The Good Life – The Pig Co-operative of St Boswells

Another reason that I love living here is not just the wonderful rural countryside!  But also the sense of community there is in St Boswells.

Community is important to all of us and we all have different things that we want from a community so one size does not fit all.  But what is important is that you feel part of the place that you live in, feel that you contribute to it, that now and again it challenges you and that you have people there who would be there for you if you needed them.

I’ve never felt part of a community as much as I do in the one in St Boswells!  I did in part feel that I was part of the community of Morningside though now I reflect upon it I only actually knew my neighbour in the flat beside us and it was really the fact that we were part of the local church that gave us the sense of community there!  And although I think a church is an important part of a community I also believe if you just surround yourself with church you don’t get to meet others in your local community who might challenge you, who share the same interests as you and who are also important members of the local community.

So I like the fact that in St Boswells my kids do take part in Church activities but they also take part in football, golf and tennis all very active clubs in St Boswells.

My husband and I also take part in local activities.   My husband is a member of the drama in St Boswells and the annual play in March is a highlight of the year.  And I love being a member of my book club which takes place in Mainstreet Trading once a month.  One of my great interests in life is books so I was delighted when the bookshop opened in St Boswells a couple of years ago.  I was even more pleased when an evening book club was set up and this has not only given me a new circle of friends but also challenged not just my reading but also my views on life as you see how other people view a book!

Nothing though has challenged me more though than our pig co-operative!  I have always loved the Good Life as a TV programme it used to be the highlight of my thursday evenings when I was younger!  Did I ever think that I would do a Tom and Barbara?  Well no not when I was younger.  Do I now?  Well untill the pig co-operative came around no.  Today though if we had the resource and had the land would we go for the Good Life?  Probably yes.

I must admit when the idea of raising pigs was brought to me fait accompli last year after my husband had attended the drama coffee morning.  I was not amused and thought more work for me!  I am so glad though that my husband won me round and we didn’t lose the opportunity to be involved as it was such a great experience for us as a family working with other families in the village.  And showing the kids from first hand experience where their meat comes from.  I am prone to exaggeration but I am not exaggerating when I say it was the best gammon that I have ever tasted. As I tasted it to celebrate firstly my sister in-law passing her GP exams and then at New Year it felt that the project had come to an end in a very good way!  By celebrating the lives of two pigs who has been raised and reared locally with lots of love and care.

So this year I wasn’t the reluctant one in the experiment but desperate that we would be able to do it all again!  Sourcing pigs this year wasn’t as easy but finally after a long search we did.  They arrived last night two Tamworth girls!  So on Saturday my daughter and I joined the other families as the small field we use and got it ready for the arrival of this years pigs!  I watched my daughter as she played with her friends.  Talked to the cows and chickens, played in the stream and helped get the pigs home perfect for their imminent arrival.

I don’t know what the future holds for my daughther or for that matter my son.  They may do the opposite of me city girl who always wanted to live in the country and go and live in the big city!  But I hope the pig experiment will always remain with them.  The sense of looking and caring for animals, being part of a team, enjoying the rural area and tasting some of the best meat you will ever eat!

I hope you like the picture of this year’s Tamworth pigs!  Here they are giving each other a head butt otherwise known as a Glasgow kiss!  See you can take the girl out of Glasgow but you can’t take Glasgow out of the girl!

Holidays don’t just create memories they also can be life changing!

This weekend I remembered again why I love the Scottish Borders and living here and it wasn’t just because the sun finally made an appearance!  Although I started  working in the Scottish Borders in 1998 as Marketing Manager of the Scottish Borders Tourist.  It wasn’t untill Hogmanay 2000 that the real love affair began!  And it began in that cottage in the above photo!

My husband and I stayed here with my brother and sister – in law for a week over the millennium.  Not only was it probably one of the best New Year’s I have ever spent but it was literally to change our lives!

Up untill then I had always lived in the city firstly Glasgow and then Edinburgh and one of the first things that had attracted me to my husband was that we both shared a passion for rural areas!  It had always been my dream as a child to love in the country and I would count down the days to our many holidays to various places on the West Coast!  Where I could play make-believe that I really lived there!

Despite this dream of living in a rural area after we graduated my husband and I spent the first years of married life setting up our individual careers.  We lived in a top floor flat in Morningside in Edinburgh and although it was not the country I loved the buzz and feel of that part of Edinburgh and was quite content!  But then we moved up the housing ladder to Craiglockhart and suburbia and I felt swamped and surrounded!  This coincided with my new job in Selkirk!  And on my daily commute I couldn’t help but wonder why I was heading back to suburbia!

So in the week we spent in our self-catering cottage at Merton we spent a lot of time discussing what we wanted from life in the future and where that future should be!  There is nothing like a New Year and particularly a new millennium to make you take stock.

