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By Little Mummy, July 29, 2009 4:19 am

Every five to six weeks Alex gets a long weekend, it usually comes at the end of a seven day run and is often followed by a six or seven day run afterward, so we like to make the most of it

Friday

We headed to IKEA, we started furnishing our livingroom last year when we bought our (first ever) brand new suite, a fancy schmancy corner one with pouffe and matching rocking, swivelling, recliner and we were supposed to get some nice new furniture and a few pictures or canvasses but we kinda got sidetracked into booking (and paying for) our holiday to Disneyworld, so the livingroom refurnish never quite happened. So as I was saying on Friday we finally decided to get ourselves organised and get this livingroom looking respectable. As we walked the half mile from the car park to the entrance (why is IKEA always so rammed?) it dawned on me that for the first time Erin was old enough for the creche. I gave her the choice of coming with us or going to have fun in the ball pool, playing with the other kids and watching cartoons. Of course she chose to go an play, I think Alex would have chosen to go to given the option, IKEA isn’t his favourite place.

We chose, collected, paid and paid again for delivery (£35 which I thought was a bit of a rip off), at least the creche only cost £1 and she even came out with a handprint picture, so well impressed with that.

Friday night we had my sister in law and her fiance round for dinner, I made some curry and used Englishmum’s brownie recipe again, this time I assembled a sundae – crumbly brownie at the bottom, ice cream then a few chewier bits, more ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and a few fudge pieces on top, sorry no pictures they were gone too quick!

After dinner we had a small stakes game of poker which I won, it’s been a while

Saturday

We took Erin to the Dean and Modern Art Galleries, we’ve been before but she was a baby. The galleries are a great place to visit if you’re in Edinburgh, they house some great pieces and entry is free. Erin’s favourite was Damien Hirst’s Away From the Flock which is the famous frozen sheep in formaldehyde, and I’d agree with her that his stuff was definitely the most interesting, if a touch morbid, and I’m mostly thinking of the picture with him and a severed head here urgh.

It was my night to myself so I headed for the casino, my usual night off haunt, and before anyone gets on their high horse I don’t smoke and I don’t drink (unless I’m with the Disney 7) so gambling is my thing, well mostly tournament poker really. I started playing a couple of years ago and have been hooked ever since. I do partake in the odd game of roulette and three card poker though, if funds allow. Unfortunately I didn’t win, but I didn’t lose all my budget either so a so-so night.

Sunday

Erin went to my sister-in-laws and we were supposed to be going to the driving range but the weather was typically Scottish so we headed for the casino, again, I got to the final table but didn’t cash. We grabbed a pizza and went home to watch Yes Man which I won’t say too much about as I’ll do a review soon.

Monday

We picked up Erin about 11.30am and went to the hairdressers, Erin and I had our hair cut and I cut Alex’ in the afternoon. Once Erin was in bed Alex built our book shelf which looks really nice, he has a few more bits to build this week so hopefully they go as smoothly

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By Little Mummy, July 27, 2009 12:58 am

Stranger than Fiction

Plot in 25 words or less…Man discovers his life is being narrated and is a character in a to-be-finished novel. Novellist is renowned for writing tragic deaths.

Positive…Great cast including Emma Thompson, Will Ferrell, Dustin Hoffman and Maggie Gyllenhaal. They definitely made the film more bearable

Negative...Perhaps a little too strange for me.

Score… Alex gave it 3.5/5 I gave it 2.5/5. Overall score 6/10

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Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Plot in 25 words or less…Furry animals try to save furry friend. Adventure with danger occurs. Main characters have a baby. Everyone lives happily ever after. Obviously.

Positive…Fun for kids, some adult funnies in there too. Excellent animation

Negative…Story is pretty weak, especially after Up. Squirrel and nut scenes are very irritating, enough already.

Score…I give it 3/5. Alex gives it 2.5/5. Overall score 5.5/10

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Hancock

Plot in 25 words or less… Alcoholic super hero disliked by public turns image around with help from PR exec. Sort of happy ever after.

Positive… Second half is much better than first owing to an excellent twist in the story.

Negative…. Could have been much better if audience was provided a bit more backstory. Not enough introductory content to feel anything for characters.

