Some more Workhouse Studios pics…

To see more images check out the Workhouse Studios website on this link… www.workhousestudios.co.uk

Check out the Workhouse Studios blog too…

Delighted with the progress of our Photography Studio and of our in-house photographer Andrew Woodhouse. The studio has been busy with roomsets…we had four kitchens/bathrooms up at the same time…and Andrew has been doing a raft of  studio and location photography. Busy, busy.

Workhouse has two websites, one for Workhouse Marketing and one for Workhouse Studios, and both have their own blog. I write the Workhouse Marketing blog and Andrew writes the Workhouse Studios blog. They’re both quite different…I waffle on in words, and Andrew likes to publish some of the images he’s taken recently .

If you want to have a look at some of the images that Andrew has been taking then switch to the studios blog on this link.. http://workhousestudios.wordpress.com/

Here’s one off the site…

Lancashire Silhouette by Andrew Woodhouse

If you’re doing case studies, do them on video.

In business there is little better than hearing your customers say how pleased they are with you. ‘Case studies’ is the usual terminology, and in b2b marketing especially they are a common tactic. However, showing a static picture, and a bit of text does not have the same impact as hearing it from the horses mouth.

A few months ago Business Link who have helped us with advice and consultancy, and been a client of ours in the past, asked me to be in a video case study for them. The filming was done at Workhouse Studios, our photography studio, and the clip was to be used on the Business Link website. It is now on You Tube, I’m not saying it is a Steven Spielberg classic, but for a quick, low budget 1 minute 20 seconds, it shows how effective a video clip can be.

Unfortunately, the greying, ageing, fat bloke in the video is not the person that resides in my head!

Mark.

The Workhouse Blog is proud to announce over 33% off the Ribchester Calendar Girls 2010 calendar!

Today is my half ‘blogday’ which means I have been doing the Workhouse blog now for 6 months. During that time I have written 85 blogs, this being my 86th. As a self confessed expert  I wondered why my wife handed me the latest copy of Nat West Business Sense pointing at an article entitled ‘How to Blog’ encouraging me to read it. I noticed she had circled a small paragraph which said ” ….don’t spout off any old spurious rubbish; think about what your readers want to hear….”  Hmmmm.

So I checked out  the most popular search on my blog to discover what my readers want to hear ( I’m getting up to 4 hits a day on my blog now….) and it’s…….Ribchester Calendar Girls! Which reminds me that on Friday we’re exactly a third of the way through the year, so in an attempt to sell the remaining 25 calendars in my possession I can legitimately offer ” Ribchester Calendar Girls 2010 Calendar, now ONE THIRD OFF!…..was £7.50 now only £5…..and when they’re gone, they’re gone…don’t miss out!…”. Just let me know if you want one. And if you’re interested, here’s the four brave ladies who have already had their month in the sun!!

Miss April

Miss March

Miss February

Miss January

The calendar was shot at Workhouse Studios in our photography studio, even though I say it myself, one of the best photographic studios in Lancashire, certainly the newest and most purpose built photography studio. Andrew Woodhouse our in-house photographer who shot the semi naked women (and never been the same since), has been doing some really nice portraits recently which you can see on our other website http://www.workhousestudios.co.uk/Staff-Portraits/menu-id-96.html

The 6m high corner infinity cove at Workhouse Studios

Another anniversary occurs later this year, it being the 25th anniversary of Live Aid 1985. It seems only minutes ago that they brought out the DVD to celebrate 20 years of Live Aid. July 13th 1985 was Live Aid day and I remember it well. As much as I’d have loved to have been there I was working as a Product Manager for Visionhire Ltd, the TV and video rental company, and we had a store opening in the middle of Sheffield. We had a giant balloon race, I dressed as Father Christmas (in July?!), the Mayor showed up and it was a boiling hot day. We had all the TV’s tuned in to Live Aid and the music full on, it was a good opening. A heavily pregnant Nita and I were living in the South and I dashed back from Sheffield in time for us to attend a dinner party at friends of ours in North London, and stayed up to watch the Philadelphia leg after Wembley had finished. I’ve always been fascinated by the event, and via eBay I have the souvenir programme of the day. I am still gobsmacked how Bob Geldof managed to organise such a big event in such a small time, without a mobile or a laptop!

Back to the present day, and my son Tom (who was in the heavily pregnant Nita and was born 12 days after Live Aid) has just completed the first full week of trading for The Whalley Wine Shop. He has a final bit of training on his new EPOS today and hopefully we will have good and accurate stats showing his sales performance every which way. I know he’s happy with the way the week has been but it will be nice to see that reflected in the figures. He has a double page spread in the next issue of LIVE RIBBLE VALLEY magazine, and that will have a positive effect on sales.

And what a joy it is to see the sun shining and the blossom on the trees….and if you’ve got this far, you may as well listen to Status Quo opening Live Aid in 1985!

Mark.

The ‘butterfly effect’. Open the pages of a book in Ribchester and…

The ‘butterfly effect’ is part of Edward Lorenz’s Chaos Theory. The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly’s wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado.

Now consider this…I took out a bank loan from RBS to build our photography studios, and three months later the banking system is on the verge of collapse and there is a worldwide recession. Last week I bought a new MacBook and this week shares in Apple reached an all time high. And spookily last Thursday I started reading Jules Vernes’ Journey to the Centre of the Earth, which is about a volcano in Iceland and……

Open the pages of a book in Ribchester and.......

Perhaps my last blog might bring constitutional changes to Political marketing!

A successful event at Workhouse Studios….and probably the best canapes in the world!

Last night, we held a networking event at Workhouse Studios, and I have to say it was thoroughly enjoyable, and by all anecdotal evidence, everyone who attended seemed to enjoy it too. The event was put on by a client of ours CXL, in conjunction with Live Ribble Valley magazine, primarily to promote the genuinely excellent leadership programme called LEAD to SME’s in the Ribble Valley.

At the end of the evening I was chatting with one of CXL’s Senior Mangers discussing why they felt it was one of their most successful events. I think a number of reasons. There’s the location, hosting an event in a working Photography Studio is a lot more exciting than in any bland Corporate Hotel. There’s the fact we offered to take free portrait photography of the delegates. There’s the fact it was hosted in the Ribble Valley, maybe identifying a need for greater networking opportunities in the Ribble Valley. And just maybe there was the right mix of people who hit it off!

‘Jones the Gob’ in action.

Networking at Workhouse Studios

Pam from CXL presenting the Lead programme

Shot last night and…..ooooooo! yummy!

Shot….and eaten last night!

The canapes were amazing!

The sensational canapes (probably the best canapes in the world!) were supplied, prepared and presented by the fabulous Freemasons Arms in Wiswell. Tedd Walmsley and his team from Live Ribble Valley Magazine, and Ben Briggs the talented young editor of the excellent Lancashire Business View were present, with everyone keen to raise their profiles by chatting to ‘the media’. A great mix of delegates were in good spirits possibly winding down for the Easter holidays. The presentation was also short and to the point so no boring ‘ long windedness’. All this added up to a good night, lots of business card swapping, and the feeling it was very worthwhile. A good feeling heading into the Easter break. Have a good one.

Mark.

Live Ribble Valley Magazine is hosting a free event at Workhouse Marketing

Live Ribble Valley is hosting a FREE introductory event for the LEAD programme, a hands on leadership course for senior business leaders and entrepreneurs.  LEAD courses are delivered by CXL. a social business based in Lancashire that offers a range of careers and employment services, including business improvement products. Come along to Workhouse Marketing and find out more about the programme and the funding available, whilst mixing with other Ribble Valley business people.

The event will be held in our purpose built photography studio. Attendees will enjoy locally produced canapes and a glass of wine, whilst having a professional studio-shot portrait taken free of charge!.

Date – Wednesday 31st March

Time – 6pm till 7.30pm

Venue – Workhouse Marketing, Blackburn Road, Ribchester, PR3 3ZQ.

To register for the event please contact Kath Clarke at Live Ribble Valley Magazine

kath.clarke@live-magazines.co.uk or ring 01200 442830

Workhouse Photographic Studio where the event will take place.

White van man, a set of cream covers and Lancashire’s finest national brands

Most of the Workhouse team ( Grez and Rachel were on hols, Liz wasn't in, Woody was behind the camera, and Jamie's on a ski-ing sabbatical!

