Media Group is that the publishers are still making a profit.  And those profits were more than healthy when redundancies were made over the last two to three years, including at the MEN.

One fact that might surprise it that The Guardian is not the money maker at the GMG.  It was stated that The MEN and local papers actually propped up the flagship paper.  What is perhaps more galling for local journalists is that there are no substantial cuts at The Guardian, not that anyone wants any cuts anywhere.

It is the ridiculous effort to prop up unsustainable and ludicrous profit margins that is a prime driver behind the redundancies programme.

One speaker pointed out that Tesco expects to make a profit of 9.8p on every pound spent whereas some publishers expect nearer 40p.  Coupled with executive bonuses it is clearly an unsustainable policy.

The result is that if the proposed cuts are to go ahead then the quality of local media will be seriously compromised.

Newspapers are already relying on wires and press releases to a greater extent than ever before.  But the figure of 12% that was quoted as the percentage of news that is researched and sourced and written by the journalists themselves was shocking.

What is more journalists are already responsible for taking images, uploading stories onto the web and taking on the subs work.  Standards will inevitably diminish and quickly if the proposed cuts are made.

So what is the solution?

Whether news is conveyed in print or web is not the issue here.  The issue is the standard of local media and indeed its survival.

And it can survive and prosper.

Initially we all have to as a community make sure the publishers are aware of community feelings and that pressure can be brought to bare.  It is up to the community and if it is not interested in defending our local media then we deserve none.  But I think there is enough of us that do – many attending the meeting were not journalists but members of the public showing their support.

Writing to politicians and the papers themselves might be a start – express support and make sure the publishers know the depth of feeling.  To their credit there were politicians in the room including John Leech MP for Withington, so that is promising.

One solution could be that journalists take over local titles or set-up co-operative style managed media – an emphasis on quality and not weighted on profit.

Whatever the solution is, the current model of bleeding the local media to sustain unsustainable profits is certainly not the way forward.

After some PR lobbying (well not too much) from Nathan Smith of Smith and Smith PR I have added their agency to the list of candidates for Manchester’s most famous agency.

Smith and Smith have grown from 2 people when I first met them 18 months ago to 7 and still recruiting. Quite impressive and have amongst their clients Dragon’s Den James Caan and The Football Association’s League’s Hall of Fame.

Without wanting to replace anyone, my lists now go up to 11.

When I was looking for jobs you could hazard a guess many times who the company was if the recruitment company gave you the clues.

A big defence company in Lancashire would not be hard to guess if a recruitment company offered your a PR position: BAE Systems

I came across a PR exec job of Totaljobs that has me guessing.

It opens, “Manchester’s most famous PR agency is looking for an Account Executive to work on some of its prestigious public relations clients.”

Who is it?

If I had to narrow it to 10 I would choose the following (of course we could argue about famous in what circles and what locations etc):

Brazen
Communique
SKV
Citypress
Mason Williams
Connectpoint
Staniforth
Golley Slater (although they are nationwide)
Weber Shandwick (North)
Tangerine

It is a competitive list for that title. So who are they talking about?