Score… I give it 2.5/5. Alex gives it 2/5. Overall score is 4.5/10
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The Simpsons Movie

Plot in 25 words or less… Homer pollutes the lake, government quarantines springfield. The Simpsons go on the run to Alaska, before returning to save the town.

Positive… Suitable for the whole family

Negative… We got quite bored after 45 minutes or so, I don’t think it lended itself that well to a feature length film.

Score…I give it 2/5. Alex gives it 2/5. Overall score is 4/10

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By Little Mummy, July 22, 2009 3:21 pm

I have quite an interest in small businesses, especially when they are run by parents, you can read about businesses like this in my mumpreneur series.

I’ve made my points about PR people contacting me with various promotions, and it isn’t the PR people themselves but their approach that has been the issue. On a more positive note I’ve had some great direct communications with small businesses with which I’ve done interviews and promotions with, like my recent relationship with Frugi. We’ve done an interview which helps them tell their story but the reason I like doing them is to inspire and educate budding mumpreneurs, Frugi also sent me some samples of their product for Erin which I’ll get around to photographing soon. What I’m getting at is that this is the kind of organic relationship I like to encourage, something for everyone and I’m sure that Frugi and Littlemummy.com will work together again sometime in the future, the door has been left open.

If you’re a small business owner and want to promote your business via parent blogs I’d recommend you start by reading my post on the three things that need to be present to make a blogger want to work with you.

Here are some further points to consider when approaching blogs;

1. Quality not Quantity

Don’t just go after every blog you can find, consider your product or offering and do some research to find a good fit. Approach blogs that have children the correct age for your product or try and get a feel for the bloggers hobbies, tastes and interests. Given the size of the parent blogosphere I don’t think you want to work with any more than around ten blogs, and I would say that is an absolute maximum, if I were in your shoes I’d go after five that were an excellent fit and make your offer to them and their readers more special. If you have a very exclusive offer choose one blog and let them know they are the only blog that you have approached, this is a particularly good option depending on the kind of promotion you’re thinking of.

2. Do Your Homework

Email your ‘chosen ones’, keep your first contact brief. Introduce yourself and your business. Demonstrate your knowledge of their blog, don’t say ‘I really like your blog’, we don’t believe that crap anymore, instead describe what you have to offer and refer to the information you have gleaned from your research. Say something like; I noticed you live just outside of Edinburgh and you have a preschooler, I have a four year old myself and know how difficult it is to keep children occupied over the summer and wondered if I could send you my product X to try. I would appreciate any feedback. You should avoid asking for a review where possible, bloggers blog, and if they can find something remarkable to say regarding your product they will, and if they can’t, well…sometimes it’s best they don’t blog about it, if you know what I mean

3. Promotional Strategies

Have a specific promotional idea in mind but be open to suggestions, the blogger knows their audience the best and will know what will and will not go down well. Most promotional activities to date have revolved around unpaid reviews, usually for free samples. Here are some other strategies you may consider, what bloggers are open to will vary wildly so proceed with caution and try and figure out what sort of promotions they have done before.

Unpaid Review – This is the most common and involves you providing a complementary product that may be reviewed by the blogger, a positive review can never be guaranteed.

Paid Review – You provide a product and pay the blogger a fee, which may range from £20 – £50 to write a review, a positive review cannot be guaranteed, however most bloggers carry out honest and balanced reviews.

Competition/Giveaway – You provide a ‘prize’, the blogger carries out the competition on your behalf. This model has been predominantly unpaid, however, I think we may begin to see a move away from that shortly due to the effort involved. A fee of around £25 – £75 may be considered an acceptable range. These giveaways can be promoted on the blog, in a newsletter, via twitter and facebook.

Banner – A more traditional form of advertising involving displaying a hyperlinked graphic in the sidebar. These are usually sold by the month/quarterly/yearly for fees start from around £20

Advertorial – You provide an article or feature and pay to have this placed as a post on the blog, usually with linkbacks. This isn’t something that has happened much yet but I’d estimate that a fee in the region of £25-£50.

