Category — Service promotion

Welcome to my revised website.   To mark its new look, I plan to restart the practice of posting something interesting here every other day.

The posts will be short: thoughts about what makes good English, for example, and what’s the best way of using it to help someone who wants to achieve things out there in the marketplace. I hope you’ll find them useful.

If you do, why not contact me?  Let me suggest how I could help make your business or your campaign a success by finding the right words for you and your business.  Make the words work for you.

Whatever one thinks of the arguments for and against UK deficit reduction, Star Chamber decisions and public service cuts, two things are certain.  First, the cuts are getting closer, in the form of announcements this coming month, anguished discussions and decisions after that and then some tough implementation.

What’s going on?

Second, it is at that point that many people – particularly those who say that they’re not interested in politics – will be surprised and shocked at familiar services and public provision disappearing.  Many will claim that they have not been properly informed or consulted (and many of them will be right).  It would be a good idea if councils carried out pre-emptive actions now, before it’s too late.

Make it a programme and get people involved

Start setting up a programme, calling on existing resources to begin with, but phasing in outsourced talent as required. Get councillor buy-in for a concerted effort to set out, in good, plain English and accessible form, online and in print, what services are being downsized, and why, and how people will be affected.

Use the council’s websites to pump out the information in some detail, and recycle the headline stuff, with graphics, for council leaflets and flyers.  Include local radio, and build in special arrangements for keeping the council’s own staff, informed, engaged and on board.   Use the opportunity to slip in some reinforcement of the council’s other messages.

Help is available

And that’s not all! (but I must stop there and ask people to phone me if they would like me to help in any way, like drafting a proposal paper for your leadership: 01908 522348).  Looking forward to hearing from you!