The Business Moment

To help spread the word, Mark took on the services of marketing professional and social media guru Manjeet Sidhu.

“Time-poor business owners and managers need access to fresh, interesting and informative content that they can dip in and out of while they’re on the move, which is why I make sure local business news, company profiles and paid for adverts featured in each issue are tweeted out daily and updated on LinkedIn,” explain Manjeet

She also gets a bird’s eye view of what local companies are up to by reviewing their posts, and is able to recommend new ideas at editorial meetings for the next issue.

“It’s great to see more and more people signing up to receive the content produced by the team, especially magazine competitors (everyone is welcome!) and established institutions like the local law society. It’s early days yet but there are lots of plans to increase the social media activity for the digital magazine, which is great for local businesses that want to stay connected.”

And there’s the other key factor. Staying connected. As all the team will tell you, it’s is not just a magazine, it’s a network – a hub for communication between businesses in the city – and through it they believe they can make a material difference to the way business is conducted.

“Being regional, we have the advantage of being able to get to know our community personally, and also help them get to know each other. So it becomes an even more useful tool,” says Tamsin.

“The idea of The Business Moment was partly to help businesspeople raise their profile. By creating a digital product we have made it very easy for businesses who are featured in the magazine to pass it on to whoever they wish – their clients, associates, workforce or whoever. That, really, is the key to its success. It gives companies something new and powerful – and free – that they can add to their marketing and PR arsenal,” Mark continues. He even believes the magazine can help Peterborough change its perception of itself.

“Peterborough is awash with local magazines, but often the material out there isn’t particularly strong. No surprise, then, if it doesn’t really work. All it does is reinforce a lot of the negative stereotypes that people have about local publishing and about Peterborough. But the stories are all out there, and if you use professional communicators and professional writers, then people can connect and engage through the material. But you need a bit of vision and quite a lot of stamina to make it happen

“The thing that I think is not often understood, is that good design and editorial cost no more than bad. We have great writers here, great photographers, great designers. It takes effort to find them, but I was never willing to accept that local publishing should be poor quality. Who wants that, given the choice? And there always is a choice,” adds Toby.

“Peterborough is poised at an interesting time. The next ten years or so are going to be so important in terms of how Peterborough evolves, and we need to raise people’s level of expectation. People deserve a better quality  of product. They deserve a better environment in which to live. I think editorial in magazines –whether virtual or in print – has a real role to play in that. I am local. I’m not an outside company looking to extract as much advertising revenue from Peterborough as I can. I was born in Peterborough, I love it, and I understand it. I also understand how sometimes it does itself no favours. Geographically, you could say we’re centre stage, in terms of where we’re positioned in the country. And yet we’re often content to hang around in the wings, with a bit part. Why do we tolerate that, when not only does Peterborough have a role to play on the national stage, but the international stage? And why create content that doesn’t reflect that thinking?” Marks explains.

So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, from all sectors of the business
community – and some way beyond.

“If you want hard facts, here are some figures to impress: Business Moment stories were re-tweeted to 55,604 people by our followers between 5 March and 5 April, 2013,” says Manjeet.

“Now, people are coming to us,. That’s what I take most heart from and pride in; that through this content, people are coming to us and showing real interest. That’s lovely. It shows there’s the appetite for what we’re doing, and that people trust us and know that if they talk to us they know we’ll do a good job with their story,” Mark expands.

Pride is vital to the Business Moment dynamic. But it’s not until an even more personal story emerges that I realise the extent to which it is a motivating factor. At first Mark seems unsure whether to share it at all. But, ultimately, it’s too important to hold back.

“In October 2011, my father passed away at Peterborough District Hospital. We arrived too late. When my mother and I left his hospital room a nurse approached me with a copy of The Moment and said that my dad had shown it to her before he died. And that is why I do what I do. He was tremendously proud of what I was doing and understood my reasons for doing it, both on a personal and professional level.”

Clearly, for all concerned, this is something more than just a magazine. So do they feel they
have they achieved what they set out to do?

“The vision has always been clear and I think we’re half way there. But I want to get to a point where people don’t tolerate crap content at local level. To say: ‘Come on, guys – we deserve better!’”

And the future?

“More of the same! We’re getting it out there, but it’s the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot more people we can be reaching. But our reputation will grow. It is growing. I can remember a lot of people, when we started out, saying ‘We’ve heard it all before…’ But now, people say to me: ‘How great to meet people who are passionate about it…’ To be honest, though, I don’t know any other way of doing it. Why would you do it if you weren’t passionate?”