A full house today at Workhouse Marketing. Every member of staff was in (no hols, no sick,), everybody full-on busy, Grahams brother Ste was in to help out in the studio too, the photography studio was busy all day… good stuff, very pleasing. All well and good but I needed some hard copy visuals dropping off at a clients in Preston, normally there’d be somebody out and about and willing to drop them off for you, but not today (you know, everybody busy….good stuff, very pleasing etc…) so it gave me the opportunity to drive the van round at high speed, wolf whistling and shouting ‘ello darling’ at all the girls….(no that last bit is a fib).

It was great to be dropping stuff off at Plumbs in Preston. We did a fair bit for Plumbs a while ago, and I’m delighted to be back doing some more for them now. Plumbs is a really successful national brand, and it’s based in Lancashire. The company is 50 years old this year and going strong. Plumbs make loose covers for your furniture, such a simple idea, yet so effective. It makes so much sense, if you have  a sofa that’s really comfortable but is just wearing out or you don’t like the pattern anymore, then the simple, easy, and cheap, option is to buy a new set of loose covers in a style you like. The service is great, the Plumbs rep just comes to your house and does it all for you. We had a really patterned three piece suite which we grew to hate  (why did we buy it in the first place?!), so through Plumbs we got some really nice cream covers which transformed our sitting room….(good stuff…very pleasing…)

Plumbs also do re-upholstery...I love the red and white chair...

We’re currently doing work for some of  Lancashire’s finest national brands. I’m proud to say we work for Crown Paints, Daniel Thwaites, Graham and Brown, The Holiday Cottages Group, as well as Plumbs, and of course the ‘Lancashire’ brand itself through our work with the Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board. We also work with some fabulous regional brands and some great brands outside of Lancashire too … (good stuff…very very pleasing!)

Mark Jones, MD, Workhouse Marketing.

PS.  Forget all that nice stuff I said about Dave yesterday, this morning I discovered he was a Man U fan!

A full house, lots of positive energy, and a sweet tweet…

It’s been a good couple of days in the business. After all the snow, it felt like the ‘official’ first day back after the school hols. A lot of positive energy, very busy with lots of comings and goings. It was nice to see Ben Briggs, Editor of Lancashire Business View, in the house –  great to see young talent from Ribchester doing so well. Also good to see the team from Creative Lancashire having portraits done in our photography studio. You can see what they had to say about their experience on our facebook page….

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Preston-United-Kingdom/Workhouse/70736054974?ref=mf

Also good to see Simon, our bank manager in, he’s pleased with our progress, and what’s more he’s going to support our son Tom in his new venture – Tom’s hoping to take on the lease of the Threshers store he was managing before they went into administration- and open a new wine store in Whalley. Hopefully we will see some more young talent from Ribchester doing well. Tom’s just 24.

A full house today too, with all 19 of us in (all bar Jamie who’s on a six month ski-ing sabbatical!) and Amy and Grez’s brother Ste in helping us out. Great to see us flat out so early in the year, I think we’ll soon be recruiting again. Two pitches on next week and a number of clients, who went a bit quiet in 2009, contacting us looking to make things happen in 2010. So much good stuff going on.

Good news too, a lot of clients are reporting good business, Stax Trade Centres have reported an excellent last quarter, John at Instanta says in his blog that sales for the last four months are significantly up, and a quick chat with David at Rightway said his Christmas trading was good too. A wholesaler, a manufacturer and a retailer all doing well. Good news for the recovery.

And to cap it all we received a sweet tweet from our client Food Hero Tours…

http://twitter.com/foodherotours/status/7756044057

Four room sets? Can we build it? Yes we can!

It’s been really buzzing at Workhouse Studios this week. We opened our photography studio just a year ago with the boast that we  can build 5 room sets at any one time. Well, this week, I think we’ve exceeded our boast, as the set builders have been in and built four double room sets in just one day! (At a push we could claim that’s 8 room sets!)  I have to say they were professional, quick and applied their trade really well.

They take a big empty space, work with the photographer to understand the angles of the shots, build the wooden frames, build plasterboard walls, plaster the walls ready for wallcovering. Then come the stylists and prop the shots to get the required feel, and within a few days we’ve created exactly the pictures that photographer and client set out to achieve. Here’s some shots of the set being built yesterday.

up go the frames

overhead view

frames for walls

walls being plastered

photographer surveying the sets