Merry Muddler Christmas
Its been a while since I've written one of these... Henry will claim it's because I've been out at too many Christmas parties, there is an element of truth in that (market research?) but I've also spent a lot of time buried in the numbers. It is the grubby side of the business, but getting them right and everything lined up for 2008 will allow us to really build on the good initial reaction that Muddler got in 2007.
Henry and I have spent 2007 doing a raft of different things to our 'old world' jobs and its fair to say that we've loved almost every minute of it. There have been highs and lows, but most things are fun and when you look back at commuting and the trials of office politics you know that Muddler is right for us personally.
One thing we never thought we would be doing is PR, and then concluding that it isn't actually too difficult (apologies to our mates in PR).
We thought we would struggle for column inches all over the place and never thought we would make the national press. In reality we've hoovered up the column inches in 2007 and hit several national publications (including a daily). Like most things we've decided to take this part of our business on ourselves and invest time in it. Like most of the things we've done we've tapped up our mates initially (thanks in particular to Gav) and carefully thought about how we were going to do it and what we wanted to convey (Henry loves some deep thinking). Then we have just done it and been overwhelmed by the success. The reality is that people like the simple message and think this truely is something great and interesting to report on.
I'd heard that we recently got more column inches in Morning Advertiser (the leading pub trade magazine). When I took a look around their website I was pleased to see that we had press a couple of months ago and interestingly it was a taste test. Even better news was that we scored 16 out of 20 in their independent tests:
http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=51020
by my very rough and ready analysis this positioned us 2nd out of 11 in taste trials that they had performed.... a fine result and confirming that there is demand for our product.
Furthermore, without contacting the Morning Advertiser for several months we have stayed at the forefront of their minds and we are down as a product to watch out for in 2008:
http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=54937
A great feat when you consider we are the only independent company mentioned in a review of 2007 and predictions for 2008.
So we are leaving 2007 on a high and looking forward to 2008 even more. Henry and I wish all our customers, suppliers, friends and blog readers a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR.
The success of the blog has surprised us (and Henry didn't know what one was when we started) and it has served as a great therapeutic tool for us. It has also been in demand, when I do see people they often moan that it has been a few days since the last post. I'm also surprised by the diversity of the readership, we know that the following people regularly read the blog:
- Friends
- Family (yep even my Mum uses it to find out what we've been up to)
- Work colleagues from our 'old' jobs
- Our suppliers (hello to the fruit people in particular)
- People associated with a large international drinks company (who own an F1 team)
- People who think they are our rivals
- Customers
- People who have read about us in the press.
Anyway, I'd better go... I have Christmas presents to wrap. My family should be assured that you are not getting a case of Muddlers (again) or even one of those XXL Muddler polo shirts I have spent most of the year trying to get rid of.
MERRY MUDDLER CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL.
Henry and I have spent 2007 doing a raft of different things to our 'old world' jobs and its fair to say that we've loved almost every minute of it. There have been highs and lows, but most things are fun and when you look back at commuting and the trials of office politics you know that Muddler is right for us personally.
One thing we never thought we would be doing is PR, and then concluding that it isn't actually too difficult (apologies to our mates in PR).
We thought we would struggle for column inches all over the place and never thought we would make the national press. In reality we've hoovered up the column inches in 2007 and hit several national publications (including a daily). Like most things we've decided to take this part of our business on ourselves and invest time in it. Like most of the things we've done we've tapped up our mates initially (thanks in particular to Gav) and carefully thought about how we were going to do it and what we wanted to convey (Henry loves some deep thinking). Then we have just done it and been overwhelmed by the success. The reality is that people like the simple message and think this truely is something great and interesting to report on.
I'd heard that we recently got more column inches in Morning Advertiser (the leading pub trade magazine). When I took a look around their website I was pleased to see that we had press a couple of months ago and interestingly it was a taste test. Even better news was that we scored 16 out of 20 in their independent tests:
http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=51020
by my very rough and ready analysis this positioned us 2nd out of 11 in taste trials that they had performed.... a fine result and confirming that there is demand for our product.
Furthermore, without contacting the Morning Advertiser for several months we have stayed at the forefront of their minds and we are down as a product to watch out for in 2008:
http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=54937
A great feat when you consider we are the only independent company mentioned in a review of 2007 and predictions for 2008.
So we are leaving 2007 on a high and looking forward to 2008 even more. Henry and I wish all our customers, suppliers, friends and blog readers a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR.
The success of the blog has surprised us (and Henry didn't know what one was when we started) and it has served as a great therapeutic tool for us. It has also been in demand, when I do see people they often moan that it has been a few days since the last post. I'm also surprised by the diversity of the readership, we know that the following people regularly read the blog:
- Friends
- Family (yep even my Mum uses it to find out what we've been up to)
- Work colleagues from our 'old' jobs
- Our suppliers (hello to the fruit people in particular)
- People associated with a large international drinks company (who own an F1 team)
- People who think they are our rivals
- Customers
- People who have read about us in the press.
Anyway, I'd better go... I have Christmas presents to wrap. My family should be assured that you are not getting a case of Muddlers (again) or even one of those XXL Muddler polo shirts I have spent most of the year trying to get rid of.
MERRY MUDDLER CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL.