On Thursday I went to a business breakfast which was attended by Nick Harvey, MP for North Devon and Liberal Democrat spokesman for Defence.

Networking can be a funny old game, but this breakfast was a good reminder of the practical advantages of making connections through meeting people. It’s not every day that you get the chance to ask questions of and discuss issues with your MP. There’s no guarantee that what you say will change the world, but you never know what ideas you could spark off and spread to Westminster and beyond.

Meeting people and discussing issues with them are healthy for individuals, business and democracy. Perhaps in some small way we are capable of influencing the wider world for the better?

Robert Zarywacz

Ever thought of writing an article? Everybody seems to be doing it. Only, not all articles are worth reading.

Even I don’t get as much time as I would like to blog on here, because I’m usually writing or editing articles or material for clients.

However, articles can be very useful for promoting your business or demonstrating your industry knowledge or expertise.

On our www.editorialresources.co.uk site we’ve just published a new free prompt on ‘how to write a business article’. It won’t write the article for you, but aims to give you pointers with regard to structure, style and content.

If you want or need to write an article and don’t know where to start, we hope this will help you.

Robert Zarywacz

At a business breakfast this morning, I chatted with a client about the effectiveness of marketing.

We agreed that most of the direct mail we received went straight in the recycling bin, most emails were deleted and that we ignored most TV commercials.

It didn’t sound very good for marketing, then. But, although many businesses waste thousands of pounds on ineffective marketing, marketing can achieve results, when both client and marketing supplier work hard.

It’s not about producing glossy mailers or flashy web sites, but about identifying a specific target audience, tailoring the message to their requirements and creating material that captures their attention and persuades them to take action: making contact with you or buying your product.

It’s not always easy, but it is achievable.

So marketing does work when you take it seriously.

Robert Zarywacz