And we decided that we wanted not only to live in the Scottish Borders but in St Boswells in particular.  5 months later we had the keys to our home and our life in the Scottish Borders really began.

We pass by that self-catering cottage at Merton Bridge on a regular basis as we walk along the Tweed particularly on sunday walks!  And it always makes me smile!  Some holidays don’t just create memories they are truly life changing!

Don’t just set up and stand back and wait! #BBCcapprentice

I have not been impressed with this years Apprentice! Though this has not stopped me watching it even though I have done so sometimes half way through, fingers over eyes and at stages muted the TV.

Last year I wrote about the Apprentice after each episode but this year I have struggled to write more than a couple of posts. I did however know that I should write about the marketing task. However as I sat watching the episode last night I did feel other than ranting about their general stupidty and failure to address the task what could I say?

Sleep though is great for the grey old cells and when I woke up this morning I knew exactly what I wanted to say on the 2012 BBC Apprentice marketing task. So here are my thoughts.

Now that I have thought about it. The BBC Apprentice teams were no different from many businesses that I have met over the years. The set it up and sit back brigade who think that marketing is all about setting up systems and then watch the customers flood through the door. So in the days when advertising was key the sit back brigade would put an advert in the paper and wait for customers. Or if they were in the tourism industry they would join the tourist board and yes wait for customers. Today the sit back brigade like the Apprentice candidates create a website and sit back and wait for customers. Or learn you need a Facebook and Twitter presence and set it up and yes what do they do? Yes sit back and wait for customers.

As the Apprentice showed last night it simply doesn’t work. The task was quite simple to sell English sparkling wine to a NEW AUDIENCE! And it was suggested that they did so by setting up a website, creating a video and using social media. So what did the candidates do? They set up a website, created a video and added social media logos to their website. In other words they set up and stood back and assumed by doing to they would sell sparking wine! Wrong!

Marketing can be made to sound technical and some creative dark art! It’s not its simply communication something we humans have always done! It’s no different really from communicating on a daily basis. We have a voice and can use it but unless we do and do so on a regular basis nobody knows what we are thinking or feeling. And in any relationship you need to listen, communicate and take time to build a relationship with people! Marketing is no different it’s about communicating with your customers! And it’s a two-way relationship.

Rudyard Kipling’s 5 questions are a great tool to use when starting out on a marketing campaign. You want to ask:

• Who you are marketing to?
• Where will your customers come from?
• What the customers wants from your product and also what the competition are doing
• Why should the customer buy from you?
• How are you going to communicate with your customers?

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The BBC Apprentice candidates did not address the first four points they only looked at the how and that is why they didn’t fulfill the brief as it was to look for new customers and neither team did so. They also failed on the how too. As I have said it is not about just setting up and standing back it is also about communication. So they set up a website the next question to ask is how are you going to get customers to that site and how are you going to get them coming back on a regular basis? You have set up a video (will not comment on how dreadful they were they spoke for themselves or as Lord Sugar said “truly awful”). How are you going to use that video to get to your customers and how? Are you going to use U tube, add comments to relevant internet and blog sites. You set up social media symbols on your website. But how are you going to draw traffic to your website using social media and also use social media as a great communication tool to create awareness of your sparkling wine!

It’s a shame they didn’t grasp the social media element of this task! I would have loved to have shown them that on Twitter they could have followed customers of rival products, wine clubs, wedding organisers and venues, up market Hotels. The list is endless. You don’t then sit back though! You communicate show the quality of your product and your expertise! That way you create awareness of your product to new customers and I can tell you it will bring you business.

But not if you set up and stand back and wait for customers to flood through the door! Communication is what marketing is about! So don’t set up and stand back be pro active and communicate!

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When the going gets tough……

You don’t need me to tell you about tough trading conditions in the market place and the fact that consumer confidence is still incredibly fragile. And if we listen to the doom and gloom merchants in the media then we might as well all shut up shop now ! However we must look on the BRIGHT side and take action to grow our businesses both now and for the future. I firmly believe that those companies who really focus on their customers and plan ahead properly will not only survive these tough times but become much stronger and be better positioned in the coming years.

This is easier said than done we hear you say but I firmly believe the answer to success lies in planning ahead strategically. To keep existing customers and attract new ones you need to think like a customer and this has never been more important than at the present time. Customers are thinking twice before parting with their hard-earned cash and it is vital that companies really deliver to them at every step of the way.

From the products and services you offer to customer care to how you communicate with customers, you need to exceed their expectations. It is always a difficult balancing act running the day-to-day operations of a business, looking after staff and taking care of the finances too and very often marketing is something that is not properly planned for. You know that marketing is something you should be doing but perhaps these are decisions which are taken on the hoof, an advert in the paper here and a special one-off promotion there. But are you getting noticed and realising your true potential ?

My company is Bright Light Marketing which is based in Selkirk and I work with two other colleagues.  We are marketing specialists who take an altogether more scientific approach to marketing businesses. If you think that Marketing is all flash and no substance then think again !

By working closely with companies, Bright Light Marketing produce customer focused Marketing Strategies which giver them a clear direction to achieve maximum growth and profit. We have succeeded in helping numerous companies to buck the trend and grow their business even during recession. We do this by really getting to know our clients business and through developing a very strong understanding of their particular markets.

We have a proven track in providing creative and effective marketing with measurable results. This means we do like to challenge perceptions within companies and offer intelligent and practical solutions that work in the real world.

I know that it is very difficult to predict what the future will bring and I do not have a crystal ball, however it is possible to identify who your key customers are with clear objectives on how to get more of them. It is also possible to look at key trends and market intelligence which are likely to shape consumer behaviour in the year ahead and most importantly act on this intelligence. The most important thing to do is to communicate with your customers because if you aren’t your competitors will be. This doesn’t have to expensive, e-newsletters, social media and regularly updating your website are cost-effective and efficient ways of communicating with your customers.

The going is tough just now but it will be even tougher if you don’t market your business and have a plan how you are going to build it for the future.  Marketing is about telling story so make sure you tell yours.

Will the pigs = summer?

I am borrowing this title from a good friend of mine who said this on my Facebook page last night when I posted that at long last the search was over and we had finally sourced two pigs for our St Boswells co – operative.

I do hope my friend is right as not only do pigs love the sun I do too!  The pessimist in me is wondering if yet again we are in for another wet summer with no heat!  But the optimist in me which usually wins through hopes that this lack of heat in spring means that we are going to be rewarded with the sun in the next few months!

What ever the weather though it is great news that we have finally sourced our pigs for 2012!  Last year by this time we had been keeping them for three months and enjoying the caring for them with friends.  This year we started the conversation about sourcing pigs earlier but although we were better organised this year we had difficulty finding pigs to buy!

So my husband was delighted when my father in law finally noticed some pigs for sale in Haddington last weekend and yesterday the deal was done.  And the 2012 St Boswells co -operative is up and running!  We look after the pigs with two other families.  There are many benefits to doing so it shows the kids involved that it’s a team effort and more importantly it shows the kids where their meat comes from.  And the importance of looking after and caring for animals!  Plus the end result was the best gammon that I have ever tasted!

So I do hope my friend is right and that along with the arrival of the pigs summer is just around the corner!  But what ever the weather I look forward to pig rearing 2012 and the challenges and lessons that it will bring!  Lets hope though these pigs don’t try a Great Escape.- http://fionadranesblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/escaping-pigs/

It’s good to talk

Many people will have already ditched their New Year resolutions way back in January while others are bravely carrying them on. But what about your work resolutions? How have you done with them? And have you communicated with your customers in 2012? If not why not? We offer up three common excuses.

1. You don’t think that they would want to hear from you. Maybe you sent them a Christmas card in December and feel that they wouldn’t want to hear from you so soon. Or maybe you feel that nobody is buying just now so why bother. Or maybe you feel that there is no point. You have listened to the news with all its doom and gloom about the economy and you think that you will just hibernate and batten down the hatches.

2. Marketing is expensive. Many businesses and people see marketing not as a valuable tool that brings them business but simply lots of money. And in the current economy you are looking at all costs and don’t want to spend any additional money.

3. Time Factors. You are busy running your own business and you just don’t have the time to market and communicate with your customers. People know about you anyway and there are more important things to do.

I have often heard these arguments but we would argue that successful businesses are ones that take time to speak to their customers and regularly communicate with them. I know you expect me to put up a good argument for marketing as yes that is what I do for a living. But I firmly believe in what I do and I know that marketing can make a significant increase to a businesses profits and the first step is to communicate with your existing customers. Put in very simple terms if you don’t communicate with your family or friends do you have a better or worse relationship? If we are honest our best personal relationships are with people that we communicate with. Its exactly the same in business.

So taking the three points in turn.

1. Your customers do want to hear from you. And I can assure you that your competitors are not sitting back doing nothing. They are communicating with their customers and maybe even with your customers. To take an example from a big retailer Amazon. Many of us spent money with them at Christmas so do they stop sending out emails to remind you that your favourite author has a new book out? No they don’t because they know that this works just as well in May and June as it does in December. We are in lean times particularly for retail but it will be even more lean if you don’t communicate with your customers which is why retailers that I work with have been sending out e-newsletters with updates on their sale and communicating via social media. For tourism businesses this is the ideal time to communicate as one of the most important topics of conversation just now are holidays. But if you don’t communicate why should your customers visit your business and buy from you?

2. Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. We believe that this is a myth. For example one of our hotel clients gets £10 back of bookings for every £1 they spend on marketing. Yes if you spend marketing in a haphazard way with an advert here and there, it can be expensive. Advertising is expensive and you need to consider carefully before placing an advert, direct mail can be expensive and Press and PR can be expensive and all need to be targeted and you need to know why you are doing them. I have worked in marketing for over 20 years and firmly believe that it is more cost effective and targeted to market in 20112 than it was when I started my marketing careers. Take a business setting up in 1991. It would need to advertise, spend money on Press and PR, try some direct mail and door drops all of which would cost a lot of money. Today a business setting up can raise a lot of awareness by setting up a website and drawing traffic to this via Social Media sites and also setting out at the outset to collect email addresses of customers and keep in touch with regular e-newsletters. This approach should be done by all businesses not just those setting out and we can assure you if you do this often you will get business. But you need to do so often and on a consistent basis.
3. You need to make time. No business can survive without customers and communicating with them. That includes my business Bright Light Marketing and we make sure that each week we work on marketing our own business. As we know that if we don’t we won’t survive. And yes sometimes we feel we don’t have time but we have to make the time as its crucial to the on – going future of Bright Light Marketing. Simply put you can never assume that people know about you. Why should they know about you if you don’t give them a reason to? The competition for people’s cash has never been so fierce and any business that is not communicating is going to suffer. Time is precious but so is your business. Most of us put our heart and souls into our business so don’t ruin it by feeling that you don’t have the time to communicate with your customers.

So we are at the 8th of May and I ask you again have you communicated with your customers in 2012? If you have well done, do it often and keep on doing so. If you haven’t take time, sit down and think how you are going to do so. The year is still young but if you leave it much longer your customers might forget all about you and you don’t want that to happen do you?

Year of the Throat Ulcer

Reflecting that most of my posts recently have been marketing/business posts.  So thought it was about time I wrote a personal post as it’s been a long time since I have done so.

2012 for me is summed up in these words “year of the throat ulcer”.  January was a tough month for a number of reasons and I suspect was the reason that I was slightly run down when February arrived!  After a great weekend in Yorkshire for half term with family  my daughter got a bad cold and not long after my throat started to hurt!  I assumed I had caught my daughter’s cold.  But no it was the first of many throat ulcers.

Mouth ulcers are painful but I have discovered they have nothing on the throat ulcer!  The pain is throbbing like a constant drill which then affects your ear.  The pain never leaves you.  It’s with you  24/7.  The only way to get through is pain relief and hope for sympathy from family and friends which I was lucky to have!

My first throat ulcer lasted two weeks and was followed by weeks of mouth ulcers which finally disappeared just before my birthday!  This was then followed by a week’s respite when I thought I was finally getting better before the throat ulcer returned with re – newed vigour just before the Easter holidays!  This time it decided to stay not just for the two-week break but for an additional week just for added fun!

My second throat ulcer has finally gone.  As with the first it left behind some mouth ulcers!  Less painful though this time.  I am now though ulcer free again and feeling much better with more energy back again.  But must admit given what happened last time and what I have been told by the Doctor I am very aware they could be back.

As yes I have been to the Doctors in the past few weeks and have been tested for lots of things.  Delighted to say that all tests were negative.  Apart from the fact that my blood count is very low and it all points to a virus.

My Doctor is a very helpful person who is happy to spend time giving you advice and what you really want from your GP when you’ve not been sleeping and are in constant pain sympathy!  What I really appreciated though was he advised me to look at herbal remedies too!  So I’ve taken Echinacea and honey and eating even more fresh fruit and vegetables than usual!  And he made me realise that taking time out is not a sign of weakness.  It’s what you need to do when your body is fighting a virus!  So thanks to him.

Thanks too to all my family and friends who must have been bored rigid with my moans! Special thanks to my mum and dad who were always at the end of the phone to make me smile!  To my walking friends. To my colleagues who held the fort.   But most of all to my husband!  We have been married nearly 20 years this June.  And what he has taught me this year is it’s not the extravagant gestures that count as nice as they are.  It’s the little things!  Over the last few weeks he has done the school run, let me take time out.  And bought Manakua honey home, rushed out to buy Echinacea tea and pills and kept me supplied with throat sweets even when I hadn’t asked for them. A rock.

So hoping that this is the end of the virus and as we move into warmer weather.  The throat ulcers will be gone for good.  But it has taught me lots of things as every challenge does.  And it does give me great respect for people who have far worse medical conditions than a virus and for far longer.  Such as Sarah Heney who suffers from lupus and on a daily basis I read her Facebook page and have such admiration and respect for her.  She is currently raising awareness for Lupus as May is Lupus awareness month!

So I dedicate this blog to Sarah.  She faces challenges on a daily basis but is an inspiration on how to always look on the bright side of life!