Newsletter Marketing – Only a small amount of parent bloggers currently have newsletters. Newsletter adverts could be placed for a fee of perhaps £25 and upwards.

Blog Sponsor – This would involve being the sole sponsor of a whole blog, this may include your logo in the header, a banner advert as well as ongoing joint promotions. I’ve only heard this model being used in America. I’d hazard a guess that a fee in the region of £500 – £2000 per year would be sufficient for this to happen.

Promotion via parent blogs in Britain is still fairly new but if you want to grab some serious attention do something different, something groundbreaking. Disney did it with their bloggers trip but it doesn’t take a huge budget, build the relationship and be creative. Good Luck

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By Little Mummy, July 20, 2009 2:37 pm

I’ve just finished reading Jo Whiley’s autobiography My World in Motion. I’ve been thoroughly spoilt this year with the books I’ve read – A Thousand Splendid Suns and Snowflower and the Secret Fan, a couple of the best books I’ve ever read. My World in Motion didn’t come up to that standard but it was a pleasant read nevertheless.

The autobiography is split into sections which include her familial roles and her work. The book is pretty straight forward, she’s a good mother, has a solid marriage and is committed to and passionate about her work, if you’re expecting some gossip then you might as well skip over this one, as for me I don’t really go in for ‘celeb goss’ so it didn’t bother me. When I read an autobiography I’m usually looking for a bit more, someone that has experienced something (or preferably several) remarkable things, experiences that I can relate to or learn something from. I guess the remarkable thing about Jo is her job, so if you’re interested in music you’ll probably get a lot more out of it than I did. She details her playlist for her life in each of the sections, which I skipped over, but if you’re a music buff you’ll like it, I loved the fact that she names Elton John’s ‘Tiny Dancer’ as her “family anthem” as that song holds special meaning for me, it’s my Erin song and I listened to it constantly when I was pregnant.

I enjoyed reading about Glastonbury and the Live Lounge, it was very interesting to get an insider’s viewpoint, we have the Live Lounge albums and it seems to be one of her main work related passions, along with her Mencap charity gigs and Glastonbury.

One thing I did notice which became increasingly annoying was the repetitive nature of the book, there were several times when I felt I’d already read the same thing earlier in the book perhaps just worded slightly differently.

Overall though it’s a reasonable read and Jo seems to be a really nice person.

On a side note I really like the website they’ve put together to promote the book.

I’m going to be giving a copy of My World in Motion away via my newsletter, you can sign up for free.

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By Little Mummy, July 19, 2009 12:18 am

Q1. Give a brief description of your business.

We run an organic cotton clothing company with ranges for babies, children and breastfeeding mums.

Q2. You used to be known as ‘cut4cloth’, why did you change the name?

Cut4Cloth was started originally because I couldn’t find any clothing anywhere on the market that would fit comfortably over a cloth nappy. It made sense that our clothing followed the ethical considerations that drew us to cloth nappies in the first place so we made it organic and fair trade. As my son grew out of nappies I realized that there was a market for older children’s clothes that were also organic and fair trade and when I breastfed my second some (now nearly 3yrs) I realized that there was a lack of stylish and discreet breastfeeding wear available too. This led to me wanting to expand the range of products outside just the cloth nappy arena and the name Cut4Cloth was a bit too specific to allow that – so we changed the name to Frugi – Latin for “Fruits of the Earth”.

Q3. In the early days how did you manage childcare?

Kurt (my husband) and I both gave up our jobs, remortgaged the house and put everything we owned on the line to start this business. We knew if we were going to build a really good brand it needed a 100% commitment and so of course did Tom our little baby. So in the beginning we ran the business from home and juggled him between us – we only had one computer, so the other one had Tom. Of course running a business from home also means you do quite a lot of work in the evening when the baby is soundly sleeping!

Q3. What have been your most successful marketing strategies?

We decided a long time ago that we would rather use a big advertising budget for something worthwhile than for a paid space in a magazine so we joined 1% for the Planet – which means we give 1% of our turnover (whether or not we make a profit or a loss) to two environmental charities. We get a lot of positive PR about this and all our other ethical works and so generate a lot of magazine/newspaper inches – which tend to be more effective than advertising anyway, proving that being green can actually be a really good business strategy too!

Partnering with other companies and doing joint offers to each other’s databases in your newsletters etc. is currently working a treat as many similar ethos companies have customers that would be interested in our products.

Q4. How are you utilising social media to market your business?

We have a Frugi Fanpage on Facebook and now have over 1200 Frugi Fans – they talk to each other and to us directly and it is a great communication tool to spread all the latest news on Planet Frugi around!

We also Twitter and have a Frugi Blog – we give our Frugi Crusaders our outfits to review and put “no holes barred” comments about them on all these media. It all increases trust and a feeling of belonging to the brand.

Q5. How are you as a smaller business fighting back against the economic downturn?

We are currently seeing the majority of our growth coming from overseas – the weak state of the pound has seen our export business rocket and we essentially doubled our turnover over the last 12 months.

Q6. For mums that may be considering starting a business, would you advise them to hold off until the waters are warmer, or should they just go for it?

I think it depends what the business is in? If it is property development etc – I’d probably say it’s not the best time to start, but if you have a business that is going to fill a niche and a currently unmet demand, then now is as good a time as any I think. Banks are a lot more wary though so don’t expect too much help from them. A smaller business has a great advantage over bigger businesses though – they can respond to change much much quicker – you see an opportunity – go for it!

Visit Frugi

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By Little Mummy, July 17, 2009 4:18 am

Last summer I was looking for new ideas for lunches and dinners and decided to focus on lots of different recipes for burgers, this summer I want to try and be a bit healthier and I was inspired in America by their array of salads and sandwiches so this summer I’m on the search for new recipes which come under soup, sandwich or salad.

I don’t mind simple and I don’t mind unusual so if you’ve posted an interesting recipe on your blog leave me a link, or if you’ve got an idea just leave it in the comments – I’m going to try any and all recipes (I’ll adjust them if there are ingredients I can’t stand.

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By Little Mummy, July 15, 2009 3:10 am

This post is in respone to A Modern Mother’s post on a potential PR blackout.

The debate on reviews, competitions and giveaways on blogs runs and runs. I think that three simple things need to be present for these relationships to flourish.

A Relationship

As bloggers we want to be wined and dined a bit, we want a PR person that knows a bit about our blogs and perhaps the names and ages of our children, they know roughly where we’re located and a few things that we’re passionate about.

There seems to be an emerging trend of ‘blanket’ offers that is being perpetuated at our group hangout British Mummy Bloggers. I don’t think these shout-outs are particularly helpful, some of the problem is that there is too much of the same stuff being talked about in the blogosphere and it’s getting slightly dull. I don’t want to read ten blogs all talking about hand soap.

I’m taking the stance that unless I’m very interested in the offer I will not be responding to blanket offers anymore.

I understand that if PR’s only focus on a few blogs per promotion then I’m gonna miss out on a lot of cool stuff, but you know, I’m cool with that, why not share it around a little and I’ll gladly read about other people’s exciting experiences and enter contests (as long as I don’t have to give feedback, see below).

Something For The Blogger

This may be a hobby for us parent bloggers but if you want us to review a product or run a competition there needs to be something in it for us. As someone said, it may have been Susanna “you don’t work for free so why should we?”

The perks when reviewing Disneyworld are obvious, when you want me to do a shampoo giveaway, not so much. I need a little extra incentive to get involved.

Something For The Reader

Most of us parent bloggers write for ourselves but when we’re running giveaways or competitions or doing reviews we’re trying to give something of value to our readers. If there’s nothing in it for the reader, ie a free product, a chance to win something or valuable information then it’s not going to happen, not over here anyway, and that includes the kind of offer that I seem to be getting a lot of at the moment, which goes something like this.

Hi Littlemummy,

Love your blog. (Don’t they all say that!)

I’m working with X company and they have brought out this super-duoer, amazing, best yet, shampoo.

We’re looking to reach mums and dads through influential bloggers like yourself and hope that you will be able to help us out…

We can provide five bottles of shampoo for you to giveaway but we would like feedback.

Eh, no, so not up for this kind of thing, no relationship (see above), nothing in it for me (see above), and something small for reader, but then the insult of all insults they have to work for it too. Yeah, it’s not gonna happen, and PR companies may be getting away with this kind of tosh at the moment but it won’t last forever.

I’ve had lots of fun over the past few months, I’ve been to Disneyworld and Bunchrew House. I’ve received various things from DVD’s to food samples to children’s clothes, and we’re looking forward to our trip to Butlins in October. All these things are lovely, but if they stop tomorrow then so be it.

Many PR people (not all, there are many good ones out there, and yes Kerry at Digital Outlook you’re right at the top of that list) are going to need to raise their games if they are to succeed in promoting their wares in our corner of the blogosphere.

That’s my tuppence, and from now on I’ll sifting the offers and if any one of the above isn’t met then for me it’s a no go, and as I said if that means no more freebies then so be it, I’m not a performing seal. Here’s a little video of a performing seal to lighten the mood, and cos it’s my blog and I’ll put up whatever I bloody well want.

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By Little Mummy, July 10, 2009 10:20 am

Thought I’d better write something before the blog got a bit rusty. Truth is not much has been happening around here. Everyone’s been suffering with jetlag, Erin’s been waking at 9.30pm to ask if it’s ‘wakey, wakey’ time, Alex and I have been surfacing around midday, by which time Erin’s woken up watched a dvd and gone back to sleep. We figure after a two week jaunt to Disneyworld we’re allowed to be crap parents for a while.

In other exciting news, we’ve bought a new microwave, ok so not earth shattering, this is a ‘mummy’ blog after all. We’ve been microwaveless for about two years now, since my sister-in-law blew it up during popcorn-gate, don’t ask. We didn’t miss it all that much so didn’t replace it, until that is I realised that the only way to cook tescos melt-in-the-middle chocolate puddings was by microwave, that and the lure of fresh popcorn (see next paragraph) left me with no real choice. £45 wasn’t too bad – until it breaks next week, I turned down the 3 year guarantee for £145

Setanta Sports the home of the Scottish Premier League went bust while we were away, oh no, how terrible. I stupidly agreed to shell out for a subscription for Alex’ birthday, what a waste of money, every time there was rain (which is every time in Scotland) their cameras would be so obscured with raindrops you couldn’t see a thing, ridiculous. That and the fact that you’d have watched three hours build up for the biggest boxing fight this century only to find that the channel shut down on you just as the first bell sounded, it’s not really any surprise they went bust, no love lost there. I was quick to cancel the subscription, the next day in fact and just as quick to plough the funds elsewhere. Setanta’s loss is Lovefilm.com’s gain, I signed up for their £14 and a few pence deal which gets me unlimited dvds and xbox games, two at a time, so far so good first two received were Hancock and Stranger than Fiction, I won’t go into any details here as I plan to do a little round up at the end of the month.

And that’s about it really, I’ve begun to attack the mammoth ironing pile, the livingroom looks as if a burglary’s taken place, the kitchen as if squatters have taken over. How clean is your house? Not clean at all, now pity me and send the industrial help round. No? Oh well better get on with it then.

Comments (8)

By Little Mummy, July 4, 2009 1:32 pm

Please watch this video about after school and breakfast clubs.

I used to volunteer at after school clubs as my mum ran a few over a number of years, I think they are a great affordable resource for parents. I’m considering utilising an after school club when Erin starts full time, partly so that I can commit some time to my own projects but also I think it will be nice for her to have some play time with friends.

Do you use after school or breakfast clubs, if so, in what circumstances and how do you find them?

Comments (3)

By Little Mummy, July 1, 2009 4:32 pm

I’ve done a few courses on blogging and related media now, the most recent one I’ve been doing is with Caroline Middlebrook who is based in the UK.

The course is called the Bloggers Bible and is delivered via email. The course is split into 49 units and you receive one unit per week. This course is ideal for the beginner and intermediate blogger, all of the content I’ve received so far was covered in Yaro’s course however that was a paid thing so I think this is a good deal, free is always good

Caroline includes general lessons in blogging as well as more techincal advice, each ‘lesson’ has actionable content that will help you to become more proficient at the technical side of blogging as well as grow your audience.

Click here to view more details